This is the last chapter! Thanks to everyone for reading! I think that's all I have for Good Omens for now, but who knows... inspiration might strike again. Speaking of strikes, let's support our wonderful writers/actors so they will finally be paid fairly and season 3 can come soon!
Please leave a review at the end and happy reading!
Chapter 7:
When, at last, they parted from each other, they did it with a tender smile on their faces. Elated, that their feelings were returned and that they were finally on the same page after 6000 years of unresolved tension and misunderstandings.
Aziraphale let himself be pulled up to stand by his partner. With his hands in Crowley's, the demon unfurled his large black wings, flying up and backwards to lift him fully out of the font.
The angel could've flown along with him, but he still felt a bit weak in the knees so he just held on to Crowley, full of trust, and they landed gently in the middle of the church where the demon immediately pulled him into a tight hug. Aziraphale reciprocated, letting his fingers run softly through the flaming red hair of his soulmate. Holy water was dripping from his gown and the air around them sizzled and smoked meanly. Aziraphale wanted to pull back, afraid of hurting Crowley too much. But he wouldn't let go.
His long, snaky fingers curled tightly into his gown and hair. On his neck Aziraphale could still feel the demon's tears, so he pulled him in close and kissed his head until he managed to calm down.
Crowley eventually stepped back, shivering from the pain he tried so hard to hide and smoking ominously beneath his clothes. His lips quirked with an embarrassed little half-smile and he closed his eyes and made himself glow with fire to sooth the holy wounds and dry his skin.
Curiously, Aziraphale moved closer, feeling the heat of hell radiating from his friend. Crowley just opened his eyes again as the angel stretched out his hand to touch him. "Angel, no!" he cried and stumbled backwards.
"It's alright, my dear." said Aziraphale, hissing and blowing on his burned fingers. He showed Crowley the reddened tips. "I just wanted to know if I can sustain it, too."
"That was stupid, Angel." grumbled Crowley.
"As stupid as you, you mean, practically leaning into a tub full of holy water?" Aziraphale quipped with a grin.
"I thought you were dying!"
"Well, I'm not… anymore." he admitted. "And it looks, in fact, as if I can't be destroyed by hellish weapons, either. Your demon blood protects me."
They stared at each other, letting those news sink in properly. Crowley quirked an eyebrow at him, a silent question that only his counterpart would understand. Aziraphale nodded and opened his arms. The demon rubbed his hands together and then opened them slowly like a book, letting a small flame dance on his palms. He blew it out and over to Aziraphale, who was immediately wrapped up in the remaining hot air of hellfire.
He gasped, slightly startled, as the fire, quick as lightning, reacted with the residual holy water on his gown, burned it away and dried him all at once. Aziraphale himself remained unharmed.
A smile spread upon his face and the demon mirrored it. They stepped towards each other, grasping each other's hands once more. Just because they could. Just because no one would dare to stop them.
"We're safe." whispered Aziraphale and Crowley squeezed his hands.
"Um… hello. Still here." a sheepish voice suddenly spoke up. The angel and the demon turned to smile at Muriel.
"Of course. We haven't forgotten about you." said Aziraphale and gave Crowley a mischievous grin, indicating that this was exactly what happened. The demon snorted, cheeks reddening slightly.
"I just wanted to say," Muriel started obliviously. "That I think you're actually still in danger. I don't know what the angels thought happened during this divine intervention on Earth. I'm sure something as strong as this didn't go unnoticed downstairs, either."
Aziraphale pursed his lips, looking at Crowley questioningly, but he made a movement with his head. I'll explain later, he seemed to say.
"Anyway," continued Muriel. "What if they still feel threatened by your combined power? What happens if they find out that you found out mixing demon and angel blood isn't dangerous at all?" She frowned sadly. "I think both sides would still want those special powers and they will try to capture one or both of you again at some point."
Aziraphale smiled with confidence and stepped towards Muriel. "My young friend, you are forgetting that they would have to find us first." He looked at Crowley who raised his brows. The angel smiled again. "It's a big universe," he continued softly. "And I rather think that it's time to leave the garden."
