Chapter Text
Anthony had to push through the pounding pain in his head to really focus on this person before him. He was Asa, he knew that beautiful face anywhere, but this was clearly not him. Asa, for one, didn’t have white-blond hair. Yes, he could get wild curls like that if he didn’t style it after he washed it, but his hair was a different color, Asa had a wheat color, not white.
And the eyes. Asa didn’t have blue eyes, he had hazel.
It was surreal, like something out of a movie or a book.
“Who… who are you?” Anthony asked, shutting his eyes, the lights here were so bright, he felt the world spinning. Uhg, he swore he could hear that horrible buzzing from the fluorescent lights above him. Wherever he was, he’d hate it even if he wasn’t suffering from a concussion
“O-oh dear, uh, do you not recognize me, Crowley?” The not-Asa asked, sounding a bit upset. Anthony didn’t want him to sound upset, he never liked that with his Asa.
“You look like my husband… but you’re not him.” He muttered, shifting a bit to try and help ease the pain.
“Husband?” There was a soft, pleased tone to the man’s voice, like the idea made him happy, he was sure that this person was probably touching his chest just from that tone. “That’s so sweet. Wait. No, I’m sorry, please, let me see your eyes, dear boy. I need… I need to doublecheck. Can you do that for me? Only for a moment?”
Anthony really didn’t want to open his eyes again, but he did anyway. He was looking at not-Asa once more, and he looked back at him in wonder, and sadness. There was a small ache in Anthony’s chest. Don’t look at me like that, not with that face.
“You’re not Crowley…” The man said, his voice so quiet.
“Anthony Crowley-Fell, actually.” Anthony wheezed, eyes shut once more. “My head feels like it’s going to crack open…”
“Ah! Yes, uhh… let’s get you to medical-! Uriel, is, uh, Raphael available?"
Anthony heard someone walk closer as they spoke, it was the second voice from before. “Currently, he is out of commission. It takes quite a lot of energy for even a powerful healer angel such as himself to make a body to house the soul of The Son.”
“But even if he was available, sir,” Said the first voice as they also came over, “to waste his miracles on a mortal? That would be uncalled for, and besides, that’s Earth angel duty. Dealing with humans and such, yes?”
“Our ‘guest’ here may have come from Earth, but he’s here in our realm now, seems better to have a healer from here to do it.” The one named Uriel spoke, sounding bored. “But I guess that depends on what you have to say, sir.”
“This is ridiculous.” The first voice hissed. “Why should we bother with helping out someone who broke in!”
“That elevator does not work for humans unless they are traveling with an angel or are of holy blood, and he is human. There is no indication that an angel left and came back with him. He must be here for a reason, and I think that having a healer from here would do best so we can get him patched up as quickly as possible.” Not-Asa spoke up, sounding slightly annoyed.
“Why? To question him for breaking into Heaven?” Asked the first voice.
Heaven? And did they mention angels?
Anthony groaned and rolled over onto his stomach, trying to push himself up. “What are you lot talking about…?”
“Oh, sir,” came the third voice, Muriel, Anthony thought he heard them called that, rushing forward, “you might want to be careful! I’m not too familiar with human injuries, but you seem to have a bit of red on your head!”
“That’s cause I’m a redhead, comes with the genetics.” He tried to joke.
“No, dear boy,” Not-Asa spoke gently, but with worry laced in his words, “it seems that you have suffered a head injury, you’re bleeding.”
There was a small intake of breath through teeth, then the first voice spoke. “And now Heaven has human blood in it… I think it would be wise if we removed this mortal as soon as possible.”
“And I think, Michael, that we should help him. Come here, dear, let me help you up. I’m sure I can patch you up, lickity-split! I used to be a bit of a healer myself, back in the day. Of course, those weren’t great days, mind you, what with The War and such.” Anthony felt warm hands carefully help him to his feet, and he stumbled, falling into a body that felt so, so familiar, so safe…
But it wasn’t Asa.
There was something with this man that had Anthony knowing, deep in his core, that this wasn’t exactly his Asa.
But yet…
There was something very much Asa to him.
Anthony’s head hurt so much that he felt like he was going to pass out.
“Where are you going with him?” Michael asked, snapping Anthony out of his thoughts, he hadn’t even noticed he was walking now, gently being guided by the kind man. “Sir, we need to get back to work, the plan is to start! All the pieces are being put into place! Don’t let a human that looks like your ex distract you!”
“Michael, watch your tongue.” Uriel snipped. “You can’t argue with the Supreme. You know this from Gabriel.”
