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The Kindness of Strangers	By : Kittenmommy Category: M through R > Prophecy, The Views: 1453 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own The Prophecy movie series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
“The
Kindness of Strangers”

Chapter
1

“Welcome
Aboard!”

AUTHOR’S
NOTE: The Prophecy movies belong to Gregory Widen, and I’m
not making any money from this.

*****

Having
received his instructions from The Boss, Gabriel took wing and
descended through the Celestial Spheres until he reached the plane on
which Earth was located.

The
part of the Earth that he was meant to visit was now experiencing
night, and he saw few lights in the vast ocean below: Ships passing
in the night.

Though
no human could have seen it at this distance, Gabriel’s sharp
eyes picked out the coastline of the place where he was headed, and
he swooped lower.

He
had always enjoyed flying at night, the feeling of the wind in his
hair and the glorious sight of the stars up in the Heavens. And
now that he was back in the fold, The Boss had trusted him with a
very important mission to deliver a very important Message. He
was once again doing what he’d been created to do, and he had
never been happier.

Suddenly,
his head came up as he caught the hint of a familiar scent, and he
reached for the dagger sheathed in his boot.

Too
late. The other angel slammed into him from above.
Gabriel glimpsed the flash of a knife in his attacker’s hand
and made a grab for it. His wings collided with those of his
attacker, and for a moment he was sure that they would both go down
into the ocean in a tangle of flapping wings and flailing limbs.

But
no, he managed to right himself. He could still hear his
attacker’s wings beating somewhere overhead, and he managed to
get his dagger out of his boot as he swooped upwards, giving a shrill
cry of warning, of intent to do harm.

He
heard a dull thud and there was a sudden pain on the top of
his head. Then everything went black.

*****

The
first thing to register was the voices. People – humans –
talking.

The
next thing to register was that he was wet, that most of his body was
immersed in water and that his wings were soaked, pulling him down.

His
cheek and elbows were resting on something cool and smooth, and his
arms were up above his head, seemingly on solid ground… and
keeping him from sliding completely into the water. The mingled
smell of saltwater and chlorine was overpowering.

Gabriel
opened his eyes.

“He’s
awake! He’s awake!” human voices murmured all
around him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a red-haired
woman in a long black evening gown cross herself, tears streaming
down her cheeks.

He
couldn’t seem to orient himself, couldn’t figure out
where he could possibly be. He had been flying over the ocean,
but now he seemed to be on land… but where?

A
silver-haired man dressed in a white uniform came hurrying over.
He knelt near Gabriel’s head and set a little black bag down
next to him.

“Well,
hello there,” the man said softly, his British-accented voice
full of wonder. “I’m Doctor Roger Langford.
And you’ve apparently had quite a fall.”
The doctor reached out hesitantly. “May I… I want
to examine you. Is that all right?”

Gabriel
opened his mouth to reply, to say that he would be just fine, but
nothing came out… at least, nothing that the awestruck humans
all around him could understand.

He
realized dimly that he was speaking in his own language, the language
of the angels, much of which was beyond the range of human hearing.
He shut his mouth and closed his eyes, gathering his thoughts and
willing his vocal cords to behave themselves. He was God’s
Messenger, after all; communicating with these people was his very
reason for being.

He
opened his eyes and looked up at the man in white who still knelt
patiently beside him.

“Where
I am?” he finally managed.

“You’re
aboard the Carnival Liberty, on the Lido Deck, half in and
half out of the Tivoli Pool.”

Ah,
that explained a lot right there. He raised his head and tried
to pull himself out of the water.

“No,
stay still,” the doctor advised, reaching toward him but still
not quite daring to touch. “Something may be broken.”

Gabriel
experienced a sudden moment of absolute horror. “I can’t
move my wings.”

“I
shouldn’t wonder!” the doctor said briskly.
“They’re completely underwater, quite soaked, and
probably very heavy! I doubt we’ll be able to lift you
out of there.” He turned his head and spoke to someone
over his shoulder. “I think we’re going to have to
drain this pool, please!”

“Right
away, Doctor!” a female voice replied, and there was a sudden
flurry of activity as people dressed in red, white and blue tee
shirts and matching shorts scurried about, presumably to fulfill
Doctor Langford’s order.

Even
more distressing than his inability to move his wings was the sudden
realization that his connection with The Word was gone, switched off
like these humans would turn off a radio.

