2
A blood-curdling scream pierced the silence of the cottage making Gabriel bolt upright, his brain a little foggy from having just woken up till he realized that the screaming was coming from Dawn’s room and he immediately sprinted towards it.
He hesitated briefly outside of the door, not wanting to invade the Omega's privacy, but the heartbreaking sobs coming from inside pushed him over the edge and quickly rushed in only to see Dawn thrashing in her nest as screams and sobs escaped her.
Gabriel bit his lip as he crouched down next to the nest as he raked through his brain to try and think of how to comfort the blonde without entering the nest as he didn’t fancy having his eyes clawed out by an angry Omega.
“Dawn you need to wake up it’s just a nightmare it can’t hurt you you're safe” He called out reassuringly but his words just met deaf ears as Dawn continued to thrash and sob.
“Dad, please! It hurts! Please make it stop!” Dawn sobbed brokenly which made Gabriel’s blood turn to ice. He glared down at the edge of the nest in frustration before coming to a decision, words would get him nowhere but actions would.
“Consequences be damned” He muttered as he entered the nest and pulled Dawn into a comforting hug while releasing soothing rumbles to try and ease the Omega out of her nightmare.
“It’s okay Dawn, everything is going to be okay, no one is going to hurt you” He mumbled softly as he gently ran his fingers through the blonde's hair.
Dawn sucked in a couple of shaky breaths as she slowly blinked her eyes open, while she did this she realized a few things at once. The scent of coffee as opposed to her father's copper-like scent, the soothing rumbles of an Alpha who touched her with gentle hands instead of raised fists and finally Gabriel’s soft reassurances.
“Gabriel?” She mumbled tiredly as she glanced up at the ram hybrid who let out a relieved sigh at seeing her awake.
“Hey Dawn how are you feeling?” He asked softly and Dawn blinked a little in confusion before the remnants of her nightmare hit her in the face.
“Fuck, I’m sorry for waking you up” She muttered as she went to pull away but Gabriel just made a soft disapproving noise as he pulled her closer.
“It’s fine, you quite literally saved me from death so I don’t mind helping you with a nightmare” He mumbled comfortingly and Dawn let out a tired sigh.
“You probably want to know what it was about, huh?” She muttered tiredly but Gabriel just hummed softly as he resumed running his fingers through Dawn’s hair.
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to” He reassured gently which made Dawn slump a little in relief.
“Thank you” She mumbled and Gabriel hummed in acknowledgement.
“Let’s talk about something else okay? Get your mind off of it” He suggested and Dawn nodded in agreement, that sounded nice.
“So can you actually revive the dead?” Gabriel asked curiously which made Dawn chuckle in amusement.
“I technically have the ability but I swore I’d never use it” She explained which made Gabriel tilt his head curiously.
“How come?” He asked curiously.
“Tampering with death can have massive consequences and besides I respect Elowen too much to mess with her domain” She explained and Gabriel nodded in understanding.
“What kind of consequences?” He asked which made Dawn tilt her head thoughtfully for a moment.
“It can vary depending on the reason behind the resurrection, you could lose one of your senses and become mute, deaf, or blind, you could have eternal nightmares, never-ending pain or in the most extreme circumstance death” She finally explained which earned her a surprised noise from Gabriel.
“If the consequences are so steep why are admins taught how to use this ability?” He questioned horrified and Dawn grimaced a little bit.
“It’s actually not taught anymore and most admins nowadays have no idea that this ability even exists. It used to be rather common practice in the ancient days before it was erased from history because of the consequences, it’s why it was in that book of yours as some admins didn’t want to forget the ability” She explained and Gabriel let out a soft noise of understanding before glancing at her curiously.
“So how do you know how to do it?” He asked which made Dawn grimace once again.
“My family on my mother's side were some of the admins who did not want to forget it because it was one of my ancestors who first discovered the ability” She explained which made Gabriel’s eyes widen in shock.
“She only had the purest of intentions as she simply wished to bring her young son back who had died in a terrible accident so her consequence was simply that she became infertile. But she didn’t care because she had her son back, in fact, she likely didn’t even realize that there had been a consequence and that’s why she shared the ability” She continued to explain as a slight frown appeared on her face.
“At first people only used it in the most extreme of circumstances but greed is human nature and soon people were trying to creature armies out of the revived, it’s this very reason that Ambroz the god who granted my family their admin blood stripped them of their abilities. That is until I was born” She finished explaining as she held up her hand to allow red magic to dance across her fingers.
“It’s because of these powers that I’m still alive” She mumbled softly as she allowed the magic to vanish while Gabriel instinctively held her closer.
“What happened?” He asked softly and Dawn closed her eyes tiredly.
“My mother was able to immediately tell I had admin blood and she and my father exploited my abilities for all they were worth, in fact, if I hadn’t presented as an Omega that didn’t follow the norm they likely would still be using me to fulfil their greedy desires” She mumbled softly which made Gabriel’s eyes flash red briefly.
“What do you mean you didn’t follow the norm?” He questioned seriously.
“They were traditionalist and even the promise of what my powers could give them would stop them from punishing me for being deceitful. After all, I lied and claimed to be a Beta instead of fulfilling my duties and becoming a babymaker. It cost them their lives but left me damaged” She explained as she lifted her shirt slightly to reveal her scar which caused a protective growl to escape from Gabriel as he hugged Dawn even closer.
“No one will ever hurt you again” He swore seriously and Dawn blinked a little in surprise before she hugged Gabriel back while a few tears slipped down her cheeks feeling surprisingly safe in the Alpha’s embrace, it kinda felt like what she would imagine a fatherly hug to feel like.