Chapter Text
Kokabiel- Often referred to as 'the angel of the stars'. His name, which translates as "star of God", is one of the 200 fallen angels listed in the "Book of Enoch". (wikipedia)
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Aziraphale toddled around Heaven, his big, blue eyes taking in every detail they possibly could. There wasn’t much to see, with the place being so empty and all. But since a lot of the things that would normally fill such empty spaces didn’t exist yet, they couldn’t be faulted for their lack of interior decorating.
Aziraphale didn’t seem to mind the lack of clutter, he was far too fascinated with his bright surroundings and his fellow angels. He was still new, fresh from God’s own creation, and this was his first time seeing, well, anything. The only other thing he’d seen before was God, who patted his head with a smile and sent him out to look around.
“Your job will begin shorty, but for now you may use this time to explore,” she had said, gently guiding him out into the world.
He didn’t know what she meant by time but that didn’t matter. He was still tiny; he wasn’t supposed to know much. He did know that everyone was given a job, that was something all Angels were created knowing, that they had a purpose. What that purpose was? That fell under the stuff he didn’t know yet.
So Aziraphale did what he was told and explored, which mostly consisted of watching the other angels. Every one he saw was so much bigger than him, which wasn’t that hard considering he was so small still[1]. It was hard for him to believe that they all started out as small as he was, that they could grow two, even three times his own height. He had to crane his neck to see the faces of some of them, which was fascinating and somewhat bothersome. The taller ones tended not to look where they walked and he found out quick that he wasn’t a fan of almost being stepped on.
But Aziraphale was enjoying his exploration regardless of how annoying it was to dodge big feet all the time.
Until he wasn’t.
Until something happened that was so new it didn’t even have a name yet[2]. One moment he was watching a larger angel with multiple wings, the next his face was buried in whatever Heaven called a floor.
Aziraphale laid there, unsure what to think. He looked up at the other angels for a clue on how to react. Most of them either hadn’t noticed, or if they did, didn’t seem to care. Those that did notice, were laughing. A few hid their chuckles behind hands while others laughed outright.
Should he be laughing too? He didn’t feel like laughing. Laughing was for when you were having fun and this, whatever it was, hadn’t been fun. His head was sore, and so were his palms. He didn’t like it.
Tears filled his eyes as he decided he wasn’t going to laugh. Instead, he thought he might give crying a go. It sounded like it might make him feel better, if not it would at least make his discomfort known. Maybe someone would help.
Aziraphale had just started sniffling, tears yet to start falling when a small hand came into his blurry vision. He followed the hand up until he caught sight of the person attached to it. They were about as small as Aziraphale was, maybe a bit bigger. He had fiery, red curls framing his face to just shy of his chin. They brought attention to his molten, gold eyes that looked at him with concern.
“Are you ok?” he asked, his fluffy wings fluttering behind him like they were unsure what to do. “Do you want some help?”
Aziraphale thought for a moment before nodding. Help sounded good.
“Take my hand, I’ll help you up,” he said, wiggling his own pudgy fingers, bringing attention to them once again. Aziraphale did as requested, and before long they were both back on their feet. The only evidence there was to Aziraphale’s blunder was a sore forehead and some ruffled feathers. He rubbed his forehead briefly, trying to make the small but lingering pain go away.
“Are you hurt too badly? We can find a bigger angel if you are. They know how to heal already,” The red headed angel explained with a comforting smile. Aziraphale stared at him for a long moment before taking stock of his injuries. Both the pain in his forehead and his palms were already fading away so they didn’t need healing. He wasn’t hurting anywhere else either. “Well? Do you need a healer?”
Aziraphale shook his head.
“Good!” he said, grinning at the blond before looking behind him. “Oh, it looks like your feathers are all funky. I can fix those if you want!”
Looking back at his wings, Aziraphale noticed that they were still fluffed up and a lot of them were ruffled or slightly out of place. It felt a little uncomfortable but not actually painful. He nodded at the other boy, not liking the feeling.
“Ok, well, you’re gonna have to let go of my hand first,” he said, holding up their still clasped hands. Aziraphale let go, his tiny face flushed. The other boy sent him a smile before disappearing behind him, smoothing out his wings.
It felt nice to have someone’s fingers running through his wings. His discomfort from the ruffled feathers left quickly, making him feel much better and more relaxed. He decided he kind of liked someone fixing his them for him.
“There! All done!” The red head skipped back around him, his wings spreading briefly to keep him from tripping as well. “What’s your name? I don’t think you said. You just were walking, and then you plopped onto the floor, and then you almost cried so I helped you up and made sure you weren’t hurt and-“
“Aziraphale,” the blond interrupted quietly, making the other boy blink. Saying these first words felt weird. He wasn’t sure why his mouth and throat had to vibrate to make sounds, or why his tongue had to shape them into words, but they did. He wasn’t sure he liked it, but he supposed he’d get used to it. “My name is Aziraphale.”
“You’re new, right? I’m pretty new too! I think we’re the newest since everyone else is soooo much bigger. I haven’t seen anyone my size before I met you,” he said, obviously not having the same problem with talking as the slightly shorter angel. “Oh yeah! My name is Kokabiel!”
“Coco-bell?” Aziraphale tried to sound out, making Kokabiel laugh.
“Almost,” he said happily. “You wanna be friends? I can show you my favorite spots and point out the funniest looking angels. What do you say?”
Aziraphale nods, not even thinking about it. A friend sounded nice, and probably pretty fun.
“Yes!” Kokabiel exclaimed, grabbing onto Aziraphale’s hand to drag him across Heaven’s vast open space. “Come on! There’s a great spot over here. There are angels nearby that have six wings! Can you believe it? Six! I mean, how can they take care of that many feathers? That’s got to be a lot of feathers because they’re really big. I can’t even take care of all my feathers and I only have two. And they’re tiny.”
“Maybe someone does it for them?” Aziraphale suggested softly. He still wasn’t used to his own voice, but listening to Kokabiel use his so much he was starting to think maybe talking wasn’t so bad.
“Maybe!” Kokabiel said, shooting a blinding smile back at his new friend. “They could all sit in a circle grooming their feathers. They probably wouldn’t get much else done though. Like when they would finish with the last wing, the first one’s probably all messed up again.”
“More than one person could help.”
“You’re a genius, Zirafeeel!”
“Aziraphale,” he said.
“Oops! My bad!”
Aziraphale smiled, approving of his decision already. He definitely liked having a friend.
-
God watched from a far as her two newest angels went off, hand in hand, searching for her Archangels. She really loved watching them when they were this tiny. Each one was so full of excitement and curiosity; she was amazed that they could keep it all contained in their small bodies. But, as they grew accustom to Heaven, that excitement would always fade away, leaving only her diligent helpers. She needed that diligence, sure, but there was something about the way their eyes sparkled as they wondered about six winged angels, that she couldn’t help but love.
These two were special though, she knew this from the moment she created Kokabiel. In the very short time between his creation and Aziraphale’s own, the young angel had looked, lost. Lonely despite being surrounded by the older angels. She had created him for the soul purpose of designing the stars that would light up her coming creation. But watching him look so sad made her think that maybe this job was big enough for two.
Upon creating Aziraphale, it was made exceptionally clear how special these two would be. She could see their paths now, both difficult in their own right, but wound so tightly that often times you couldn’t tell which was which.
She smiled sadly down at the two, their hands still clasped tightly together. She could almost see them like that, traveling these paths hand in hand. Always together.
Until they weren’t.