An empty void of nothingness is quickly covered by an uncountable amount of the exact same angel, all of them utterly motionless in their weird limbo outside of time, waiting to be called forth onto Earth, or what remained of it.

And soon, one of these angels would be ripped away from this broken limbo, gaining consciousness in a patch of grass, that was surrounded by cold, brutalistic buildings. The sky was bright, shining a brilliant shade of light blue. Stray clouds would periodically dash across the sky's blank canvas.

More importantly, the angel stood infront of someone who was shivering and distressed, clearly in dire need of help. The angel was called here for a reason, to help this poor individual.

Though unfortunately for them, their past connections with this angel cause him to back off, almost going to attack before registering the horrendous state that the someone was in. He released his grip on the handle of a sword he carried as he saw their legs almost give out beneath them.

Once he's aware of the individual's state, he picks up a familiar aura surrounding the person. One that should not be surrounding this person. This aura should be dead.

Something is deeply, horribly wrong here.

The person, nay, machine attempts to straighten themselves up, to look less scared, but the moment their voice, their *new* voice exits their body, the fear is once again revealed.
"...gabriel?"

Uncertainty and despair poison their soft, feminine vocals, causing their tone to waver. The word seems forced, the final syllable almost being rendered inaudible by an added exhale. This voice wasn't theirs either, for the voice sounded far too human for a mere machine to produce naturally. Something was up.

Stunned, the angel, Gabriel, is almost unable to respond. A second long pause feels like a lifetime, as Gabriel softly lets words slip from his mouth.
"What in God's name-"

Before he can finish, the machine before him produces sobbing noises as their legs slowly buckle, their hands raising just above their lowered head. This is deeply confusing to the uninformed Gabriel.

They whimper, trying to stand back up normally. The task is hard for them, their body just wishes to curl up into a ball and cry forever, but they know they can't do that. They do the best they can to explain their situation as quickly as possible, while still holding enough information. Their sobs and whimpers do not help, causing the sentence to go on longer than desired.
"I-I killed god- God's corpse, and I inherited the role of-of the heavenly father and I don't. I don't know what to do. There's too many things going on in my head and I can't function I can't."

Gabriel moves toward them, kneeling down to match their shorter stature. He takes their word for it, as that would explain their behavior, the aura, and the voice.

He understands how they must feel, he has seen this reaction occur before, thousands of years ago. The memories, while old, were still potent in his mind. It was the reaction that Jesus Christ himself had to the overwhelming omnipotence that godhood brings.

Now, instead of the divine haunting the flesh, the divine haunted the machine. Their case was much different to Jesus's however, with them being a machine with limited capabilities.

The angel reaches out his hands, offering the machine more stability and a small source of comfort. They hesitantly accept the offer, placing their hands in his.

"I would love to ask so many questions, though I will save everything for later. You are in no state to do much of anything. Though, I feel obligated to ask if you'd like to be referred to with His original titles."
"No. not now. it hurts."
"Alright, then what would you like to be referred to as?"
"V1. my name is V1."
"V1 it is then."

Silence fills the lifeless fields, interrupted by distant birdsong and V1's soft cries every now and then.

However, the lack of sound causes V1 further despair, as it allows them to slip further backward into their messy thoughts. Their legs finally give out underneath them, causing them to kneel in a slightly awkward and uncomfortable way.

They wouldn't stay like that for long though, as Gabriel rose upwards, taking them up with him. Then up further when he grabbed their waist, bringing their limp body close. It was more logical to him to hold the machine, to be responsible for their stability, as they could not maintain it themself. The weight of their reality was physically crushing.

They cling onto Gabriel tightly.
"Keep talking. please."
"I would love to continue speaking, unfortunately I cannot, for I do not have a topic to speak on. Any ideas would be lovely, though I completely understand if you're unable to present me with anything. That is just the nature of your plight."

"the past. food. drink. humanity. angels. weaponry. fights. friends. events. anything, please just anything. even if its nothing sensible i need. i need to hear you talk i don't care about the contents. please."

"I see. Well, as your righteous hand, I shall serve you and your needs for as long as I can, and for as long as I am needed. If that is the role you want me to take for you, of course. You can do whatever you wish, I cannot stop you. That does mean you have no obligation to answer me right now, you can think on things for as long as needed. We don't have anybody to rule over, really, and I want to assume we will not have anything much for a while. And that is okay. I do hope my company is nice enough to soothe you at least a little bit."

V1 attempts to bury their head into Gabriel, nuzzling his neck in the process. He hums contently, before speaking.
"I will take that as a yes."

He takes a moment to look around the empty area, trying his best to come up with something for V1 to do, to get their mind focused on one thing instead of literally everything.

"You need a distraction, hm? Well, how much have you done with your new powers? Could you do more? Could you try something new? There are infinite possibilities ahead of you, and that is overwhelming, but if you could pick just one thing to work on first... What would it be? What do you want to do? I would say it's best to start simple, perhaps with creation. You have done a lot of destruction, it's time to make up for that. You've already created yourself a voice, what's next? What can you create?"

As he breathes inspiration into the young god machine, he gently rocks side to side, providing further comfort for them. They look toward the small pond at the end of the field, remembering something that brought them shreds of comfort before.

They point out to the pond.
"i wanna go over there."
Gabriel obliges, moving over to the little pond.
"you can put me down now."
And he puts them down.

