Work Text:
Aziraphale watched as Beelzebub and Gabriel vanished to their respective plains of existence, feeling a weight that had pressed down on him for over six thousand years dissipate like it was nothing. Armageddon had come and gone and no one was worse for wear. He felt like he could really breathe for the first time in a long time. Far longer than the last eleven years of worry. Of course that releif couldn't last. A moment later Crowley was crashing to the ground with a pained, fearful noise (though he was fairly certain most wouldn't notice the fear mixed in). Concern laced through him as he stepped over towards the downed demon.
"What?" he asked, mind trying to race through possible causes for this behavior "What's happening?"
"They did it. They told his father." Oh. Oh that would do it. Aziraphale's mind whirled through possibilities as Crowley kept talking. "And his satanic father is...unhappy." The ground rolled and Aziraphale could hear the humans around him talking, but he couldn't focus on them. Lucifer was coming and Lucifer was angry and that wasn't safe for anyone present. He needed to keep them safe. Needed to keep them all safe. He found himself picking up his blade before he fully processed what he could do. Then his eyes landed on Crowley again, taking in the fear and hopelessness lining his demon's frame. He hadn't seen him like that since...oh...oh. That was right. His mind faultered for a moment as he re-regestered the almost weightless, unbound feeling once more. There was something he could do about this. Clarity and resolve solidified in his mind as he stepped forward and held out his hand for the demon who was struggling to get up. The demon who took his hand without a moment's hesisitation.
"Crowley," there must have been something odd about his voice because those beautiful eyes fixed on him in an instant "Crowley do you trust me?" And to most that would be a stupid question. As a rule of thumb demons didn't trust anyone. And they certainly didn't trust angels, but Crowley's answer was immidiate.
"Always Angel." And, oh, Aziraphale knew he didn't deserve that trust. He'd broken it time and time again. Good intentions or not he still had. But he didn't focus on that now, instead tightening his grip on that lanky hand in his and helped pull his demon to his feet with a small, wry smile.
"Good," he said firmly "Beause this is going to look a little insane. But I'm going to need you to trust me and stay with Adam, alright?" Crowley's eyes widened in confusion and fear, but the other man visibly fought it back before giving a short nod.
"Just...don't go getting yourself killed." There was definately something stronger than normal underlying that, but Aziraphale coudln't focus on figuring out what it was right now (something to do with why he'd found Crowley in a bar instead of in the stars?). So instead he gave Crowley a warm, hopefully reassuring smile before releasing his hand and turning towards Adam.
"Do stay with Crowley dear boy," he instructed, touching the child's shoulder.
"But...why?" the poor dear was clearly quite uncertain about the whole sitution as it was. And who could blame him? Anticrist or not he was still only an eleven year old boy "My dad's not that bad. He woudln't hurt anyone."
"Not that father," Aziraphale informed him as the ground buckled again, beginning to tear open as a giant, red hand broke through to slam onto the earth "Your biological father." Patting the child's shoulder once he gently pushed him back towards Crowley before stepping forward again as the ground split open farther and the rest of the giant, furious figure pushed free. Sword hanging losely from his right hand Aziraphale strode forward several feet, taking in the furious figure that was the king of hell, watching as those large, hateful eyes focused in on the child behind him before being drawn towards the figure approaching them. Aziraphale made his way forward until he was several feet in front of the small band of humans, and one demon, before coming to a stop, meeting those eyes with his own. He stood there for only a beat before he allowed a slightly disaproving frown to grace his features.
"What is all this about?" he asked, placing his free hand on his hip and scanning the giant figure over once before meeting his eyes again "What is all this fuss? And what-" he continued blithly, as if he didn't notice the anger and befuddlment coming from the man in front of him "in all of existance have you done to your wings?! I know I didn't fix them up just for you to do that to them." There was a pause of completle silence while the the rest of the people at the airfeild did their best to process what he had said through pure bafflement before Satan's eyes narrowed in fury.
“How dare you!" the monterous man snarled, looking far angrier than when he'd first emerged "How dare you pretend to be him! He's gone! He vanished right-"
"Right after visitng Hell after the fall," Aziraphale cut in, unpreturbed by the anger being directed at him, or by the fact he had just cut off the king of evil. He did, however, feel a breif flash of guilt at the choked sound that came from a certain demon behind him. But it couldn't be helped. "Of course I did. You don't think I got to go down to Hell on a healing jaunt for free did you? Mother and I made a deal." There was another pause, this time followed by narrowed eyes. In suspicion this time, instead of anger (though the anger still simmered underneath).
