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Raphael spent most of creation among the stars. Well, to say that would be a bit of a misconception. He spent most of creation making the stars.
In the beginning, there hadn’t been anything aside from the Earth which God was creating. As the other angels, still young in this time, gathered around their mother and helped where they could, focusing in on the new ball which would hold life, Raphael had looked out.
“It is so cold out there,” he said.
“Yes, my child,” God said softly, creating a cloud.
“Why is it so cold and empty?” He asked, looking up at God as she created a mountain.
“Because I haven’t put anything there yet,” she said gently.
“Could I put something there?” he asked.
God looked at Raphael and smiled. “Alright.” And then God created the sun and placed it not far from the little planet she was working on. “See this Raphael?”
“Yes mother,” he said, looking at the sun with wonder.
“This one will guide you home. Now take these, scatter them across the empty space,” God said, handing him a bag of stars.
“But what if I need more?” he asked, looking up at God.
“I’m sure you will find a way to make more,” God said, patting him on the head. “Now run along little angel. You have lots of work ahead of you.”
Raphael smiled and spread his wings to fly off to place the stars.
The task was daunting at first. So much open space, he wasn’t sure where to start. What if he placed it wrong? What if it was too close? What if it was too far? What if he put too many in one area and couldn’t figure out how to make more?
After flying through the emptiness for a while Raphael decided that it didn’t truly matter where he placed his first star, it just mattered that he did. So he reached into the bag of stars given to him by God and pulled one out. It was warm, ever so bright. He smiled as he held it before placing it in the void. Once he let go it grew and grew into a full sizes star, as big as the sun he’d seen God place. And Raphael stared in awe.
Things moved much quicker after. He flew through the void, placing stars and watching them grow. Sometimes he would pull out a small handful and toss them into the emptiness around him. Slowly, the light grew, and the cold, empty space felt better.
On the seventh day, God rested. Many of the angels rested but Raphael could not. His sky was not full, although his bag was almost empty. He flew through the spaces between his stars to fill the large empty spaces still left. Until he reached in and felt nothing.
Raphael’s brow knotted in concern. Was he out of stars? No, he couldn’t be. This bag must still have stars. He reached in further and as he believed in his stars, he felt something at the bottom. Pulling his hand out he smiled, looking at the star in his hand. Of course there were more stars. This was his bag of stars. As long as there was space to fill, Raphael would have stars.
This belief filled his bag. Raphael created beautiful stars of all shapes and sizes. Some were huge and bright, others small and dim. Raphael loved them all. He placed them all precisely where he felt they should go.
Some other angels were feeling restless, and so God handed them bags of leftover material from creating the Earth and told them to go out among Raphael’s stars and create. They did, going and creating planets, asteroids, and moons.
Raphael helped, taking the dust from their sacks to create nebulas. He talked with them as they worked, creating little solar systems deep within the vast space. Many came to like creating their own little worlds. They felt like small gods.
Raphael did not see himself as a little god. He was Raphael, an angel. And he was fine with that. But he wondered what his mother would do with all these new worlds and with all the stars he had created.
Once the sky was full and Raphael felt satisfied with his work, he flew back towards the sun God put in the sky. He came back and landed next to God.
“I filled the sky with stars so now it’s not so empty,” he said.
“Good job my child,” God said, glancing over from her newest creation.
“But mother, your sun is so bright. No one can see my stars.”
“Hmm. Perhaps not now. But the sun will not be so bright everywhere all the time. There will be times when it will be dark on Earth. Then they will see your stars.”
Raphael nodded and looked at what God was making. “What is it that you are creating now?”
“I am making a guardian.”
“A guardian? What for?”
“The humans will need someone to watch over them. Someone who can protect them,” she said.
Raphael nodded and reached into his bag. He pulled out a small piece of star. “Would this help your guardian mother?” he asked, holding it out to her.
She looked over before gently taking the piece of star. “Yes. This will work well,” she said, before placing the small piece of star in the new angel’s chest.
Raphael smiled before going to look at what the rest of the angels had been up to while he was in the stars.
~ ~ ~
Raphael had not intended to fall. He had gotten close with other angels who had helped build the sky. Lucifer was one he spent much of his time with while creating the stars, as well as after. Lucifer had built many planets and helped Raphael with the creation of nebulas. He had loved being able to shape the worlds how he liked.
When they returned from space to look at what their mother had created, they found Eden. It was beautiful, and they had nothing like it in space. And in Eden there was life. Many forms of life were found in there, but none were as special to God as the humans. They were who Eden was made for and special angels were created to protect it.
