neutral_omens | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Time: June 12, 2000 - late afternoon
Place: Hermes' room
Status: Public
Summary: Patheticness.

He stood before the mirror, the blade glinting in the harsh bathroom light, and wondered where to start. His face was pale from too many tears, and he looked bedraggled again, like the homeless boy he had been.

Glittering, glinting...

He pressed it to the skin of his chest, shaking, then set his jaw and lowered his brows.

"I DON'T WANT ONE!" he screamed, slashing over and over, glittering, sky blue pouring all over the white marble tiles. "No more! No more...please..." With a precision that terrified him, he sliced under his ribcage, reaching in as he lay half-curled in his pool of blood.

He marvelled at what a pretty shade of blue his heart was, before the world went black.

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"There's a regular way of taking care of someone who's had their heart torn out?" Gabriel asked caustically, and immediately wished he hadn't. Adam's eyes, when they flicked up to meet his, were filled with such abundant concern that he felt the emotions echoed in his own chest, even for this strange immortal.

Brows knit, he cast a critical glance over the prone form; once he managed to look past the gaping cavity which marked where the blue heart should rest, Gabriel noted that the god seemed to show signs of pain or further injury. Resting a hand on the other's forehead, as much to focus his thoughts as his powers, he confirmed his initial instinct: the being was still alive. Not aware, no, nor in conscious pain, but life flowed steadily through the veins where the seeping blue blood did not.

"Adam," he asked in a calm, deliberate tone, "the Greek gods, can they live when they shouldn't be alive? I mean, without vital organs? Do you remember anything like that?"

Adam's jaw tightened but he didn't say anything while he thought. Gabriel's words had provided something concrete to focus on and now that he'd mentioned it, Adam did recall something about greek gods and organs. What was it? He let his mind drift away, certain that it would provide the answer he was looking for, eventually.

"Prometheus," he finally blurted out. "Not really one of the gods; a giant like Loki. But Zeus chained him to a rock and an eagle pecked out his liver every day for twelve generations until the eagle was killed by Zeus' son Heracles. Does that help?"

"Right," Gabriel said decisively, and set about cleaning the wound as best he could. It didn't make perfect sense - or, well, any kind of sense at all, really - but if one god could live without a liver...

"And he was all right afterward, this Prometheus?" he continued, snatching some antibiotic ointment from a nearby cabinet as he pursued the issue. "It didn't kill him? He just - what, grew another liver?"

"I dunno if he was all right..." said Adam doubtfully. "I mean, that would hurt, I'd guess, or it wouldn't be much of a punishment, but he grew a new liver every day and didn't die. I think at the end he got to go back to Olympus but was still chained to the rock.

He watched Gabriel work, relieved. Hermes wasn't going to die, but he wasn't going to recover quickly either. Maybe that would make him think before he tried such a thing again.

"Well, this one doesn't seem to be in any pain," Gabriel replied with a nod to indicate the unconscious Hermes. He was hesitant, as Adam had voiced earlier, to use his powers to simply heal up the wound, because he feared it would interfere with whatever healing protocol the god already had. He did, however, apply a liberal amount of the ointment to a large sterile pad before placing it over the gaping wound; it seemed like so little, as once again the severity of seeing the niche where a beating heart had once lain struck him.

But at least it was something. Glancing up at Adam as he finished securing the bandage in place, he said unsurely, "So I suppose we'll just... keep an eye on him?"

Adam nodded. "I think that's about all we can do for now. Do you need me to stay? Maybe we can take turns lookin' after him just in case there's an emergency or somethin'..." He didn't know how much more of an emergency there could be, but if the god died because no one had been there to watch him, Adam would be very upset.

Gabriel gave the boy a tight-lipped smile, and, noting the raw look to his eyes, leaned over to put his hand on Adam's shoulder. "I'll stay," he said gently. "You go. Get some rest, perhaps."

Adam smiled back faintly. "I will. But I'll be back soon to check on him and so that you can take a break. Thanks, Gabriel."

With that, he headed back to his room for a nap. He wasn't sure how late he'd be up that night, so he thought he might as well sleep now.

Gabriel pulled a chair over to the slender blue figure's bedside and settled down to wait, trying not to remind himself that he in fact had absolutely no idea what he was waiting for.

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