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Just outside Eden, 3966 BC
Azra found Adam and Eve again about three days’ walk from Eden, where the desert began to transition from sand to rock and faint signs of life began to crop up once more.
He came upon them as the sun was just beginning to set, and the air was finally starting to cool. Adam was crouched at the entrance to a cave, Azra’s old sword clutched in his hand. Behind him was Eve, her belly even larger than it had been when they’d left Eden. A small, sputtering fire sat between them, alongside what looked like a lion’s pelt.
Azra approached carefully, not wanting to spook them and, frankly, unsure of his welcome. At the last moment, he tucked his wings away with a small wince. There was no need to show off what was left of his blackened, burnt feathers.
Adam’s head whipped up as Azra approached, and then his jaw dropped. “Wait a minute. Aziraphale?”
Azra flinched, a jolt of pain shooting through him as Adam spoke his old, angelic name. “Not– not anymore, I’m afraid. I’m the same being, largely, but… well.” He stepped into the light of the fire, letting them see his eyes.
Eve’s own eyes narrowed. “Oh, no. What happened to you?”
“I Fell,” Azra said. “I was… cast out of Heaven, for… it doesn’t matter.”
“Wait, was it– no. Was it our fault?” Eve asked, her eyes going wide as she pushed herself upright.
“No, no, it wasn’t your fault at all,” Azra promised, hurrying over to her side. “My dear girl, you are in no state to be moving around right now. How far along are you?”
“I don’t know,” Eve said, letting Azra lower her back down to the ground. “I think it’s pretty far? I mean, I don’t know how much bigger I can get.”
Azra sighed. “Well. I’m afraid this is just as unfamiliar to me as it is to you, my dear. How have you been doing? Both of you? Are you all right?”
“We’re okay,” Adam said, sitting back down on Eve’s other side and taking her hand. “Thank you. I just… I don’t know how we would’ve made it if it hadn’t been for the sword.”
“Well, I couldn’t just let you go out here with nothing but a handful of leaves to protect you,” Azra said.
“And you were punished for it,” Eve said. “We’re grateful. Adam and I, and Cain will be, too, once they’re born.”
“Cain?” Azra asked. “Will that be the little one’s name?”
“I get to name the next one,” Adam said, almost conspiratorially. “I was thinking Abel.”
“We’ll workshop that,” Eve said with a laugh. “How are you holding up, Azira–?”
“Wait, wait,” Azra said quickly, holding up his hand to quiet Eve before she could get his full name out. “I– I’m afraid that name no longer belongs to me. I, ah, I suppose I’m called Azra now.”
“Azra,” Eve repeated. “I like it.”
“Short,” Adam said. “Simple. It’s a good name.”
“Says the man who named the hippopotamus,” Eve said, nudging him with her elbow.
Adam laughed, then leaned in to kiss his wife.
Azra glanced away from them, affording them a moment of privacy, and saw, in the distance, a figure approaching the cave. A figure clad in white, with long red hair falling in ringlets down their back…
“Oh, goodness!” he said, jumping to his feet. “I, ah, I probably ought to get going, I should hate to get you two in even more trouble–”
“Azi– Azra? What’s wrong?” Eve asked, catching his wrist as he turned to leave.
Azra glanced again at the cave’s entrance. The angel from Eden was closer, now, close enough that Azra could see the faint golden glint of their eyes, close enough that the angel could see him.
The angel’s brow furrowed, and then–
Then they waved, a grin spreading across their face. “Hey, bunny! Didn’t expect to see you here!”
Azra froze, his breath caught somewhere in his chest, as the angel bounded over.
“Az, who’s that?” Adam asked.
“Ah. Um. Adam, Eve, this is…” Azra paused, frowning, then turned to the angel, who had by now reached the mouth of the cave. “Actually, I’m afraid I never asked for your name.”
“Coriel,” the angel said, sketching out a small bow. “You two are the humans, yeah? It’s nice to meet you.”
“What does an angel want with us?” Eve asked warily.
Coriel grinned again. “I just got my assignment! I had enough people irritated with me from the Horsehead Nebula to get stationed permanently on Earth. I’m meant to be protecting you two from his lot.”
“Oh, dear,” Azra said. “Perhaps I ought to be going, then…”
“No, you don’t need to go,” Adam said.
“We don’t need to be protected from Azira– Azra,” Eve said. “And we don’t know you at all.”