Lucifer had been upset by this, though Raphael did not at first understand why. Lucifer began to resent that only the scraps had been left for creation of their planets. None of this beautiful lusciousness was present outside of Eden.
He started demanding life for the worlds he and the others had created. God would not allow it. Crowley had simply asked why.
“Mother, why is there only life in Eden? Why is there not life out elsewhere?”
“Eden was made for life. This is where life belongs,” she said.
“Does life not belong outside of Eden?”
“No, my child. Life belongs in Eden.”
Raphael did not fully understand why life was only allowed in Eden. He watched the life from above. All the creatures in Eden walked and crawled and swam and flew. And watching over them were the Principalities. Raphael did not go down to Eden. He did not think he was allowed. But that did not stop him from watching over Eden and its Principalities.
Lucifer wanted life for the planets and spaces outside of Eden. He got many other angels on his side, many being ones who help in the creation of space. A war broke out, fighting amongst the ranks of the angels. Raphael found himself caught in the middle. He did not want to be a part of the fight and so tried to retreat from the fight in Eden.
He flew from Heaven down to Eden, landing outside the Eastern gate. There, above, stood one of the Principalities holding a flaming sword.
“What brings you here?” he asked. Raphael found his voice very soft and kind.
“I came to look at Eden,” Raphael said, looking up at him.
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible,” the other angel said, sounding apologetic.
“Why not?” Raphael asked.
“Because of all the fighting. God does not want fighting in Eden.”
Raphael nodded a bit. “But I do not want to fight. May I enter to avoid it?”
“I’m sorry, I’m not supposed to let anyone in right now. If you want to come in, you will have to talk to God.”
Raphael nodded and turned to leave, flying back to the warzone of Heaven.
God did not like the fight between her children. She spoke, telling them to love Eden and her creations there as they were who this universe was made for. Lucifer resented this, saying that life should not be limited to the creations God made. He resented the humans as they were favored by God and represented that which Lucifer could not have on the worlds he made. He fought on, not listening to the warnings of God, so God struck him down.
Along with Lucifer, many other angels fell. Among them was Raphael.
Raphael fell for asking questions and associating with Lucifer. For it was no secret in Heaven the two had been friends during the creation of the stars. So Raphael fell.
As Raphael fell, he felt parts of himself die. God stripped his holiness from him. To Raphael it felt like being plunged suddenly into freezing water. A cold penetrated him to his very bones.
And then his wings burned.
They burned with an intensity unmatched by anything Raphael had ever felt. But the burning did nothing to warm him. Instead, he felt his body go through cycles of bitter cold and blazing heat. It was like being rapidly dunked into the arctic ocean and then into a raging bonfire repeatedly. Over and over again until his body could not take it and Raphael went into a state of shock.
Then he landed.
Raphael landed among other angels in a pit of fire and brimstone. The cold was finally gone, replaced by the eternal burning. The shock brought him back to his senses.
All around him were the bodies of other fallen angels. Some were moving, some did not, some just groaned. Every piece of Raphael burned, but he decided that the pool of sulfur would only hurt him more.
So he swam.
Raphael swam through the burning pool, passing by his fallen fellows, till he reached a ledge. With pain still coursing through him, he pulled himself out with great struggle. He crawled away, till the heat of the pool was not as strong. Then he lay there. He did not know how long he lay there but he lay there until the pain subsided. Then he lay there some more.
When he finally began to move again, he noticed he was different. Instead of his wings he had scales and his body had become one long continuous thing.
Raphael looked over himself and looked at Hell around him. He hadn’t meant to fall, but now he was here, and he no longer felt like Raphael. That was the name of an angel. He was not an angel anymore. He was not Raphael.
The serpent thought for a while on his name as he explored his new world. He did not like it. The only light came from burning sulfur. None of the light from his stars shown on him.
He decided on the name Crawly as he was spending much of his time crawling around. He did figure out how to change back to something resembling his old form, only with blackened wings and serpent eyes. His hair had changed as well, the reds that had always been lightly present had deepened. He decided Crawly was his new name.
~ ~ ~
Lucifer called a meeting of the demons, as they were calling themselves now. He had a plan. One of them would go to Eden and do something to free life from the garden so it may expand outside its walls.
Crawly volunteered. He was a serpent. He could get in without raising as much suspicion. Nor would he alarm Adam and Eve as much as another demon might.
It was decided Crawly would go. So up Crawly went to tempt the humans.