“But I-!” Michael went quiet as the man, the Supreme, apparently, stopped in his tracks.
“Michael, why don’t you and the others start getting Him ready. You’re right, we should keep to the schedule, yes, but we also have time to get our guest healed up and back to where he came from.” There was a warning in his voice, and before Michael could speak, they were walking again.
Anthony didn’t know where they were going, but they seemed to be walking in a straight line somewhere, how large was this room? It seemed like it just kept going. “I am so sorry about that, Anthony, was it? I have… I have a friend with the same name as you. Well, sort of. I almost want to call you something else, haha. But, uh, anyway, are you alright?”
“I hit my head pretty hard on the floor… I might throw up.”
“A concussion, yes. I can get that healed up, don’t worry. I know the perfect place to do it so you don’t have to make it worse in these blasted lights.” They turned and continued to walk.
Anthony said a thank you, but the man quickly said ‘best not to thank me’, as if it were an autopilot response. They were quiet for a bit longer as they walked, until Anthony heard something over the pounding in his head, sounded like someone was approaching, but it was hard to tell.
“Is that the demon?” Asked this new voice. “Looks a bit roughed up, security got him when he tried to break in? Was that the alarm?”
“No, Saraqael, this isn’t… this isn’t him. This is a human who somehow ended up here. Actually, how did you end up here?”
“Snow globe.” Anthony groaned, leaning against the sturdy body that stubbornly felt so damn familiar.
“Ah. That makes total sense.” Saraqael said with sarcasm as plain as day in their voice.
“Should we investigate?” Oh great, another voice, this one sounded too excited about that. “Not every day a living body ends up in The Up. Think it could be Hell’s doing? They always did like causing us annoying bits of trouble, wouldn’t really put it past them.”
“Already on it, Sandalphon.” The Supreme replied. “If it’s not too much trouble, please make sure that the others are getting things in order. I may have ticked off Michael and you know how they get.”
Saraqael scoffed. “An easy thing to do.” And Anthony could hear them leave, not with footsteps, but with something else. Huh. A mobility device, maybe?
“And Sandalphon, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with Him?”
The sixth (oh, there were so many voices, he really should open his eyes, but that meant being sick) voice stammered for a second. “Well, uh, the alarm and such! Had to see what happened-!”
There was an awkward pause, Anthony wasn’t sure what was going on, but he’d seen enough movies and such to know this was probably one of those stare down moments, with the Supreme doing the staring.
And Anthony was right, because this Sandalphon guy apologized, saying he was going to get right back on it, watching over this mysterious guy that all these people seemed to be involved with for some reason. There were quickly moving steps fading down the hallway.
“Right.” The soft voice so like Asa’s said, just missing that bit of Welsh that Anthony was used to. “Let’s get you in here…”
There was a sound of something moving, a whoosh, like a sliding door in a sci-fi series. Then he was taken into a cool room, and it was dark. That much he could tell. He was still being guided and was helped to sit down on something.
“There we are. Now, I’m going to help remove the injury and the concussion, that should help with any pains and sicknesses you feel, alright?”
Anthony nodded his head, regretting that, before just saying yes. Then he felt a hand brush the back of his head, barely touching his hair, but still made a shiver run up his spine. And he felt with the moving hand his pain leave, following the movement.
He felt… he felt fine now, the migraine gone, his head normal, no longer spinning either.
Blinking open his eyes, he found himself in a nearly pitch dark room, except for the faintly glowing figure before him.
Why was the man glowing?
What the fuck?
“W-what-!?” Anthony tried to stand up, but not-Asa was quick to put his hands on his shoulders, easing him back down.
“Sorry, sorry, it’s… it’s a side effect, angels tend to glow in the dark, it’s rather fascinating, honestly.”
“Angels!? What’s going on? Where am I, where’s Asa!?” Anthony’s breathing increased, his chest now felt tight, and then he had fingers gently carding through his hair, a soft shushing coming from the… the being before him, and he weirdly started to calm down.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I’m sure you have so many questions…” The voice was so soft and gentle.
“I always ask questions.” Anthony found himself saying. “Used to get into so much trouble for asking so many questions, really.”
The being laughed at this, it was like bells, it was like Asa. “I’m not surprised.”
Anthony swallowed the lump in his throat as he leaned forward, shaky hands grabbing at the suit jacket he could somewhat see. “Please… please tell me where I am, what’s going on.”
“My dear boy, you’re in Heaven.”
“Heaven. You and the others mentioned it… am I dead?”
