The End of the World...Again? [Good omens/S3]

5

He stood motionless, watching the ducks swim, yelling at anyone who threw bread crumbs at them, "DUCKS DON'T EAT BREAD, THEY EAT FRESH PEAS!" he exclaimed impatiently, muttering, "Idiot." All the while, he remained standing, as he couldn't bear to sit where he used to. He feared the space beside him, speaking to himself and looking to his right, waiting for a response from someone who was no longer there, perhaps would never be again.

He glanced at the bench, his bench, and pressed his lips together, feeling a wave of growing sadness.
"Idiot..." he muttered. But he wasn't sure if he was saying it to himself or to that angel with platinum curls. He climbed into his Bentley and drove furiously across the city, not knowing what he was searching for, but before he realised it, he found himself parked outside the café, "Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death." From there, he looked over at the bookshop, feeling a burning sensation in his chest. He got out of his Bentley and entered the café, which was nearly empty and saw Maggie talking to Nina. Both of them paled at his sight, as if they'd seen a ghost.

"Mr Crowley!" -they both exclaimed simultaneously. They stared at him with wide eyes, taking in his appearance. He tried to smile and be polite to them, but it came out more like a grimace. At first, Crowley had hated them, blaming them for what had happened, but over the months, he realised that whether he'd confessed his feelings or not, he would have left.

"Six espressos, please," -he mumbled, as politeness wasn't his usual style.
Nina prepared his six shots of espresso in a large cup, and both women sat down with him.

"How are you feeling?" -asked Maggie. "After Mr Fell left and took that young girl with him, you didn't come back around. We assumed something had happened to you, and well, judging by..." -she gestured to her own face, referring to Crowley's scars.

Crowley drank his coffee in one gulp and looked at them for a long time, remembering how it happened. It was the only priest who had dared to confront him, throwing strips of holy water at his face, leaving some scars. When the priest realised the water hadn't caused much harm, he muttered, "May God have mercy on you." Crowley had only sneered and left in a rage; he no longer wanted God's mercy. He didn't care about seeing the stars anymore; he just wanted to see his angel.

"Oh, I, er... got into a fight with a colleague" -he said, unwilling to reveal details. "Anyway... And you two?" -he pointed a curious finger at them.

"Oh yes..." -Nina took Maggie's hands. "Tomorrow, we'll have been together for a year."

"A year..." -Crowley smiled as best he could. "Congratulations..." -He was happy for them, but it saddened him to think that it could have been him and the angel so easily. The bell at the entrance rang, and Nina kissed Maggie before attending to the customers. Crowley gazed at his cup, running his finger along its rim.

"You know, I thought... I really thought that if I told him how I felt, things would be better... But it was the opposite; he thought I did it because... to... " -Words failed him; he didn't know how to express it. Maggie took his hand and smiled, trying to comfort him, knowing how much he had suffered. Crowley looked at her hand, tempted to pull his own away, but it had been so long since he'd acted like a demon that he didn't really want to do it again. So that afternoon, Crowley sat with two humans, the closest thing he had to friends at that moment.

Aziraphale was carefully studying some blueprints for a few renovations in Heaven when he suddenly noticed Metatron leading Raphiel away.

"Well, you know, leave that beam in place and put another over there..." -he said as he stepped away from the messenger angel. He followed Metatron and watched from behind a beam. Metatron held Raphiel by both shoulders, saying something Aziraphale couldn't hear from where he stood, but it couldn't be anything good, given the vacant expression on his little angel's face. He gave her shoulders a squeeze, which startled her before he walked away, leaving her there.