They quickly sit down, still unable to stand. They stare into the water for a while, before creating something to inhabit the silent pool. A fish. Then some food sources for that fish, and then more fish, more food sources, until they feel there is enough fish.

Gabriel sits down next to V1, observing them, while they observed the fish they had made.

"May I ask why you chose to create fish?"
"fish are nice. simple. i like them. they brought comfort when nothing else would."
"Brought comfort?"
"i got the chance to go fishing in wrath. it was very peaceful. i needed that break like i needed blood, now i guess i associate fish and fishing with comfort."
"Hm. Interesting."

The moment of comfort is interrupted by V1 shuddering, their hands tensing up as they do so. Gabriel notices, gently grabbing one of their tensed hands.
"Fish. What can you tell me about fish, darling?"
"fiiIISH they have gills. and scales. some have pretty paaatterns on their scales some are ugly as fuck i love them all. fiosh."

V1's voice briefly shatters the illusion of their humanity, breaking down as if mechanical in nature. This breaking is made up of random rises in volume, and extension of sounds. Even if they did want to talk about fish, they were not currently able to.

"I have seen some fish with long and pretty fins, some fish with short fins, some fish with 'ugly' scales, some fish with pretty scales. I have seen some that are weirdly shaped, some like boxes, some completely flat, some that expand into a big ball of spikes... There are so many kinds of fish out there. If you ever build a home for yourself, I think your own aquarium or outdoor pond would be wonderful for you."

"hoome..." They softly repeat, still looking at the fish.
"Maybe we can build you a nice little home once you feel better. The details of the future matter not right now. We should focus on the present, on you. Is there anything you want to do right now?"
"i want to curl up into a ball. and cry forever."
"Unfortunately, I can't let you do that. I understand why you want to though. ...Why don't we see if you can stand on your own?"

The angel shifts his position so he can stand up easier, offering the machine a helping hand while he's still lowered to the ground. They take it, standing up with him. They still seem a bit shaky, though Gabriel trusts that they will be okay. He lets go of their hand.

For a while, they are able to stand. Not exactly still, they slightly sway and their knees almost give way, but they are able to stand for just a brief moment. This is ruined by them trying to take a step, they immediately fall on their face, into the soft grass. They also start making crying noises.

"Oh goodness..."
Quickly rushing over to them, Gabriel kneels down and places a hand on their back, consoling them.
"It's okay, it's okay. Shhh. You're okay darling."

V1 pushes themself up with their arms, which still carry enough strength. They try their best to look at Gabriel, the pupil of their optic having gone large and wavy at the edges to indicate their wish to cry.

Upon seeing this, Gabriel quickly and carefully grabs V1, lifting them into the air, then holding them in his arms again. Seeing his new God in such a horrible state makes him feel horrible. To see such weakness coming from somebody who should be perfect in every way... There is something so terrible about it.

He begins to gently rock them again, soothing them like how a human parent would soothe their child. But it worked for them, and it would also work on human adults, for adults were really just bigger children.
"It's okay darling. I'm here."

Slowly, they'd stop shivering and crying, comforted once again by the angel.
"daaarling..." They'd repeat.
"You're my darling. Unless you don't want me to call you that."
They nuzzle his neck again.
"daaarling."
"I take it you're happy with me calling you darling, darling."

In response, V1 turns their sobs into mechanical purrs, their body growing warmer as they do so. Gabriel hums, his grip on the machine briefly tightening. It wouldn't take long for him to purr alongside the machine.

Originally their purrs were not synchronized at all, though soon the machine stops, learning the pattern of the angel's purr, which diminishes with each moment that the machine doesn't purr back. So quickly, they begin to purr again, trying to match timings with the angel. They get it eventually.

The moment is sweet, but must be interrupted.
"You're making me sleepy, love."
"you're making /me/ sleepy!"
Gabriel laughs with his mouth closed, soon grabbing V1 just underneath their arms, and holding them out and slightly up. Their mechanical eyelids, which were almost shut, quickly fling open. Cannot be falling asleep while in the air.

"I think it's about time we moved on to the next task." He flings V1 over his shoulder, walking off to the opposite end of the area, to the concrete slab outside the brick warehouse. He assumes it's a warehouse.

"aaand What's that?"
"More creation. I want you to create more things, ideally something inanimate since you've already made fish. What do you think you could make?"
"Clothes. i've always wanted to wear clothes."
"Hm. Interesting choice."

He sets them down onto the grey concrete with care, knowing full well that they never took damage from falling. Like a cat, V1 always landed on their feet.

They don't move after being put down, trying their best to stabilize themself. He'd move backward to make space for the machine to create.

They move their hands with care, pressing them together. Downwards, they gaze, thinking so much they begin to lose themself to their thoughts again. This time, they do not fall or falter, managing to keep mostly steady.

A long period of silence and stillness makes Gabriel more anxious about the situation that had been unfolding before him. So he quickly fills the silence, bending slightly over to try and look the machine in their eye.
"What's taking so long, sweetheart?"

It takes a long while for a response to crawl its way out of their nonexistent mouth.

"where do i start? there are so many possibilities ahead of me i c. augh."
V1 raises a hand to the side of their head, letting out a low hum for a short amount of time.
"Sorry. my head hurts."

"No need to apologize."