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mekachu04Fandom: Good Omens (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale & Adam Young (Good Omens), Aziraphale & Crowley & Adam Young (Good Omens), Crowley & Adam Young (Good Omens)
Characters: Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley (Good Omens), Hastur (Good Omens), Disposable Demon (Good Omens), Satan | Lucifer (Good Omens), Beelzebub (Good Omens), Adam Young (Good Omens), Wensleydale (Good Omens), Brian (Good Omens), Pepper (Good Omens)
Additional Tags: No beta we fall like Crowley, is it still 'headcanon' if you're discussing religion?, feature author's own personal outlook on religion, specifically Hell and God's relationship to it, Minor Character Death, Paul Adeyefa's character is named Legion in here, discussion of past mutilations, Aziraphale was a cherubim, Aziraphale was a warrior, Discussion of the Fall, Imprisonment, Abduction, mentions of torture, BAMF Aziraphale (Good Omens), Aziraphale is "just enough of a bastard to be worth knowing" (Good Omens), Post-Apocalypse, Nope'geddeon, Post-Canon, Time Manipulation, Wing Injury, hurt!Aziraphale, Hurt!Crowley, discussions of Pre-Canon, Crowley didn't fall - he was pushed, Crowley Was Not Raphael Before Falling (Good Omens), Happy Ending, Aziraphale's True Form (Good Omens), lucifer is reasonable, aziraphale is not himself today, smite-y aziraphale, Protective Aziraphale (Good Omens), lucifer is not luci (tv) but heavily influenced by him, possible self-harm, unintentional suicidal actions, Burns, Crowley's True Form (Good Omens)
Series: Part 1 of Every Step
Aziraphale worked very hard at being soft. He's been working very hard for more than 6000 years to be soft, and one demon is trying his patience on the matter, leading him on a smiting spree in hell.
aka - exploring my personal headcanon's of our fav duo's pasts, set sometime after the series ends. Tags will be expanded reflecting each new chapter to minimize spoilers. i'm not very nice to either of of our beloveds in this, but it all works out in the end.
title from 'I Will Always Love You' by Whitney Houston
Chapter titles are based on the prompt used for that day
I am not the first, nor the last, to ponder Aziraphale being a principality, instead of a cherubim, which scriptures say are the ones who guarded the gates of Eden. Given the line from the book: “Technically Aziraphale was a Principality, but people made jokes about that these days” and my tendency to make every thing hurt, I took this as our angel being demoted.
just a note, Hell uses 'it' pronouns in regards to our angel in this chapter. it *is* meant to be vaguely othering. it has little to do with gender, and more to do with opposing preternatural dispositions. This might actually make it more squickish for some readers, so please take care
There is a tremor running through Hell, one that rumbled through every circle, and sets one's teeth on edge. It's only a few moments later when Lucifer's quiet time of reflection is irrevocably shattered.
"Your majesty," Beelzebub is crying out, rushing into his chambers in a rush so very much unlike the most stoic of his Hell Princes, "Your majesty," ze repeats, flies swarming behind in nervous patterns.
Lucifer feels he should be annoyed with zir behavior, but whatever could put zir on edge like this is serious indeed, "Why are you disturbing me, Beelzebub?" he asked bored from his throne, the room for once having been pleasantly empty and allowing the Dark Lord a moment of privacy.
Normally, prematurely interrupting such a rare free moment would have never crossed the mind of any of Hell's Princes, but Beelzebub soldiers on, "Someone's done something incredibly foolish, and now there's an angel razing the hell-hound grounds down."
"What?!"
The angel has zir unsettled enough that Beelzebub doesn't even flinch out his outburst, stepping aside easily as he moves swiftly to his feet, "We think its Hastur's pet, but anybody that's gotten close enough to find out what's happening has been slaughtered. The hell hounds didn't phase it, the fire didn't stop it. We're losing everything we throw at it, and it doesn't seem to be slowing."
Lucifer does not run, but he certainly makes good time, Beelzebub at his heels, as the two work their way to the hell-hound kennels. Growing crowds of panicking demons move swiftly out of his way as soon as they see him coming. What was once cells for the damned, and strongholds for hell-hounds, is now a flattened clearing of smoldering brimstone and a circle of dust and burned occult corpses.
