word count: 368

FANON/COLLABORATIVE: GABRIEL SUMMERSETT, CAZSIEL SUMMERSETT

in which gabriel tries to cheer up their brother in the only way they know how. (pre-canon.)

contains themes of illness/injury, and implication of a suicide attempt. the characters are ocs made for the "NORMAL" series by my friend WonderGirl1059, and, though not a particularly large part of it, other ocs (ariel and uriel) are those of my friend Kiose_. other author's notes at the end.

"Hey." Gabriel knocks before they enter, holding themselves inwards as if in a permanent flinch. Cazsiel groans in reply, turning over in his bed, the one he and his sister used to have to share, but she gave up to help him recover the way she wouldn't do for anyone else. A pile of pillows slumps on the floor next to him, stacked with various junk and crutches on top of that after having fallen from his bedside; and there the boy lies, prone, slick with sweat. The room smells strongly of a sickness and heat.

It has been weeks since Cazsiel fell from the sky, along with Ariel; and while she escaped unscathed, he still has not healed, his leg still twisted, refusing to fix itself; even with a medical dictionary and the help of YouTube, neither Uriel nor Ariel nor Gabriel nor Cazsiel himself have been able to reset the bone or clear up the infection that remains, resolute.

If Ariel was here, she'd tell them to fuck off — but she disappears now for hours at a time, the first time Gabriel has seen her without her twin. And Cazsiel would tell them to do the same, if he was in any fit state to talk. Gabriel kneels on the cushion, while their brother rolls painfully over to face them, grumbling something.

There isn't much pity left over, when Gabriel is done moping, for them to spare on their brother. But they will bring him painkillers and water, and keep him company. They don't bother asking if he feels better; he never does, and won't, probably, for a while.

"I found this," Gabriel offers, lifting a book from the pillows they're sitting on. It must have fallen from inside his bedside table, now doorless in someone's anger; tattered and worn, a book of riddles. Cazsiel rolls his eye over to Gabriel's hands, where they lift the anthology to his eye level. They flick to a random page, letting the book rest on the edge of the bed.

"I fall from the sky but I am not rain. I like—"

Cazsiel glowers—not funny. His sibling winces.

"Okay, let me start again. If I had four eggs..."

again, this one was a little bit of a reach from the prompt itself, and i doubt it actually counts as horror (but at least i'm writing)! this takes place pre-the events of the "NORMAL" series, and is as canon as i could make it. it took me a few ideas before i settled on this one, though. i hope you enjoyed, and see you on day four!!