Chapter Text
The Angel was walking down an empty street. The air smelled like fresh soil after the rain. It was obviously another rainy day in London. He had a leather case in his left hand. He carried some books he borrowed in that. With his right hand, he was golding his hat. He was aware of that stalker walking with him. He acted like he didn't know for a while, but this had to end eventually. He walked in on a dead end on purpose. This time there was no escape from him. He took his sonic screwdriver out of this coat's pocket and smacked him against the wall.
"Who are you?" Said the Angel as he pointed the screwdriver on the guy's neck. He was visibly shaking and breathing heavily. "Who are you?" He asked back. He was still shaking and sweating terribly. The Angel didn't want to hurt this harmless human being so he lowered his screwdriver into his coat pocket.
"I don't wish to harm you, young man," he said, even though his body's age was nearly the same as his, "I would like to have a talk with you, that's all." He smiled and patted the man's shoulder briefly.
"You look terrified. How about going to a cafe and continuing our little chat there?"
The man was still shaking. He tried to get away from the wall behind him. "Oh, silly me! Here," he handed a bottle of water to his hands. The man was clearly not okay. His pupils were huge and they were staring directly into the mysterious man's eyes. When he took a sip from the water he felt better, but he was still shaking.
After the man calmed a tad bit down they walked down to the nearest coffee shop. The place was small and there were more people than it could possibly contain. They needed a private space to talk so the Angel simply took a piece of white paper out of his pocket. "Police! Leave this coffee shop!" He shouted at the employee and customers.
The man turned to the Angel and asked, "Wha- what are you doing? You just showed these people a blank piece of paper?" The Angel smirked at him instead of answering, then turned the paper at him to show the psychic paper.
"Oh, no... You really are the police, aren't you? I'm in so much trouble..." he started panicking and sweating.
"No, I'm not. Like I said, I just want to talk. You're not in trouble, dear boy, calm down. So, what would you like to drink?"
"A glass of cold water is fine."
"Alright, a glass of cold water for you, a tiny cup of Turkish coffee for me. You know there is a saying that goes "a cup of coffee has 40 years of remembrance" in Turkish. Really devoted to coffee these people."
"What do you want to talk about with me?"
"I'm glad you asked! Well, in my line of work, confidentiality is really important. You've somehow ruined it, so I'm going to try and get you on my side."
"Which means?"
"Look, you seemed like a quite smart fella. You figured that there was something up with me. Congratulations lad, you were right! Now I want you by my side. Let's travel together!" He took a long, savoring sip from his coffee. When he was finished with that, he turned the cup upside down and placed it on the coaster.
"I can't just go off together with a man I've been having suspicions about for years."
"I understand that. Why don't we tell each other about ourselves? That way you could learn about me as well."
"Alright. You start. What's your name?"
"The Angel"
Anthony started laughing. His nervousness suddenly faded away and turned into bullying the guy he was afraid of a few minutes ago.
"You've got to be kidding me. The Angel? 'The' is a strong word, you know. Your parents named you Angel and you've put 'the' in front of it just to make it cooler. You're lying to me. Are you a special agent or something. Or is that your nickname in a terrorist group?"
"I'm not a special agent nor a terrorist. I'm just a traveler. And no, my parents did not name me 'The Angel' but these kind of names are quite popular amongst my people."
"Who exactly are your people? Are you from a tribe?"
The Angel chuckled lightly. "No, not a tribe. I'm from Gallifrey."
"Now you're just making up a place. What happened to honesty? Be sincere, where are you from?"
"Gallifrey. It's may sound a wee bit shocking to you but it's a planet far far away from this one. My kind might resemble you people, but physiologically we are not even close to each other."
"You sound clinically insane. Have you escaped the psych ward or something, nut head?"
"I know this might be hard for a regular human like you to understand but I'm sure if you just come with me to my TARDIS you will believe me. And also, what's your name?"
"Anthony."
"Cute name. So, are you coming with me or not?" Anthony started to blush a little and had to look away so hide his half content half embarrassed expression. The Angel didn't say anything further and rose up from his chair.
"Wait up, Angel!" He nearly fell over while trying to catch the mysterious alien man.
They left the coffee shop. Anthony was blindly following the Angel. It almost felt like he was luring him with his spell whenever he opened his mouth to talk. Like a siren maybe. Or an alien version of that. He was a charming fellow, he had to admit. Not that he liked him or anything. He was just admiring a good looking guy. Nothing wrong with that.
"Come on Anthony, you're walking too slow."
"Shut up." He fastened his pace like he was trying to prove something. To assort his dominance. Which was not working at all.
They walked around a few corners more and the Angel suddenly stopped walking and stood in front of a random building's wall.
"Why did we stop?"
"I need my keys. Can you hold my hat for a second?"
"Sure."
He reached down to his coat's pockets and found a set of keys. He then sticked the key between two bricks and turned it. Suddenly there stood a door made out of bricks in front of them. Fascinating.