Crawly had not intended to be the original sin. He had wanted to go to get out of Hell. He wanted to see what Eden looked like from inside, not just observing from afar. And he wanted to see his stars.
He entered near the western gate and slithered through the garden. He explored a bit at first, curiosity driving him to see as much as he could. Until the opportunity arose where he tempted Eve to eat the apple which she shared with Adam. That was what lead them to be expelled from Eden.
After Adam and Eve left, the garden felt empty. It was then that Crawly saw a face he remembered from when he was Raphael: the Principality of the Eastern gate. He slithered his way up the wall to stand beside the angel, who for his part looked startled. He stretched his wings out behind him, watching Adam and Eve leave the garden.
“Well, that went down like a lead balloon,” he said. He heard the angel chuckle nervously next to him and feared that the Principality who had seemed so kind before now no longer would want to speak with him due to his fall.
“Sorry, what was that?” the Principality asked.
“I said ‘well that went down like a lead balloon’,” Crawly said, trying to hide that he was secretly very pleased that the angel chose to speak with him. The angel nodded.
“Yes. Yes! It did rather…” There was a moment of silence as the angel trailed off. Crawly could not bear it.
“Bit of an overreaction if you ask me.” The angel looked over at him as he spoke with a look of uncertainty and a bit of fear. Crawly quickly continued. “First offence and everything.” He looked at the angel, hoping for some bit of understanding. He worried the angel would only see him as a being of pure evil. He hadn’t meant to fall. All he’d done was ask questions.
“I can’t see what’s so bad about knowing the difference between good and evil anyway,” he continued, looking at the Principality. He hoped the angel would understand.
“Well, it must be bad,” the Principality said with an air of uncertainty. He paused for a moment, looking at Crawly as if trying to reach for information he didn’t have.
“Crawly,” he said with some pride at his new name he’d chosen all on his own.
“Crawly,” the angel smiled some as he continued. Perhaps Crawly had been right about this one. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have tempted them into it.” The air of discomfort the angel had had earlier around Crawly seemed to be subsiding. Crawly began to relax some as well.
“Ah, they just said get up there and make some trouble.” Hell had not exactly given him instructions on how to do it exactly. None of them really knew until Crawly had explored Eden and found the tree with forbidden fruit.
“Well obviously, you’re a demon. It’s what you do.” The angel seemed to be distancing himself from Crawly, putting up walls between them.
“Not very subtle of the Almighty though,” Crawly said to quickly change the topic. “Fruit tree in the middle of a garden with a don’t touch sign. Why not put it on the top of a high mountain? Or on the moon?” The last part was a bit of an afterthought. Perhaps if the tree had been out of Eden, somewhere like the moon, the fighting wouldn’t have happened. Perhaps Crawly wouldn’t have fallen and would still be Raphael. He looked over desperately at the angel. The angel said nothing, just looked up toward Heaven. “Makes you wonder what God’s really planning.”
“Best not to speculate.” The look on the angel’s face made Crawly wonder if he was still reeling from the fall in his own way. God had just cast out many of her children, perhaps he was worried he would be cast out too. “It’s all part of the Great Plan. It’s not for us to understand. It’s ineffable.”
“The Great Plan’s ineffable?” asked Crawly who fell for being curious and asking questions, trying to understand.
“Exactly.” The angel looked very proud of himself. He continued talking about ineffability but Crawly was not really listening at the moment. He was looking at the angel and noticing something he had somehow missed earlier.
“Didn’t you have a flaming sword?”
The Principality looked instantly uncomfortable and dodgy. He looked back out at the desert where Adam and Eve were, not answering him.
“You did. It was flaming like anything. What happened to it?” Crawly, who was cast out for asking questions, asked. He remembered the Principality and his sword from when he had tried to shelter from the fighting in Eden.
The Principality dodged the question again with a vague noise. He did not look at the demon.
“Lost it already, have you?”
The Principality looked down. “Gave it away,” was all he said in a quiet, almost ashamed tone.
Crawly’s eyes widened in shock and awe. “You what?” He had been right about this Angel. This one was different. He may not have fallen but that didn’t mean he was strictly in line with everything God said. He wasn’t afraid to act on his own accord.
“I gave it away!” The Angel had a look like he was scared of what might happen. Crawly couldn’t help but stare at him with the same wide-eyed expression as he explained his reasoning. He liked this Angel. Quite a lot really. “I do hope I didn’t do the wrong thing,” the Angel said nervously.
“Oh, you’re an angel. I don’t think you can do the wrong thing.” Crawly felt an intense need to reassure him. It worked, better than Crawly expected as the Angel thanked him with extreme sincerity.
