It wasn't that long when Crowley got the call from an unknown cell phone number. He warily picked it up, hoping it wasn't Hell with an assignment for him.
"'Ello~?"
"Hey Crowley, it's Dean.", came the hunters voice from the flip phone.
"Oh hey! Didn't expect you ta call this soon. A week maybe, but not a day…", Crowley paused when he sensed something from Dean through the phone.
Not as strong as when he would be on his trail or area, but he could still sense it.
"You found it.", Crowley states, all sense of humor from his voice, gone.
"Yeah, summoned it to be more exact.", Dean informed him.
"You what!?", Crowley hissed, voice raising to a shout, not caring about his neighbors at all, "Are you a moron!? Do yah still have your eyes!?"
"Wha-? Oh right! The thing wore a meat suit and nothing we had could hurt it.", Dean explained.
It still doesn't take angels off the board; all the clues point to them. Aziraphale was the only Angel left who had receive a corporate form while Crowley was the only Demon, alive at least, to have one as well.
"You need help identifying it?", Crowley guessed, that's the only reasonable thing they could be calling him for.
"Dean, we know what it is.", Crowley can hear Sam protest in the background.
"No, we don't Sammy!", Dean snapped.
Angel it is. But he'll have to ask additional questions in order to prove he actually thought about it. Plus, it wouldn't hurt to make sure.
"Alright. Do you want me there now? Or is it fine if I drive.", Crowley asked.
"Now would be preferable. We are all in a bit of a disagreement and you told us that you had a hunch of what could've pulled me out.", Dean explained.
"I did.", Crowley agreed, "Now, I'm starting to think it's more of a real deal and less of a hunch. I just need you to tell me what happened and I might have questions afterwards."
"Great, sounds like a plan."
"Right, so junk yard or lover's hotel?"
"Huh? How'd you know that we were at either of those places?", Dean questioned.
"…", Crowley thought over what to say before sighing exasperatedly, "I'll tell you at some point while I'm there."
"…Okay, but you better have a damn good explanation."
"Don't worry, I do.", Crowley assured the young man, "So? Junk yard? Or hotel?"
"… Junk yard."
"Right, be there in a jiffy then.", with that Crowley hung up and was gone in an instant.
...
When Crowley arrived at his destination, he decided to appear in front of the house instead of inside. Knew his angel would be proud that he showed up with some proper manners for once.
So, with that thought, Crowley strode forward to the front door and knocked. Well, more like banged on it really. He's still a Demon, give him credit for at least not appearing inside without even being invited in.
The door opened to the rugged man that was with Dean and Sam the other night at the psychic's house.
"Anthony J. Crowley.", Crowley said in greeting, hand held out for a shake.
The hunter stared at the hand and then Crowley warily before slowly taking it in a single firm, and strong, shake.
"Bobby Singer.", the man returned, retrieving his hand from Crowley's grasp as soon as possible.
"I'd say it's a pleasure but I doubt you'd agree. Not many from above and below like me all that much. Only really had one friend throughout the centuries.", Crowley commented with a casual shrug, trying to put the Hunter at ease with his nonchalance.
Rendering the hunter confused, but he decided against asking more about the subject.
"Speaking of, Dean told me you wanted help on figuring out what the creature is, hmm? May I come in?", Crowley asked, it was the least he could do.
Bobby just stared at Crowley, studying him intensely, eyes fluttering over his being as if looking for something. He seemed to be satisfied with whatever he found about a minute later before jerking his head to the inside of the house.
"The boys are in the study.", he moved to allow Crowley in, shutting the door behind him.
Crowley nodded in thanks, there's only so much he will do in the name of manners, even for Aziraphale.
He strode through the house casually, despite all the books and a few beer bottles here and there, it was a pretty nice place the hunter has.
The Demon entered the study as instructed to see Dean and Sam quietly arguing.
"I hear you three are having trouble identifying what creature you encountered.", Crowley said loudly, announcing his presence to the two Winchesters.
The two brother's heads swiveled over to him, both showing different signs of relief.
