Broken Strings

1 - The wall of Eden

It was an eventful day in the garden, to say the least. It was the day Adam and Eve had been cast out by the almighty, and Azira stood at his post at the eastern gate. The date was Sunday the 28th of October, in the year 4004 B.C.

Azira's POV

The sun was warm on my face as I watched Adam and Eve leave the garden behind them. I had given them the flaming sword I had been issued with. Gabriel had assigned me here in hopes that a change in scenery might cheer me up.  It was working, a bit. I mean I was just sitting around to sad and lacking purpose enough to move. While I watched I felt a familiar presence fill the air. It had changed a bit since I last felt it, but I would always recognize it. It was Raphael.

Soon there was a tall fire-haired man beside me. His wings were sleek and sharp. The feathers seemed to almost shine, they weren't pitch black as you might have thought. They were a dark deep gray, that could be mistaken for black but wasn't.

"Well that went down like a lead balloon," The former Raphael said rather quietly.

"Sorry, what was that," I asked not fully hearing him the first time.

"I said, 'Well, that went down like a lead balloon'."

"Yes, yes, it did, rather."

"Bit of an overreaction if you ask me, first offense and all. I can't see what's so bad about knowing the difference between good and evil anyway."

"Honestly, neither can I, Ra-, -", "Crawley", "Crawley."

"What were you about to call me," Crawley asked looking at me. Oh, dear God, his eyes were so lovely. They were still the same bright golden color, but now instead of round pupils, they were slits. I didn't care if he was a demon, heaven he could have been Lucifer himself, it would never change the fact that I loved him. That was in our vows, 'love each other, flaws and all, as long as you both shall exist'. I knew that I would stand by that. "I could see it, you were about to call me something but stopped yourself before you could say it."

"O-oh, it was nothing. Besides, it would be against the rules."

"What rules?"

"U-um, when an angel falls they forget nearly everything about being an angel. There is a reason for this, I can't recall what it is at the moment though. The rule is that no angel is allowed to tell a demon who they were. This normally isn't a problem as most angels forget about who the fallen were as well."

"But you remember who I was?"

"Yes," I said holding back a sob.

"But you're not allowed to tell me."

I didn't trust my voice so I just nodded instead. This conversation was becoming painful. 

"Oh yeah, what was your name again?" 

I closed my eyes, trying to will away the pain that question caused. To calm myself down I fiddled with the ring Ra- no Crawley had given me on our wedding day.

"A-aziraphale, but everyone calls me Azira."

"Aziraphale." He repeated. I tried not to sigh in response, a sigh of relief. "Eh, I think I'll just call you Angel. Now didn't you have a flaming sword?"

"Uh... Um"

"Yeah you did, it was flaming like anything. What happened to it?"

"Uh"

"Lose it already, have you?"

"Gave it away" I muttered not fully intending for him to hear.

"You what?!"

"I gave it away," I said more clearly, and defensively. There are vicious animals. It's going to be cold out there. And she's expecting already. And I said, 'Here you go. Flaming sword. Don't thank me. And don't let the sun go down on you here'.  I do hope I didn't do the wrong thing."

"Oh, you're an angel. I don't think you can do the wrong thing."

"Oh, thank you, but I don't think that is entirely true."

"You know, I've been wondering, what if I did the right thing with the whole 'eat the apple' business? A demon can get into a whole lot of trouble for doing the right thing."

He paused for a moment, as his eye caught something. It was Adam, he and Eve had come across a large, now aggressive lion. He swung at the beast with my sword, effectively killing it.

"It'd be funny if we both got it wrong, eh?" he continued, a splash of hummer finding its way into his voice, "If I did the right thing and you did the wrong."

"I guess that would be ironic," I answered.

Suddenly the skies opened up at the first drops of rain fell upon the earth. I automatically opened up my wings and held one up for Crawley to stand under. He never had liked getting wet.

A/N - And there you have it people. The altered version of how the Edan scene went. I know that the YouTube video linked at the top is the same as in the last chapter, but I really want to give credit for part of the concept to this animatic. The strings that are wrapped around their fingers in the video, made me start thinking about writing this. Please show this artist some support and have a wonderful day, if you want to.