Chapter Text
“Four hundred and four years ago a human with glowing hair was born in a hospital in Latvia. Her name was Lilija Davids Balodis and she was the first known human being with superpowers.
After her birth, more people had babies with supernatural appearances or powers and then every second baby that was born got superpowers. Scientists couldn’t explain it. Even now there’s no explanation why or how everything happened.
In our present time, half of the earth's population have so-called ‘miracles’ and the world has changed to something that used to be only in fantasy books. Structures of cities were changed, knowledge and education were expanding faster than it used to be and also new occupations were made. One of the newer occupations was being a hero, a prestigious job. Being a hero is everyone’s dream because it is an honourable and exciting employment, regardless of nationality, age, or gender.
But if there’s good then there will always be evil. New Edens get terrorised by villains or as many call them ‘the demons’ every day but our heroes, ‘the angels’, are always there to stop their evilness with their goodness. Today is the 300th anniversary of our honourable hero league Celestials and they have planned a special festival at Nightingale Park this Sunday which has a lot of fun and exciting attractions and also offer an exhibit about their history…”
The CEO of the Daily Dove, Gabriel Goodwin, put the newspaper down and smiled at his employee standing in front of him, showing his bright white teeth. “Mr. Fell, you’ve done an incredible job once again” He applauded. “Ah thank you, sir!” Aziraphale gave him a nervous smile while trying to avoid eye contact with his boss.
Aziraphale, the employee who wrote the article, was not very fond of his boss. Don’t get him wrong, he really likes his job and also his workplace. It is just his superior who makes him not want to get up from bed because Aziraphale is kind of fed up with his weird tasks and his big ego that makes him think that he’s better than everyone only because he owns the company and knows the Superhero Archangel.
But Aziraphale is probably the only one who thinks that because it seems like that everyone else in the company seems to worship and look up to him. Some of them would literally kiss his feet if he asked them.
“Well, I am missing the interview with the Archangel though”, he remarked. “Interview? There wasn’t any interview with Archangel. He declined it”, Aziraphale said, puzzled. “Oh, right… Well then! I got a new job for you! Write a report about the greatest superheroes here in New Edens and write a part only about the Archangel'', he commanded.
“Erm… but sir? I’m an investigative journalist. It is not really my field to write articles about Superheroes, you know? I mean, I’d love to but it isn’t really-” Gabriel stood up from his chair and approached Aziraphale. “Mr. Fell, I look forward to your report!” He gave him another bright smile and patted his shoulder before he went out of his office and left Aziraphale alone.
The journalist’s jaw dropped and was frozen, processing what just happened. Not even a minute later the door opened again and Mr. Goodwin's head peeked out. “Oh and please try to interview the Archangel, thank youuuuuu~” And before Aziraphale even realised that Gabriel was talking to him, he was already gone.
Aziraphale was stunned and confused by what just happened. His day was perfect until this moment. He had a great sleep and woke up perfectly without any pain. He made himself the best breakfast he had ever cooked and also finished his book while eating. His wings were perfect which meant he didn’t have to brush them and the weather was ideal for his flight to work.
One of his coworkers made delicious cupcakes which they shared with everyone in the office and someone even gave him a box full of his favourite tea for whatever reason. When his name got called into his boss’s office he thought he would get a big fat promotion or a pay rise but he was certainly not expecting that.
He wrote the article about superheroes just because his coworker named Shadwell, who was originally commissioned, didn’t want to write it and he begged/annoyed Aziraphale into writing it. Shadwell even offered him a special, limited edition book which he couldn’t physically decline but if he knew that he had to write another superhero article, he may or may not have given it a second or a third thought (he would have still said yes because a book was in the deal and he just can’t say no to a book).
Furthermore, Aziraphale was not very fond of superheroes. In his point of view, a superhero was more of a problem than a problem solver because they usually remove chaos with more chaos which annoyed the journalist very much. Plus he felt like they have some strings attached to the company since every week someone releases an article specifically about heroes and all of them looked more like an advertisement than an informative piece of writing.
The blonde-haired man sighed and turned around to leave the office, head down and in need of an Earl Grey. On his way back to his desk, his name got called and he turned to the direction where the voice came. It was a girl who called him, to be precise Pepper the new intern. She went up to him, a newspaper under her arm and asked: “Sorry to disturb you Mr. Fell but I got a quick question. Do you know anything about the blue fire explosion in East Eden 60 years ago? Mrs Rosé wants me to collect some information for her”
“Oh, dear… that’s a very complex and old topic but if I can remember correctly, our archive should have loads of articles about it. I would recommend you to go to Ms. Tracy, she should know where to look exactly” He answered. “Thank you, Mr. Fell! Oh and by the way your last work was really, really weird. I mean you wrote it perfectly as always but it didn’t feel like you, you know? Anyway, I got to go!!” She gave him a quick wave and ran off in the other direction.