Very slowly, a true heartfelt smile began to bloom on Crowley's face. A smile full of joy that reminded Aziraphale of the beginning. When his soulmate created his beautiful, much loved nebulas.
"You're going to leave Earth?" Muriel questioned wide-eyed when she caught up with their meaning.
"Yes." said Aziraphale. "I think it would be wise to… lie low for a bit. Until tempers have calmed down. And if Up or Down are still spoiling for a fight... well, they can certainly try to separate us again." he suggested, smiling as Crowley stepped close to his side, their shoulders touching, their fingers brushing against each other.
"But…" Muriel spoke up again. "What about me? I helped Crowley. I'm a traitor now, too." She swallowed, clearly imagining the fate that was most definitely waiting for her. "W-What do you think the Archangels will do to me?"
Aziraphale and Crowley looked at each other, thinking for a moment. Then the angel stepped closer again, touching Muriel's arm in a comforting manner. "You liked looking after my bookshop, didn't you?"
A brief smile hurried over Muriel's face. A fond remembrance before worries took over again. "Yes. I did."
"Well, the Archangels never took away my promotion before they strapped me into that machine." said Aziraphale. "If you want to… I could officially make you the new owner of the bookshop." He opened a hand into thin air and summoned the papers he had signed when he'd first opened his establishment. "The shop is still an independent embassy." he explained. "If you take over, no one previously invited could enter until you told them to. Neither angels nor demons. You'll be safe there."
Muriel stared at him and the papers, her eyes shining like those of a kid's who was handed the keys to the chocolate factory. "You would do that for me?"
"Of course." smiled Aziraphale. "I owe you my life. And Crowley's, too, probably. It's the least I can do."
A wide grin spread on Muriel's face until her whole being seemed to glow with happiness and excitement. "Well, yes then!" she beamed. "I would love that!"
Aziraphale moved his hand over the papers, making his name vanish from all the documents. Then he held them out to Muriel, who, with her own wavy hand movement, signed the papers anew and then took them over from Aziraphale.
She sighed happily. "I will take good care of all the books. I promise."
Aziraphale nodded kindly. "I know you will."
Clutching the paperwork in her arms, she smiled excitedly. First at Crowley, who returned her smile like a proud parent would, then at Aziraphale. Then she concentrated and nodded once before she vanished in a cloud of angelic light.
Aziraphale sighed deeply, feeling somewhat sad, but at the same time, extremely satisfied with how this important, lengthy chapter of his life ended. What came next warmed his heart with love and filled him with nothing but happiness.
He cleared his throat and, looking around in the church, found some things that would confuse the people who came and went here regularly. He pointed his hand at the bathtub and restored it to a normal-sized font. The celestial tubes and the golden blood that clung to it vanished into nothingness as did the burn marks on the altar.
He didn't know about the Bentley that was parked outside, but Crowley saw to that. His car would again remain as a statue that no one could move. In remembrance of an angel and a demon who walked the Earth.
When everything was back to how Aziraphale supposed it was before, he smiled, pleased with a job well done. A hand touched his and long fingers snaked into the gaps between his fingers, squeezing him gently. Aziraphale turned his head to look into Crowley's yellow eyes.
"Are you ready, Angel?" the serpent asked softly. "I don't know what Heaven is planning, but those last few miracles probably didn't go unnoticed."
The angel turned around fully, taking Crowley's other hand in his, too. "I'm ready, my dear." he said with a loving smile.
Crowley stepped closer, touching Aziraphale's cheek with his hand and pulling him into a gentle kiss. As their lips were fused together the air suddenly flickered all around them and where angel and demon stood before was nothing left but tiny particles of dust.
Glittering in blue and yellow, the specks of dust tightly swirled around each other. Higher and higher, through a stained glass window that was enlightened by the crescent moon.
Their path was visible to the naked eye as they ascended towards the dark night sky on their way to Alpha Centauri or maybe to some place else entirely. They danced together, even higher still. Like a shooting star in reverse.
Then they left Earth's atmosphere and finally they vanished.