Sure enough, an angel stood in the destruction, its true form unbound from a corporeal body, burning bright and holy. Beelzebub's swarm protected zir from looking upon it, but many were not so lucky; its light burning their borrowed flesh, but daring to gaze upon the ethereal entity burned them away at the core instead. Lucifer Morningstar had not stood in the naked glory of the Host in several millenniums, and even he had to fight the urge to turn away.
It was nothing like the demur principality that Hastur had been toying with, and while not as powerful as Michael, it shown with raw power that with no discipline could still rival her destructive prowess.
His Horde whisper and plead for him to save them, warning him to be careful as he continues on alone. Mere yards away, the angel turns its attention to him, a focused intense gaze with a thousand eyes piercing his dark soul, and Lucifer forces himself to stand tall, "You dare to walk openly in my realm?! You assume that passage will be given to you, freedom to slaughter us at your convenience?"
His Princes gather just past the circle of corpses, voices harsh in the quiet that follows as the angel regards him without a sound of its own. "How has a principality gotten this far into hell without being noticed by now?" Belial demanding from the others.
"Duke Hastur." Belphegor supplies, "He brought him. I believe he was planning something against the demon Crowley."
Lucifer glace back at his generals, another time he'd of been almost amused as Beelzebub looks ready to murder someone, "Where iz Hazztur?"
Several of the gathering lower demons turn to zir, blank faced, before gesturing in sync toward to the angel. Lucifer focuses again on the angel who stands in ominous stillness, regarding them all with a passivity that is soul chilling.
"This is Hastur's captured principality?" Lucifer asks for clarification, because the build is not right for a third hierarchy angel. There is too much power standing before them. This is something much stronger than a principality.
"Iz the one that waz with the traitor," Beelzebub murmurs, always quick thinking. Ze's motioning for zir own people, Dagon, and Lucifer can hear the fear mixed with vitriol in zir voice, "I don't care how, but find Crowley and drag him back here. NOW."
The confrontation on the human airbase. The angel had been masked with a human body then; Beelzebub hadn't even noticed him until he'd spoken up against the Archangel. Ze's reported that he looked so unassuming, certainly no more dangerous than Crowley, this....
With a stroke of cold down his spine, Lucifer can see the scars now. He can see the way the head doesn't quite line up with its form, its torso too wide and large to support a single head of man.
"What the hell is happening in Heaven," Lucifer asks quietly, voice pitching to a soothing hum, stepping forward again to the angel, forcing his form to relax and seem unimposing; a face he'd perfected in Heaven. His Princes startle, yelling and begging for him to stay back, unable to watch out of fear of being burned away themselves.
But Lucifer can see now. As he makes a soothing gesture like one would to put a feral beast at ease, he steps within arms reach of the recently imprisoned angel. All the wrongness comes into sharp relief; where the other three heads have been lopped off, how the wings sit too low on its body, its missing the flight pair completely, "Brother," he calls finally, "Stand down, this doesn't need to go on any farther,"
The mutilated cherub raises its hands, seeming to draw the hellfire to itself. Whatever Heaven has done to this angel, it has been made very, very dangerous to all involved.
"You've already killed plenty of my demons, let's call a truce."
Its voice is unrestrained, with no firm form it echos and swells, and the lower demons of this circle scream in agony as it speaks, "I WILL STAND DOWN WHEN NOTHING LEFT STANDS BEFORE ME,"
Lucifer nods, more of placation than of agreement, "I cannot let you continued on, Brother. I feel your agony, and I will bear it with you, but you must stay your hand. Your God is not welcome here, and If you continue to act as Her vessel, you force me to add upon the violence inflicted upon you."
"YOU WILL BEAR MY BURDENS, MORNINGSTAR? YOU WILL TAKE FROM ME MY RIGHTEOUS AGONY AND DENY ME MY OWN VENGEANCE?"
"If you will let me. I do not wish to strike down a Brother who has already been crippled by those who wish to strike me down as well."
"I DO NOT SEEK MY OWN WRONGS TO SOOTHE."
