Chapter Text
"I want the dance," Crowley said.
Aziraphale nodded.
He'd actually been practicing, just in case he'd ever see Crowley again.
"You were right," Aziraphale said, stepping out, holding out a hand.
"You were right," He continued, pulling his foot and hand back in.
"I was wrong," He turned with his hands by his head.
"You were right," He held out his arms and bowed.
He looked up hopefully to Crowley.
A small smile had crept across his face, a small light in a dark room.
"We have some paperwork to do," Aziraphale said, sadly, and he straightened up.
Crowley returned his gaze to the ground.
Was he not actually sorry? Did he just want to pain him more?
He just did the apology dance, what was the point of apologizing if he wasn't sorry?
Aziraphale sat down, pulled out a form and a pen, and began reading out questions.
"What was your previous position in Hell?" He asked.
"Former Demon," Crowley mumbled.
"Previous rank in heaven?"
Crowley tried to remember.
"Archangel, I think. I was kind of high on the ladder,"
Aziraphale nodded and frowned.
"What was your old name? Before Crawly? The Archangels say it's necessary to change it back," Aziraphale said, sadly.
"I'm so sorry about this, my dear," He added.
Crowley tried to remember his angel name, too.
A Little After The Beginning
"Michael?" They said, walking up behind her.
"Yes? What's wrong?" Michael answered, looking away from another angel she was talking to.
"Why are we bothering?" They asked, "With the stars?"
"I mean, what's the point of making all the nebulas and stuff if we're just going to destroy it in six thousand years?" They added.
Michael stared at them as if they had just called her ugly.
"It's part of God's Plan. We cannot question God's Plan." She said.
"But, the humans aren't even going to see all the stars we're making? What's the point? Why did God plan it this way?" They continued, more confused than ever.
Michael suppressed an eye roll and said "We. Cannot. Question. God's. Plan. We. Are. Angels. Do. You. Get. It. Now. Kokabiel?"
Kokabiel pulled on one of their curls.
"Yes, Michael," They said, quietly, even though they didn't understand.
Why did God not want the stars time to live?
Did She just think of them as a pretty backdrop?
What was the Plan and how did Michael know how to follow it?
"Good, now get back to those stars, please," She said, turning back to the other angel.
Kokabiel continued their work on the stars, now more saddened, only looking forward to seeing their friends, who also questioned God's Plan, and Aziraphale, the pretty blonde one who'd been so nice.
Heaven, 2024
Crowley felt a tear slide down his face, making his contacts go blurry.
"I don't want to go back," He said.
Aziraphale stood up and put down the page, so he could comfort Crowley.
"It's okay, Crowley. We can make you a different name, I won't force you to go back," He said.
Crowley wished that Aziraphale would go away and leave him alone, but at the same time needed to sink into one of his big, warm hugs.
Aziraphale pulled his arms around Crowley and rocked.
"You can pick anything. Would you like a different name?" He asked.
Crowley reached up for a minute to pull out his contacts, revealing his yellow eyes, and unleashing more tears.
"I... Can't..." Was all he could say.
Aziraphale squiggled something on the page with his free hand.
"There, I faked a name. Now some poor demon named Crooly is now an angel named Janthony," He said, with a sad smile.
Crowley forced a laugh.
"Poor bugger," He said.
Crowley leaned his head against Aziraphale's shoulder.
He still hadn't forgiven him, but he really did need Aziraphale, for Someone's sake.
A plan began to slowly formulate itself in Aziraphale's mind.
"Technically, you are now an angel, but," He said, "On paper you are still a demon."
Crowley made a noise that sounded like a cross between 'Ngk' and 'sob'.
"All we have to do is to say that you are an angel because no one really reads paperwork," He added, smiling.
"All the other angels would notice, though, wouldn't they? I'd still have the snake eyes and the wings," Crowley said.
Oh. He hadn't thought of that yet.
Something dawned on on him.
"Those contacts, are they reusable?" He asked.
Crowley pulled them out of his pocket and stared at them.
"I don't know," He said, distantly.
Aziraphale bit his lip.
"We could find some more," He thought out loud.
"I could say that your wings can't turn back," He added.