"No."
"Yes."
Both boys answered at the same time, Crowley resisted the urge to peer over his sunglasses at them disbelievingly. But instead, went with a raised brow and a shake of his head, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"Oh, I'm sorry, it seems we have a bit of a disagreement here.", Crowley sassed waving a hand out, "Do you want me to come back later? I may not be on watch anymore, but I can do only so many miracles before my side starts to peer a little too closely to my doings then I would prefer."
"W-wait, miracles?", Sam asked, eyes wide.
"Since when could Demons do miracles?", Dean asked disbelievingly.
Crowley just stared at him, expression unreadable, especially with his sunglasses still on.
"You may be a hunter, but you'll find you don't know everything about the Supernatural kid.", Crowley said steadily, not once breaking eye contact from the elder Winchester.
"Dean, what if he's somehow a...", Sam asked slowly, his face alight with excitement.
Drawing his brother's attention away from Crowley.
"Oh, come on Sam! Really!?", Dean snapped irritably.
"But he mentioned miracles. What other Demons do we know that can do that?", Sam insisted.
"What Angels do we know that can do that too!?", Dean retorts challengingly.
Crowley just sighs rubbing the bridge of his nose, careful to keep his eyes closed. He's not very fond without his glasses anymore, he feels naked whenever he doesn't have them on these days. Only comfortable to have them off around Aziraphale.
At first, he just wore them so he wouldn't scare the mortals, now it's just more of a habit.
"Alright. I'm obviously missing something here.", Crowley cut through the argument before it barely had a chance to take off, "So why don't you tell me what happened and what you're arguing on what it is or is not. And I'll tell you what I've been suspecting it to be and whether or not it matches up with my theory."
With a tired huff, Crowley walked past the Winchesters and sprawled in a sitting position, if you could count the way he was lounging on the couch sitting.
"Let me warn you before we start, you better hope to Someone that I'm wrong, because if I'm right? Something big is happening, and we don't want that.", Crowley warned darkly before relaxing in his sitting position, "Now, tell me everything."
And they did, only confirming his fears. It didn't help how Bobby popped in about what he found, further proving it to be, indeed, an Angel.
Someone damnit.
Crowley sighs, "When you boys get into the thick of things, you get into the thick of things."
"I'm guessing what you're going to say isn't good.", Dean guesses.
"You would be right kid.", Crowley agrees before groaning again, throwing his head back as he does so, "No wonder they reassigned me here."
"Well, what is it?", Bobby asks impatiently.
"He wasn't lying. The guy is an honest to Someone Angel. I sensed its power when I arrived at the psychic's place, it's why I rushed inside. It's also how I knew to soothe her. I had a couple of mortal friends over the centuries fall to the same fate, if they were lucky that is. Most of them died.", Crowley just sat thinking, "I'm not a fan of a lot of Angels, but there are a couple exceptions to that statement. Very few exceptions."
"So, you're not an Angel?", Sam asks.
Crowley just stares at him with a deadpan expression.
"No.", he said dully.
"But you've met them before."
"Yes, yes.", Crowley waved the statement away, "I've met a lot, knew most of them over six thousand years ago before I came to Earth. I ran into a few while I was down on Earth. But the last time I ran into any was around 1990 in London. Barely got out of that one by the skin of my teeth."
"What are they like, are they as the Bible say they are?", Sam asked eagerly.
Crowley's face scrunched up as he struggled, for once, on what to say next.
"More or less, I guess. I mean, I lived through some of their actions as well as His, wasn't very fond of the Great Flood.", Crowley explains, "But they love to smite things, doesn't really matter the species honestly, just smite them the first chance they get if they disapprove of something."
Sam somehow took this in not the negative way Crowley has meant it as, thinking that he meant that the Angels were guardians as he believed, protecting humanity and the Earth.
He turns to Dean with a big grin on his face.
"Dean this is all good news.", Sam said happily.
Crowley's eyebrows raised up to his hair line. Did the kid not just hear a word about the smiting and all that crap, true crap mind you, that he just spewed seconds ago?