"Do you have proof?" there was clear disbelief in those words. The devil in front of him obviously didn't beleive that such proof was possible, but Aziraphale only smiled as he adjusted his hold on his blade, aiming the blade straight up. His smile stayed as he felt the blade shift and change in his grip. The handle stretched and grew while the blade shrank and reshaped. Hard metal became old, strong wood. Eventually, the sword was unrecognizable for what it once was, instead in his hand he held an old, familiar staff. Simple wood outside a set of gold, metal wings branching out from the top. A staff somehow still depicted by many human artists (and he never fully understood how that happened, but Mother worked in strange ways). Large red eyes widened in shock, but Aziraphale wasn't done. Drawing on reserves that had been unavailable for eons he reached deep into himself and pulled out his wings. All of them. Six shining white wings unfolded from his back to frame his body, causing him to glow slightly as a small amount of his power leaked free from his control. Another choked noise sounded from behind him, but he kept his gaze fixed on the stunned figure in front of him. Several beats passed before-
"Raphael," it was more of a breath than anything else. A prayer really, if he was bold enough to claim anything coming from Satan himself as such. Then, stronger, "Raphael, you're alive." A moment later the towering figure was shrinking down to a more manageable size, replacing the red giant with an average-sized man with neat black hair and a tailored suit. Said man seemed to stagger forward some, eyes wide in almost disbelieving shock and Aziraphale quickly stepped forward to steady him with a hand on his arm. The same arm quickly moved to grip him return, fierce and desperate.
"It's alright little brother," Aziraphale soothed with a small smile "No need for tears now dear boy." And there were tears, pooling at the base of the devil's eyes. Tears he didn't seem to mind as he stepped forward the rest of the way to wrap his arms around Aziraphale's frame.
"You're alive..." Lucifer repeated, voice breaking slightly, causing Aziraphale to wrap a set of wings around him in an attempt to comfort him. "We looked everywhere. We had people listening for any tips. Any whispers. We couldn't find you. We thought Heaven killed you!"
"Nothing of the sort," Aziraphale reassured him, wrapping his free arm around the man in gentle comfort as well "I rather doubt anyone other than Mother knew what I was up to. It's a rather long story to be honest and this really isn't the place for it."
"Why not? I want to hear it." There's a bit of a growl to the words, but Aziraphale is far too used to Crowley to be bothered by it so he simply huffs and shakes his head.
"Well in part because you owe Adam here an apology," he informed the younger being sternly "You scared the poor dear half to death. And for no good reason too." There was a longer pause then, as Satan gathered himself enough to pull back with a glare (not that it was horribly effective with his still wet cheeks).
"He did too deserve it. If he'd just-"
"Done what he was told?" Aziraphale finished, raising an eyebrow pointedly "Followed directions? Obeyed his parent? Strange how that goes. Almost like he's, I don't know, your son." Several beats of silence pass before Lucifer huffed a breath, looking almost embarrassed but trying to hide it.
“Fine,” Lucifer growled without any real heat.
”Good,” Aziraphale replied firmly before pulling back some and folding his wings against his back to meet his eyes more firmly, eyes cooling, earning a slight widening of those red eyes watching him “And Lucifer?” He began, tone colder than before “Crowley will not be touched for this. Or anything else that happened recently. I will be very upset if he does.” Lucifer frowned slightly and looked over Aziraphale‘s shoulder over to where the others were, then back to him, then back over his shoulder. After a couple moments he looked back at Aziraphale once more, brows furrowed slightly.
”Is that...?” He trailer off as Aziraphale nodded tightly, causing him to sigh. “Fine. He will not be punished by me or mine.” Aziraphale relaxed some at that reassurance, feeling like he could breathe a little easier.
”Good,” he said again before pulling back the rest of the way to look behind him. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the people there looked quite shell shocked to say the least. Out of all of them Adam looked the calmest, more curious than anything else. Crowley, on the other hand, looked like the ground had been pulled out from under him, leaving him lost and fumbling for his footing. And a little hurt, which made Aziraphale wince slightly. Hopefully Crowley would let him explain. He normally did, but a lot had been said and done between them in the last couple of days.
Clasping his hands behind his back he made his way back to the rest of the group and gave Crowley an apologetic smile before crouching in front of the young antichrist.