“I know,” Coriel said, their grin fading away. “On both counts. I wasn’t gonna kick you out, Azra. I figure, so long as we’re both here, you’ll be doing your job, and I’ll be doing mine. Doesn’t need to get any more complicated than that, does it?”
“I certainly hope not,” Azra said, letting Eve pull him back down to sit.
Coriel took a few steps closer to the fire, then sat down as well, resting their elbows on their knees and their chin in their hands. “So. You lot were together in Eden, yeah? How long was that? Time works different when you get too close to stars.”
“More than fifty years,” Azra said.
“Must have quite a few stories, then,” Coriel said, grinning again.
“God, do I!” Eve said, leaning towards Coriel, as far as the baby bump would let her. “Listen, I love these two idiots, but even before I ate the apple I was the only one with any sense in that place.”
“Hey! I resent that remark,” Adam said.
“I’m afraid you haven’t a leg to stand on in this argument, dear boy,” Azra said gently. “You took six years to come up with a name for the platypus.”
“To be fair to him, what is a platypus? I mean, honestly, who came up with that one?” Coriel said.
“I believe it was Sandalphon, so I’d be careful criticising it around him,” Azra said.
“Ohhh,” Coriel said. “Actually, y’know what, that makes a lot of sense.”
“See, Coriel agrees with me!” Adam said, gesturing broadly with the hand still holding Azra’s sword.
“Woah, woah, woah, Adam!” Eve shouted.
“Adam, be careful, that thing is sharp!” Azra yelped.
Coriel laughed. “Yeah, no, I’m with Eve on the whole sense thing here. You willingly gave him that?”
Azra pouted at Coriel. “I won’t take criticism from you, Seraph. And besides, once Cain is born, Eve can handle the sword.”
Eve grimaced. “Yeah, no, not my thing. Adam can swing the burning sharp thing all he wants, at least until he cuts his own hand off.”
“Cain?” Coriel asked. “Is that gonna be the little one’s name?”
“That’s the plan,” Eve said, placing a hand on her belly and smiling gently.
“That’s… sweet,” Coriel said, a smile of their own spreading across their face. “That’s really sweet, actually.” They glanced over at Azra. “Gonna name one of yours after bunny here?”
“Coriel!” Azra protested. “That would hardly be appropriate.”
“Why do you call him bunny?” Eve asked. “You’ve done it a couple times now.”
“S’cause that’s what he is!” Coriel said, gesturing to Azra. “Go on, show them!”
“Wh– no!” Azra protested. “I’m only a rabbit by the barest stretch of technical definition, and my transformation isn’t some sort of magic trick.”
“It is magic, though,” Adam said. “And it sounds like a cool trick. So…”
“No,” Azra said, rolling his eyes. “Not least because I don’t need you lot laughing at me.”
“We won’t laugh!” Coriel protested, though their grin rather ruined the sentiment.
“Mm-hm,” Azra said. “Of course you won’t.”
“Fine, fine, we’ll lay off,” Eve said, giggling, before stage-whispering to Coriel, “I’ll convince him at some point, don’t worry.”
“Now, see here!” Azra protested, though he could feel a grin breaking through.
The others all laughed, and Azra couldn’t help but join in, feeling something warm and comfortable settle in his chest.
This felt… this felt right. This felt good. The rest of the evening passed far more quickly than Azra had anticipated, spent in the same comfortable sort of familiarity, of friendship. Now that the secrets Azra had had to keep before had been revealed, Adam and Eve were so much easier to talk to, and Coriel…
They were clever, and quick enough to keep up with Eve’s wit, even to outmatch her more often than not, which she seemed to find almost as delightful as Azra did, though it tended to make Adam rather protective. They were funny and sharp and... and oddly gentle, in their own way, although it was fairly clear that they hadn’t spent much time socialising before being assigned to Earth, and Azra found himself drawn in, almost against his will.
He and Coriel spent four days with Adam and Eve, alternately hiding from the elements in various caves and nooks and trudging through the desert in search of an apparent human settlement that Coriel had heard of while back in Heaven, before Azra heard His voice in his head, a booming thing that brought him to his knees with a cry during one of their long walks.
Come back Down in the next three hours, Satan ordered. You owe me a progress report.
The fog cleared from Azra’s head, and his eyes refocused on the others, all of whom were crowded around him where he’d dropped.
“Bunny, are you okay?” Coriel asked, clutching at Azra’s robe.