He definitely knew what she meant. His usual topics were serious crimes, like serial killers or mafia activities, so it didn’t surprise him that readers who are familiar with his works are confused by his new concept. Another big sigh came out of Aziraphale and he just felt distraught and had no motivation to do anything. He was craving his comfortable armchair in his bookshop with a cup of hot chocolate and a newly started book on the coffee table but when he glanced at his watch he cried a little inside because he still had five hours ahead of him until his work day ended.
Aziraphale somehow managed to survive six hours of senseless research and drafting about the city’s golden people. Aziraphale would’ve gone crazy or borderline insane or both if he had to sit another hour at his desk looking into some random people with special abilities who were kind enough to be a cooler version of a police officer.
The blonde-haired was still not very fond of superheroes even after hours of researching and literally analysing every single atom in their bodies. The only thing that somewhat piqued his interest was their evil counterparts.
Don't get him wrong, he does not support their doings because they are the main reason why a lot of people suffer. He just liked how the villains came up with interesting strategies to do evil and used their inventions instead of their miracles. The most interesting villain was the Serpent in Aziraphale’s opinion. He was fascinated by the supervillains' use of different kinds of unique weapons and never his given powers. Actually, no one knows what his miracle is. Some people said his miracle is creating different kinds of weapons in his body and pulling them out which is by the way the most popular theory on the internet but Aziraphale thought it was kind of hilarious to think about it. Unfortunately or rather fortunately he hadn’t been really seen in the last few months.
He made a mental note to himself to do maybe more research about that particular villain in his free time which he by the way he doesn’t have a lot of but he will always find some time for himself. After quickly saving his process and shutting his computer down, he quickly put on his jacket and semi ran out of the building. Outside he looked at the still blue and sun-shining sky and took a deep breath before spreading his white wings and taking off to the sky.
He liked the feeling of the sun shining on his clean wings and the wind brushing against him. No clouds and no cold weather. This day should’ve been perfect but how the Germans would say: “Life is not a pony farm”.
While flying in the sky, he often observed the city and its inhabitants. He loved to observe the city because he could see everything happening. From buildings being demolished to new places being opened. He also liked how the people looked like little ants from up. Little ants who are crawling to their destination and enjoying life.
Besides his bookshop, the city is very dear to him. He grew up here, met a lot of people and learned a lot of things. He never thought of moving out and if he’s going to be honest, it never even came to his mind. He would do everything for this city to stay alive, that’s why he doesn’t completely hate the concept of superheroes because in some way they are somewhat the protectors of New Edens and have the same love for the city as Aziraphale.
He still doesn’t want to make the article though. In his opinion, that article is just an indignity to him. I mean he has standards that his articles should meet and that article would be like the exact opposite of his normal standard. Aziraphale shook his head to change the subject in his head. He didn’t want to think about it anymore since it only gave him headaches, that’s why he started to concentrate on his flying and the feeling of the hot sun on his white wings.
As he was about to feel relaxed again, a few metres away from him was an explosion. Aziraphale was startled by it and stopped his flying to look in the direction where it came from. Smoke appeared from the street and he saw a lot of people running and screaming away from the scene. Curious as he was, he started to fly quickly towards it and at the scene, he landed on a tall building to look down.
On the street were five people fighting. Aziraphale recognizes them as the three villains Hastur, Ligur and one of the leaders of the Demons, Beelzebub. The other two people were the heroes Archangel and Warrior in their white shining armours… like literally white shining armour. Their superhero suits are mostly white and golden and have a lot of glitter. Aziraphale doesn’t know who designed their costumes but he knows they did an awful job.
“Beelzebub! You again! Wasn’t our warning not good enough for you?!” Archangel screamed and widened his wings to look bigger and more threatening. Beelzebub just scuffed at him and rolled their eyes. “Warning? I would hardly call it a warning! It was more of a plea than a warning, Assangel” They mocked him.
Archangel balled his fist and furrowed his brows. Warrior pulled out two daggers and pointed them towards the villains. “How about we teach you a lesson you annoying bug” They said. Beelzebub just rolled their eyes and put their index finger and thumb in their mouth to make a whistle. Different kinds of insects appeared (mostly flies) and flew towards the two heroes. The villain Ligur turned invisible and Hastur pulled out a small and lighter version of a bazooka and put an acid slime in it, which he created.