“No, you’re still very much alive, the dead do not have solid bodies in the Heavenly Realms. There isn’t really a need. So sorry, this must be such a shock to you.”
Anthony wheezed. “Like you wouldn’t believe.”
The being removed Anthony’s hands, but held one of them as he sat down next to him. “This is Heaven, it’s nothing like the literature makes it out to be, it’s been very… corporate for eons now, apparently it’s better for business, or whatever Gabriel used to say. Though he’s not here to make that be a thing anymore, I should get on it, changing this place up. Make it less blinding and boring.”
The hand holding his gave a gentle squeeze. “Allow me to introduce myself, I am Aziraphale. Former Principality of the Eastern Gate of Eden, a now-retired bookseller, and currently the Supreme Archangel of Heaven.”
Anthony looked over at the being, Aziraphale. He was trying to smile, but he clearly looked nervous. “Nice to meet you, I’m Anthony J Crowley, professor of astrophysics and sometimes a writer of books about astrophysics.”
This seemed to brighten Aziraphale’s smile, literally, his glow was brighter now. “Astrophysics, you say? Oh, then I brought you to the perfect room! I mainly chose it because it’s the darkest place in this whole realm! Hold on, let me just…”
There was a loud snap, and suddenly Anthony was looking at something so beautifully massive, colorful, something he’d only ever seen in satellite images.
He was looking at a galaxy, displayed before him, illuminating the space they were in with a glow of red and soft light. It was beautiful, it was clearer than any image from any official article or any planetarium show he’d ever attended.
If he wasn’t grounded by a cold bench and a warm hand holding his, he’d swear he was floating in space itself, looking at it in person.
“T-that’s… that’s Kiso 5639. The Skyrocket Galaxy.” Anthony blinked.
“Oh, really?” Aziraphale asked, sounding rather excited about that. “This is our Space Observation Room, a lot of the remaining angels who were part of the celestial heavens projects use it to see how their experiments are doing. I don’t really know the names of all these, the stars and galaxies weren’t really my department. I was on the Earth team when I wasn’t doing other duties, we were so busy back in the day, before The Beginning.”
The space faded to black, and then returned with another display, this one looked to be Sagittarius B2. Anthony swore he could smell the scent of raspberry wine, which the molecular cloud was known for. It was also beautiful, and this all felt so overwhelming.
“Aziraphale.” He said, running a hand through his hair, trying to get his words in order before he stumbled over them in all this confusion. “Please tell me what is going on. I think I’m having a mental breakdown right now.”
The image changed again, SMACS 0723, the first deep field galaxy cluster that was examined and photographed by the James Webb Telescope. Remembering what he was seeing was weirdly grounding him.
He looked at Aziraphale, who looked rather nice in all the light of the stars. It reminded him of when he took Asa to a planetarium for one of their earliest dates, and someone, his husband had looked so beautiful then.
This wasn’t his husband, he was a stranger, and he wasn’t human.
Angels were real, according to Aziraphale. Angels were real, did that mean Hell was real? Demons? The Devil? God?
Anthony didn’t know, this could be a hallucination or something from the concussion. He was a scientist, he could tell you the chemical makeup of Sol, he liked to bother people when telling them that toast was technically caramelized bread, he had the periodic table of elements memorized because of course he did.
Science was understandable, the idea that Heaven being real and him being inside of it right now seemed like a fever dream that he really wanted to wake up from.
“I’m not exactly sure what is going on, living humans don’t come up to Heaven like this. One minute I was, uh, well, I was at my desk, trying not to panic over everything going on, heh, and then the next there was this strange… energy? I don’t know, it was bizarre, it felt like a flash of something.”
“A flash of light?”
“No, more like a feeling. I hadn’t felt something like it since Tadfield…” Aziraphale trailed off, his face serious in the light of Carina Galaxy. “But then the alarms went off, and you were there, on the ground. Do you know what happened to have caused you to be here? It’s been millennia since a human was brought to Heaven while still very much alive.”
“Uhhh… I was,” He swallowed, “I was at home, with my husband, Asa. We’d just moved into our home, and then we got a strange package. The box’s return address was impossible to read from water damage, but inside was a snow globe.”
“A snow globe? How curious.”
Anthony nodded. “It had two objects inside of it, a red and white building, and a black car.”
Something seemed to change in Aziraphale’s expression at this. “Did the building… did it have anything written on it?”
“Yeah, something about an ‘A.Z. Fell and Co’ bookshop? I think. I turned it on, it lit up, same with the car’s headlamps. And then I turned the windup key to hear the song, and it sounded so damn familiar, but I still don’t know what it was. Then… then the song distorted, and the building looked like it had a fire inside of it.”
