𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚜 - 𝚊 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚜 𝚏𝚊𝚗 𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗

Part Six: New Beginnings

Part Six: New Beginnings

Crowley set down his watering can as tears began to well behind his glasses. His head tilted back slowly, preventing them from spilling over. Crowley walked slightly closer to Aziraphale, as he did so Aziraphale looked at the floor, his hands trembling.

"You came back," Crowley said. He wanted to be cold, make some sort of dismissive remark but his beckoned venerability didn't allow that, not this time. Rather, his voice quakes with the lump pressed in his throat. Emotion spilled through every tremble that ruptured his voice.

"I should never have left." Aziraphale began. Crowley's gaze darted as he tried to find a place for it to grasp as though maybe that would pull him out of this emotional mess.

"I am sorry. I thought they could change, that I could change them. but I completely disregarded what we had already worked so hard for. I abandoned you. I can't imagine how hard that must have been on you. I'm sorry for leaving you like that," Aziraphale's tears spilled over as he spoke, looking back up at Crowley. "I shouldn't have left you."

Crowley's lips shook as he tried to formulate a response. After a moment of trying he pressed his lips together harshly holding back tears. "I don't expect you to say anything back. I just wanted you to know. you deserve an apology," Aziraphale looked up from the floor and at Crowley, tears welling in his eyes. "I'm here. I know it will take time to fix this but I'm here and I will wait for you if you need time."

The demon was silent, his mind was wild, and he couldn't think straight, much less process the angel's apology.

Aziraphale gently reached out his trembling hand, setting the box of chocolates on the counter. "I know this is a lot, take your time. I will be in my bookshop if you are ever ready to talk. I'm here..." Aziraphale said kindly, beginning to walk out.

"Angel," Crowley called out, his voice trembling. "Thank you," Crowley continued.

The edge of Aziraphale's lips tugged up slightly. "It's good to see you again... And congratulations on your shop," Aziraphale said softly before walking out. The shop swiftly fell into an uncomfortable, silence. The demon paced around the room in thought, uncomfortable hisses escaping his lips. He flipped the small sign in his window to 'closed', slipped off his apron and on his coat.

He needed some time to think. He had hoped something like this would happen but now that it had his mind was racing with uncertainty and distrust. It seemed too wonderful to be true and the last thing he wanted was to get caught up in some sort of impossible hope.

The ginger-haired demon flicked off the lights and walked outside with the chocolates Aziraphale had brought. He drove home recklessly as he usually did and set the chocolates down on his counter and instead grabbed some leftover peas. He then walked to the park.

Once he arrived at the park he stood, leaning against the edge of the small park bridge's railing tossing peas to the ducks as he thought.

Aziraphale must have been authentic. Or at least meant what he had said to some extent, but why was he back now? What would this mean for their future? Questions flooded Crowley's mind as he stood. At least he had time to think over all the questions he had and process his return though he did not need much to do so. Crowley took some time to himself to organize his thoughts; that was all he had needed before resuming his conversation with the other as well as to make amends.

The sky grew dark and clouds began to form. The ground was littered with a grayish hue as small raindrops rippled along the pond and tainted the sidewalk a dark wet cement.

Crowley drove back in the rain. The town's lights reflected off of the damp road. Rather than stopping at his house, he continued to drive to Aziraphale's bookshop on the corner.

Crowley's black Bentley came to a halt aside the street before he stepped out in his usual suave manner; his dark glasses rested gently on his thin nose. Crowley gently walked to the shop's door and walked in.

Aziraphale's eyes immediately snapped up from the book he was reading to the door. His soft hands carefully reached up as he took off his reading glasses and neatly set them down on his desk. He stood up, gently adjusting his vest before he carefully walked towards Crowley.

"Would you like some tea or wine?" The angel asked shyly, trying his best to stir up conversation.

"Can we talk over some wine?" Crowley asked, his voice venerable and calm, as opposed to his usual confident sassy demeanor.

Aziraphale nodded and trotted to the back of his shop. Grabbing a couple of wine glasses as well as the wine itself. Crowley carefully slipped off his coat and hung it up, patting off some of the water droplets.

Aziraphale came back, setting everything down neatly before pouring Crowley a glass.

"Angel, can we talk about," the demon gestured vaguely between the two of them, "this?" The last word escaped his lips in a soft, uncomfortable hiss. "Do you intend on going back?" Crowley asked quietly, maintaining eye contact.

"I'm not leaving you again," he said, sitting down beside the other, "But I can't run off with you, not yet. I would like to in the future but right now humanity may be at risk. I realize now I can't change heaven but I damn well know at least I can do my best to keep humanity safe at least to some extent," Aziraphale had a mix between a sincere and determined expression. "I would love it if you were here to help me but I entirely understand if that is not the case."

Crowley gently slipped off his glasses, his vibrant amber eyes peering into the other's. "Alright, what are we up against?" he said, improperly, of course, facing the angel and giving him his undivided attention.

The angel smiled brightly, his already rosy cheeks bursting with color. "The second coming. I'm tasked with raising Christ or at least looking after Christ. They want Christ to be the final judgment upon humanity itself; those who are good and worthy and those who are not. "

"Humans are not as black and white as they hope they would be," Crowley remarked, piecing together the picture like a jigsaw puzzle in his mind.

"Exactly. and consolidating those who are more one than the other will only give them less of anunderstanding of what good and bad is. You can not judge someone over being fundamentally good or bad when they do not have any idea what one or the other entails." Aziraphale said, settling into the couch slowly, drink in hand.

"Raise Christ to have an understanding of human nature that neither side could dream to possess?" Crowley asked, a small grin tugging at his thin lips.

"To new beginnings and familiar faces," He held up his glass to the other, the stem of the glass gently healed between his thin fingers. The other did the same, the glasses met at the rims with a distinctive ring that filled the cozy bookshop.