So Be It (part ii)
SUMMARY: (Crowley x Reader series)
You turned her head to glare at the demon next to you. A newer face, but familiar somehow. He stands tall with his shoulders back, looking in the same direction you had been gazing at moments ago. What struck you most were his pitch black wings, a standing contrast between the angel’s white wings and your own brown ones. His feathers looked soft, but they seemed burned at the edges.
Oh, right- you think- the fall.
WORD COUNT: 1373 words
AUTHOR: Lydia
NOTES: here ya go! enjoy, and feedback/reblogs are loved dearly. message me if you wanna be put on the tag list!
part i
It was the seventh day of the world, and you were growing rather tired of the view ahead of you. Sand, blown by wind and shaped into haphazard dunes for miles upon miles upon miles. As to why anyone would put an oasis of a garden here was beyond the celestial being, but that must be part of God’s “ineffable plan” the angel in white next to you continues to muse over. This angel, so pure and built to God’s image perfectly, but you could sense an ounce of speculation in his heart.
Good, you’d think when you’d notice him think for himself. Be you.
Your eyes focused on the two humans walking. It hurt your heart, watching those two first humans be forced from Eden. Your heart ached, not for their punishment, but for the trickery- the warping of free will for an agenda evil. Or maybe, more than Hell’s doing, you were more upset with God Herself for placing a forbidden tree in the center of a luscious garden with no way of stopping a new creature with free will.
Yes, that you were made about. Temptation, from both sides.
More than most, you were aggravated at yourself for not catching the serpent on time. The serpent, a demon no doubt, gliding across the Garden floor growth to the fate of humanity. You were upset you weren’t around to remind Adam and Eve they could make (and should make) their own choices for their own good.
“Well, that went down like a lead balloon.”
You turned her head to glare at the demon next to you. A newer face, but familiar somehow. He stands tall with his shoulders back, looking in the same direction you had been gazing at moments ago. His hair, long and red and tucked into curls, was blown behind him gently by a wind coming from the east. The most peculiar of all was the stark resemblance of the snake he had just formed from; the serpent that tainted the Garden of Eden, you recognized. His eyes were slated down the middle, a jaundiced yellow around the black crevice. Snakes adorned his face under his sideburn, and you found it amusing. What struck you most were his pitch black wings, a standing contrast between the angel’s white wings and your own brown ones. His feathers looked soft, but they seemed burned at the edges.
Oh, right- you think- the fall.
“Sorry, what was that?” the angel, Aziraphale, asks. He, too, watches the humans in worry. You found it humorous the immediate difference between him and the demon- two sides of two very distant coins. You were somewhere in the middle- you were the middle.
“I said, ‘Well, that went down like a lead balloon,’” the demon repeated. You still stare at him as he looks past you to the angel.
“Yes, yes, it did, rather.” Aziraphale’s voice is laced with concern, and it’s rubbing off on you. Your eyes travel back to Adam and Eve.
“Bit of an overreaction, if you ask me.” The angel looks at the demon with a side eye. “First offence and everything.” You understood though, you would almost say you agreed. “I can't see what's so bad about knowing the difference between good and evil anyway.” You furrowed your eyebrows at that, thinking about the fallen’s words.
“It’s not about knowing the difference, it’s about falling for temptation to act upon a side.” Your first words aloud grab the demon’s attention, and he cocks his head ever so slightly as he looks at you. Studying, you would say, but he looks away before you can pin the look.
“Well, it must be bad…” the angel started.
“Crawley,” the demon informs him.
“-Crawley. Otherwise you wouldn't have tempted them into it.”
“Oh, they just said, ‘Get up there and make some trouble,’” he says nonchalantly, and you chuckle shortly.
“Well, obviously. You're a demon.” The nerve of the angel, you swear. “It's what you do.”
“Not very subtle of the Almighty, though,” Crawley begins. “Fruit tree in the middle of a garden with a ‘Don't Touch’ sign. I mean, why not put it on the top of a high mountain? Or on the moon? Makes you wonder what God's really planning.” You avert your gaze back to him, and he’s already looking at you. Studying, indefinitely, you decide. He knows you agrees.
No wonder this one fell, you think.
“Best not to speculate. It's all part of the Great Plan.” Aziraphale, in every way, looked like he was trying to convince himself the same. “It's not for us to understand, it's ineffable.” And he looked mighty proud of using that word to a new person.
“The Great Plan's ineffable?” Crawley asks. Now he was studying his angelic counterpart who still has not made direct eye contact.
“Exactly. It is beyond understanding and incapable of being put into words.”
“Awfully funny was of having a plan if you can’t share it,” you mumbled, and Aziraphale shot you a look of caution. “Oh, I’m down here for a reason-”
“Didn't you have a flaming sword?” Crawley asks, and you look to Aziraphale.
“He did,” you muttered, scanning the garden.
“It was flaming like anything. What happened to it?” Aziraphale releases a soft “uh” and you chuckle again. “Lost it already, have you?”
“Gave it away,” you informed him.
“You what?” the demon gasps.
“I gave it away!” Aziraphale says, standing his ground. “There are vicious animals, it's going to be cold out there, and she's expecting already.” Again, trying to convince himself.
“And heavenly said, ‘Here you go, flaming sword. Don't thank me!’” you half-mocked.
“‘And don't let the sun go down on you here,’" he added, and you nod to confirm the tale. “I do hope I didn't do the wrong thing.”
“Oh, you're an angel,” Crawley whole-mocked. “I don't think you can do the wrong thing.” In your mind, you ask as always, what makes wrong so wrong? But it’s a question for another time, a question for possibly other entities rather than the ones on each side of you.
“Oh, oh, thank you,” the angel stammers. “Oh, thank you. It's been bothering me.”
A lion roars across the dunes, and you gaze to the beast in front of the humans. You shifted your footing, watching anxiously. The flaming sword in the man’s hands adds strength to the felt fear, and you frowned deeply. Oh, how badly you wanted to go and help them.
“I've been worrying, too.” You look to the demon on your left at the sound of concern in his voice. “What if I did the right thing with the whole ‘eat the apple’ business? A demon can get into a lot of trouble for doing the right thing.” What makes right so right?
More importantly, you thought, Is this free will speaking? But you pushed the thought down, saving it for a day long away.
The man lands a fatal blow to the lion’s neck, and it falls heavily. You relax your shoulders, shifting back to your previous stance.
“It'd be funny if we both got it wrong, eh? If I did the good thing and you did the bad one.” Both chuckle at the demon’s words, but you remain silent. Both of you could do what you want, not what you think home office will want.
Aziraphale stops laughing as soon as he realizes the implications of consequence behind the joke. “No, it wouldn't be funny at all.”
Suddenly, thunder sounds over the dunes behind Paradise. You flinched, and quickly look at the demon beside you. You raised your wings, one over Aziraphale and one over Crawley, more worried about whether or not what’s about to fall is holy water, worried if this being next to you might singe and wither at the slightest raindrop.
The rain falls softly onto your wings, and it feels adequately normal. But you kept your wings high, both of the men comfortable under the shelter and you fine with the rain. Crawley looks above him at your cinnamon-colored wing. He gazes at you, eyebrows furrowed, and nods. You release a soft smile, and look out over the dunes yet again at the humans.