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[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

Time: May 1st
Place: The basement
Status: Private (Aziraphale, Crowley, "Beelzebub") - complete
Summary: Aziraphale does not wake up in his bedroom.

Little Principality, reject of the Host, haven't you learned anything about survival?  Perhaps I'll teach you to keep your mouth shut.

The voice is deep and yet somehow congenial, and it's the calmness of the voice that makes Aziraphale feel the most trepidation.  He shouldn't be hearing it at all, and the fact it's speaking to him means that he's not going to die soon, and he can't move, and it hurts -

~*~

 

Aziraphale woke up with a start, heart pounding, only to realise that, although his body asserted he had woken up, he was in fact still chained to a wall, naked, forced into kneeling on the ground. 

A strong hand gripped his chin and tilted it up so he could see the eyes of his captor.  Beelzebub was smiling pleasantly.  "I can't decide what order to do this in.  Your tongue needs to be removed for your insolence, of course, but before or after you scream for mercy?  Such a choice I have to make.  But your eyes... yes, your eyes remain, so you can see exactly whose fault it is you've been handed to me so sweetly."

With a jerk of his hand, Aziraphale was forced to look outside of the cell.  Standing against the wall, looking blank, was Crowley.

Comments

[pointisdolphins.livejournal.com]

Crowley had always thought the humans had a great fondness for being exaggerative. For instance the habit they had of saying something like ‘I’m starving’ when they had eaten less than six hours ago or ‘I love you’ during a bout of good sex, but for once he was thinking that the descriptor ‘I feel dead inside’ was entirely appropriate.

The Serpent was dead inside. Not outside, no—he had escaped his own fate at the cost of the only being he ever cared about. It had taken torture to break him, to get him to comply, yes, but in the end he had lured Aziraphale into the trap Beelzebub set. No longer did Crowley have to wonder about just how evil he was—he knew. He’d always known he should have left the angel alone, at first for fear of getting in trouble, and then later for fear of hurting him.

Now none of that mattered. Aziraphale was going to die, and he was being made to watch. It was his fault. He never should have made the Arrangement, never should have cared—after all, look where it had gotten him. He was evil and tainted anything he touched, destroyed anything that was Good.

"I can't decide what order to do this in,” Beelzebub purred, holding the angel’s face in his hands. “Your tongue needs to be removed for your insolence, of course, but before or after you scream for mercy? Such a choice I have to make. But your eyes... yes, your eyes remain, so you can see exactly whose fault it is you've been handed to me so sweetly."

And then Aziraphale looked at him, though Crowley did not return his gaze—he could not. I’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msosorry was the mantra repeated in his head but he didn’t dare voice it aloud. It was meaningless. Everything was meaningless.

[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale's didn't hurt yet, and so had the presence of mind to not gasp in shock, or give Crowley a glare, or anything that might give Beelzebub any sort of satisfaction. The expression on Crowley's face was carefully devoid of emotion, and Aziraphale didn't know what to make of it. Guilt? Or just apathy?

"I'm sure you coerced him," Aziraphale replied, looking back at Beelzebub. "Regardless, I shall not-"

Beelzebub's fist clenched and Aziraphale can hear a sickening crunch from inside his own neck. "Save your speeches. This was all his idea, hence why he's going to watch." Beelzebub shot a look over his shoulder that Aziraphale couldn't see.

The Crown let go of Aziraphale's neck, that hand starting to trail down. There was a horrible pain that erupted in Aziraphale's neck, and he gritted his teeth to avoid making any noise. "I did warn you, and as much fun as I was having being so... sneaky, you made it very clear I needed to be more hands-on with your punishment."

[pointisdolphins.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure you coerced him," Aziraphale replied, looking back at Beelzebub. "Regardless, I shall not-"

And then Beelzebub crushed a vertebrae in Aziraphale's neck, and Crowley flinched, the first step outside of his own forced blankness. 'I'm sure you coerced him,' the angel had said. Even now he stood up for him, for the worthless traitor who hadn't been strong enough to withstand tortue to save his only...friend.

