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They’re at the kitchen table of Jasmine Cottage, having one of their totally-not-a-thing Apocalypse Buddies meet-ups, when Newt turns to Crowley and says “Can I ask you a personal question?”
Crowley raises one eyebrow, “You can ask.”
“When you were...when you were and angel, what was your name?”
He’d been half-worried that his curiosity was about to lead him into a painful subject, but instead Crowley just chuckles and says “Oh, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“...Really? After everything I’ve learned to accept over the last year, you expect to short-circuit me with your name?”
“Hmmm. You may have a point. Okay, so what you have to remember is that angel names follow a particular pattern. Current Angel, you want to fill in?”
“Oh! Yes. Well you see, each angel has a name that ends in the syllable ‘-el’. Now that part is a reference to Gd, so the rest of the name, when connected to that, is meant to explain that particular angel’s relationship to Gd. For example, my name really ought to be pronounced more like ‘AzirapfaEL’, meaning ‘light of Gd’. From the beginning guarding Eden to all those centuries as the only full-time field agent, it’s been my duty to be the first of Her angels that any human is likely to see, the beacon of the love and support She means to give Her children. Even,” he adds, regretfully, “if I’ve been forced to sever ties from Heaven, I still consider that my function.”
“Fitting.” says Anathema. “Since your name could also be translated to mean ‘Gd is my light’. It seems like, even when you’re at your angriest with Heaven, you never stopped believing in Her”. Aziraphale blushes.
“Now,” Crowley picks back up, “My job, back when I still had it, was to be something like a loyal opposition. I poked and prodded at every decision, every creation She made, and pointed out all the things that didn’t seem to make sense, all the screws that needed tightening, anything that somebody might have cause to take issue with. And through answering me, She made sure that everything She did was the best that it could be. I suppose,” he says, regret of his own creeping into his voice, “I suppose that’s why it was so easy to accidentally Fall. I was supposed to ask questions, to criticize, to make flippant remarks and call Her out when She needed it, so I must not have noticed when I finally asked the one question that was off the table. Looking back, I still can’t pin-point it.
“But getting back to your question, bearing in mind the pattern we’ve discussed, what do you suppose might be a fitting name for an angel whose relationship to Gd is based on critiquing, sassing back, arguing, one might even say, oh what’s the word I’m looking for…maybe wrestling?”
Anathema and Newt are staring now, her on the verge of laughter, him with his jaw practically on the floor. “You’re joking”, he finally says, flatly.
“I told you you wouldn’t believe me. But no, I’m really not. That was my purpose, and that was my name.”
Anathema shakes her head in bemused wonderment. “So, what did you think when this new group of humans showed up with your old name?”
“Why do you think I started following you lot around? She’d replaced me. With humans. I needed to know.”
“And?”
“And...I found a place where it felt like I fit in. I still don’t know why she cast me out for doing my job only to turn around and hand it off to some of the new kids, but at least I was in my element. At least I had some people to fall back on who weren’t Hell. At least, by hanging around and doing my best to become one of you, I could feel a little bit like I was getting my old self back.”
“So you don’t, I don’t know, resent us?”
“Nah. I suppose I could’ve done, if I wanted to, but...on the whole, you’ve given me enough. You can have my old name. I don’t mind.”
Anathema smiled “And you’re welcome to share in it.”