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Woke up today with the lay of the land
Feather in cap and the sun in the sand
It was easy, it was easy to understand
~~~
Aziraphale stood atop the Wall of Eden, watching the horizon like he always did. Everything was as it was meant to be. Sun reflecting in the sand, almost blinding. His wings spread out behind him, gently swayed by the wind. Adam and Eve were in the Garden, where everything was green and safe, and the desert had the beasts and nothingness. Just how it should be.
—
Crawly didn’t know what they were meant to do in the Garden, so tempt one of the humans, they did. But perhaps the human, Eve, tempted them in turn. To what, they didn’t know. It just felt… strange, to be following orders from Below like they did Above. Like nothing had changed when they changed hands.
They needed to go up there, where the angel stood. They had no plan besides that, but maybe the angel would know what to do. Would offer them just what they were looking for. Both would have to be going soon, anyway. No longer anything to protect in the Garden, no longer anything to tempt. A temporary truce.
—
Aziraphale shook his head at the inquisitive demon beside him. “See the sky and the land? They’re separate, though it may look like they meet on the horizon. The sky stays in the sky and the earth, well, down below. Everything plays a part in the Lord’s creation, Crawly. Everything is right where it should be. Who do we think we are, to question the Ineffable Plan? Some things, we are simply never meant to know.”
The demon grimaced in displeasure and opened their mouth to respond.
~~~
Everything turned sour when the Almighty called upon the clouds and declared it time to wash away the sins of the people. The locals, more like. Aziraphale was put in charge of Noah and his family on the vessel now filled with animals, traversing the waters that reached the skies. Funny, how he once thought the earth and skies were so far apart.
The last thousand years had been wonderful for him. Blessing, listening to the stories people told, being fascinated by everything he saw. But he was always alone, in all the ways that mattered. Sitting around a table with humans as they ate and told stories was one of the few ways he could satisfy his need for company, but why would he need it? He was an angel. Angels always had and felt the presence of God with them and he certainly hadn’t lost it. It just… didn’t fill him the way it used to do. And the other angels would raise eyebrows were he to speak up about his concern.
But that didn’t matter. He was happy on Earth. Even if that strange feeling he had just recognised as loneliness got to him sometimes. It was fine. He was fine.
Or had been.
Now the waves and endless outpouring drowned out his thoughts, and he couldn’t even enjoy the times the family and him sat around a table together to eat. They were always quiet. There was nothing worthy of being talked about.
They did laugh, sometimes, the humans. They did tell stories of old, but whenever they mentioned someone or some place that no longer was, the ambiance would turn sombre again.
Aziraphale wished it would stop.
—
Crawly didn’t know what they were doing or why they were doing it, but they’d already lost count of how much time they (plural, this time) had been hidden in the arc, under the angel and chosen family’s noses. One of those days, they would realise why figs and dates were disappearing a little quicker than usual, but for now, they were hidden away where no one would look, turning as still as a stone whenever an unusual sound came close to them, not daring to breathe lest alarming the inhabitants of intruders.
—
When the rains finally stopped and the waters receded, the arc descended and they were free. Every one of Noah’s sons and their wives helped lead the animals out. He had tried to help, but was told with a gentle hand on his chest and a smile not to worry about it. So he stayed atop the vessel, fidgeting with his hands.
He could’ve been there for hours, watching the humans move around, not needing his help, until a sound caught his attention. He jolted his head towards the inside of the boat and froze. There was someone there.
They stared at each other’s surprised eyes, unmoving. He knew those eyes.
“Crawly…” he whispered, “but why–”
The demon waved their hands and head frantically. And that’s when he saw who were with them.
Children.
Three in total, of different ages, all hiding behind them. But when he noticed them, the oldest one in the group narrowed their eyes at him, almost daring him to do something rash, while the little two cowered behind them.
“But… why?”
Crawly wet their lips and glanced to the side with a nervous shift to his gaze. “Wouldn’t leave them behind”
—
When the demon had approached the angel the day the storm would commence — what feels like several years ago now but was merely a few months away — after a thousand years of not having seen each other, they exchanged a few words. Crawly questioned the plan, questioned the lives of innocents being destroyed for the damnation of a few bad ones.
And again, Aziraphale stayed resolute.
“The skies and the earth each have their place. Everything plays a part in the Ineffable Plan. Who are we to understand?” He took in a shaky breath. “There are some things we are never meant to know.”
~~~
They met again sooner than later.
They exchanged words, exchanged drinks.
Exchanged stories.
Time trickled down the hourglass with each moment they stayed together and apart, but if only for a moment, the sand seemed to stop when the other was around.
Days turned into weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, millennia. The Earth turning around the sun shouldn’t be significant in the grand scheme of the universe, of their incomprehensible age, and yet, they felt it.
Time wouldn’t slow down for them.
The End was approaching and that was all there was.
Suddenly, the six millennia on Earth weren’t enough. Chaos would soon reign on the planet no matter what side ultimately won.
Lost time, all the times they were apart, floating through weeks at a time doing inconsequential things like sleeping longer than humanly possible, reading without stopping for looking around.
Doubt and hope and fear and determination swam around their minds as the clock struck 11 counting down.
~~~
There they stood, at the end of everything. Or what was supposed to be it. The Antichrist and companions had rid themselves of the horsepeople, and now their bosses were coming to set things ‘right’. Heaven and Hell coming together for a common goal. The sky and the land together again, the earth under their feet, steady.
They were talking about a Great Plan, but what about the Ineffable one?
“Excuse me?” Gabriel said, taken aback.
“I was saying, is the Great Plan the same as the Ineffable plan?”
Uncertain.
“They don’t know…”
The Archangel Gabriel and the Prince of Hell exchanged a look.
“W– well!” Said Crowley. “What if you think we’re going against the Great Plan, but we’re actually going according to the Ineffable Plan. Who do we think we are, right?” He side-eyed at Aziraphale for confirmation. “Everything plays a part, including this, don’t you think? There are some things we don’t understand.”
“There are some things we are never meant to know.”