Chapter 4
Crowley had to shield his eyes as wind picked up and then suddenly died down with a tremendous thump landing on the floor. Looking up he saw Aziraphale lying in the middle of the sigil, looking like death.
"Aziraphale!"
Crowley quickly took the knife he had nearby and broke the sigil on the floor. He rushed to the Angel dropping on his knees beside him. The angel's back was covered in blood. His shirt hanging on by a thread, his beloved vest, coat and bowtie gone. Crowley gently turned him over and eased Aziraphale's head in his lap. Crowley really took in Aziraphale's face. The Angel had a black eye, a split lip, some cuts and some burns. Sweat beaded his forehead. Crowley felt anger rising in him. He was so pale and so still it didn't sit right with Crowley at all. He and the Angel might not have left on the best terms, but this was one of his worst fears. He didn't want the Angel hurt and now he was and Crowley was kicking himself for not being able to protect him.
"Aziraphale? Angel, wake up. Please, cmon now wake up." Crowley pleaded giving his cheek a few light taps.
Aziraphale made no response. Crowley silently cursed to God, Satan whoever was listening. He wanted nothing more than to march into Heaven and beat whoever did this with his bare hands before finally killing the Metatron himself. None of that mattered now though. What mattered was keeping Aziraphale safe and taking care of him.
"Cmon Angel. Lets get you somewhere more comfortable." Crowley whispered.
Crowley calls on his demon strength and lifts Aziraphale into his arms. The angel moans slightly as he is moved and rests his head on Crowley's shoulder. Crowley snaps his fingers and wards are thrown up keeping Angels, Demons and every other kind of being out. Crowley carefully carries Aziraphale to his bedroom. Gently he laid the Angel down on the bed on his stomach so that he could properly care for the wounds on his back. He would miracle new clean sheets later. The angel's face was turned towards the edge of the bed facing the wall. Aziraphale gasped in pain as he was maneuvered. Crowley immediately knelt by his side.
"Angel? You with me?" he asked putting a hand to Aziraphale's cheek.
Aziraphale fell quiet again. Crowley frowned as he stood up. With a snap of his fingers, the rest of Aziraphale's shirt miracled away so that Crowley could see the full extent of the damage. What he saw made him shudder and incredibly angry. Marks covered Aziraphale's back. Some deeper than others. Crowley recognized the wounds immediately and knew what caused him. Aziraphale had been whipped and not with a regular whip. A celestial one. Crowley felt the anger rise in him again as he realized he couldn't heal these injuries or miracle them away. He looked for other injuries and found what looked like burns on Aziraphale's wrists. It must have been from the blessed ropes. There were actual burns on other parts of his body. On his chest and upper arms. There were also cuts on various parts of his body.
Crowley forced his anger down and snapped his fingers again making supplies appear on the table beside the bed. Aziraphale's healing factor would kick in eventually. With this much damage though, it would take time, especially if the blessed ropes were suppressing his magic. Crowley would heal what he could for now, but he would have to pick and choose. He wanted to have some miracles in case anyone came looking. First things first was to clean Aziraphale up as much as he could. He dunked a rag into the warm water bowl that had appeared and rung out the excess, sitting on the bed beside the angel.
"I'm sorry Aziraphale this isn't going to be pleasant." Crowley warned.
As he placed the cloth against Aziraphale's back the angel gasped in pain and shrunk away from the touch.
"Easy angel. Easy. I won't hurt you." Crowley reassured.
Aziraphale's eyes opened half way. Crowley immediately knelt in his line of vision. The angel's eyes were glassy and unfocused.
"Aziraphale? Can you hear me?" he asked cupping the angel's cheek in his hand.
"Cr-Crowley?" Aziraphale's voice was hoarse, but it could have brought tears to Crowley's eyes.
"I'm here angel. I'm here. How are you feeling?" Crowley asked.
"H-h-h-hurts...I-I-" Aziraphale broke off into a coughing fit. The coughs racking his body causing him to cry out in pain.
"It's ok, its ok. Easy. We don't have to talk now. We can do that later. I have to clean your wounds, I can't miracle them away. You should sleep while I do this. It won't be pleasant and it will allow a chance for your healing factor to kick in." Crowley warned caressing his thumb against Aziraphale's cheek.