It escalated into a big and powerful fight. Everything around them got either pushed away or destroyed. Pedestrians who happened to be nearby fled as quickly as possible because anyone who has a normal brain would want to be as far away from the scene.
Except Aziraphale who stayed still on his spot on top of the rather tall building. Normally he would go the opposite way if he ever sees a hero or a villain but today the only thing floating in his head is this silly article about heroes and villains of New Edens. He really despises it but he just can’t get it out of his mind for whatever reason.
So that’s why he took his vintage messenger bag from his shoulder and pulled out a small but very good camera. If he’s going to write about superheroes then why not make it the best one ever? After removing the case from his camera and turning it on, he began to take different kinds of photos from the fight. For example, he got photos of Warrior throwing their daggers at the villains and teleporting them back to them or Beelzebub standing on a bunch of flies and flying around. He took pictures of Hastur with his bazooka and he even got a picture of him creating his acid slime. While with Ligur it was hard to even see or notice him because he was mostly invisible but he did catch him once behind Archangel.
Speaking of which, he took tons of pictures of Archangel because he was the most presentable and was always in the picture even though Aziraphale didn’t intend it.
The fight between heroes and villains seemed like it would never end, even though the heroes were outnumbered. Well, Warrior and Archangel are some of the strongest if not the strongest heroes in the city and every low villain should know to not mess with them but on the other hand, they’re not fighting against low villains. They’re fighting against the ‘Dukes of Hell’ as the media would call them. They terrorise the city almost every day.
Warrior got slowly annoyed by this never-ending dispute and teleported a small firework into their hand and shot it up to the sky. That is a well-known signal and means calling for support. “Why did you call for support Warrior?! I could’ve handled them easily!” Archangel screamed while trying to fight against Ligur, avoiding the acid slime of Hastur and getting those damn flies from his face. “We can’t fight all day! And it would be better if we had a some people supporting us!”
While the two heroes bicker, a voice appeared in Beelzebub’s ear. “Uh hello? Hi? Does this thing work? Eh should be, Beez I recommend you to slowly retreat because it looks like two heroes are coming as backups. To be precise Light and Defender” Beelzebub just rolled their eyes and summoned more insects. “How much time do we have?” They asked.
“Not enough to continue this fight and win. Come on your grace ” He said with a bit of mockery. “Get out of there now or- You know what, I don’t care. Get arrested or so. I don’t give a shit” The voice said and then disappeared. Beelzebub groaned and controlled the flies to fly them to the nearest sewer hole so they could flee easily. The other villains went different ways and escaped as quickly as they appeared.
“Now they’re gone. Good job Warrior!” Archangel said angrily. “What was I meant to do?! Fighting till Christmas or what?” they asked back. “We could’ve got them if you would’ve concentrated on the fight!” Warrior just turned their back on him and fumbled on their watch a bit until they turned back to him. “I messaged that there’s no danger anymore. I will go now. Good work… or so” and not a second later they disappeared in front of him. The hero just groaned in annoyance and spread his wings out to fly away.
Aziraphale took a last picture before he sat down and looked at the photos he took. He had more than 100 pictures, enough to write an article or even sell some of them to gain a bit more money because he somehow got to support his hobby as a book collector. He sighed and stood up again to look down at the place that had just been attacked and of course, it looked horrible. Residents of that street slowly came back and they looked very disappointed and upset at how their home had been disarranged. No one stayed to help them clean a bit up. Normally it would’ve been not that upsetting but the street was known to have a lot of inhabitants who don’t have miracles and they can’t do anything except wait for their government to help them.
Aziraphale felt very sorry and quickly packed his camera in his messenger bag and flew down. He helped a few people, mostly elderly people, get into their houses safely and tried to remove things that fell before the houses and made it hard to enter. After helping a few people, he said his goodbyes and took off to the sky.
The sun was no longer on the highest point anymore and was ready to set. The temperature was still perfect but only slightly colder than the last time he flew. Last time the article was in his mind while flying, now are the people settling in his thoughts. He felt pity for them because he could never imagine what it’s like to live in a city full of inhuman powers but not have one yourself. It must be very scary, he thought. Aziraphale came up with a little charity event in his upcoming article for them and Mr. Goodwin probably won’t mind.
When he saw his bookshop he slowly flew down and landed in front of his door but before he opened it, Aziraphale noticed the flower shop in the reflection. He still got to get used to the new shop; well you can’t really call it new because the shop has been there for a few months now but Aziraphale has been living on this street for half of his life now and he was used to seeing a newspaper store with a grumpy old grandpa as the owner. So it’s rather something new to see a cute-looking ginger working with plants there.