That bit didn't seem like it would work, but it could...
"What do you think happened?" Maggie asked.
The three thought for a few minutes.
"They could have broken up," Nina mused.
Anathema shook her head.
"They've been together for over six thousand years. And from what they've said, they're both head over heels in love but haven't realized it yet," She said.
"Both of them?" Nina murmured, "Could have sworn Crowley had someone else,"
"Really? Six thousand years?" Maggie asked.
"Old as the world," Anathema answered.
"See? They can't have broken up after all that," Maggie said to Nina.
"It just feels like something happened," Nina defended, "Something really bad,"
Crowley looked at himself in Aziraphale's large mirror.
He was wearing exactly what he normally wore, but white.
It felt wrong.
When he'd disguised himself as an angel over a year ago, it was funny, like a roleplay.
Now, he had no say. It was real now, the role he played was now his life.
He ran a hand through his hair.
He'd just cut it into a mop of bouncy curls, slightly longer than when he had had to call the Upstairs home.
"You look lovely, Crowley," Aziraphale said, who was sitting on his chair across the room.
"Sorry, Anthony," He fixed.
They'd agreed that they wouldn't call Crowley Kokabiel, as that was deadnaming, and Aziraphale refused to deadname anyone, especially Crowley.
"What are we going to do now?" Crowley asked, turning to face Aziraphale.
Aziraphale thought about this for a moment.
"I was expecting an Eric or two, not you, so I'd opened a spot for them as a low rank angel, but unless you want to sit doing paperwork until the Second Coming, I could introduce you to the archangels," He said.
Crowley stiffened.
He did not want to meet the other archangels again, but...
"Do I get to mess with them?" He asked.
"No," Aziraphale said, sadly.
"Please?"
"Crowley,"
"Pleaase?" Crowley begged.
He really wanted to mess with some Archangels.
"No," Aziraphale said loudly, looking around.
Silently, he mouthed 'Yes' and smiled.
Crowley let a little bit of a smile cross his face.
He was stuck an angel, he may as well make it worth it.
Aziraphale led Crowley into Michael's 'office', where the archangels were standing.
"Hello," He said, brightly.
"Hi," Crowley said.
Michael and Uriel shared a side eye.
"Where are the new angels?" Uriel asked.
Aziraphale gestured to 'Anthony', "This is Anthony. You may remember him as Crowley the demon, but now he has agreed to take back his old rank in Heaven!"
Michael put on a fake smile.
"Of course, Anthony," She said, "I am Michael, that is Uriel, Saraquael, and Metatron is over there,"
Saraquael raised a hand and Uriel nodded.
Crowley put on a skeptical look.
"Nice to meet you, Mickey," He said.
"Michael," She reminded.
"Michigan,"
"Michael,"
"Minerva. Got it!" He said, retreating behind Aziraphale.
"Well," Aziraphale interjected, before Michael could say Michael again.
"I need to show 'Anthony' around. It really has been a while since he's been," He said, pulling Crowley by the hand.
Crowley stared at his hand, unable to comprehend the fact that they were technically holding hands.
Crowley.exe had stopped responding.
"Oh, yes, nice to meet you, Microsoft!" He said, snapping back to reality.
Once they were out of earshot, Aziraphale asked, "What would you say to some coffee?"
"We should try to find them," Maggie said.
"How?" Nina asked, "They could be anywhere,"
Anathema reached into her bag and pulled out a page of paper.
"My ancestor, Agnes Nutter, left a lot of prophecies about the future," Anathema explained, "After the Armageddon didn't happen, I thought I got rid of them all, but she'd arranged for them to be sent to me many times."
"They've been coming in the mail at least once a week since June," She continued.
Flipping over the page, she read it aloud.
"When the sun sits above the shop like a flame, the angels shall come,"
Nina looked through the window.
"The sun's over the bookshop, a little like a flame," She murmured.
After a minute of silent thought, Maggie exclaimed.
"That's him!" She said.
"Who?" Anathema asked.
"Mister Fell!" She answered.
"Is that..." Nina said, "Mister Six Shots of Espresso?"
Crowley pushed open the door of Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death.
"Angel," He murmured.
