Blaze of Glory

Gerard wanted to see more of the office he'd only seen twice, and that was because he was in trouble (only archangels and exceptionally holy souls were allowed inside, and that was on good days), but he knew ought to be looking ashamed to he kept his head bowed. He shuffled his feet.

Beside him, Micheal's expression was a combination of annoyance and dread. Micheal, try as he might, never really got angry; his heart was too pure, which also showed in his shinier halo and fluffier wings.

Gerard's fluttering gaze met Micheal's glance, and the archangel rolled his eyes in his usual fashion.

The Bossman stared at them both for what seemed like an eternity (which they had, anyway), before the silence was broken.

"Is anyone going to tell what just happened, or do I have to explain what happened to Lucifer again?" His booming, earth shattering voice spoke to the beat of his tapping foot.

Gerard lifted his eyes, but the all-powerful glow surrounding God's face hurt them. He flinched, and his arm brushed by Micheal's, who sighed in resignation. He put his hand on Gerard's shoulder reassuringly and stepped forward, ready to put his neck on the block for the kindred he considered as his brother. That was him, always selfless and compassionate. Micheal to the rescue, yet again. He ought to be wearing a cape or something.

"My Lord..." He began, lowering his eyes to the sparkling floor. "Thou art in the eternal knowledge that Gerard is often misled by the..."

"We all know this isn't the first time he did something like that, Micheal," the King of Kings drummed His fingers on the armchair of His throne. Custom velvet, I tell you.

"Yes, Lord, certainly we art aware of that, but Gerard is but a child, and the corrupt earthly music has damaged his way of thinking into..."

Meanwhile, Gerard was all too tired of Micheal saying that he was too innocent and ignorant, and hereby exploded in another wave of blasphemy.

"I AM NOT FUCKING STUPID, MICHEAL!"

Micheal's jaw dropped open in his defensive speech, and God's eyes widened in two flaming balls of righteous fury.

"Gerard!" Micheal reprimanded primly. "Thou have just referenced the way humans lie with each other! Why, their fornication with is of the most unjustifiable sin...!"

"No, THIS is a most unjustifiable sin!" Zion roared, standing up to His full height, which was, coincidentally, very tall indeed. "Profanity in heaven's throne room! I haven't foreseen such a thing since Lucifer planned to take over, and he wasn't even using swear words!

"I'm sorry, Micheal, but Gerard here is too impure to remain on Holy Ground. He needs to be punished..."

"But Lord!" Micheal fell to his knees, his robe of spun gold pooling around his feet. "Thou art a God of abounding mercy and amazing grace! Surely thou would not damn him to the Lake of Fire...!" His glowing voice trembled, so close to the tears they said did not exist in the afterlife.

"Oh, do get up, Micheal." The Almighty beckoned him back up to his feet, but his sculpted features (by the Creator Himself) still held an expression of sorrow.

"Of course I won't send him to hell," Yahweh's mouth nearly folded into a smile, as if it was the most ridiculous thing He had heard of since cloning, but He managed to make it stay in a just frown. "But perhaps he should spend some time with those humans he is so fond of imitating, and learn that free will is not an easy thing to possess. What would you say to a lifetime on earth?"

"Well, that seems... fair..." Micheal said slowly, hesitantly. "Not to say that thou art nothing but, my Lord..."

"I wasn't directly asking you, Micheal, though your input is appreciated..." Jehovah interrupted sternly, turning to Gerard. "Would you have anything more to say, Gerard?"

Gerard had been secretly holding in his utter glee at finally being given a chance to become human, something he felt he should have been in the first place

"Um, I guess that's okay," was what he said instead. After all, how many souls would say they'd rather be human than a flawless winged being that resided in heaven?

"Then it is settled," God clapped his hands, producing a sound louder than an infinite thunders, sealing the covenant. "Let the Angel Gerard shall spend one lifetime on earth for his crimes in heaven, and shall be brought back after death has claimed him, just to teach him a lesson."

And before Gerard could even blink, he had been cast down from heaven to earth, his soul being conceived in the womb of a woman living in a place they called New Jersey.

-

-

Gerard had been asleep for nine months before cold, sterile hands pulled him from the comfort of a certain Donna Way's stomach and into a stark white light. For a moment he thought he was back in heaven, but then he realized that the light was artificial and somewhat unclean, robbed of the presence of God.

A strange masked face peered at him, the one the hands belonged to, before it grabbed him by one leg and raised him up, slapping him on the buttocks three solid times.

"This is insanity!" He opened his mouth to speak, but what came out were cranky, hearty cries, followed by unexplained cheers by the masked man's similar-looking companions.

One of them, a woman, he assumed, judging by the lump in her bosom, took him in her arms and washed and rubbed his new, tiny wriggling body, prompting a few more cries from him. After being so thoroughly and so wrongly manhandled, he was swaddled in soft cloths, which made him feel like the Christ child in the manger. Not so bad, since he wasn't actually placed in a stable animal's plate, but in the arms of a woman who he supposed he should now call his mother.

"He's so perfect, like a little angel," she said in wonder.

'Mother, you have no idea'

A new face appeared into his limited sight, this time a man's.

"What do we name him, Donna?" He spoke with a proud tone.

"I don't..." Suddenly, it seemed like she acquired a revelation.

"For some reason, Gerard just feels... right."