Crowley dug his talons into his palms. This was worse. This was worse than the pain that had happened before, so apparently he was a failure even at being an evil traitorous bastard, just as he was a failure at the Arrangement (which was so much more than Crowley could admit).

Beelzebub was going on and on, once glaring at Crowley, silently threatening him to stay put, but Crowley was lost in his thoughts, thinking. He had already done the unthinkable. He had dared to care for someone beside himself* then he had betrayed the only being he ever had really trusted. He was disgusting and more than that, he now had nothing left to lose. Nothing to lose.... Aziraphale already hated him, no doubt, for the betrayal, but the angel was still alive. Granted they would both be dead before Beelzebub was through** but could he really stand here and watch?

Crowley looked up and gazed at his counterpart, looking him directly in the eyes. They had stood together at the End, which was rather part of what had gotten them in this mess, but still. They stood together then. The Serpent had no illusions that before he died the angel would forgive him, but even so...

The Serpent looked around the dungeon and saw the angel's discarded weapon that the dark prince no doubt intended to keep as a trophy. This was it. He was going to die. Crowley grabbed the heavenly weapon, ignoring the burning in his hands, materialized inside the cell and stabbed Beelzebub through the neck. In one fluid motion he sliced through the chains holding Aziraphale.

In his hurry to catch the angel--his angel--as he fell , Crowley dropped the sword and hurriedly began to heal Aziraphale. It did not redeem him, but now, at least, he could die knowing he had tried to repair the damage he had done, the only mistake that really mattered. Before he could say anything else, Aziraphale's sword burst through his chest and blood spewed out of his mouth. Beelzebub had retrieved the sword and stabbed him between the wings.

"R-run," Crowley managed, before he fell to his knees.

* Which was more than a major failing for a demon, especially a lower ranking one.

**Crowley did not for one minute believe the Second of Hell's claim that Crowley's betrayal of the angel would really lead to his being spared. He knew better. All it had done was offer him a reprieve from the pain and the hideous 'honor' of being present at the angel's torture.

[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale drew in a hissed breath as he watched Crowley collapse to his knees. He'd been right! Crowley had been coerced, and the poor thing defied Beelzebub to save him then and healed his neck and -

He was now covered with Crowley's blood, and it was burning his skin. Reacting purely on instincts and ignoring any point Beelzebub was attempting to make with this, he kicked Beelzebub's wrist away from his sword, and, grabbing it, wrenched out of Crowley and thrust it into Beelzebub's chest, being sure to duck to the side to avoid getting countered as Michael had taught him.

Beelzebub stabbed (that was easy, there must be something wrong here), he began trying to heal Crowley. "Crowley! Crowley dear, can you hear me?!"

[pointisdolphins.livejournal.com]

Crowley heard his angel but his voice sounded far away and the room was turning red. "...'n...g'l....ssss'rry...."

He wanted to say more but a fresh stream of blood gushed from his mouth. Crowley had to make Aziraphale leave him--Beelzebub was many things but easy to kill wasn't one of them. He had to make Aziraphale leave, but his vision was going dark and he was quickly losing all of his strength. Everything was red and darkness and death...

[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

Beelzebub was moving. Beelzebub was moving and Aziraphale didn't care. "Don't be sorry, Crowley! You - you haven't done anything wrong!" Aziraphale assured him, stroking Crowley's hair and ignoring their impending doom. "I understand why you do the things you do, I promise I do!"

Death didn't matter, because he was going to be with Crowley regardless, so why fear it?

And with that, Beelzebub collapsed and disappeared.

Aziraphale blinked and looked around. The basement no longer looked like a dungeon, and Beelzebub was gone, what the bloody...?

But Crowley was still injured, and so Aziraphale decided to ignore it all and focus on healing his Serpent.