"No. I...don't want..."Aziraphale's voice trailed off his eyes doing slow long blinks.
"Shhhhhh, its ok. I'll be here the whole time. I will take care of you. You're safe now." Crowley assured, "I'm just gonna give you a small nudge."
Before Aziraphale could protest, Crowley pushed energy into his hand that was cupping Aziraphale's cheek. The angel's eyes fluttered shut as Crowley put him into a deep sleep that would keep him out until Crowley had finished helping him as best, he could.
Crowley let out a deep sigh as he stood back up and sat on the bed. He hated doing that, but it was for the best. He didn't want to cause the Angel any more pain than he was already in. He set about cleaning Aziraphale's back of all the blood. When it was done and the water in the bowl was tinged red, Crowley rubbed some healing ointment on the worse wounds before bandaging them. Crowley didn't know if those wounds would ever heal fully. He couldn't help Aziraphale heal them, so it was something Crowley would just have to wait and see. Carefully turning the Angel to lay on his back Crowley examined his chest. He spared a small miracle to heal the wounds on the Angel's face and the rope burns on his wrists.
The giant cut on Aziraphale's chest stood out. Crowley recognized that the cut was made by a demon blade due to the singed edges of skin surrounding it. He cleaned the wound and bandaged it, doing the same to the other cuts and burns on his chest and arms. He cleaned them and rubbed ointment on them, bandaging the bad ones and healing the small ones. He would help Aziraphale heal the wounds caused by the Hellfire. It would take too long for Aziraphale's healing factor to heal them. Crowley made a mental note to keep an eye on these wounds specifically for infection until he could spare the miracles to heal them fully.
Next he gently prodded the Angel's chest and concluded that he only had a couple broken ribs. The rest severely bruised. Sitting the angel up gently, he sat behind Aziraphale and leaned him against his chest as he started wounding the bandages around the Angel's chest gently but firmly. Aziraphale would be able to heal the ribs himself as his magic came back. Carefully laying the Angel back against the pillows, he turned Aziraphale on to his right side facing the bed so he was off his back to keep it from causing too much pain. Crowley cleaned up all the supplies keeping some fresh bandages and pain killers nearby before finally cleaning his hands and sitting on the bed beside Aziraphale. Aziraphale was still asleep but already looking a little better since he was cleaned up and his face healed. He was still terribly pale though. Crowley reached out and ran a hand through his hair.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't there to protect you Angel. I promise I will never let anything like this happen again." Crowley vowed.
Aziraphale remained asleep completely oblivious to Crowley. The demon scooted closer to Aziraphale and sat back against the headboard. He dimmed the lights and did one more minor miracle to put Aziraphale into comfortable soft pajamas with fresh sheets before pulling a blanket over him. Settling a hand in the Angels hair, Crowley settled into wait for Aziraphale to wake up and to make sure no one came looking for them.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It was 5 hours later when Aziraphale finally showed signs of waking up. Crowley had brought in a TV and had it playing in the background without really watching it as he tried not to doze off when he felt Aziraphale shift under his touch. Looking down at the Angel, he shifted his position a bit to be in the Angels line of sight.
"Aziraphale? Angel can you hear me?" Crowley asked cupping the Angel's cheek.
"Ngk..." Aziraphale moaned his eyebrows knitting together in a pained grimace as he leaned into Crowley's touch.
"Come on Angel. Wake up. I'm here now and you're safe. Open your eyes and you will see." Crowley coaxed.
Aziraphale's eyes slowly cracked open and his gaze met Crowley's.
"Hey...how are you feeling?" He asked running his thumb over Aziraphale's cheek.
"It hurts..." Aziraphale gasped.
"What does?" Crowley asked.
"Everything. Mostly my back."
"I know. I can't heal those wounds but maybe I can take away some of your pain." Crowley assured.
Crowley laid a hand on Aziraphale's back and pushed some energy into it. He watched the angel's face and saw the pain lines in it relax.
"Thank you my dear." Aziraphale hummed his eyes slipping close.
