i know what you want, son.
i could offer how a shepherd leads even the most wayward of his flock but it might sound disingenuous.
it wouldn't help. you've already wasted your chance at redemption.
-- no -- passage requires faith and faith by definition is belief without proof. you have proof. and that means you're not playing by the same rules as everyone else. your work has mostly been for selfish reasons. i'm sorry.
keep your voice down.
each of you is born with the promise of salvation preordained. the cost of your redemption is simple belief. and yet you whine about impossible rules. sometimes i imagine you hardly deserve the gift you have been given.
i am taking your situation into account, john, but don't push me.
you're going to die because you smoked 30 cigarettes a day since you were 15. and you're going to hell because of the life you took. or to put it in a way that your kind would understand. you're fucked.
you presume to judge me, john.
i am seeking to inspire humankind to be all that was intended.
you've had it too easy for too long.
you never deserved to be blessed. you've all been born with a silver spoon in your mouth, never really appreciating the gift you were given so freely -- unconditional love from your creator.
it's not your fault. like the animals you are, you never learn unless sufficiently prodded. pleasure has no lasting effect. but subject you to pain, unpleasantness -- suffering -- and you will take notice, you will fight to overcome, to earn your redemption. that is when you're at your best. angela's fingernails are starting to darken once again.
no, i'm giving you the chance to rise above the suffering and truly earn the love of god. the road to salvation begins tonight. right now. john just stares at this rogue angel, centers on the spear in his hand. he makes a break for it. gabriel's wings beat once. the gust blows john through the double doors, back into the --
cross the bridge to your destiny.
no!!!!!!!!
then pass judgment on me now. john raises the gun -- puts it to gabriel's forehead.
do it. seek revenge. end my life. john's finger nudges the trigger.
kill me! pull the trigger! be the hand of god! john pauses, realizes what's happening here.
do it!
deny your true nature today, but what of tomorrow, of the tomorrow after that? it is only a matter of time before you end up right back where you belong. it is who you are, constantine. damned. john's fist starts behind his back, gains momentum the entire arc until it ends abruptly against gabriel's face. the ex-angel is propelled all the way to the wall -- slams hard against the concrete. body crumples on impact, slides down to the muck. you know this hurt like absolute hell.