Chapter Text
Crowley runs as soon as he hears about the war. He knows Hell doesn't stand a chance against Heaven. Especially with Heaven’s endless supply of Holy Water.
So Heaven will win the war.
And afterwards they will come looking for him. He is the Original Tempter, after all. He knows they will want to punish him for tempting Eve to eat the apple. And he wants to be far away from Earth when that happens.
He knows Aziraphale is safe at least. He made sure they didn’t see him and Aziraphale working together. As far as Heaven knows, Aziraphale was just anti-war, but not a traitor.
They banished him to Earth and Crowley knows they will likely forget about him soon.
He tells Aziraphale he’s going into hiding, and not to contact him. He would initiate contact once it was safe too. Once Heaven was satisfied enough to forget about him.
Crowley knew there was a very slim chance that would happen, but the lie was worth it, to keep Aziraphale safe.
Crowley was not expecting to be able to run from Heaven forever, but they caught up to him almost right away. He was assuming they would all be busy fighting, but they decided he was important enough to send a whole task force after him.
And while Crowley was a powerful demon, he could not fight off so many angels by himself, without any Hellfire. They dragged him back to Heaven easily.
He was put in a bright, white cell. They put a power-suppressing collar on him and bound his wrists. His sunglasses were plucked from his face and destroyed. The floor and walls were concentrated, not enough to kill him, just hurt and weaken him.
He was left there for days, (or so he guessed, it was hard to tell how much time passed), until Gabriel finally entered his cell.
“Crawley,” he says upon seeing him, “We were surprised that you didn’t join the battle. Seems like you didn’t have faith in your side winning?”
Crowley doesn’t bother correcting Gabriel on his name.
“You know Hell was outnumbered,” he says, “There was no point fighting in a lost battle.”
“Of course,” Gabriel says, with a smile, “Heaven will always triumph over Hell.”
“So when’s the execution?” Crowley asks, “I assume you will want a big spectacle, killing me.”
“Execution?” Gabriel asks, “Oh there is not going to be any execution. We’re not monsters. No, you're here for your punishment. For leading the humans to Sin. For going against Her will.”
Crowley laughs.
“You think I’m powerful enough to change Her plan? No, She planned for the apple to be eaten. Eve wouldn’t have done it otherwise”
Gabriel’s face shifted to anger. He took a few steps to get close to him and backhands him, hard enough for him to fall to the ground.
Crowley holds back a groan as more of his body burns touching the concentrated ground.
“Quiet, snake,” Gabriel says, “Do not dare speak against Her.”
He snaps his fingers and chains appear out the ground to attach to his bound wrists, low enough to prevent him from standing.
Thankfully the chains aren’t blessed. Small mercies.
“As head Archangel, I will be personally carrying out your punishment,” he continues, “There were many angels ready to take on this role. Be grateful I am taking on the role.”
“I’m honored,” Crowley says, sarcastically, “A high honor to be personally punished by you.”
Gabriel kicks him for that comment.
“Do not dare speak to me like that, demon,” he sneers, “I expect silence from you.”
Before Crowley can reply, Gabriel snaps his fingers again. A small vial appears in his hand.
“Don’t worry, it’s not strong enough to kill you,” Gabriel says, unscrewing the lid.
“No-” Crowley starts to say, before Gabriel forcefully grabs his jaw and forces him to keep his mouth open.
Crowley struggles against the restraints as Gabriel lets a single drop of the water fall into his mouth.
Agony. His vision blurs as pain consumes his mouth. He doesn't even feel the pain from the concentrated ground anymore as he writhes in pain.
And just like that, the pain fades. Gabriel is still standing over him, clearly having snapped the drop away before it could do much damage.
His mouth is still burned and every movement sends a wave of pain through him. He wants to scream out profanities at Gabriel, but his tongue is too burned for him to attempt that.
“A fitting punishment, don’t you think?” Gabriel asks.
Crowley glares at him, but doesn’t say anything.