Azra nodded shakily, pushing himself to his feet. “I– I have to go. I have to go back Down, and I-I don’t– I’m not sure if I’ll be allowed back Up again.”
“Azra…” Eve said, her voice soft.
“I’ll be quite all right, dear girl,” Azra said, taking her hand and hoping desperately that she couldn’t see his nerves. “Don’t you worry about me. And you’ll still have Coriel to protect you!”
“Coriel can’t teach me how to use this thing,” Adam said, hefting the sword.
Azra sighed. “You’ve managed well so far, my dear. I– I do hope I’ll see you again, but if I don’t– thank you. All of you. For everything.”
“Be careful,” Eve said, throwing her arms around him as best she could with the baby in her way.
“I will,” Azra promised, hugging her back, then doing the same for Adam.
“I’ll take care of them,” Coriel promised. “You take care of yourself, okay?”
“I’ll be all right,” Azra said again, not quite daring to hug Coriel. He took their hand instead, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I’ll likely see you all quite soon!”
And with that, he headed off into the desert, searching for a weak point in the barriers between world that he could use to burrow Down a little more easily.
He made it back to Satan’s chambers without incident– either the rest of the denizens of Hell had received Beelzebub’s warning, or they simply had better things to do than harassing one low-level demon. Either way, Azra was grateful.
When he arrived, Satan was waiting for him, lounging about on his throne with a smirk on his face.
“Little rabbit!” he called, beckoning Azra over. “I’m so glad to see you.”
“You summoned me, sir?” Azra said, not quite able to keep the question out of his voice. He had better luck with the tremors, at least.
“I did,” Satan confirmed. “How are things, Up There?”
“She’s made more humans,” Azra said. “So far as I can tell, they all have Original Sin, now, not just Adam and Eve. Oh, and Eve is going to have a baby.”
“More humans?” Satan asked, his grip tightening on the massive stone armrests of his throne enough to crack them. “What is She playing at?”
Azra didn’t bother to answer– Satan didn’t like being reminded of Her favouritism towards humanity. Either he’d come to the same conclusion himself, or he’d move on. It was best not to interfere with that process.
Satan sighed heavily. “Come here, little rabbit.”
Azra obliged, forcing down the nerves building in his stomach. Satan hadn’t hurt him since he’d Fallen, not really, and he hadn’t done anything wrong.
“I want you to go back up there,” Satan said, reaching out to cup Azra’s face. His hand was hellfire-hot, and Azra had to fight to keep from flinching away from it.
“What should I do?” Azra asked quietly.
“Obedient little thing,” Satan said, smiling. “Don’t go back to the desert. Find one of those settlements, and tempt the humans there. They can do wrong now, can’t they? I want you to convince them to do so. You’ve done it before, haven’t you?”
Azra nodded faintly. Satan already believed that, for whatever reason, he had wanted Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. That he’d given them his sword to spite God and Heaven, and not because he couldn’t bear to see them suffer. That illusion was, quite likely, the only thing keeping him from the mercies of the rest of Hell.
“Well, I’d like to see more of that,” Satan said. “After all, we suffered quite a few losses, in the War. We ought to replenish our numbers. And I’ve heard that the humans’ souls are meant to be quite hardy things.”
“Is that all, sir?” Azra asked.
Satan frowned, finally dropping his hand. “Are you so eager to leave me?”
“Not at all!” Azra said quickly. “I just– I was just wondering. If, ah, if you had any further orders, o-or requests, or anything of the sort. I, ah, you know I’m quite happy to stay here a-as long as you’d like me to.”
Satan chuckled. “You’re doing well so far, little rabbit. Go back up to Earth. I’ll send Prince Beelzebub to collect your first report in three months, shall I?”
“Yes, sir. Of course. I’ll, ah, I’ll head Up, then?”
“Go on. I’ll see you soon enough, pet.”
Azra managed to hide his shudder in a bow before scurrying off and launching himself through the first doorway back to Earth that he could find.
He emerged not far from where Adam and Eve were. Not far from where Coriel was. He was almost tempted to go find them, to tell them what Satan had said, to re-immerse himself in that comfortable camaraderie that they’d shared…
But he couldn’t. He had his orders. He couldn’t afford to push Satan’s good will, not now, not with his position still so very fragile.
Instead, Azra turned away from the desert and towards what he thought might be a river in the distance. If he could find free-flowing water, chances were, he’d find humans. And, while he still couldn’t fly, following the river on foot was his best bet.