"How?", Dean demands, not at all excited like his brother is.
"Because, for once, this isn't just another round of Demon crap.", Sam said insistently.
Not wrong, but Angel crap isn't that much fun to deal with either, half think of themselves above others, the other half have a stick up their ass, and the rest are an irritating combination of both.
Angel crap isn't fun too you know, he can hardly believe how Aziraphale was able to handle it for six thousand years like he did. If he hadn't fallen already, he would have fallen then.
"I mean, maybe, you were saved by one of the Good Guys, you know?"
"Okay.", Dean relented, barely, "Say there are Angels, so what, there's a God?"
Crowley will give the kid points for covering all of his bases at the very least.
"This point, the biggest money is on yeah.", Bobby admits.
There are a few choice words that Crowley would like to say about Satan, much less God. They both suck and rarely give a rat's ass about anyone or anything, but he can't let his opinions on the matter interfere with the brother's decisions. He still isn't quite sure what's going on, but what he does know is that he can't be there for the boys 24/7.
So, before they can get into a big debate, and Crowley hears something personnel, he decided to leave them to it, not even announcing his leave, besides a small begrudging nod to Bobby, who discreetly returns it, something Crowley didn't expect and almost reels in surprise.
Once again, he was gone.
Miracling himself to his hotel room
He seriously needed a good call with his Angel. At this point, he thinks they're becoming therapeutic for him.
He's not quite sure if that's really a good thing or a bad thing if he's to be honest. But it helps with the stress and it helps him properly organize his thoughts so he can make his next plan of action.
Barely at his hotel room for not even a moment, his flip phone was already dialing and at his ear.
"I'm sorry but we are specifically, most definitely, closed right now-."
"It's me Angel. We need to talk."
"... What happened?"
Now there are a few things a lot of people know about Crowley when you first meet him. He takes no one's shit and dishes it right on back, he is mischievous, border lining on annoyance, and he manages to cause mass chaos or creates pains for in other people's asses, without anyone getting hurt of course.
The few things you realize when you get to know more about Crowley is that he is cautious and most likely always prepared, you have to be whenever you go behind Hell's back like he does, he cares and is kind, despite his protests to the opposite, he adores children and they all adore him, and most of all, even if he never admits it, Crowley is awful at being a Demon.
Azirphale knows all this, he's been best friends with Crowley for years.
But besides the Angel, many claim to know Crowley, mostly Demons. Some say that things he does may be small, but unlike other Demons, Crowley looks at the big picture and knows how to mess with human's buttons, that it may seem it is against Hell or he is a traitor, but he always had Hell's best interests at heart, despite not really having one. The rest say he is just a treacherous snake, betraying everyone one and everything just to watch everything go sideways, all because he enjoys it. They say he enjoys watching the world burn.
But none of them know the true Crowley, honestly, there is still new things that Aziraphale learns about his best friend and vice versa. He doesn't know why Crowley tempted Eve to eat from the Forbidden tree, Creations, a lot of the time he doesn't really know why Crowley does half of the things he does.
But what Aziraphale does know is that Crowley always does what he thinks is best, and never for nefarious reasons. Best maybe for him, a specific person, or the world.
He's no saint, Creations no, but he makes his own choices without either side's influence. Much like a human does. That was one of the main qualities that Azirphale admired about his snake.
Perhaps Hell wasn't so far off about Crowley going native. Choosing is a Human thing after all.
That's why, as soon, as Aziraphale felt it, as soon as he got the call from Crowley, he told him what he had discovered.
"They had a Plan B...", Crowley groans from the other line.
Aziraphale imagines he is most likely banging his head on something if the sounds of the rhythmical 'thunks' are any indication (he was right by the way).
"Of course, they have a Plan B!", exclaims Crowley in frustration, "It's Heaven and Hell we're talking about!'
"I believe they do, although I never thought they would go to such lengths to bring the end of the world.", Azirphale agreed before adding on, "Again."
"It would also explain why Angels are back and running amok the humans, taking as many vessels as they can for their ranks.", Crowley sighs.
