Good Omens: Ineffable Prompts

Day One: In the Beginning...

In the beginning, there was an angel and a demon. One was technically on apple tree duty while the other was told to cause a bit of mischief. Both failed on both accounts, and humanity had blossomed into something beautiful because of it.

That day had been millions of years ago, and now, humanity had flown to the stars, leaving the Earth a barren wasteland. Aziraphale and Crowley stood together on one of the smaller chunks of the moon. It remained the eons-old clue in the mysterious death of the once-thriving green planet. They had both been there when it had been attacked, and they had been told not to interfere as the hostilities were not of supernatural sources.

Aziraphale squeezed Crowley's hand. He couldn't see the bitter agony trickle down the demon's cheek, but he knew it was there, nonetheless. They watched as the edges of the planet scorched under the intensity of the sun. A sun that was so much closer than ever before.

Gabriel appeared next to them, puffing out a small ring of moon dust from where he stood. Neither of them flinched at his presence. It had been ages since Heaven and Hell had come to terms with their relationship, and as long as they continued to perform their duties, they didn't seem to mind. Most of the time.

The archangel held a clipboard and didn't look any different since the day the Earth had been created, except for maybe a small blue wing tattooed on the back of his hand. He had experienced what the humans referred to as a 'Midlife Crisis' after the world hadn't been destroyed the first time.

"So," Gabriel said, clicking his tongue. "It took long enough, but the world is finally ending. Not that it matters because neither side went to war. So, nothing was ever settled...again."

"Again?" Aziraphale raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, didn't we tell you?" Gabriel flashed him a quite unsettling grin. "She likes to reset things when the Earth is destroyed. Take it all back to the beginning and start from scratch."

Crowley acknowledged him for the first time and stared with his yellow slitted eyes. "She what? How long has this been going on?"

"You couldn't have mentioned this sooner?" Aziraphale huffed out a breath and readjusted his grip on Crowley's hand.

"Well, I actually didn't remember any of it until recently. Lots going on back at headquarters. All good things."

"So," Crowley licked his lips and glanced from Aziraphale to Gabriel. "Are-are we resetting too?" His grip on the angel had tightened to a near painful degree.

Aziraphale knew what he was asking. A reset would, in fact, reset everything, including them. They would have no memories of each other, and there would even be a possibility that they would never meet. It took a miracle for him to not collapse onto the dust-covered ground, but he didn't let his fear consume him, he couldn't. Crowley was already teetering on the edge of a terrifying cliff; so, Aziraphale had to be strong, he had to be the rock that bound them to logic and reason. For Crowley, he could be that strength, it had always been the case.

"Actually," Gabriel drawled. "The paperwork I have here is for you. She's letting you choose this time. You can go to," the archangel flipped a few pages back on the clipboard and squinted. "Alpha Centauri or–"

"That one! We pick that one." Crowley stepped closer, pointing to the picture of the twin planets on the paper.

"Wait a moment, my dear." Aziraphale sighed and squeezed his hand again. "We should hear both options before making any decisions, especially one of this magnitude."

"Yeah, alright. Let's hear it." Crowley gave him a contempt smile.

"The other option," Gabriel continued, "is to obviously start over and be an influence in the new Earth, or well the re-made Earth. But, no memories and no guarantees of how it will all end up. Could be Armageddon this time." He gave a broad smile and crossed his fingers.

Aziraphale shuddered at the sight, then he paused as a thought occurred to him. "So, does that mean if we pick the first option, we won't be allowed to influence the growth of the Earth?"

"Bingo! Means you two will be banned from Earth or anything relating to the outcome of humanity. I, for one, hope you pick that option." Gabriel drummed his fingers on the clipboard. "So, what's it going to be?"

"We have to decide that now?" Aziraphale gaped at him. "Really," he huffed in annoyance. Such a huge life-altering dilemma, and they had perhaps five minutes to decide which option was best.

Crowley huffed out a breath, then brought Aziraphale's hand to his lips. He kissed his knuckles in turn, then eyed him. "We both already know what to do with options like that, angel. I mean, it's not really a choice with how obvious they made it for us."

Aziraphale swallowed down his fear and tried to rein in his drumming heart. It ached in his chest, a feeling he was all-too-familiar with by then. "Are...my dear, are you sure?"

Crowley gave him a lopsided grin. "Come on, angel. We always pick the fun option. I can't remember us ever not picking the fun one. Not that I actually remember any of the restarts, but it sounds like something we'd do."

Aziraphale felt his lips quirk into a small smile. "Yes, I suppose you're right. We can't give up now, can we?"

Crowley squeezed his hand, and Aziraphale faced the archangel.

Gabriel rolled his eyes and produced a pen from thin air. "So, the Alpha Centauri option, then?"

"No," Aziraphale said. His hand trembled as he refused to release Crowley's hand.

"No? Then...then you want the restart? You want to influence the Earth again?" Gabriel squinted at them as though they had started speaking some foreign language, which he couldn't quite comprehend.

"Yes," Crowley hissed. "Seems like your stuck with us a bit longer." He smiled at him with slightly longer canines. "Got a problem with that?"

Gabriel sneered and marked a checkbox on the paper. "Not my fucking choice to make. Sign here and here." He thrust the clipboard at them.

Aziraphale signed and handed the paperwork to Crowley. He squeezed his hand once as he gave him the pen. "My dear, I don't know if you know how truly wonderful it has been to know you all these years."

Crowley glanced at him before signing. His eyes had softened as he took the pen. "Angel, I'll find you again. I promise. I always find you."

Aziraphale brushed his hand along the demon's cheek. "I know, my dear. I've never doubted that for a moment."

In the beginning, there was a garden. An angel and a demon stood together on a wall, staring out at the oncoming storm; it was going to be a big one. The demon, Crawley, his name apparently, had just asked Aziraphale about a flaming sword, the one he'd given away. It wasn't a terribly unpleasant conversation, especially for a demon.

Thunder clapped as large splattering drops fell from the sky. Aziraphale raised his wing over Crawley's head, shielding him from the rain. He wasn't sure why he did it. It was as though his body had acted of its own accord. As though he'd done it before, so many times that it was second nature by then. The demon hunched closer, grateful for the shelter.

Aziraphale knew he didn't have to be nice to him. But it seemed wrong to leave him on his own. He didn't think it would hurt to show him a bit of kindness when Crawley had been kind enough to wash his own worries away about doing the wrong thing.

And besides, he had the most beautiful eyes.