With a sigh, Azra took off, contemplating his next steps. Tempting the humans. He wasn’t quite sure…
Well. He’d simply have to work it out on the go.
###
Coriel watched Azra leave, something heavy settling in their stomach. Years later, they would recognise it as being nervous.
“We should keep moving,” Adam said, wrapping a comforting arm around Eve’s shoulders. “We need to find shelter before it gets dark.”
Coriel nodded, forcing themself to turn away. Their assignment was to watch the humans. Not Azra. They had to stay focused.
“Do you think he’ll be okay?” Eve asked, as they started off again. “Really?”
Coriel frowned. They’d heard stories about Hell, of course, but they had no idea how many were true and how many were just the Archangels’ specific brand of paranoia.
“He’ll be okay,” they said, as much to reassure themself as the humans. “I get the sense that the bunny’s tougher than he looks.”
Eve didn’t seem at all convinced, but Adam nodded, tugging her along gently, and she went without complaint.
Coriel got to spend two more days with them, out in the desert, protecting them, before their more supernatural senses warned of an incoming angel.
“Shit,” they muttered, clambering up from where they’d been sitting beside Eve in that night’s nook. “I’ve gotta go take care of this. I’ll be right back, okay?”
“Be careful,” Eve said, catching their hand as they made to leave.
Coriel patted her wrist gently. “I’m always careful.”
It was Gabriel, again, because of course it was. Coriel managed to hide their eye-roll, just barely, as they jogged over to him. “Gabe! Hey. What’s up?”
“I think I should be asking you that question, Coriel,” Gabriel said coldly. “Why are you wasting your time with these two individual humans? You need to be thinking more big-picture, here.”
Coriel frowned. “Aren’t these two Her favourites?”
Gabriel rolled his eyes. “I mean, I guess they used to be, but they disobeyed! She cast them out. She’s abandoned them. You should, too.”
Coriel grimaced. “Yeah, no, I’d rather not.”
“I think that you’d rather do as Heaven commands,” Gabriel said, taking a half a step closer to Coriel. They were the same height, but the Archangel was a bit broader. Broader, and more powerful, though only just. “Don’t test me, Coriel. It didn’t go well for the last angel to try.”
“Right, fine,” Coriel said, taking a half a step back and grimacing at the bad taste that surrender left in their mouth. “I’ll go… find a settlement, or something. Thwart demonic wiles, protect the humans, et cetera. Got it.”
“Glad to hear it,” Gabriel said, grinning so suddenly and broadly that Coriel almost felt like they’d got whiplash from it. Gabriel clapped his hands together loudly, then said, “Well, best of luck!” and vanished.
Coriel sighed heavily, pinched the bridge of their nose, re-composed themself, then headed back towards Adam and Eve’s shelter to give them the bad news.
As they explained, Adam’s eyes went wide, and Eve’s jaw dropped.
“So you’re leaving, too?” she demanded. “Right now? I thought you said that Cain was due to be born soon!”
“I know,” Coriel said, their voice heavy with guilt. “I know, guys. I’m so sorry. But… I can’t argue with Gabriel. Literally, it’s impossible, he’s got rocks for brains, I swear.”
Neither of them seemed amused by their joke.
“You said you’d protect us,” Adam said, sounding… small, and scared.
“I’ll give you as many blessings as I can,” Coriel promised. “And… and some new clothes, and– whatever else you need. And there’s a village a few days’ walk from here, I know there is, you should be able to join them if you wanted. You’ll be okay, I’ll make sure of it. I just… can’t stay. I’m sorry.”
Eve growled loudly in frustration, throwing her arms up and storming off, deeper into the little cavern they’d found.
“I’m sorry,” Adam said softly, laying a hand on Coriel’s arm. “She’s… stressed, with the baby and everything…”
“I don’t blame her,” Coriel said. “But I won’t let you lot get hurt, not if I can help it. Okay? I just… I’m not allowed to stay with you.”
“I know,” Adam said, pulling Coriel into a hug. “We’ll miss you, Coriel.”
“I’ll miss you guys, too,” Coriel said, hugging him back.
Then they pulled away, glancing over the little crevice, layering protective blessings and miracles as thickly over Adam and Eve as he dared. With any luck, they wouldn’t die for at least a couple hundred years, and their kids would live a good long while, too. It was…
It was all they could do.
Then, heart heavy, Coriel took off, flying away from their friends. After all, they had a job to do. Adam and Eve and little Cain would be fine. Right?