"S'no problem. I healed what I could for you, your own healing factor should be starting to work soon. Can you feel if anything is different? How about your chest?" Crowley asked.
Aziraphale took a moment to self-assess.
"My chest does feel a bit better. I think I was able to heal my ribs, it's easier to breathe." Aziraphale croaked out his eyes meeting Crowley's. His voice sounded better but it was still hoarse. Crowley knew it had to be from screaming, and that angered him. It angered him that someone had hurt Aziraphale so bad that it caused him to scream himself hoarse. He pushed those feelings aside and focused on his Angel.
"Thats good. The Hellfire wounds will take longer. I can help you heal them when your stronger. Until then we will keep an eye on them to make sure they don't get infected." Crowley explained.
Aziraphale nodded and they lapsed into a silence.
"What happened Aziraphale? Who did this to you?" Crowley demanded breaking the silence.
"Met...metatron. I got to Heaven he told me they were planning the Second Coming. I was only in charge for 2 weeks before he told me the plan. Once I learned the details I wanted no part of it." Aziraphale's voice broke off as he started to cough heavily.
Crowley got up and returned with a glass of water from the bathroom. He helped Aziraphale sit up and drink a little bit of it.
"Better?"
"Yes. Thank you." Crowley set the glass down on the bedside table and helped Aziraphale lean on the headboard a bit.
"I tried to get back here, to turn down the job. He wasn't happy about that. He had Sandalphon attack me. I don't know how long the torture went on. I passed out during alot of it. How long have I been gone for?" Aziraphale asked.
"Almost a month." Crowley answered. It had been the longest month of his entire existence.
"Then Sandalphon had me for a week and a half." Aziraphale stated sadly.
"I'm so sorry Angel."
"He said he was going to make me forget all about you and make me remember whose side I was on." Aziraphale explained.
"Shhhhh. Its ok. Your safe, I'm here now." Crowley soothed.
"He said he-he was-he was going to kill you and...make me watch." Aziraphale cried a few tears spilling out of his eyes.
"Hush now, its over. I'm here and so are you. We are safe for now. I won't ever let them hurt you again." Crowely assured taking the Angel's face in his hands and wiping the tears from Aziraphale's eyes with the pads of his thumbs.
"Crowley, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I hurt you and I left. I wanted to stay, I just.. I wanted to try..." Aziraphale sobbed.
"It doesn't matter now. You're here and you're safe. I'm not going to leave you." Crowley assured pressing a soft kiss to Aziraphale's forehead his hands still cupping the Angel's face.
"Do it again?" Aziraphale asked hopefully gazing into Crowleys eyes.
"Do what again?"
"The kiss you gave me the last time we were together? I wanted to ask you then, but I was so scared and so confused. Please do it again." Aziraphale begged.
Crowley smiled and leaned in softly pressing his lips against the angel, his one hand moving to cup the back of Aziraphale's neck the other still cupping his cheek. This is how it should have been. Soft, gentle and loving. Not a desperate attempt to get him to stay. Aziraphale leaned into it the best he could, slightly parting his lips, his hand coming up to cup Crowley's neck. It seemed to last forever, like the rest of time melted away. Crowley didn't want this moment to end, but as his hand moved to grip Aziraphale's shoulder to pull him closer he accidentally brushed one of Aziraphale's burns.
"Ahhhhhh." Aziraphale broke away from the kiss and pain rose through him. His eyes squeezed shut and his jaw clenched.
"I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" Crowley asked worried pulling back but keeping his arms around the Angel.
"Not your fault." Aziraphale gasped out taking a few deep breathes.
"You should rest. It will help with the pain." Crowley instructed.
"Stay with me?" Aziraphale asked staring up at Crowley.
"Always." Crowley smiled softly.
Aziraphale smiled back and gently shifted to lay his head on Crowley's lap as Crowley pulled the blanket up higher on Aziraphale's shoulders. Aziraphale's eyes dipped close as he fell asleep to Crowley running a hand through his hair occasionally caressing his cheek. Crowley smiled as he watched Aziraphale fall asleep. He too found himself drifting off leaning against the headboard, hoping that the worst was now behind them.