Maybe
it was due to his recent knock on the head. Surely The Boss hadn’t
deserted him for merely being unlucky enough to be in the wrong place
at the wrong time… had He?

Meanwhile,
Doctor Langford had turned his attention back to his unlikely
patient. “Do you hurt anywhere?”

“My
head… and my pride!”

Doctor
Langford gave a short laugh. “All right, so we can assume
nothing’s broken.”

“Yeah,”
Gabriel agreed. “Probably not.” Except for
my connection to The Word! he thought but did not say; no use in
giving up more Mysteries to these humans than necessary.

“Good,”
the doctor said, turning away to address the crowd. “We’ll
need to get some people in there to hold his wings up as the water
drains,” the doctor instructed. “Otherwise, their
weight will drag him right back down into the pool.”
Gabriel heard splashes as people jumped in and swam over.

“Hey,”
a man greeted him, not yet daring to get too close. “My
name’s Gary, and I’m going to grab your wing… is
that OK?”

Gabriel
would rather not have had his wings touched, but he couldn’t
really see any alternative. The water was already beginning to
recede, and his waterlogged wings were indeed pulling him downwards
now that there wasn’t enough water to keep them afloat.

“Yeah,
sure,” he agreed, not sounding at all happy about the prospect.

Gary
grinned. “I’ll be gentle,” he promised.
Though this man didn’t know it, he had made an apt jest, for
angels only allowed their wings to be touched by other angels…
and then only during the most intimate interactions between a pair
that was especially close.

“I’m
Ben, and I’ll be gentle too,” a male voice said on his
other side. “May I?” Gabriel turned his head and
saw another man, this one in evening dress, standing near him with a
questioning expression on his face. Standing there.
Well, this pool must not be very deep, Gabriel thought. The
angel was tall for a human male, but that didn’t matter much
when one was being dragged down by a gigantic pair of saturated
wings.

“Yeah,
sure,” he said with a sigh of resignation. “Do your
worst.”

Gabriel
closed his eyes, trying to shut out the feeling of alien hands on his
sensitive wings. It was a humiliating violation, and he bore it
as best he could. He really had no choice, unless he wanted to
sit on the bottom of an empty swimming pool until his wings dried out
enough for him to be able to fly.

At
last, the pool was completely drained, and other hands reached down
to help pull him out.

“Up
you go,” Doctor Langford said with a grunt of effort as he
hauled Gabriel out with the help of Gary and Ben. “That’s
better, isn’t it?” the doctor said in a soothing tone as
he helped Gabriel sit upright, with his feet dangling in the empty
pool and his soaked wings carefully spread out behind him.

“Yeah,
it’s better,” he agreed faintly. “Thank you.”

Now
that he was upright, Gabriel could clearly see the bright strands of
festive lights strung high above the Lido Deck. Craning his
neck to look higher, he saw the distinctive red, white and blue
funnel that identified this vessel as a Carnival cruise ship.
These were familiar sights in the night, but they were sights that he
was accustomed to seeing from high above. No wonder he hadn’t
been able to figure out where he was when he’d woken.

The
doctor moved to sit beside him and held up his own hand, like a
puzzle. “How many fingers?” he asked.

Gabriel
blinked. “What?”

“How
many fingers am I holding up?” the doctor repeated patiently.

Gabriel
frowned; he knew a trick question when heard one. “Two
fingers… and a thumb.”

Doctor
Langford’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “Ah.
Well, that wasn’t quite what… all right, good.
Now, follow my finger…” He held up his index finger and
moved it back and forth in front of Gabriel’s face.
“Good, good.” He reached into his black bag and
produced a penlight. “Look straight ahead,” he
instructed, shining the little light directly into Gabriel’s
right eye.

“Hey!”
he protested, pushing the human’s hand away. “That’s
bright!”

“I
know,” Doctor Langford sympathized. “But I need to
examine you. You have a head injury… you’re
bleeding.”

“I
am?” Surprised, Gabriel reached up to touch the top of his head
and was even more shocked when his hand came away wet with blood.

“I
want to be certain that you don’t have a concussion,” the
doctor continued in that same reasonable tone.

Gabriel
waved away the human’s concern. “Aaaah, I don’t
have a concussion! And even if I do, it’s no big deal.
It’ll go away on its own.”