Aziraphale turned around to get a better look at the flower shop and saw the cute owner talking with a customer. The journalist really wanted to talk to them because they looked nice and fun to hang out with, so without any second thought he walked towards the flower shop and went in.
A little bell rang above the door to let everyone in the shop know that Aziraphale entered. He looked around and noticed how beautiful and perfect the plants were. He read a few books about plants and because of that, he knows that they’re in perfect condition.
“Beau, I don't want to deal with your bullshit. I’m done with this whole thing and it was the last time I will ever help you” The owner said to maybe not a customer but an acquaintance. “Come on! We can give you everything your nasty little heart desires if you would help us out on this one!” Beau said desperately. The owner groaned and rolled his eyes. “Look Beau, I left this rabbit hole and I do not look forward to going back there again. Go away now, I got a customer”
Beau muttered something under their breath and furrowed their brows before turning around to leave the shop. “So sorry that you have to hear this. My friend can get very annoying” The ginger said. “Ah, no worries! I should’ve left and not interrupted the conversation” Aziraphale smiled at the red-haired.
“You’re here intending to spend some money and I may or may not need some money to live here, so do you need any help?” He asked. “Well, I actually just wanted to look around and to see what the new shop has to offer but your plants do look very tempting to spend some money on. Do you have any recommendations?”
“Recommendations? Hmm.. well you look kind of a guy who would enjoy some Aglaonema, also known as Chinese Evergreen” The owner answered. He went into a backroom and a few minutes later brought back the plant. “Here. Looks great everywhere and is easy to take care of" He explained.
“She looks very pretty! Would fit perfectly in my bookshop” The red-haired raised an eyebrow and looked surprised at Aziraphale. “You’re the owner of the bookshop across the road?” He questioned. The journalist nodded while he inspected the plant. “Yes, I’m the owner of the bookshop. My name’s Aziraphale Fell, nice to meet you” He looked up at the flower boy and offered his hand which the other took. “Aziraphale Fell?”
“Yeah, I know a weird name. I don’t know why my parents gave me that name” He explained and let go of the other’s hand. “No, no, I think it’s a pretty and unique name. It suits you”, he replied. Aziraphale cheeks got warm and a tad reddish. “Ah thank you”
“Well I’m Anthony J. Crowley but everyone just calls me Crowley”, he introduced himself. “May I ask what the J stands for?” Aziraphale questioned. “It’s just a J, really”, Crowley answered.
“Well, I think the plant is perfect. How much do I have to pay you, Anthony J. Crowley?” The journalist asked with a playful undertone. “Ew, it sounds super weird. Never call me that ever again” He stated. Aziraphale just giggled at Crowley’s comment and the ginger noticed how it sounded so sweet. “You owe me nothing. Today is a special occasion, you know. 100% discount for bookshop owners! What a lucky man you are!”
Aziraphale raised an eyebrow and was sceptical at Crowley’s discount. “You’re sure?” he questioned to be sure because he didn’t believe that the discount existed. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure Mr. Fell” Crowley assured.
The journalist gave him a big and warm smile and thanked him. “Thank you so much, Crowley! I still owe you something though”, he said. “If you’re free tomorrow, we could… maybe go out together and you can buy me a coffee or something?” Crowley asked.
He got flustered and scratched his neck while trying to avoid having eye contact with Aziraphale. He hoped internally that Aziraphale didn’t see how his ears turned red while on the other side Aziraphale also got a bit reddish on his cheeks. “Oh… yeah I should be free tomorrow afternoon” He answered with a little smile.
“Cool, yeah. Uhm… just come to my shop and we can go together to my trusted café just down the road”
“Noted” Aziraphale said and nodded with a smile. He took the evergreen from the counter and carried it to the door. Crowley followed him and opened the door for him because he noticed that he wouldn’t be able to open it with his hands occupied and the plant is rather on the bigger side.
“Thank you for the plant again. I’m very grateful!” Aziraphale thanked him while stepping outside of the shop. “You can show your gratitude by showing up tomorrow” Crowley just said. Aziraphale turned around and laughed. “I promise I will not bail on you” He promised.
“Have a jolly good rest day!” Aziraphale said his goodbyes and so did Crowley. “You too… Oh! And be careful when you’re walking through the streets of New Edens. Heard there was like uh… a fight nearby. Try to avoid Fiddlers Street as much as possible because I heard that’s like a popular spot for… evilness”
Aziraphale chuckled and nodded. “I will Crowley. You too, stay safe” Aziraphale gave him one last smile before he turned around and went across the street to his bookshop.
“Jolly good rest day…” Crowley chuckled and grinned as he watched Aziraphale going into his bookshop, vanishing from the view.