Chapter Text
It was all part of the ineffable plan.
An angel with hair as red as the giants in the sky that he had created, skin covered in the same nebulae that decorated the empty space, and eyes that twinkled with the same brightness as suns from across the galaxies was playing a part that was not entire his own in the grand scheme of things. At least, not yet.
She came down to him and said in the same voice she had always spoken with: "My child, I fear I may miss your dedication." Though perhaps one could say She was fond of him, the way she talked of emotions not yet instilled within even the human race that She had created.
"Where would I go that I can no longer be dedicated to you?" The angel asked, stopping in his work as soon as his God's presense was made known, Her light shining down upon him.
"There is one place. One you may choose to go."
"If I had the choice, I would not leave your light." He replied, his head bowed in respect for Her. Choice was a relatively new concept, born alongside the humans, Adam and Eve, for humanity to live from and this angel hadn't had such a luxury to choose as of yet. He hadn't had a need to.
And then She brought to him an angel.
This angel, somehow, was more angelic than himself in Crowley's eyes. Golden curls and eyes bluer than the morning sky. A body as soft as the clouds and a smile that matched. He was the morning to the night in which Crowley thrived.
"Crowley, I would like for you to meet Aziraphale." The angel who had appeared waved and greeted Crowley with the warmest of hellos and Crowley returned the gesture, slightly more stiff and slightly more aware of himself than he had been before.
"There is time for many choices, some you won't remember, some you won't expect, and some you won't realise, Crowley." God continued to talk having both of her angels' attention now.
"I'm sorry, what is this all about?" Aziraphale's vocie was light and airy and lilted with a song like quality. He had been told he had a choice to make, and upon asking why he had to make one he had been whisked away and shown this angel who's light rivalled God's, in his eyes (though such a thing would never be admitted for what horrendous kind of blasphemy would he be spouting if he did?)
"Let me show you." And She did what She does best and she showed them. She had always preferred to show than to tell, narrating over top the images she projected into the minds of the angels special enough to have such a blessing bestowed upon them.
She showed them of how Crowley would fall, unknowing of why She would abandon him, cursing Her name for centuries to come and to never hear a word back. She showed them of the angel Aziraphale would become, the two remaining eyes of his human form ready and poised to read and read and indulge in the creations of humanity, of God's grandchildren as they were. She showed them how the new demon and the angel would befriend one another, hidden from rain beneath a wing of white, so different from what his own would become, and how the seeds of friendship would be planted in the Garden of Eden to be carried across the entirety of Earth. She showed them the years of waiting, of wanting, of wishing, and most importantly of loving someone who would take his time loving in return. She showed them of how Aziraphale would forgive what Crowley was being punished for, despite neither of them knowing the truth.
Crowley saw a life in which he lost the love of a mother and gained the affections of a lover and he yearned for it with emotions that he had come to know the meaning of in seconds created from over 6000 years.
Aziraphale saw a life in which he would come to test the limits of what an angel is meant to be and in return gain the loyalty of a lover who had yearned for him with emotions he had only a handful of years knowing when compared to the demon that would come to love him.
"But we will forget this; I will come to hate you." Crowley was taken aback by his sudden change in disposition, knowing far too much for a simple angel.
"Your hate shall be entirely my own and I would not hold that against you." Her light was a bright as it was when it first shone down upon him, unwavered by knowing that Crowley had made his decision.
"But we shall have no idea of what to do." Aziraphale added on, breathing deep at the knowledge he had taken on.
"You shall both do as is needed of you. I know of it." Her light was as unwavering in Her conviction as it always had been before and it showed no sign of change at Aziraphale's decision.
In a moment of silence which the three of them shared, Aziraphale and Crowley looked at each other with a passion that had been withheld over thousands of years and joined hands. It felt natural, as if it were right and normal and what should be, and they knew in that moment what had to be done without a second longer thinking about it.
"I'm sorry for what you will go through, my dear." The words slipped from Aziraphale's mouth so smoothly that he hadn't even realised the familiarity he felt with the angel beside him growing.
"I understand this is what I must do." Crowley affirmed, stating aloud his acceptance and to quell Aziraphale's worry.
"Then I shall trust you, my angels."
No God is omnipotent nor are they entirely omniscent, because their power can only ever come from those that believe, but with Aziraphale and Crowley's determination and trust in Her, She had more than enough power to set into action the cogs of an invention that was to be the greatest yet.
Of course, not every plan can always go as it is written...