"Yes, that would explain that, it would also explain why I felt the older Winchester come back to life. I normally can't sense that, but this time was different. It was a seal, Crowley. The very first one was broken down in Hell by that boy.", Aziraphale explains.
"We literally just stopped Armageddon not too long-ago Angel~.", Crowley complains, but Aziraphale knew it was his way of trying to lighten up the heavy mood.
A small amused smile lifted up on his lips.
"May I remind you, it was a long time ago for Humans Crowley.", the Angel reminded his Demonic friend, "And look on the bright side, at least Heaven seems to be trying to stop them this time."
"Mm... yeah~.", Crowley agree, albeit reluctantly, "But Angel, you do remember how... and how should I put this?... harsh the Angels are with their tactics? The way they deal with Demons. They don't entirely care how many Humans get caught in the cross fire... or die for their cause, as long as they win the battle."
"..."
Aziraphale didn't answer, but they both knew that meant he agreed with Crowley's statement. For the Demon knows just as much about the Angel as the Angel knows about the Demon.
"What's the seal? You said you felt it break, what's the after affect.", Crowley asks in favor of diving further into the topic, both beings don't particularly like talking about the other's side and the way they do things too deeply.
"It's the ride of the Witnesses."
"... Shit."
"That is describing the issue a little lightly Crowley."
"I should go after them, shouldn't I?"
"That would be wise.", he agreed.
"I'll keep in touch Angel."
"As well as I."
It's one of the biggest reasons why they made their own side during the first Armageddon after all.
They cared for each other, an Angel and a Demon, and they cared for the world.
Something most, if not all, of Heaven and Hell would never even think twice about.
The line went silent.
...
A figure stood in front of Bobby's house, violent winds causing his clothes to flap rapidly from the harsh gusts of wind.
The winds die down and gunshots can be heard from within the house.
The figure adjusted his grip on the weapon he held in his hand, and strode towards the house, that is most likely filled with blood thirsty ghosts forcibly risen from the grave, as if he was just taking a stroll through the park.
The front door smoothly opened for him before he even took a step on the wooden porch.
...
From inside the house, Dean and Sam shot at any ghost of the people they failed to save that revealed themselves, rapidly running out of ammo at a worryingly rate, while Bobby chanted, performing the ritual as fast as he could.
Bullets shells and salt scattered all across the wooden floor of Bobby's study.
Dean was in middle of reloading his gun when Hendricksen appeared before him, the gun wrenched itself from Dean's grasp, who looked at the former FBI agent with wide eyes before reaching behind him and grabbed Bobby's unattended shot gun, only to find it empty as well.
Hendricksen smirked, but Dean grabbed an iron poker from the fireplace and swiped it at Hendriksen, causing him to disappear in a puff of dark smoke.
Sam fired the last round in his shotgun, but before he could go for a reload, Meg appeared, and a desk was shoved into Sam, pinning him against the bookcase behind him, unable to use his gun.
"Sam!", Dean shouts worriedly.
"Protect Bobby.", Sam grunts.
Dean and Bobby looked at Meg warily, before the older man went quickly back to chanting with Dean standing behind him, weapon held at the ready.
Sam looked back up to find the two little girls on top of the desk with little smug smirks on their faces, about to strike, only for a crowbar to swipe through the two children, making them disappear in thick cloud of smoke.
Standing in the opening of the office, crowbar in hand, was none other than Crowley himself, holding the crowbar expertly.
Dean's head wiped towards Crowley's direction so fast, he almost had whiplash.
"I'll protect your brother, you make sure the ritual is finished.", Crowley ordered, hand raised, stopping the multitude of books that was thrown his way.
He dropped his arm, and the books fell as well, and he simultaneously swung his crowbar at a short chubby man with long curly hair.
He looked to Dean who was still staring at the Demon.
"You hear me kid!?", Crowley snapped.
Dean's face hardens in determination, swinging his weapon through the kids who reappeared in front of him.
