Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: Just for the record, I believe that God created the world. However, I also believe in evolution. These two things are not necessarily exclusive, like I'm trying to show in this chap.

007. Days

Aziraphale looked at the angels in front of him. "Okay, I trust you can remember your instructions from the last time," he said. "As far as I know, Michael hasn't planned anything different for this time, so go by those instructions." Smiling a bit, he added, "If he wants you to do something else, he can tell it himself... as soon as he bothers to appear here in person."

Everybody smiled, and a few even chuckled aloud. They all knew very well Michael's tendency to always be late. He was one of the angels who apparently were completely unable to grasp the concept of time.

The practices had thus already gone on for a while under the watchful eyes of a few of the generals as Aziraphale felt a hand on his shoulder. "How many jokes did you make about my lateness this time?" Michael asked, mild amusement in his voice as he looked at his highest -- and youngest -- general.

"No jokes at all, sir," Canael, another general replied, grinning. "He just said that you'd give your own instructions once you finally showed up."

"Fair enough." Smirking, he ruffled Aziraphale's hair. "It's a good thing I have generals who know me so well... even if they do make fun of me all the time. Is it my fault if my mind is unfit for the idea of time? It's not like I'm late on purpose, you know."

"Well, it does make one wonder just why you are unable to be on time," Lacathel commented with a grin. "After all, the other archangels didn't have much difficulty with adapting to the existence of time."

"Well, they are all cherubim," Michael said defensively. "I'm a seraph. The other seraphim never do anything except for praise Him; my kind in general does not need the ability to be on time."

"Uriel is a cherub?" one of the generals asked, surprised. "I thought he was created at the same time as the seraphim. Wouldn't that make him a seraph as well?"

"Who knows what Uriel is? The idea of him has existed forever -- as long as there has been Presence. He was created as soon as the first seraphim came into being, yes, but he does have some cherub-like features as well," Aziraphale told them. "Raphael and Gabriel are both cherubim, Michael is a seraph, and nobody knows just what Uriel is. However," he then added as Michael was beginning to look rather satisfied with his defence, "Metatron is definitely a seraph. And he has never been late from anything."

"Well, Metatron is His Voice. I'd figure He keeps him in time," Michael replied, only to be ignored by his laughing generals. "...Fine. Don't listen to me, then."

Aziraphale smiled happily. This was exactly why Michael was such a popular leader. Although everybody knew exactly who was in command -- Michael's authority had never been questioned among the Hosts, and never would be -- Michael wasn't afraid of acting like an equal with his forces. He let them make fun of himself -- to a point, of course -- and in turn they would follow him no matter what.

"This might be our last practice for some time," Michael said suddenly.

"Eh?" Aziraphale was just as confused as the other generals. "Why so?"

"Metatron just informed us archangels that He is soon going to create something that takes time and He wants us all to be there to witness it. We were to pass the word each to our own part of the Host. No doubt the others all know already," he added, chuckling slightly.

"Probably, yes," Canael agreed amusedly. "In fact, are you absolutely sure He hasn't started already?"

"Now, now," Michael said over their laughter. "Not even I am that completely out of time, you know."

"Let there be Light."

Aziraphale, like everybody else, watched in fascination as light came into being. It was like a sudden explosion in the middle of nothingness, soon spreading into every direction. He stood there right behind Michael, the best warriors among the Host behind them, watching as the world was being created. On one side stood Raphael with all his healers, on another Gabriel with his forces, and all around them were the seraphim, singing praise, Uriel standing in their lead.

Angels had never known day and night, even though time was familiar to them. Thus they didn't find anything amiss when finally, after the light and darkness had changed too many times for even angels to count, He told that one Day had gone by. Later they would come to know that a day on Earth was a mere blink of an eye in His Days, which had nothing to do with the changes of darkness, "night," and light, "day".

"Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."

Suddenly, underneath them, the blue ball of water started to change. Water and other substances vaporized and gathered, slowly forming a circle of gas around the water, one that shone blue like the water itself. And this blueness He called "sky".

There was Evening and there was Morning, a second Day.

"Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear;" was His next command. Slowly, as water gathered to the skies and something else rose from its depths, there was suddenly land where there had once been just water. And He called the land "earth" and the waters "seas".

"Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with its seed in it, on the earth;" He said. Immediately life appeared into the seas, not like angelic life, far from it, but life nonetheless -- mortal life. The algae lived, and died, and developed. And although they were not much yet -- a few cells at most -- all of the Host could see that one day it would become everything that He had told it to be. They would just have to wait.

There was Evening and there was Morning, a third Day.

"Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of sky to give light on the earth;" He said. And the Earth, which until this had circled around something that formed light but was not defined any more, set into a regular pace around this source of light. And something came from the space, colliding with Earth, and a part of the Earth and this something set to circling Earth, reflecting the light of what He called the Sun.

All around them were similar lights, some smaller, some greater. With a mere thought He set them all on their places, formed planets around them, none exactly like Earth but many somewhat alike.

There was Evening and there was Morning, a fourth Day.

"Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of sky." And then, from the life that was in the waters came another kind of life, something that was clearly different even though the angels could not yet tell how it was different. And they saw that even though it was not much yet, it would become much one day. And under their eyes this life developed, it came to be all kind of fish and other living creatures. Finally this life spread to the dry land, where there already was plant life, come from the waters, and there it took new forms of all kind. Aziraphale found all this fascinating (even though he did think the dinosaurs were a bit strange). And, from these creatures, came the first birds, flying above the earth, conquering the skies.

There was Evening and there was Morning, a fifth Day.

"Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;" He said now. Most of what life was on Earth suddenly disappeared as another object came from the space by His will, destroying everything it came in touch with. Only a few things survived -- birds and insects, flying in their skies, and small, land-dwelling creatures that could not fly. And, under the ever watchful eyes of the Host, this life developed into millions of forms, all different from each other, none of what had been before remaining.

"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." The angels watched as He created something new, something unlike anything that had ever been. Slowly but surely, through countless years of the Earth, this thing became something that looked very much like angels themselves, but even more like Him. Unlike angels, however, who all were of one kind, this being had two kinds, like the animals; male and female He created them. "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth," He said, and blessed them.

"Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;" he now said, and thus set his own image, the Man, in charge of the Earth.

There was Evening and there was Morning, a sixth Day.

On the seventh Day He rested, seeing that everything He had made was indeed very good. And the angels watched it all, watched the Earth that had now been made, and wondered. The seraphim sang like never before, and the others joined in the praise, wondering the miracles of Earth.

Aziraphale watched it all, looked at everything he had just seen being created, and he was in awe.

The Earth, he decided, and the Man, were truly the greatest things He had ever brought into being.

And he wanted to learn to know them.

Next prompt: Weeks.