Though
he was out of the water, he was still uncomfortably wet. His
wings were soaked, his clothes were drenched, and he could feel that
his boots were full of water. He brought his right foot up and
pulled off a tall black boot, dumped the small amount of water into
the empty pool and tossed the boot aside. He repeated the
process with his left boot, and made a little noise: Hnhhhuh.

“What’s
wrong?” the doctor asked.

“Lost
my knife,” he said shortly. “It was one of my
favorites, too.” He tugged at his clothing. “Wish
I could get this stuff off…” he muttered.

When
visiting Earth in the guise of a mortal, Gabriel favored a long black
coat and black leather pants… but not when acting as God’s
Messenger, and especially not when delivering highly important
Messages to highly important humans. No, at times like these,
he had to look the part.

So
tonight he had chosen to wear a long royal blue cloak brocaded with
silver thread over a loose black silk shirt and trousers… and
the whole thing was now likely ruined by his recent dunk in
chlorinated saltwater. His trumpet hung from a silver chain
link belt around his waist, and – miracle of miracles! –
he hasn’t lost it when he’d plummeted to Earth. He
detached the trumpet from his belt and absently dumped water out of
it, and then set it down close by to dry.

Two
men suddenly pushed their way through the crowd and hurried over: A
man in a white uniform similar to the doctor’s, and a man in
black with the white collar of a priest.

Both
of the new arrivals gaped down at Gabriel in astonishment, and then
hastily crossed themselves.

“This
is the ship’s captain, Giovanni LaRosa,” Doctor Langford
introduced. “And the ship’s chaplain, Father
Francis Xavier.”

The
priest knelt, not daring to get too close. “It’s
such an honor… to – to have you here… to have you
grace us with your presence – ”

Gabriel
ran a hand through his wet hair. “Yeah… Francis.
See, this little visit wasn’t exactly my idea. I got
attacked.”

The
two new arrivals looked properly horrified and crossed themselves
again.

“Attacked?
But who would dare?” the captain asked in a thick
Italian accent.

Gabriel
snorted. “Plenty of people, believe me.”

Captain
LaRosa was outraged. “Never!”

“Oh
yeah, there are lots of angels out for my blood,” Gabriel
assured him in an offhanded tone.

Father
Xavier was shocked. ”It was another angel who did this to
you?”

“Yeah…
Jones… he whacked me on the head pretty good.”

The
priest looked puzzled. “Please forgive me… I’m
not familiar with an angel named Jones.”

Gabriel
almost laughed. “That’s what Zophael’s been
calling himself lately… Zophael Jones. Stupid, huh?”

The
priest didn’t quite dare to comment on this. “And
may I… may we know your name?” he asked, his head
still bowed in reverence.

Gabriel
smiled ruefully. “This isn’t how I usually do
things… usually I introduce myself right off the bat –
you know…” He spread his hands in an expansive gesture.
“Be not afraid! Behold, I am Gabriel, blah blah blah,
and all that other stuff.” He let his hands fall and
shrugged, his huge wet white wings rising and falling slightly with
the movement of his shoulders. “But you guys aren’t
really getting me at my best.”

A
shocked murmur went through the crowd: Oh, Gabriel, he’s
Gabriel, look, there’s his horn – sitting right
there! That’s the angel Gabriel…

The
priest gasped and turned pale. “How may I serve you?”
he asked, bowing his head even lower.

Gabriel
cocked his head. “You know what I’d really like?
I’d really like a cup of coffee. With cream and
sugar if you got it.”

*****

Someone
was sent off into Emil’s restaurant to fetch the coffee.
While Gabriel was waiting, Doctor Langford knelt up and probed the
top of his patient’s head, muttering vaguely about stitches.

“Stitches?
I don’t need stitches!” he protested.

“You
may be an angel, but I’m the doctor,” the human
replied rather tartly. “So I’ll be the judge
of that.”

“How
dare you speak to him like that?” Father Xavier demanded.

“Aaah,
that’s OK,” Gabriel said quickly. “I don’t
stand on formality too much, and I like people who say what they mean
straight out.”

“Because
you’re like that yourself, aren’t you?” the doctor
guessed.

“Yeah,”
Gabriel agreed. “I’ve been told I could be more
tactful.”

The
red-haired woman in the long black dress who had been crying earlier
appeared at his side, bending down to offer him a steaming mug of
coffee.

“Thanks,”
he said, taking it. She gave a wordless little nod and
withdrew, clearly overwhelmed by even this brief contact with him.

