Work Text:
He'd thought, when he allowed himself the blessed business of thinking at all, that it would be some sort of big deal. If Aziraphale came back.
There's be some drama to it. Some flair at least. Heavenly fanfare. The door swinging open on a gust of wind, an angel shape outlined in it.
But he was just, suddenly, standing there. Staring at some point on the far floor.
"Az-Aziraphale?" was the best he could force out around the shock. Then he furiously tried to untwist his tongue from all the words he'd wanted to scream, fling, pour over him. They fell out strangled, dissolved in dull eyes.
The angel stared into space, one heartbeat, another, too many, then turned his gaze slowly. "I am here," he assayed, like he might need that checked for accuracy.
"Uh. Yeah. You. Are here." Crowley was helpless to do more than supply it.
The smallest nod. "Good."
More beats. He hazarded a step closer. "Angel?" Was that a flicker of response?
Someone's brain had to start working here, and it was Someone's joke it had to be his. "What are you doing here?" All the venom and rage he's imagined for this very question had detached, slid off somewhere.
"I can't stay there."
"All right. Yeah, no. Right." His feet sent him in a restless circle. "You did it then. The next go-round, Armageddon 2.0, the one Gabriel got the sack for, you fixed it. Yeah? That's why you left - "
Tiniest shake of the head. "I can't do it anymore."
Something was moving toward them. Bearing down on the small space they stood in. "But. What. You didn't do it? It's not fixed?"
"I can't - "
He couldn't believe it had come to this, that he had to say it. "What about the world!? Gorillas, whales. Wine. Music! Everything we said. Last time." He wanted to reach out, grab him, shake him a little. But made fists instead, terrified he'd shatter.
"I can't be without you."
His feet froze in place. It was everything he wanted to hear and nothing he should be hearing. He threw out his hands. "Nonono no you can't do that, you can't, they'll do you just like Gabriel - "
"It's done."
It was a rushing train, now.
Empty eyes laid on his, a sad echo of another time, another grace. Just as everything changed, Aziraphale whispered: "Nothing lasts forever."