An Ineffable History

Chapter Seventeen: In case you don't live forever

Tadfield, London, 2019

It was the end of the world,

and then,

it wasn't.

What the fuck were they supposed to do now?

The world was changed, Crowley knew that for sure. It hadn't been dramatic, no sudden shift in the skyline of new cities, no toxic nuclear wasteland, it looked just the same as it had before. But appearances could be deceiving. Crowley could feel that the world had changed. Where before there had been a building sense of impending doom was now the ordinary feel of life continuing on as normal.

And all of it was thanks to Adam.

That brilliant little antichrist. Crowley and Aziraphale had both been terrified that he would bring about the end of the world, that without influences from both sides, he would grow up to be evil, the antichrist of storybooks. They hadn't ever considered that he would be perfectly fine- better in fact- getting to grow up a normal boy on Earth.

When Lucifer- disappeared? Returned to Hell? Never came up in the first place? Was gone, there was a brief moment when the world was silent as they all stared at each other, trying to make sense of what just happened. Adam's father looked completely confused, as if he wasn't sure what he was doing there- which was probably true. He had yelled at Adam as to what on earth he was doing in an air base, and Crowley couldn't help it, he laughed. After everything that had happened that day- Aziraphale disappearing and coming back, the end of the world. Children fighting off the four horsemen, and an eleven-year-old kid telling Satan to literally go to hell; a father yelling at the actual antichrist after the kid had just saved the planet- it was ridiculous.

"Are you alright, my dear?" Aziraphale asked him in a concerned voice. He fluttered his hands over Crowley's sooty clothes, tugging at the lapels slightly as if that would make anything better.

"I need a drink." Crowley said, gently pushing Aziraphale's hands away. It had been a very long day.

Aziraphale nodded, a small smile on his face. "That, I believe, is something I can get behind."

They said their goodbyes to book girl and her boyfriend, along with Madame Tracy and Shadwell (Crowley was going to have to remember to talk to him later about who exactly that man was working for and how exactly he had ended up stuck with Aziraphale at the base) and together they went to talk to Adam.

"Young man," Aziraphale said, "I believe that we all owe you a great deal of thanks." Adam looked at both of them and smiled, it was a smile that Crowley had seen in the people who would grow up to be far wiser and know more than either he or Aziraphale ever would be. "But for now, I think this is goodbye- there are still things to be dealt with in Heaven and Hell, and both of us also have things we must discuss." Crowley nodded absentmindedly. Aziraphale was right- of course he was. Heaven and Hell needed scapegoats, and Crowley and Aziraphale were the best options.

"Goodbye Adam," Crowley said, and he and Aziraphale both turned to leave.

"Goodbye Aziraphale, goodbye Crowley!" Adam called out to them. Crowley heard Adam's father beginning to question the boy on who they were, why everyone was there, and began what Crowley guessed was going to be a long lecture about how Adam was grounded.

"I- I don't remember ever telling him our names," Aziraphale said under his breath.

"Suppose we didn't have to. He already knew everything about us the second he laid eyes on us."

They walked together in silence, the sleeping soldiers barely stirring as they passed through the gates of the American air base and back onto English soil. Crowley stared ahead warily, expecting to see the charred ruins of his beloved Bentley, but to his surprise, there was nothing there. No wreckage, no ashes, not even a scorch mark from the explosion. It was as if the car had never been there in the first place. That was odd, Crowley knew, but he couldn't dwell on it. He assumed it was something Adam had done. Aziraphale stopped, turning to face Crowley with a soft look on his face.