Work Text:
The atmosphere around the Antichrist crackled with raw energy as the child succumbed to powers inside him. The appearance of his Satanic father had been enough to send him over the edge and out of control. The sky flooded a dark, crimson red and the Lord of Hell was grinning madly from ear to ear.
“Are you feeling nervous?” Beelzebub jeered.
“Are you having fun?” Gabriel rolled his eyes.
“It’s almost over,” Aziraphale said, eyes wide.
“No.” Crowley sucked in a breath. “It’s just begun.”
Crowley felt his chest tighten and his head spin. What now? In the corner of his eye, he saw Book Girl dragging her friend away. Good call.
“Angel, we have to get out of here, now .”
Crowley grabbed Aziraphale’s hand and bolted toward where he left the Bentley, pulling his angel behind him.
They were a handful of paces away from the car, when Crowley felt a tug on his arm from the hand in his. He turned back to see Aziraphale looking at him wide-eyed, his gaze flickering between the demon's face and their entwined hands.
“Angel-”
“Crowley, we can’t- ” Aziraphale began, pulling his hand out of Crowley’s grasp. The demon felt a pain in his chest, the loss of contact feeling like a too-familiar rejection. The angel’s gaze landed on Crowley’s face, and his words came out rushed and frantic. “The whole world is ending- the- everything is going to burn- and, and the oceans rising- and all the prophecies -“
“The oceans rising?” Crowley interrupted. “Angel, please, I couldn’t give less of a shit about that right now we have to fucking leave -“
Aziraphale wrung his hands nervously. He looked as lost and fragile as Crowley had ever seen him. Crowley took a deep, shaky breath, pushed down the panic in his chest, and continued, gentler this time.
“You say the whole world’s ending? Angel, it already did .” At that, Aziraphale glanced back at the Antichrist, looking torn between staying with Crowley and going back to... to...
“You're not gonna slow it, Heaven knows you tried.”
Crowley gently grabbed Aziraphale’s fidgeting hands, which stilled under his touch. Aziraphale looked back at him.
“Got it?”
Aziraphale inhaled shakily, then nodded.
“Good, now get inside.” Crowley finished as he gestured toward the Bentley.
“To... Alpha Centauri?” Aziraphale asked hesitantly. Crowley nodded. Aziraphale paused. “I- I don’t think I can…”
“That’s fine, plenty of other nebulae. We’ll go-”
“Where would we go, Crowley?” His voice was pleading, reminiscent of their conver- their argument at the bandstand barely 24 hours ago. “Everybody knows. Heaven and Hell. About… about us.” He swallowed. “They’ll find us.”
Crowley felt his chest tighten at the thought. “They’ve got… bigger things going on, don’t they? We could just-”
“I don’t think you want to leave either, Crowley,”Aziraphale added quietly, half hoping Crowley wouldn’t hear him. But Crowley always heard him.
Crowley paused and looked back at the principality, who took a deep breath before continuing. “If I have to... go out, I won’t run from it. I’ll die alongside the earth I loved. The earth we both loved. The earth where… where we both loved each other.”
He took a step back, away from the Bentley, away from Crowley.
“I won’t leave. I’m staying, Crowley.”
Sure, Crowley registered the destruction unfolding around them, but he only had eyes for one stubborn, stubborn angel.
“...Alright.”
Aziraphale’s face faltered for a moment, his eyebrows quirking up slightly, before resettling into a determined mask. “Goodbye then. I wish you the best, my dear.”
God- Sat- Someone , his angel could be thick sometimes.
“Really, angel?” Crowley laughed quietly and rolled his eyes, but was met with a painfully vulnerable look of confusion. “Aziraphale, I wouldn’t leave without you. Not ever.” He closed the distance between them. Aziraphale looked up at him, eyes wide and brimming with tears. This close, Crowley realized the angel was trembling. He tentatively reached out and held onto Aziraphale’s arms to steady him, and was relieved when Aziraphale not only let him, but leaned into it. “If we’re going out, we’re going out together.”
Aziraphale inhaled shakily. “Ah. Well… good, then.”
An explosion sounded on the horizon, and two ethereal and occult beings held each other a little tighter.
Crowley cleared his throat. “Y’know, I think you’re right. I don’t think I could leave either.”
“I’m sorry.” Aziraphale sniffled, tears running down his cheek.
Crowley brushed one away. “Don’t be.”
“I love you, Crowley.”
“I love you too, Aziraphale.”
Another explosion sounded, closer this time. Aziraphale shut his eyes and brought his hands to cover his mouth as sobs racked through his body. Crowley’s hand landed gently on his shoulder, grounding him, and the other gently pulled his hands away from his mouth. His voice was the only quiet and gentle thing amidst the desolation around them, and for a moment it was all Aziraphale could hear. “Hey. Don’t overthink this.”
They both flinched as another explosion sounded nearby.
“Look in my eyes.” Crowley wiped another tear from Aziraphale’s cheek, neglecting those brimming in his own eyes.
The earth shook violently underneath them. Aziraphale held tighter to Crowley. Crowley snaked his arms around Aziraphale and held him tight. When the shaking stopped, Crowley pulled Aziraphale impossibly closer, resting their foreheads together.
“Don’t be scared, don’t be s-”
Reality bending and warping and cracking and dying has the funny effect of drowning out most anything being said. But Aziraphale heard Crowley. He always did.
They held each other tight as the world, as their world, collapsed around them.
[Come on in, the water’s fine.]