Anthony swallowed a lump in his throat. A while back, shortly after Asa moved into his home during their dating years, he had a terrible nightmare that rattled him to his core, even now it still made his chest ache and his eyes sting at what he could remember. Fire, a burning building full of books, and the horrifying sense that he had lost his best friend and he couldn’t find him anymore.
Thinking on that little building in the snow globe burning like that, it brought those memories back. He didn’t like to think about that nightmare.
He squeezed Aziraphale’s hand. “It started to shake violently, like it was going to explode. Asa tried to push it away, in case something happened, but there was a flash. And I found myself here a second later, crashing into the ground.
‘Watch your step’, indeed.
Aziraphale was quiet, lost in thought on this. “How odd… I wonder what it could mean.”
“Is this something an angel can help with?”
“I’m not sure, but I could try!” Aziraphale replied, smiling and giving a wiggle. “It’s quite curious though, how much you remind me of my-” He seemed uncertain at his next words, licking his lips, looking at his lap. “My friend. You have the same face, the same name.”
“Is your friend also an angel?” Anthony joked, because this was all so much and too much, and apparently angels and Heaven were real. He figured he might as well accept that apparent fact. He was agnostic, having lost interest in religion when he was young, but his curiosity of the greater universe and reality always left a door open to the possibility that someone had to have had a hand in creating everything.
He was probably dreaming, but this felt too real, Aziraphale was real, it made him feel weird.
“Oh no, I mean, well… he was, once, a long, long time ago. He’s a demon now, has been for eons. But he’s still the same friend I made when things were different, before The War.” Aziraphale sounded and looked so fond, the room faded once more.
The next image was the Pillars of Creation, Anthony had always loved them, had felt such an attachment to them when he was in school, he did several papers on them. It broke his heart to know that they technically didn’t exist anymore, the irony of the name. Earth was seeing the light from over 6000 light years away. In another thousand years, they’d be gone from our view.
He stared at the image, and the way it was presented before him in this most unusual and amazing room, it felt like he was there.
It felt like he’d been there before.
“Look at you, you’re gorgeous.” He found himself saying as he looked at the ancient star factory.
There was a small, sharp intake of breath from his right, and he looked at Aziraphale, whose expression was hard to place. His eyes were so soft, but looked so sad. Then he cleared his throat, looking at the pillars. “His name is Crowley, I-I sadly have not seen him for quite some time. It was a shock to see you, I had thought for a moment that Crowley had broken into Heaven to find me, only to have gotten struck down or something.”
“Why haven’t you seen him?” Anthony asked. “Is it the whole angel-demon thing? Like you see in stories?”
“No, actually. We had a fight, it was…” The angel touched his lips, closing his eyes, lost in a memory. “I had to come back to Heaven, I had a duty to Earth to do so. I wanted him to come with me, clearly he said no.”
“Why did you have to come back to Heaven? Were you already not living here as an angel?”
Aziraphale chuckled. “Dear boy, I haven’t lived in Heaven for over six thousand years, I stayed here after I no longer needed to guard Eden. We met then, him and I, in the Garden after he had fallen.”
Anthony looked at him in confusion. “What? Garden? So, Eden’s real? Adam and Eve, the devil snake thing?”
“Actually, Crowley was the serpent, but humans never listen when you try to correct them on that. Satan didn’t really have any hand in that, Crowley was just told to go up there and make some trouble.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Not at all! He’s my wily serpent, I know it seems like he did a bad thing, but in reality, I think he did the right thing.”
The human looked at him skeptically and rubbed his face away, his head buzzing and swirling with all of this. “Look, I don’t want to sound rude, but this all sounds so fake. There’s proof that the Earth is over six billion years old, that it wasn’t created six thousand years ago, makes you sound like a Young Earth Creationist.”
“Is that one of those weird American groups?”
“I think so, they believe the Earth is young and that humans and dinosaurs lived together until Noah’s Flood wiped the dinosaurs all out.”
Aziraphale huffed. “First off, Noah’s Flood only happened in one part of the world, the rest of the planet was left alone. And second, dinosaurs never lived with humans because they’re a joke that the paleontologists haven’t figured out yet.”
Anthony just stared at him, trying to figure out if Aziraphale was being serious or not. The awkward silence seemed to suggest that this was a truth that Anthony didn’t like. “You make it sound like this place exists in a totally different universe.”
“OH!” Aziraphale suddenly stood up, then whipped around to look at him. “That might just be it!”