Gabriel grabs his jaw again. Crowley struggles against the strong grip, but he knows it’s hopeless without his powers.
This time Gabriel drops the water down his throat.
Crowley screams. He can feel the water running down his throat, burning his flesh as it goes down. He can’t see or hear anything. All he knows is pain, pain, pain.
He screams in agony for what seems like hours before he feels the small droplet of water disappear.
He comes to his senses slowly. He’s lying on the floor again, his wrists burning from how hard he was struggling against the chains. His face is covered in his own tears. He doesn’t even have the energy to feel ashamed about that.
Gabriel starts laughing.
“All it took was 2 drops, huh. I was expecting more from you Crawley.”
Crowley doesn’t bother giving a reaction. He lays there, taking ragged breaths.
“That should take care of your speaking problem,” Gabriel says, “And now for your punishment.”
Crowley closes his eyes. He didn’t want to know what Gabriel had planned for him next.
Aziraphale is worried. Not for himself, for Crowley. He knows Crowley refused to fight, instead choosing to flee Earth.
A part of him wanted to go with Crowley, but Crowley had refused.
“They don’t know about us,” he had said, “It's better you stay here, where you're safe.”
“But what about you?” he had asked.
“I’ll be fine, I’ll hide until they get tired of looking for me. Don’t contact me, I’ll contact you,” he had said.
And then he was gone. He took nothing with him. He put his car and few belongings in long term storage and only left Aziraphale with his plants.
“Take care of them for me, Angel,” he had said.
And Aziraphale does. He makes sure to take care of them everyday. He wants to make sure they look perfect when Crowley comes back.
If he comes back. The little voice inside his head says. You know he doesn’t stand a chance against Heaven alone.
No, no Crowley is fine. He’s just hiding out somewhere and neither side will find him.
Aziraphale continues to tend to the plants.
Everything will be okay. Heaven will give up and Crowley will come back. It will be okay.
Crowley lies on the ground of his cell. Gabriel got rid of the chains after he was done beating him, but he doesn’t have any energy to get up.
He can’t even assess his injuries. Usually he uses pain levels to figure out what is broken vs just bruised but he can barely feel his injuries over the agonizing pain of the Holy Water burns.
Every time he forgets to hold his breath, the pain flares up and brings more tears to his eyes. He doesn’t dare even attempt to speak.
The door of his cell opens.
No, no. It’s barely been any time. He can’t be back for more already.
Gabriel uses his shoe to roll him off his side.
“Tired already?” he says, “We haven’t even gotten started yet.”
Crowley doesn’t say anything.
“Let’s lay down some ground rules. You are not allowed to speak to me, demon. You are not allowed to look at me. You are not allowed to make any sort of noise. Otherwise….”
Gabriel shakes the vial of Holy Water.
Crowley immediately looks away from Gabriel.
“Good boy.”
Anger fills up Crowley, hearing that. He refuses to take the bait and look at Gabriel.
Gabriel snaps his fingers and chains pull him off the ground. He’s left hanging from the ceiling with his feet barely touching the ground.
He holds back a groan of pain. This time the chains are blessed.
Crowley resists the urge to turn around a look at what Gabriel is doing. He doesn’t want to make whatever he’s planning on doing any worse.
He tenses as he hears Gabriel take a few steps towards him. And then he gasps as his back is in agony. He manages to hold out another cry of pain when his throat and mouth burns flair up from his gasp.
Crowley manages to see the whip Gabriel is holding in his peripheral vision. Most likely also blessed based on the amount of pain he felt from one lash.
This time, he’s able to hold back his cries of pain as Gabriel lets the whip hit his back over and over again.
At least Hell was good for something.
He manages not to scream, but does gasp in pain a few times. When the lashes stop, Crowley lets his head hang in relief. He hears another snap and the chains move to restrain him to the floor.
Gabriel walks in front of him. Crowley closes his eyes. He doesn’t want to risk Gabriel claiming he looked at him.
Gabriel sighs.