That's what happened during the next few minutes, both Dean and Crowley swiping through the ghosts with their respective weapons, the Demon would sometimes have to raise a hand or twitch a finger to stop flying or moving objects heading in either of the duo's direction.
Things seemed to be looking up as Crowley heard Bobby reached the climax of his chanting, finishing the ritual, only to scream in pain, Meg standing behind him, arm, wrist deep in his back.
The bowl dropped from his hands and Dean leaped to catch it while Crowley swiped through the woman with his crowbar. She disappeared in a dark smokey cloud.
"Dean, the fire!", Bobby shouts as he grunts in pain, Crowley just barely managing to catch him before he fell.
Dean tossed the continents into the fire, which flashed blue and a bright light overtook the house, blinding everyone as it overtook the witnesses. Bringing them back to their peace.
It felt like minutes passed, when in reality it was only seconds.
The Winchesters shared looks of bewilderment before turning to Bobby, who was on his feet thanks to Crowley, arm of the Demons shoulder as he let Bobby lean all his weight on him while keeping him up on his feet.
"Bobby?", Dean called out, worry clear in his tone as he rushed over to the older man.
Sam managed to push against the desk and the two rushed towards the older hunter, carefully taking him from Crowley and held him up between them.
The three looked over their surroundings, before all their gazes landed on Crowley.
"Don't ask, I have my sources, you have yours. Mine just happen to have an extended collection.", Crowley said before questions could be asked, straightening his jacket as he did so.
He snapped his fingers and the room, as well as the rest of the house, righted itself back to what it was like before ghosts decided to attack.
Still messy, but it looked homey, lived in. No longer did it look destroyed and chaotic. Like a battle took place which, technically, one did.
With a tired smile, Crowley nodded to the trio.
"Glad your safe, I'll take my leave then.", he said warmly, the trio shared bemused looks.
With that being said, the Demon walked out the room and they could hear an engine start, then a car driving away.
"Huh, he drove.", Dean commented tiredly, not even bothering to question it.
...
Crowley drove the Bentley, no destination in mind, a tight white knuckled grip on the steering wheel while he glared scornfully out the windshield.
The Demon was deep in thought, his scowl only deepening from whatever thoughts he was thinking about.
Finally, he seemed to have enough, whipping his phone from his pocket, dialing a random number, knowing exactly who it'll reach, and place the phone to his ear while it rang.
It didn't take long for the person on the other line to pick up.
"Hel-."
Crowley spoke before the voice on the other end of the line could finish.
"Yes, good day to you, or night, wherever you are at.", Crowley greeted with mock cheer as his next sentence spoke through gritted teeth, "Might I ask why you decided against informing me of Armageddon 2.0? I may be one of the few Fallen left in hell, but we Fallen still like to know the ups and downs of our home our dear ol' Father decided to cast us in."
"It's the apocalypse, and I assumed you kn-"
"Cut the bullshit, you are one of the few I rather like, I suggest keeping it that way.", Crowley snarled, "Why was I ordered to come here in the first place. I assume it has something to do with the upcoming Apocalypse?"
"We need a Fallen for one of the seals."
"I'm sure Beelzebub would gladly help out with that.", Crowley retorted, rolling his eyes.
"I'm afraid she met an untimely end from one of our own."
"... she went after her.", Crowley guessed, "Didn't she? The witch."
"Yes.", the female answered from the other end, "I'm sure you know what that means...?"
"... destroy your phone and change your number, I don't want to know what it is. Don't even think of trying anything or I'll come after you myself Lilith.", Crowley snarls dangerously, "I don't know to who, but you better pray I don't ssee you for a long, long, while. I'm not happy being thrown into thisss with no warning or information what ssso ever."
Crowley immediately hung up, knowing Lilith would do exactly as instructed, before dialing up a different number, expression stoic, almost as if it were set in stone.
"How did it go?", came the unmistakable voice of Aziraphale.
"..."
"Crowley?", Azirphale called out, underlying worry in his voice, "Is everything alright?"
"... I'm the last one."
.
.
.
.
"I'm so sorry."