"Thank you, my dear,"
"Mister Fell!!" Maggie squeaked, running towards him.
"Maggie!" He said.
"We were just talking about you," Someone said, from the other end of the room.
Aziraphale looked up.
Was that Anathema? Here?
He strained his eyes.
Yep, it was Anathema.
"Good to see you, Anathema," He said.
Crowley closed the door of the coffee shop quietly.
Aziraphale was having his moment with the girls, so he would just stand there, he supposed.
"Hi, Crowley!" Anathema said loudly to him.
He nodded and gave a little smile.
"Where have you been?" She asked, getting up.
Crowley tried to find something to say that wasn't the truth.
"Around," He shrugged.
"We were actually kind of worried. It seems silly now," She said.
"We missed you!" Maggie said, "So much has happened this year!"
Aziraphale smiled and said, "I missed both of you as well! Tell me, how are you doing?"
"Good, good," Nina said, reaching out to hold Maggie's hand.
"We're close now," Maggie replied.
"Well, not together, together, but we're together," She explained.
"Wonderful! I'm so happy to hear," Aziraphale beamed.
"Are you with Crowley yet?" Nina blurted.
Go- Sat- Someone, he wished.
"Nina!" Maggie said.
Aziraphale waved a hand.
"It's fine, Maggie. We actually haven't seen each other much recently, so I'm afraid we're back on square one," He said, sadly.
He took a glance at his now-angel, who was awkwardly conversing with Anathema.
If only things hadn't had to happen this way.
But what could he have done? He couldn't force Hell to trade again, there were no take backsies, so what could have happened differently.
Now all there was to do was be better in the future, if there was much of one.
If Crowley wanted him back, of course...
"I'm sorry," Nina murmured.
"No need," He answered.
"So, um," Anathema asked, "No black?"
Crowley looked down at his clothes.
He'd almost successfully forgotten about the day.
"Lost a bet," He joked.
Anathema bounced her head.
"How's Newt?" He asked.
"Oh, he's taking apart our microwave, as usual," She replied.
Crowley forced a laugh.
"My condolences to the microwave," He said.
Just then, Anathema's demeanor got sadder, more stressed.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Depends on the question,"
"Is something bad happening? Something bad, something soon?" She asked.
Crowley raised an eyebrow.
"What makes you think that?"
Anathema struggled for words.
"It feels like something is going wrong. There's this prophecy, from Agnes, too, I found it yesterday" She began, fishing into her bag.
"It said something was going to happen and it sounds pretty intense,"
She read it aloud.
"When they are us, the son of the father shall arrive and the world shall be judged for its wrongs,"
Crowley's raised eyebrows soon became furrowed.
"I think the judgement may mean Judgement day, and the son may be Jesus, but I can't tell who the 'us' is,"
Crowley stared, amazed.
Over the elevator ride down to Earth, Aziraphale had briefed him on what Heaven (or more accurately, Aziraphale) was planning for the Second Coming.
He would never have guessed, so how did Anathema?
"How'd you know that?" He asked.
Anathema shrugged.
They stood there for a moment in silence.
"Do you know who the 'us' is?" She asked.
Crowley thought about it.
He didn't know many uses, except...
Oh.
It was him.
And Aziraphale.
"So you're saying," Anathema paused, "That you two will signal the second coming?"
Crowley nodded.
Then Anathema asked something Crowley wasn't prepared to answer.
"But don't you want to be together?"
Crowley shrugged.
Yes, yes he very much did.
As long as the world let them, but it really was up to Aziraphale, right?
A few long minutes of conversation later
"Hey Maggie? Nina? Can I borrow you two for a bit?" Anathema asked, leaning away from the apparently two angels.
They both nodded and stepped away.
"Has Aziraphale said anything about Crowley lately?" She asked.
"No, not said," Nina began.
"He's very obviously in love, even though Crowley probably has someone else," Nina said.
"Well, Crowley is very much in love with Aziraphale from what I can tell, too, but-"
"Oh!" Maggie squeaked, "Babe, we should get them together! Like they got us together!"
Nina smirked.
"Sudden rain, under an awning?" She asked.
"Vavoom." Maggie answered.