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There was a flash of light, so bright - Crowley was sure it’d have burned his eyes if he was a mere human and a sound like the Universe’s fabric was torn. Aziraphale, who was softly snoring, asleep on the demon’s chest woke up with a start, only to see Crowley drop the phone he was scrolling on, clearly as perplexed as he was.
And then there She was. Sitting on their coffee table of all places.
“What would you have done?” She asked, sulkily. “Sure, I messed up, but what would you have done.”
“That’s not exactly an apology…Lord.” Aziraphale reprimanded gently as Crowley looked at him, wide eyed.
“No. I suppose not.” She crossed and re-crossed Her legs. “Shall I try again.”
Aziraphale straightened up and sat even closer to Crowley, squeezing his hand.
The silence stretched, long and thin and seemed to wrap them all in a fine web as they sat, unmoving; Crowley and Aziraphale’s fingers laced together, Aziraphale’s thumb soothingly caressing Crowley’s skin in a tiny, but significant gesture asking for patience.
“I’m sorry I suppose.”
Aziraphale raised his eyebrow.
“Okay fine. I’m sorry! I apologise. I did so many things wrong. Oh fuck.”
She stood up now, pacing around, picking things up from their shelves and putting them back down. Looking at Crowley’s plants, out into Aziraphale’s bushy, flowering garden.
“Why do you – like all this stuff?” She enquired, seeming genuinely interested.
“It’s – nice.” Aziraphale replies, frowning. “You should spend time around here. You might like it too.” He adds.
She says nothing, holding a small rubber duck with a top hat on Her palm, looking at it closely.
“You could have asked,” Crowley says, quietly.
She looks at them then. At their joined hands, how close they sit together, how Aziraphale’s other hand joined in to caress Crowley’s.
“Asked,” She repeats.
“Yeah, we would have told you, you know, if we felt something wasn’t right. Making the Universe for a 6000-year timed game for a start. Not fair.”
“Fair?”
“Are you just going to repeat everything I say,” Crowley snarls and Aziraphale can feel his frustration starting to raise.
The angel frees one of his hands and puts his arm around Crowley's shoulders, kissing the demon’s temple gently, “Darling”, he whispers, soothingly.
“Crowley is right. There were quite a few of us, it now transpires, who did not like the way things were run. We had no say and when things boiled over you…”
“Yes, yes. I don’t know what possessed me... Do you think then, Aziraphale, that things would have turned out better if I wasn’t… so stubborn and blind as you put it when you led your rebellion last year?”
Aziraphale is thoughtful for a moment. Now it’s Crowley’s turn to squeeze a hand gently in support.
“I don’t think so.” He says in the end. “There would have been other problems, I’m sure. We’d have made other mistakes. But we wouldn’t have felt so … powerless.”
“And forsaken,” Crowley adds.
She walks back to sit in front of them.
“You wouldn’t have ended up together.”
“How do you…ah.”
Aziraphale squeezes Crowley’s shoulder. “Maybe not, but many others would have. Many others would have been so much happier.”
“Many still wouldn’t…”
“That’s not the point!” Aziraphale raises his voice just slightly, making Crowley turn to him in surprise. The angel spots tears running down his demon’s cheek. “Oh sweetheart. Of course you matter to me. Of course you do. You’d have had been happy with someone else.” Aziraphale kisses his cheek.
“Unbelievable”, She says, “Fine. Yes, I get it. You would sacrifice yourself for his happiness over and over Aziraphale. And everyone else. Fuck’s sake.” She stands up again.
“And I lied. Of course, you would have had found each other in every Universe. In every variation I tried to imagine you do. So yes, I’m sorry I was such an asshole and made you suffer. I really am.”
And in a flash of light. She’s gone.