Lucifer settles his features to his most calming, and the angel seems to relax, but does not unguard itself, "Then tell me the wrongs you do seek to ease."
"I WILL STRIKE DOWN ALL THOSE WHO HAVE TAKEN ARMS AGAINST THOSE WHO WILL NOT. THOSE WHO LIVE BY THE SWORD SHALL DIE BY IT, BUT THOSE WHO TURN AWAY FROM BLOODSHED SHALL BE HELD ALOFT AND SAVED."
"I understand, the slaughter of children can be difficult to bear; those who do not take up a sword are simply too young to have-"
"NO."
Lucifer quieted, "Excuse me?"
"THE PACIFISTS, AND THE COWARDS. THOSE WHO STAND FAST AGAINST VIOLENCE, AND THOSE WHO FLEE FROM IT."
This circled back to Crowley then, Lucifer realised. Hastur had been using this angel as bait for the other demon. Crowley had been an out-of-the-box-thinker from the beginning, had been a brilliant schemer even in Heaven. And, as far as Lucifer could recall, he had not seen him, as angel or demon, take up arms against anyone... minus the engine crank he'd bore at the airfield.
"I welcome all Heaven turns away, Brother, including those whose only crime was to question. Many I've taken in never took arms in my Rebellion."
"BUT THEY MUST TAKE UP ARMS IN THE NEXT WAR."
"They do so because their home is in danger - "
"THEY DO SO BECAUSE THEY FEAR WHAT COMES NEXT IF THEY FAIL TO PLEASE YOU. HER GRACE WAS BURNED FROM THEM ALREADY, AND HOW MANY SURVIVED? HOW MANY CAST AWAY REMAIN IN YOUR RANKS? HOW MANY CAN SURVIVE BEING TURNED OUT A SECOND TIME? HELL IS ALL THAT THEY HAVE, WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN THOSE DOORS ARE CLOSED?
"WHERE DO THE CAST AWAY GO ONCE YOU'VE TORN THEM ASUNDER? WHAT COMES AFTER? HOW MUCH MORE MUST THEY HURT?"
The cherub's brightness increased, Lucifer finally having to look away as his eyes began to water.
"THEY DON'T LOVE YOU BECAUSE YOU PULLED THEM FROM THE PIT. THEY FEAR YOU BECAUSE THEY NEVER RECOVERED FROM THE LAST FALL. THEY OBEY, BECAUSE THEIR ENTIRE EXISTENCE HAS BEEN WAITING FOR THE OTHER SHOE TO DROP."
"At least I took them in at all! It's your side that deciding not to fight was the same as dissent in the first place! How many did you Cast Away? How many begged you for mercy, and you sent them down to me anyway?" Goading a rampaging cherub may not have been the wisest course of action, but Lucifer did not appreciate being blamed for Heaven's choices. And certainly not in his own home. He drew himself up to match the cherub, letting the edges of his corporation blur away, allowing his own darkness to match the angelic interloper's light. The parts of this circle not damaged by the angel crumbled and fell under his onslaught. Distant screams of terror from what lesser onlookers remained, as they took to their senses and scattered. All that remained to witness were his Princes.
The angel burned brighter in response, and Lucifer resigned himself to the fact this was about to turn violent. He meant it when he tried to talk the angel down. A fight now would not end well for either. Lucifer would be victorious, of no doubt, but could he force the angel to flee, or would he be forced to extinguish the angel's light permanently?
While it clearly retained their Mother's conditional love, it was also clear that it no longer has the same affection shown to it from the Host. Maybe once it accepted that the Host had turned their back on it (whether it chose to fall, or was forced out) then the two of them could come to an accord. After the sulphur pit, the mutilation won't matter anymore, and Lucifer would welcome it gladly, would forgive the loathing the angel felt for its own actions.
Maybe he himself could maneuver the confrontation to the pits; burn out Her Grace now, and not have to worry about a fight at all.
Before they had to come to blows though, there was a cry in the air. Faint, but speeding to them, causing those left in the circle to pause and listen.
A Cry. A Scream. A sob.
"Ahhhhh Ziiiii RAHHHH PHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALE!"