“It’s been bothering me,” the Angel explained. Crawly could understand why. They both looked back out over the desert, more relaxed than they had been previously.
“I’ve been worrying too. What if I did the right thing with the whole ‘eat the apple’ bit? A demon can get into a lot of trouble for doing the right thing.” He looked back over at the Angel who also seemed to be contemplating his words with a bit of worry. “Be funny if we both got it wrong, eh? I did the good thing and you did the bad one.” Humor to release the tension. He chuckled a bit, smiling, though it faded when the Principality didn’t seem amused. He did chuckle a little before turning serious. Crawly suspected he did think it would be a little funny but was more scared he may fall. God loved the humans. It was over them that Crawly and the rest had been cast out.
“No! Wouldn’t be funny at all.”
Crawly looked back over the dessert. He supposed the angel was right.
That was when it started to rain. The first rain. Crawly subconsciously moved towards the Angel. He was still getting used to the whole demon bit. He did not know if this rain would be a punishment from God to him. He half expected the Angel to move away from him, but instead, he extended one wing to shelter Crawly. This Angel was kind, kinder than Crawly believed he deserved. That being said, Crawly would do everything he could to maintain relations with this Angel.
~ ~ ~
One thing Crowley hated about London was the lights. It was too bright at night and no one could see his beautiful stars. No one had bothered either him or Aziraphale in months since the apocalypse had been averted. Crowley had decided it was safe now for him to take a trip outside of London. He deserved a little vacation.
When he had told Aziraphale, he had insisted he come along. He could also do with a break from London.
The two had driven up to Tadfield. Anathema had invited them to stay with her and Newt for a few days. They enjoyed some relaxing time with them. They had even spent some time with Adam and the Them. Overall, it was a very enjoyable, and much needed, break from London.
It was night now, Aziraphale was in the kitchen talking with Anathema about something or other over tea. Newt was trying to get a toaster to work. Crowley had excused himself saying he just wanted to step outside for a minute as it was a nice night. He’d walked a little way away from the cottage to a secluded little spot and then laid down to look at the stars.
He sighed, remembering how each star looked up close, how he’d put all of them in the sky. He remembered the feel of each little ball as he’d pulled them out of his bag. He took his glasses off, allowing himself some time to just relax and look at his stars.
He startled when he heard the approach of footsteps, sitting up and reaching to put his sunglasses back on.
“Oh, you needn’t bother. It’s just me,” the familiar and calming voice of Aziraphale said.
“Ah,” Crowley said, relaxing and laying back down. Aziraphale came and laid down next to Crowley, looking up at the stars with him, both hands folded neatly across his stomach. They lay in silence for a while.
“I’ve noticed you’ve always liked the stars,” Aziraphale said. Crowley looked over at him as he spoke. “Helped with the discovery of more than a few of them too if I remember correctly.”
“Oh yeah,” Crowley said, looking back up at his stars. “Had a blast with Galileo back in the day. You remember him?”
“Oh yes.” There was another moment of silence before Aziraphale continued. “If you don’t mind me asking, why do you like the stars so much?”
Crowley was quiet for a moment before answering. “I made them.”
Aziraphale looked over shocked and surprised. “You made them? That was you?”
“Yup. I was the one who went around and filled the sky with stars. Had a little bag and used just about every little bit.”
“Just about?”
“Had a little bit left over. Not really enough to make a full star. Gave it to the Almighty. She said she was making a guardian for the humans and I offered her my last little piece of star to put in them.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” There was another moment of silence. Between them.
“Do you know what she did with it? Your little piece of star.”
“Well, she put it in her guardian. Not sure what happened after. I wasn’t around when she finished making them.”
Aziraphale nodded. “I see.”
The two lay there for a while, just looking up at the stars, watching them slowly move through the sky as the Earth turned. A shooting star fell across the sky over them. Crowley never liked shooting stars. For starters, they weren’t stars, they were bits from other angels’ work. Rock and debris. Comets and asteroids.
He also didn’t like them because they reminded him of his fall.
Aziraphale appeared to have noticed Crowley’s frown and glanced over before looking back up at the sky. “Tell me about them.”
Crowley looked over. “What?”
“The stars. Tell me about them.”
“Alright,” Crowley said, shifting and settling himself a little closer to his Angel as he started pointing out individual stars and clusters of stars, talking about how he’d placed them and what each one was like.
They lay there, Crowley talking about his stars and Aziraphale listening rapturously. No worries about Heaven or Hell or God. Just two ineffable beings enjoying the night.