A Brother's Ballad
It would be five years time before Miguel had seen Gabriel for the last time. Five years of silence on Miguel's end, and pleading on Gabriel's. Begging for a merciless God to send him an someone, anyone, perhaps an angel. The only angels Gabriel had ever met had wires for wings that stretched on for miles, the static called his name and he answered.
The last time Miguel had seen Gabriel he had been walking to the supermarket, the two had caught each other's eye and stared. Gabriel was the first to approach, but unlike before he had lost weight. He looked tired, his eyes were glazed over like he was somewhere else. He and Miguel would talk, Gabriel would be the first to say he had missed his brother, and Miguel would agree.
Gabriel had said that they should catch a movie together sometime, Miguel was inclide to agree once more. They would pay using their cards at separate registers, Gabriel would think of what movie to watch with Miguel. A great flood would break out that night, flooding downtown Neuva York. It would kill 1/4 of Neuva York's population in the process, a fight would break out between the Goblin and Spiderman, indistinguishable shouting would raise between the two. It's unclear what is said.
Spider-man rips off Goblin's mask and freezes, some words are exchanged before the Goblin is violently held under water, and Spiderman doesn't stop until the Goblin's body goes limp and begins to sink. When they ask, Miguel tells everyone that Gabriel must have drowned in the great flood, he does not, in fact, tell them that Gabriel kicked and screamed as Miguel held him under the water until it filled his lungs.
That Gabriel is likely buried in the mass grave with the other unidentified bodies. That he would not be seeing a movie with Gabriel anytime soon.
That it was so incredibly important that nobody saw Gabi or Gabriel enter his apartment. These alternate universe people who wore the faces of people he loved were not his family, were not his brother nor his daughter. Despite this fact, he couldn't deny how at ease he had felt the entire night. This was further proven by the fact that he had fallen asleep before the end of the movie, and had awoke due to the sounds of giggling from his company.
They had ordered pizza at some point during the night, and were watching some old cartoon with a boy who seemed to be in love with a girl who was a mermaid. The pizza had been placed on the coffee table in front of him, now cold, and was almost entirely gone.
"He looks just like Papá, doesn't he?", said Gabi quietly to Gabriel, Miguel had not quite woken up yet.
"Yes, he does, doesn't he?", the two looked back towards Miguel, who was looking back at them with bleary eyes.
"Shock, how late is it?", Miguel had sat up and was rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Late, we should get going. I have school tomorrow and you have work, right?", Gabi was already standing and walking over to the kitchen to retrieve their bags, which they had left behind when the had arrived earlier that evening.
"Sorry, didn't mean to fall asleep. We were having fun, weren't we?", he said to Gabriel, who nodded in agreement.
"las cosas son como son. No pasa nada, I can't stay up late either", he shrugged, and stood to go and join Gabi by the door.
Miguel was helping gather things, while Gabriel was looking for Gabi's coat. When they were ready to say their goodbyes Gabriel had whispered something quickly to her and she perked up as the both waved goodbye.
"Buenas noches Miguel, gracias por invitarnos!"
"Sí, gracias hermano, nos vemos después!"
"De nada, see you later guys", he gave a tired wave with a soft smile as they entered the portal, and closed the door behind them.
When he walked back into the living room the television was still on, playing the ending credits to the movie, an empty feeling ate away at his insides. He turned off the TV, and decided to turn in early, he was exhausted, and was going to have to go to work.
Despite this fact, he laid in bed awake for what felt like hours, staring at the ceiling. He wanted to see his daughter again, even if it wasn't really his daughter, even if she didn't have any memories of him, and had never met him. With Gabriel, it was a bit more complex. If he was anything like his own Gabriel, then he knew that he would not rest until he knew that Miguel was okay, even if it meant he was suffering in his place.
His mind drifted back to the day he had seen the world burn, images flashed before his eyes, faint screaming echoing through his ears, he had woken up.
He didn't even remember falling asleep.
When Miguel woke up the next morning, he was in a cold sweat, the room around him was pitch black, despite the fact that the sun should have been shining through the window, as he had gone to bed around 2 am and his alarm clock should have went off by 5:30.
He tried to stand, and found himself unable to. Miguel could hear his own breathing, and found that he could move his arms and legs, though he had a terrible feeling of being constricted. He heard his voice being called by a woman he vaguely remembered, the soft light of her body illuminated the area around him, but did not allow him to see anything other than the floor.
"-uel? Miguel? You're having another panic attack, can you hear me?", his breath was quick and labored, his heartbeat was erratic. "Breath with me, can you do that for me?", the woman was floating next to him, the static from the holo made his skin buzz. He took a deep breath and held it for a moment before releasing.
"Good, keep doing that", he continued until the constriction he had been feeling began to loosen, and his vision returned. Shock. Shocking hell. He had forgotten. She was watching him with a worried expression, his hands were gripping the edge of the bed, there were tears in his eyes.
"I... thank you", he whispered, voice cracking, his throat was dry. His face felt vaguely hot, he needed to gather himself before he returned to HQ.