Crawling back to you (Hozier's version)

5: Realisation & Regret

No matter how much he thought about his current situation, Aziraphale only came to one conclusion: he was fucked.

Metatron had... guided him as he did due to prior personal issues with Heaven, that he knew. Well, he didn't exactly know that. He had absolutely no idea what Metatron was capable of.

Secondly, he had a shitton to do, so why was the only thing on Aziraphale's mind right now Crowley and/or Raphael? Well, stupid question, obviously he knew why that was.

Either way, he didn't want to be near Metatron again.

But then what was he going to do now? Could he go back to earth, to find Crowley? That's what he wanted to do, at least.

"Uhm... Micheal, Uriel?" he looked up at the two of them standing in front of what was apparently his new desk.

"Did something happen to you?" Micheal pressed.

"Wow, that is, uh, wow." he gave an awkward smile, "Well, the two of you really put this whole situation in perspective for me, so thank you for that." He continued to smile awkwardly, not knowing what to do or say.

Which perhaps wasn't too clever, because Uriel nodded once in approval and then the two of them continued to look down at him.

He looked back up.

"Do you know how I can get back to Earth without being held up by Metatron?" he decided to ask. Because he certainly wanted to avoid the Information & Directions Center. He didn't exactly get on with the angel working there.

He encountered the angel there once before, and it was not a pleasant memory for both sides.

Micheal's and Uriel's seemingly caring facade made way for annoyance. "Well, the elevator, obviously." Uriel said.

"Oh, yes, of course! Yes, how could I forget?" he lit up, getting up. He cleared his throat in a hurry. "Uhh, well thank you for the directions. I... appreciate it. I will see you later - I suppose."

And then he just walked away, looking for the elevator.

Aziraphale felt strange again. It wasn't the first time he was absolutely helpless, but it was the first time he couldn't count on Crowley's support.

He knew he was the one who had fucked up, but he didn't want to relive exactly what Crowley had said to him. He was very keen not to.

But when he heard Metatron's offer, Aziraphale knew he had to tell Crowley about it, and for some reason, he was certain that Crowley would be happy to hear it.

Which was monumentally stupid, really. He knew Crowley, and he knew that he wouldn't want to be an angel again. Not a fibre in his being would want to be an angel again.

And he felt so stupid about having offered the position to him. There was no excuse for that.

Now he just needed to find Crowley and tell him that.

He entered the elevator, luckily with no one else around. In Heaven-style, it only had three buttons.

An H at the top an E in the middle and another H on the bottom. Very stern.

And as he stood there, he wondered why a war didn't already erupt with Heaven and Hell being this close to each other.

Apparently, if you spend to much time near the enemy, you just kinda fall in love with them. Cough, cough Gabriel and Aziraphale cough, cough.

Aziraphale stepped out of the elevator quickly when it finally arrived on Earth. Fortunately, it was still beside his bookshop.

Now, he was quite sure that Crowley wasn't in the bookshop, but he just wanted to have a quick look to make sure everything was alright.