“W-what’s it?”
“A different universe!” Aziraphale was smiling. “It was an old idea, back in the building stages of this universe, to make other ones for fun and to do trials for things, but it was discarded because no one thought God would like that. That might also explain something else, something about you.”
“About me?”
He nodded. “Yes, it’s not even just that you look like Crowley, but it’s just that… you don’t feel like you belong here. That you technically exist here already, but that this isn’t your home and you aren’t the one who exists here.”
“No kidding…” Anthony frowned. “But then how did I end up here? Who sent the snow globe?”
“Now that, that I can’t explain.” He sat back down, sighing. “This is a bit of a kerfuffle.”
Anthony snorted. “You sound like Asa, that old fashioned talk.”
The angel looked at him, his expression soft, gentle. “Do you mind telling me about him? While we figure things out?”
–
Heels clicked on the smooth, cold floors, the steps fast but steady. They stopped in front of one of the elevators and entered, clicking the button above Heaven’s, the one that was rarely used by other angels.
It had been ages since they came up this way, but they were on a mission, one that had been brewing for far too long.
Michael was just about at their boiling point, they weren’t sure what would finally make them boil over, but they knew it was any moment now. Might as well start taking care of things before then, yes?
They gripped the Book tightly in their hand, pressing it close to their chest. It had been so easy, the security in this place was a damn joke. Gabriel hadn’t been great about it, saying that nobody would be stupid enough to want to steal it, no need for constant guards when they could be doing other things. When that Traitor was put in charge, he didn’t bother bringing back the guards either.
Those idiots made things work out in their favor perfectly.
Heaven’s security cameras were meant to keep an eye on it at all times, any suspicious activity was to be reported to the first available angel from the highest order. And luckily for them, they were of the highest order, they could just report to themself.
After being the one to take down Lucifer, Michael had been honored with the promotion to Seraph, to be of the highest circle, no longer just a soldier with the lower ranks, they were in the big leagues! With access to the highest planes!
And yet…
And yet that idiot Gabriel was given the highest position of any angel, aside from the Metatron! And it was the Metatron himself who made it so, giving such a great title and honor to Gabriel of all angels, when Michael had been the one to end The War!
All because, according to the Metatron, it was part of the Divine Plan, the Great Plan.
And for eons and eons, they’d been stuck playing second fiddle with someone who didn’t even end up following through with the Great Plan! Who chose a disgusting, uhg, romance with a Prince of Hell! One of the leaders of the Rebellion that started The War in the first place!
No, if Michael had been given the position like they should have all those years ago, everything would have gone perfectly with Armageddon seven years ago. Not even the Traitor and his annoying, question-asking demonic pet could have stopped it if Michael had been in charge this whole time.
And they’d almost had the chance to finally be Supreme Archangel! When Gabriel went missing, they were so close!
Then Metatron came back up to Heaven with the Traitor, announcing that he was the new Supreme Archangel! Him! That hedonistic, lazy, pathetic excuse for an angel!
And Michael had spent the past three years dealing with him and his stupid, annoying lists and his ridiculous ‘plans’ to destroy the actual plans that Heaven had been working on for centuries!
But no more.
They were not going to keep letting things like this happen, especially with that human here, the one who looked nearly identical to the demon! It felt like a bad omen for someone like that to show up here, now, at a time when the universe was coming to an end!
The doors opened and there, in the center of the room, behind a desk, was the Voice of God himself. The Metatron looked up, confused at the sudden intrusion in his personal space. His blasted face was projected on all sides on the windows, showing his confusion.
“What!?” He exclaimed. “What are you doing there?”
Michael didn’t reply, they just stepped into his office with all the confidence of a hardened general going into battle.
This seemed to anger him. “You know you are not allowed up here!” But that anger gave way to an uncomfortable realization when he finally noticed what Michael was holding.
“And what are you doing with that?” He asked, trying to sound threatening with his question, and yet there was fear there. “Give it to me! I… am the only entity authorized to… to… I…”
He couldn’t continue, for while Michael held the Book to their person with one arm, the other moved from where it was behind their back, slowly crumpling up a page that contained his image, his life. He watched what they were doing, the words dying his throat as he seemed to realize exactly what they were doing.
And then they set it aflame, and watched in glee as the Metatron shattered into particles of dust and ashes, the building blocks of angels.
All four walls of the room contained a burnt image of him, looking terrified, just as he had looked in those final moments of his existence.
Michael smiled, miracled the ashes away from the floor, and made their exit.
TBC