"I think I did try that approach." Fate grinned. "I told you a lot, Gabriel, but you weren't ready to hear it or didn't understand it, if you did."
Gabriel shook his head, sensing it was probably the truth.
"You needed to learn a few more important lessons first," Fate said simply. "I can't force feed outcomes, Gabe. I may egg along chains of events from time to time, but if I am to respect free will, I need to show you the road without necessarily telling you where it goes."
Gabriel swallowed the retort he wanted to give.
"And then there was Deidre," Fate added a bit more sadly. "Every once in awhile, the plight of a human makes me almost-feel something."
"That's the problem," Gabriel seconded. "I can't get over it."
"You must, if you are to heal yourself and the underworld."
"You have no fucking clue what it's like to feel. Not almost feel but really experience emotions."
"I don't," Fate agreed. "But maybe you should look at it the way Deidre does. As a silver-lining. If past-Death hadn't done what she did, Deidre wouldn't exist."
"She wouldn't hurt or spend eternity in Hell, either."
"She wouldn't have reached the part of you and Darkyn that can feel."
Gabriel was quiet, considering. "I'd rather spare her the misery of her current life than letting worthless gods feel."
"Gabriel, you are missing the point. You are Death, the Keeper of Souls, Guardian of the Dead, Master of the Underworld, the first ever human-turned-deity. Your very existence was destined to start a new era, rewrite the Immortal Code, and create billions of new chains of events."
"I think you're exaggerating," Gabriel said with a chuckle. He moved onto his belly to peer through the brush and monitor the movement of dealers to and from the palace.
"If you being you has resulted in this, then what do you think Deidre being Deidre will do? You are both anomalies, created at just the right time, and given just the right power you need to forever alter the Future." Fate crawled down beside him.
"To prevent another upheaval," Gabriel guessed. "To stop Darkyn from raising his Army of Souls."
"What're we looking for?" Fate had his binoculars out.
"You blind, old man? We're barely thirty meters away."
"They came with the outfit. There must be a reason to use them."
"Look for anything that might prevent me from reaching the palace." Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Am I right? Are the two super important humans coming into play on your chessboard right now to counter Darkyn's plans?"
"Yes."
"So this is less about helping me and more about some danger only you can see," he surmised.