“You broke one of the rules already. 4 times, meaning 4 drops.”
Crowley shakes his head, tugging at the chains, uselessly trying to get away. He had made some noise, but barely any. He wasn’t expecting Gabriel to count it.
“You know the rules,” Gabriel says, “Open your mouth.”
Crowley desperately shakes his head even as he feels Gabriel roughly grabbing his face.
“Open it, or that's another drop.”
Crowley immediately opens his mouth.
“Good,” Gabriel says, “You’re learning.”
He hears the familiar sound of Gabriel unscrewing the vial and then agony.
He’s sure he’s screaming as the Holy Water burns through his mouth. It feels like hours of agony before the burning stops.
He’s crying again and trying to get his breathing under control.
Gabriel sighs again.
“You just can’t learn can you?”
Crowley shakes his head again. Surely Gabriel can’t be expecting him not to scream when being burned from Holy Water.
“Luckily for you, I’m feeling merciful,” he continues.
Crowley sags in relief.
Gabriel roughly grabs his face again.
“What do you say to that, snake?”
“Thank you,” Crowley manages to croak out.
Gabriel lets go of him. Crowley hears his footsteps as he walks away from him and exits the cell.
Crowley risks opening his eyes to see the empty cell. There’s blood splatters everywhere. The bloody whip is laying on a table along with bottles full of Holy Water.
Crowley closes his eyes and sobs.
Crowley wakes up suddenly to the sound of his cell door opening. He stares at the familiar shoes as Gabriel walks towards him.
“Enjoy your rest?” Gabriel asks.
His face is yanked upwards by his hair and Crowley is forced to look at Gabriel’s face. He averts his eyes, but he knows he wasn’t fast enough.
“I thought you would have learned your lesson by now, demon,” Gabriel says, “You were good for so long, I should have known that wouldn’t last. That you would dare look me in the eyes. A filthy demon, looking at an angel. How dare you!”
No no, that wasn’t fair. You made me look at you.
Gabriel lets go of his hair and Crowley hears him walk towards the table. He closes his eyes as Gabriel approaches him.
He opens his mouth without Gabriel having to ask him. It’s always easier this way.
He can’t even feel his mouth anymore, he’s sure all his nerve endings have been burned away. But he can still feel the pain of Holy Water running down his throat whenever Gabriel punishes him.
“Well you’ve managed to get one lesson in your head at least,” Gabriel says, “But we’re not punishing you for your tongue this time, demon. Open your eyes.”
Crowley freezes. Fear washes over him.
No no. He can’t. Surely he can’t be this cruel.
Crowley thinks back to the hours of whipping he’s endured. Forced to stay silent under the fear Gabriel would burn his tongue out again. Always failing because Gabriel never stopped until he screamed.
He is this cruel. He’s going to do it.
Gabriel grabs his hair again and yanks his head back.
“I SAID OPEN YOUR EYES. Don’t make this worse for yourself, Crawly.”
Crowley opens his eyes. The dropper is positioned right over his right eye. He can see the Holy Water, waiting to be released.
“Please,” he croaks out, “Anything but this.”
Gabriel tightens his grip on his hair.
“Quiet, demon!”
And then he lets the drop fall.
Crowley screams. An inhuman scream.
He thought the pain of Holy Water down his throat was bad, but it was nothing compared to this.
He begs and sobs and screams as the Holy Water eats through his eye and keeps going until Gabriel snaps to stop it.
But this time the drop doesn’t disappear. It stays there, burning his eye, even when there’s nothing left to burn away.
“I hope you learn your lesson, snake. Filth like you don’t deserve the right to look an angel in the eyes. If you choose to try that again, I’ll happily burn out the other one.”
“Please….” Crowley manages through his cries of pains, “Please make it stop.”
Gabriel doesn’t bother responding. Crowley hears his footsteps walk away and the door to the cell open and close as Gabriel leaves.
“PLEASE,” Crowley screams, “MAKE IT STOP.”
There’s no response.
“Please…”