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My love, my love, my fearless love, I will not say goodbye
“You can’t do this! He never acted against Heaven!” Crowley shouted, from where he was being held on his knees by Uriel in Heaven. Things had been good for both him and Aziraphale. They had tricked their head offices, they finally properly talked about their relationship, and acted on their feelings. It had been 6 month since the Apocalypse that wasn’t, and they thought they were finally free. Until Gabriel and the Archangels burst into the bookshop late one night, and dragged Crowley and Aziraphale out of their flat, and up to Heaven.
Sea may rise, sky may fall, my love will never die
“He actively went against the Great Plan, after 6000 years of planning! He’s fraternized with a demon for those 6000 years! He fell in love with a fallen! He has chosen his side, and it is not Heaven!” Gabriel replied angrily. He tightened his grip on Aziraphale’s wing slightly, and the angel winced in pain.
“Be lucky we have only decided to make him Fall, demon. There are worse punishments for conspiring against Heaven” Michael said, from Aziraphale’s other side, her sword ablaze, held close to Aziraphale’s neck, preventing the angel from speaking, her hand in his hair, forcing his head up.
“He’s a Principality! His duty is to protect Her creations! He was the Guardian of the Eastern Gate, ordered to defend humanity! He was just following orders!” Crowley argued, desperately. He couldn’t let this happen. Not to his angel.
“Barring that, he still spent 6000 years fraternizing with a demon, falling in love with it !” Gabriel replied, a dangerous smirk on his face. Crowley’s blood ran cold, and he spoke without thinking.
“It wasn’t his fault! I was just tempting him to fall! But he resisted and denied for 6000 years!” he said, and Gabriel’s eyes darkened in a dangerous way.
“All the more reason for him to Fall. We caught you in bed together, holding one another, asleep” he said, and Crowley thought fast to try and save his angel.
“He was offering me comfort. I’d been abandoned by Hell, I’d seen the error of my ways, he was trying to get me to rise. He doesn’t love me!” Crowley shouted, and Aziraphale made a noise of protest, and Crowley’s heart dropped.
The noise did not escape the Archangels, and Gabriel smirked, released Aziraphale’s wing, and kneeled down beside him. Michael released his hair, and lowered her sword. Aziraphale dropped his head against his chest.
“Now, Aziraphale, you had something to say? Speak up, share it with the class. We’d love to get your input in all this” Gabriel said, his voice dripping with arrogance.
“Everything I have done, I did by my own volition” Aziraphale said, lifting his head from his chest, and avoiding Crowley’s eyes, as the demons widened with fear.
“He’s lying! I-I forced his hand, threatened his life if he didn’t help me stop the Apocalypse” Crowley argued, and Aziraphale shook his head.
“Crowley, this is my choice. You don’t have to defend me, darling. I made my own choices” Aziraphale said calmly, and Gabriel smirked in triumph.
“So you accept your fate?” the archangel asked, but Crowley answered before Aziraphale could, struggling against Uriel’s hold on his shoulders.
“No! Don’t do this! Take me! Kill me, do whatever you want to do with me! Just please, forgive him, let him stay an angel. I’m begging you. I’ll let you do anything to me, if you just let him go !” the demon shouted, and Gabriel eyed him with intrigue.
“Crowley….” Aziraphale said quietly, and finally met the demons eyes. They were full yellow, not a speck of white to be found. Tears were building up at the corners, and they screamed in desperation.
“Interesting. Why would you offer yourself in his place? Why would you defend him like this? Let us kill you , to keep him safe?” the Archangel asked, and Crowley smiled softly.
“Because I love him” the demon answered, and Uriel drew her hands from his shoulders with a gasp of disgust. Gabriel looked at Aziraphale and Crowley with interest.
“Okay. I’ll take you up on your offer. I won’t make him fall, in exchange for you” the Archangel said, and Crowley breathed a sigh of relief, and closed his eyes.
“Michael” Gabriel said, snapping his fingers, and the Archangel stabbed her flaming sword into the ground, and slashed the floor underneath them, opening a hole from Heaven. Crowley’s eyes reopened, and widened. No!
“You bastards ! You swore!” he shouted at Gabriel, as Uriel gripped his shoulders stronger than ever, and he struggled to break free of her hold. The Archangel just shrugged his shoulders.
“I said I wouldn’t make him fall. I never said Michael wouldn’t. Consider this us doing whatever we wish with you. Nothing more torturous than to force you to watch your angel fall, knowing he won’t love you after this” He said, his eyes alight with a sadistic twist.
Oh all the tears I’ve cried
“Crowley” Aziraphale said softly, and Crowley locked eyes with his angel, the tears finally falling from his eyes as a strangled sob broke through his throat.
Oh I may bleed forevermore, my love will never die
“I’ll see you soon, darling” the angel said, and without any prompting, brought himself to his feet, and stepped into the hole, letting himself Fall. He distantly heard Crowley scream his name, but quickly had fallen too far to hear anything but the wind wiping around him as he fell. He could feel Her love and grace leave him. It was not fast. It was slow, and painstaking. He could feel all memories of who he was, and what he had known before this moment, ebbing away from him, quickly. Within his mind, he reached out, and grabbed every memory he could of Crowley, every speck of love he felt for the demon, and held it tighter than he had ever held anything before.
My love, my love, my fearless love, I will not say goodbye
“I will not forget you. I will not lose you. I will always love you” he vowed to those memories, those feelings, refusing to let anything loosen his grip. As he fell further and further from Heaven, his wings began to smoke, and were lit on fire, burning away all remains of who he was as an angel. His pearly white feathers burned away, leaving featherless wings in their wake. He felt his hair begin to smolder, and his eyes stung. But he would not let go of Crowley. All around him, fire engulfed his entire being, burning his clothes to ashes, scalding his skin, and boiling his blood. But he held onto his demon, refusing to forget him.
He didn’t know how long he fell for. It very well could have lasted a minute, but it felt like a millennium. When he felt the last of his heavenly grace leave him, he knew he was close to landing. The smell of sulfur overtook his senses, and he prepared to land in Hell. All of Heavens love and grace had left him, his memories of being an angel were all gone. What remained were his memories of the week before the Apocalypse that wasn’t, and the actions he took to prevent it. That was his punishment. No point in falling, if he couldn’t remember why he had. But, tucked away, still in its mental anaconda squeeze of a grip, were his memories of and love for Crowley. He refused to forget his love, and he hadn’t. He braced for impact as best he could, and squeezed his eyes shut a tightly as he physically could. But, he never landed roughly in Hell.
Sea may rise
Instead, he felt something soft, warm and alive under him, arms finding their way to his waist, holding him close.
Sky may fall
“Angel! Aziraphale, please ! I can’t lose you !” cried the voice. He knew that voice. It was his love, his demon, his Crowley.
My love will never die
“Hello, my love. I’ve missed you” he said, hearing Crowley gasp, and Ezra Fell opened his eyes for the first time.