“Let’s
clear all of these people away, please,” Doctor Langford said
briskly. “All right?” Immediately, the
captain and the crew began working to disperse the crowd. “And
let’s close this area off completely until we get him moved
somewhere else,” the doctor continued. “Gossip’s
sure to get around, and I don’t want gawkers.”

A
little red-haired girl in a bathing suit and shorts came forward
holding a big blue beach towel emblazoned with the words, "The
Fun Ships of Carnival" and the cruise line's logo.

“Here,”
she offered shyly, holding the towel out to Gabriel. He noticed
that she had a bright pink glittery flower painted on one cheek.
“You’re all wet.”

Gabriel
smiled at her as he took the towel. “Thanks.”
He wiped his face and scrubbed his hair vigorously, staining the
towel with blood.

“You
can’t keep it, though,” she continued in a serious
voice. “They’ll charge you a whole twenty-two
dollars if you don’t bring it back.” Her eyes
widened as she contemplated being fined such a vast sum of money.

“Robbery,”
Gabriel agreed with a completely straight face. “Thanks
for the tip, Brigid.”

“Of
course you can keep the towel!“ the captain said immediately.

The
priest spoke at the same moment: “They can charge it to me!“

But
neither the angel nor the child was listening.

“How
did you know my name?” the little girl asked curiously.

“I
know everyone’s name,” Gabriel told her, tweaking
her nose and making her giggle. “I knew you before you
were ever even born.”

“And
your name is Gabriel,” she said thoughtfully. “Are
you the angel we learned about in Sunday school? The one who
told Mary that Jesus was coming?”

“Yeah,
that’d be me,” he agreed with a slight smile, and was
oddly pleased to see her deep green eyes widen in wonder.

“All
right, little lady,” Doctor Langford said briskly, giving her a
pat on the head. “Go and find your mum.” He
rummaged in his black bag, producing a little bottle of hand
sanitizer and a pair of rubber gloves in a sterile paper wrapper.

“She’s
right over there,” Brigid said, pointing to the red-haired
woman who’d brought the coffee. “And that’s
my dad,” she continued, pointing at one of the men who’d
helped Gabriel out of the pool – Ben, the dark-haired man in
evening dress.

“I
thought I asked for this area to be cleared,” the doctor said
over his shoulder.

“Aaaah,
let 'em stay,” Gabriel said, and nothing further was said about
them leaving. ”Ow!” he suddenly exclaimed,
flinching away as Doctor Langford cleaned his wound with something
smelly that he’d gotten from his bag. “That
stings!”

“I
had to have stitches once,” Brigid told him. “I
fell and hurt my knee.” She pointed to the scar, a long
silver line against her newly tanned skin. “It hurt when
they sewed me up. Mommy held my hand.” She frowned,
thinking. “Do you want me to hold your hand?”
Before he could answer, she plopped down next to him and took the
hand that wasn’t holding the coffee mug.

“Brigid,
for Heaven’s sake, don’t pester the angel!” her
mother scolded in an Irish brogue. She came striding over,
clearly intending to drag the child away.

Gabriel
looked up at her. “Maureen… don’t worry
about it.”

Her
eyes grew huge and she put a hand over her mouth, awed that the
Archangel Gabriel himself had called her by name. She crossed
herself and retreated to stand with her husband.

“Hold
still, please, Gabriel,” Doctor Langford said pleasantly.
“Now, you’re going to feel a little stick, and then a
slight burning… and then – hopefully – nothing
else until long after I’ve finished stitching you up.”

“You
know… Roger… you don’t have to do this.
I’ll heal fine on my own.”

“Quiet
now, I’m trying to concentrate,” the doctor chided.

With
a sigh, Gabriel finished his coffee and set the mug down on the
ground beside him, near his trumpet. “I know someone with
hair like yours,” he told the little girl, absently stroking
her coppery red curls.

“Who?”

“His
name’s Simon.”

“Where
does he live?”

Gabriel
smiled. “In Heaven.”

The
child’s eyes widened. “Is he an angel too?”

“Yeah.”

Brigid
frowned. “Why did that other angel hit you on the head?
Doesn’t he like you?”

“Not
much,” he replied shortly. “But that’s OK…
I don’t care if people like me or not.”

“I
like you,” she told him seriously.

He
was surprised, but quickly recovered. “I like you, too.”

“Good.
We’re friends!” she said, beaming happily and giving his
hand a squeeze.