"What are you waiting for Anthony? Get in!"
Just when he was thinking that he can't see anything more confusing than a hidden and seamless door on a brick wall - with a huge yard behind it - he saw flickering yellow lights inside. And the part where he felt like he was going to faint happened when he stepped in. His heart stopped beating for a split second. They were not in that yard. They were in a space ship with highly advanced technology. And of course, it was huge from the inside.
"No way..."
"Yes way. Do you believe me now?"
"You're not gonna dissect me, right? I've seen aliens do that in a couple of films. Please."
"Relax. I don't dissect people. I just want to take you as my travel companion."
"How exactly are we gonna travel with a wall shaped spaceship."
"It's not just a wall shaped spaceship. It's a TARDIS. It's a spaceship and a time machine. Where do you wanna go? Or when?"
"I've dreamt of this a thousand times and never imagined my dreams coming true."
"So you must know where and when to go then."
"Oh yeah. Ancient Rome."
"Really?"
"Yeah, you've got a problem with that?" He raised an eyebrow.
"No, no, just surprised it's not something oddly specific like your parents' wedding, or your first kiss."
"I don't know my parents and I've never kissed anyone in my life."
"Well, that checks out."
"So, Gallifrey, huh? What made you come to our planet?"
"The people. When you travel the whole time it gets lonely after a while. I find humans fascinating. The way you don't know anything about the universe makes it even more fun to travel with."
"So you travel with us just because you find it funny to see how stupid we are."
"Not exactly. But teaching stuff gets me excited. In fact I would like to teach you everything I know until you get bored of me. How does that sound?"
"I mean... I like learning. Deal."
"Brilliant. So, Ancient Rome we go!"
TARDIS made that weird taking off sound as soon as the Angel pulled flicked some switches and pressed a couple of buttons. Anthony still had a hard time believing all this. He was constantly pinching himself to prove the realness of this situation. It was real. So real that the arm he's been pinching started to look like he has a rash. He was now in a fully functional space ship and time machine with a species of aliens. Was he content with it? Hell yeah he was! Hesitant but content still. Something about this man was really pulling him like a magnet. Strange.
"Which historical moment are we about to witness?"
"To be perfectly honest, I've chosen it a bit randomly, it could be a dull day or we could land in a battlefield." Anthony opened his mouth to speak but the Angel was faster, so he cut him off, "No, no shhh calm down! Nothing's gonna go wrong. Before you worry about this I have to warn you, as long as you stay with me, you're safe. So don't ever leave me, got it pretty boy?
"Yeah alright Angel." He was saying his name like an endearing word. Weird way to call someone you've met like an hour ago. But it was his name at the end of the day. But he couldn't stop himself from wondering his given name. He tried not to be rude for a while, stopped himself from asking it. But the demon on his shoulder was insisting on it. What have I got to lose anyway.
"So, I've been wondering, what is your given name. Don't get me wrong, I just couldn't keep myself from asking it. Curious human mind, am I right?" He smirked in a friendly way just to soften the conversation. It was working.
"It's okay, I hear that a lot. I was named after an angel. Aziraphale. But since it's too hard to pronounce for many people and it reminds me of my past, I've decided to change it as the Angel. I have a few friends that had names like mathematical equations. Trust me, my name is the least narcissistic name out of all the people who've survived from my planet."
"What did they even choose to make you say that? If you don't mind answering."
"Well the best example is probably 'the Master'. I mean, he really is a narcissistic person. Possibly the worst Gallifreyan I know. Who calls himself the Master anyway?"
This made Anthony giggle. He was already getting fond of him. He was so comfortable at his presence now, that he was willing to even share his most deepest, darkest secrets.
"You know, people never use my first name after hearing my surname. It's like the reversed version of your situation. My surname is a demon's name. I get kinda weirded out when someone calls me by my first name to be perfectly honest."
"What is your legal name?"
"Anthony J. Crowley."
"What does the J stand for?"
"I don't really know. My dad just thought that it sounded cooler I guess. The J does not stand for anything."
"I can call you Crowley if you want."
"Sure. It'd be better to find me in a crowded place. I won't answer to Anthony anyway."
"Crowley. Sounds like we were destined to find each other. Aziraphale and Crowley. Sounds a bit like a story from the Bible. I'm not sure if it'd have a good or bad ending but it doesn't change the fact that stumbling on each other wan not just a coincidence."
"I guess God does work in strange ways."
"He has an ineffable plan. One shall not interfere it. Except me. I'm a time lord. I can do whatever I want. I'm nearly as old as the universe."
"Now who sounds narcissistic?"
The way they were drifting away from the reality while talking to each other made them forget that they were now in a random time and place in the Ancient Roman Empire. Which should be one of their concerns. Because the thing that cut their conversation off was a war cry. They were so fucked.