"How are you feeling Adam?" He asked "Are you doing alright with all of this? I'm sure it's been a lot." A small noise of overwhelmed agreement came from where Crowley was, making his lips twitch slightly in fond amusement even as he focused on the boy in front of him.
"Yeah I guess," Adam agreed before glancing over Aziraphale's shoulders towards where Lucifer was standing, hanging slightly back "So that's my....?"
"You're biological father, yes," Aziraphale agreed "Not that it makes your father who raised you any less important mind you." He'd learned that much over the years helping the various rejects of the world. Especially the LGBT communities. Thankfully, that statement seemed to clear up some of the slight uncertainty on the boy's face and allowed him to nod before refocusing on Aziraphale himself.
"And that makes you...?" Aziraphale huffed a small sigh before sitting back on his heels, expression growing thoughtful and a little distant.
"That is...slightly more complicated. Not in the least because angelic....genetics are a bit more complicated than human. But in simplicity, I would be your uncle I suppose. Originally I was known as Raphael, one of the Archangels and we all considered each other siblings in the beginning. But I have been, in many ways, a different being for the duration of my time on Earth, and for a period time before that, so it gets...strange." He shook his head and refocused on the boy "But I wouldn't mind you considering me family if you wanted. If nothing else the original plan Crowley and I had was for us to be your godfathers, helping raise you so you wouldn't want to end the world." A small startled noise from behind him drew his attention back to a startled Lucifer. To which he raised an eyebrow. "What? You can't expect me to simply accept the destruction of Earth and the humans can you? I've grown quite fond of the lot of them. And that's not to mention the company I'm able to keep here."
Lucifer paused for a moment, eyes darting over to Crowley before back to Aziraphale. "No...I suppose not," he acknowledged after a moment. "I'm just having trouble picturing you of all people going against Mother." Aziraphale hummed slightly before allowing himself a slight smirk and shrugging.
"Who says I am?" he asked in faux innocence, earing a choked laugh from Crowley (something he considered a win) "Going against Heaven is hardly the same thing as going against Her after all." Lucifer took a moment to process that before nodding and acknowledgment, allowing Aziraphale to turn his attention back to a thoughtful-looking Adam. "Everything ticket-boo then?" He asked, earning a more true groan from Crowley (which, honestly, was part of the reason he still used the phrase. Crowley's reactions were highly entertaining).
Adam blinked in confusion before nodding. "Yeah. I think I'm good."
"Very good then," Aziraphale said cheerfully as he stood "You lot should probably all run along home. I imagine your parents are worried for you, yes?" Thankfully, the four kids easily took the hint and scampered off, followed by the adult humans not long afterward. Leaving Aziraphale with only two very confused demons to deal with. Biting back a sigh and moving to clasp his hands in front of himself he turned towards Lucifer again, meeting surprisingly uncertain eyes with an even gaze of his own. "Right, well. I'm certain you have quite the mess to take care of Down Bellow. And Crowley and I have a good deal to speak on ourselves. You are welcome to visit later if you wish, but please do send a message ahead, and give me at least a week from now before you do. Yes?" Lucifer blinked and looked slightly offended at his words, clearly unused to being told what to do instead of the other way around (something Crowley was clearly aware of, if the choked noise coming from the demon was any sign), but a moment later he nodded.
"I'll do that," the king of Hell agreed before the ground beneath him cracked open and he sank back into the bowels of the Earth. Aziraphale waited for a few moments, tense, as he reached out to make sure that his younger brother was really gone and no one else was about to arrive. Only once he was certain they were alone for the time that he allow himself to relax, shoulders slumping out of their erect posture in relief before he straightened them again and turned to give Crowley another apologetic smile.
"I do believe I owe you quite the explanation My Dear," he noted somewhat sheepishly. Crowley stared at him, unblinking, for several long moments before letting out a huffed sigh and striding forward to pull him into a tight hug, much to Aziraphale's surprise.
"You're damn right you do," he replied gruffly as Aziraphale slowly reached up to wrap his arms around the demon in return, noting the slight tremble of the lean body as he did so. "And alcohol, lots and lots of alcohol. The good stuff." Aziraphale couldn't help the smile that came then as he tightened his hold around his friend, just slightly.
"I do believe that can be arranged," he agreed warmly and was rewarded with a tightening of the arms around him as well. Yes. They would be just fine.