Gabriel
saw that the girl’s mother – Maureen – had gone
even paler than her usual milky-white color, and smiled to himself.
He knew that never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that a
daughter of hers would befriend the Archangel Gabriel… let
alone under such bizarre circumstances.

“You
talk like Daddy,” the child said.

“Yeah?”
Gabriel replied, not sure what she meant but going along with it.

“All
right,” Doctor Langford said, snapping off his rubber gloves.
“We’re all done here. How’s your head feel?”

”It
doesn’t,” he said, reaching up with his free hand.

“No,
no – don’t touch!” The doctor scolded, grabbing
Gabriel’s wrist. “The lidocaine’ll wear off
in a little bit, and then – ”

Gabriel
felt a tingling sensation on the top of his head. “I
think it’s wearing off right now.”

Doctor
Langford nodded. “You’ve a fast metabolism, haven’t
you?”

”I
guess,” Gabriel replied with a shrug.

“Hmm.
Well, here’s some antibiotic ointment – ” the
doctor pressed several small packets into Gabriel’s hand, “
– I’ve bandaged your head, but you’ll need to
change the bandage daily. Now that the lidocaine’s
wearing off, come and see me if the pain’s too much and I’ll
give you something. You won’t need to have the stitches
out – they’ll dissolve on their own as your body absorbs
them. Don’t take aspirin or drink alcohol for at least a
week, all right?”

Gabriel
nodded and pulled his hand out of Brigid’s. “Sure.”
He put on his boots, swung his legs up out of the pool and stood up a
bit unsteadily. After a moment, he flapped his wings, shaking
as much water out of them as he could; they were still quite wet, but
no worse then when he’d get caught in the rain. “I
gotta take off, Kiddo,” he told the little girl. She
nodded silently, her eyes wide.

“I’m
not sure that’s a good idea,” Doctor Langford said,
rising. “I think we should see about getting you a
stateroom for the night.”

“I’ll
see to that personally!” the captain promised, hurrying off.

“But
I can’t stay here – ” Gabriel began.

The
doctor overrode him. “Listen to me, Gabriel. You’ve
got a head injury, and could possibly have a concussion – ”

“Aaaah,
I’m fine,” he said dismissively. “Anyway…
I have an important Message I have to deliver, you know?”

“I’m
sure you do,” Doctor Langford agreed. “But surely
it can wait a few more hours, until you’ve rested a bit and
eaten something – ”

“Nope.
I gotta go.” And maybe once I take wing, I’ll be
able to hear The Word again…

He
felt sure he was forgetting something, and patted himself like a
human trying to locate the pocket where he’d put his car keys.
He frowned. “Where’s my – ” He spotted
his trumpet, still sitting on the edge of the pool, right where he’d
put it. “Ahhh ha!”

He
bent to retrieve it, and everything went black.

*****

ADDITIONAL
AUTHOR’S NOTES: The Carnival Liberty is real cruise ship
and belongs to Carnival Cruise Lines. I didn’t put this
at the beginning because I wanted Gabriel’s landing spot to be
a surprise to you, my Faithful Readers. Captain LaRosa, Father
Xavier, Doctor Langford, and the various other crewmembers and guests
are all my own invention.

If
you want to see where Gabriel landed, here are the deck plans for the
Liberty’s Lido Deck:
http://www.carnival.com/Deck_Plan.aspx?shipCode=LI&deckCode=9

My
husband just reminded me about a brochure we received in the mail –
it’s all about the Carnival Liberty. I’m
honestly not sure if this photo is of the actual Tivoli Pool on the
Liberty, or rather the Sun Pool on her sister ship the
Conquest – all of the virtual tours for the Liberty
on the Carnival site (http://www.carnival.com/)
are of the Conquest, and so this pic may not be accurate.
I’ve been on the Conquest, but not on the Liberty…
and honestly, I’ve been on enough Carnival ships to realize
that they really look a great deal alike. So, here’s a
pic of what may or may not be the actual Tivoli Pool:

https://home.comcast.net/~kittenmommy3/Tivoli_Pool.jpeg

This
pic was likely taken from the Spa Deck facing away from the funnel,
which is why the trademark red, white and blue tailfin isn’t
visible here.

And
if you're wondering what Gabriel's expensive beach towel looks like:
https://home.comcast.net/~kittenmommy/Towel.jpg
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The Kindness of Strangers