All The Lies - 1/5
Oct. 12th, 2019 09:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silver_sunTitle All The Lies
Fandom Good Omens
Word Count 11800
Characters/Pairings: Crowley/Aziraphale
Rating teen
Warnings/contains Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gabriel is emotionally abusive, mild violence, holding hard enough to bruise, Scared Aziraphale, Bookshop, Gabriel's idea of the truth and the actual truth are not the same, Manipulative Gabriel, Arizaphale pov, Post Series one, Kissing, dreadful plans, Hurt Aziraphale, Sad Crowley, they seriously need to talk, Lack of Communication, Crying, sleeping in a bed together
Summary
It's a few months after the Apocalyse that wasn't and Aziraphale had assumed that they were going to be left alone.
He was wrong.
Gabriel showing up at his shop was unexpected, and if he was honest, unwelcome. The message that Gabriel brought was worse than he could have ever expected.
Yet not everything is as it seems.
Written for the prompt desecration on Hurt/Comfort Bingo on Dreamwidth. originally posted October 2019
The presence in his shop was as unmistakeable as it was totally unexpected. It had been months since they'd helped to avert the apocalypse and had pulled the switch and fooled their respective sides. Time in which they had been left alone to finally being to explore the parts of their relationship that they'd previously felt unable to act upon for fear what would happen.
It was dreadful to have a rush of fear because of an angelic presence, Aziraphale though, but he couldn't fight knot of panic that had settled in chest. "If they were going to do anything to you they would have done it by now," he admonished himself. He'd be polite, but firm and then with any luck they would go away and leave him in peace. He just needed to stand up to him. It was one angel, he'd tricked the whole of Hell, Michael too. He could do this, he told himself, he really, really could.
Placing his afternoon tea and cake down back down on the table he went to greet his less than welcome guest. "Gabriel, to what do I owe this visit?"
Dropping the book that he'd been holding carelessly back on to the table, Gabriel turned to him with a smile. "You are still an Angel, for now at least. So I've come with important news. News that concerns you."
"Oh." The small knot of fear in his chest seemed to rise up, threatening to choke him. This wasn't good at all. "Oh, oh right. Yes, of course I am. So um could you just tell me what you need to and..." Aziraphale stopped, eyes going wide in panic. "What...what do you mean for now?"
"I mean your behaviour hasn't gone unnoticed." Gabriel gestured dismissively at him, before closing the distance between them. "This continued sullying of your corporation. It's unbecoming of an angel at best, at worse it's an act of wilful desecration."
Instinctively, Aziraphale retreated, stopping only once the back of his legs collided with a table covered in books. He wanted to answer back, but the words caught in this throat. He'd been so sure he'd be ready for any conversation that Heaven might want to have with him, but here and now it had happened he was afraid.
Placing his hands on Aziraphale's shoulders, he continued. "The sorry fact is that if you continue to live as you are you will Fall. You might have resisted death before, but that would have been a kindness compared to what it will happen to you. The punishments Hell will have for you." Gabriel closed his eyes and let out a slow breath. "The Angel who prevented Armageddon, the Angel who can't die in Hell Fire. What they'll do to you, it doesn't bear thinking about, does it? They'll never see you as one of them either, so the torment will never, ever end."
Aziraphale shuddered as much from Gabriel's touch as his words. Words that played too much into fears that he barely dared to acknowledge. Fears that he'd not dared to share with Crowley, as if somehow by giving voice to them it made them more likely to happen.
"You should tremble." Gabriel dug his fingers in tighter, holding him in place. "You should be afraid. You should be begging for forgiveness. Your actions are sins against God herself. You eat and drink when there is no need. Gluttony. These books you so carefully have hoarded. Pride and Greed."
Every part of him said run, hide, don't listen, but he couldn't move. Pinned with panic, all Arizaphale could do was was take shaky little breathes as he tried desperately to think of something to counter the Archangel's words. Nothing would come, but visions of pain and fire and blood.
"You sit around indulging yourself when you should be fighting the wiles of demons. Sloth. You look at humans, look at their lives, short and filled with base desires, and wish it for yourself. Envy." He dug his fingers in tighter until Aziraphale flinched. "You get angry, you argue, you disobey. You fight those who would help you and you feel justified in doing it. That's Wrath. So many sins, how you haven't Fallen already I really don't know."
"Stop." Aziraphale knew it sounded pathetic, but it hurt, words and bruising grip alike. He tried to pull away. "Please stop."
"No, you have to hear this. Don't think we don't know all your vices." Gabriel increased the pressure, until it elicited a choked off gasp of pain. "Oh we know of your base desires. How you abuse your lustful flesh in secret, that you think of that Hell spawned serpent as you do so. That you would corrupt and desecrate this God given corporation by acting upon those carnal desires with It."
Blushing red, his voice shaking with too many emotions to keep under control, Aziraphale stuttered out, "I really don't know what you're taking about."
"Lying too." Gabriel made a tutting noise, "There really is no hope for you, is there?" He released his grip. "All those doubts and fears you have. You have them because you know what you're doing is wrong." He placed a gentle touch against Aziraphale face. "A good Angel knows nothing of doubt, because they have done nothing wrong. A good Angel knows nothing of fear because they are on the side of God. Don't you want to have that? To know that certainty again?"
Az shuddered at the touch, his shoulders feeling bruised to the bone. "Yes, but..."
Gabriel pressed a finger against Aziraphale's lips, cutting off his protest. "No. No talking. This is for your own good. For the good of Heaven. Your behaviour, your base desires and sins, Gluttony, Greed, Pride, Envy, Sloth, Wrath and Lust. They are destroying you." His eyes seemed to glow with a deep, amethyst fire. "Worse there are those in Heaven who look upon you, upon your abject failings and wonder how you have not fallen. They start to wonder what they could get away with. You tempt them with your casual disregard for sin."
"But-" he tried again, wanting to ask how he was able to both disgust them and tempt them at the same time.
"You will be silent!"
Aziraphale flinched, the volume, the sheer power of an Archangel's fury at him make him want to cower on the floor and beg for forgiveness. The was nowhere to retreat to and the table rocked behind him, books toppling over and falling to the floor.
"You know I haven't come here out of familial love for you," Gabriel said with a cloying sweetness. "I have come to the conclusion that you are long past saving, that you deserve to be cast out, that you deserve all that Hell will do to you. But I cannot allow your sins to threaten the stability of Heaven. Your continued existence threatens a second schism, another war. More Angels lost to Hell, cut off forever from her Love and Grace." He placed a hand against Aziraphale's cheek again. "I'm sure you remember how we had to take up arms against the Fallen, how we had to cast them out. How our brothers and sisters perished, bleeding and burning for their unending faith in God as they cast out the traitors. Will you really dishonour their sacrifices like this?"
Aziraphale knew he was shaking, eyes wide, tears running down his cheeks. Of course he remembered, no one who was there could ever forget. It had been devastating for them all, Heaven had changed, they had changed. Every time he thought of it, of everything that had been lost, it made him want to weep.
"So even if you no longer have to decency to respect the sanctity of your once holy corporation, then have pity on those Angels you are corrupting." Gabriel lent in close to his ear. "Their screams as they Fall, their wings and souls burnt to cinders by Hell Fire. That will be on you for all time."
Gabriel stepped back and gave him an incongruously cheerful smile. "So no more of this self desecration." He pats Aziraphale's aching shoulders with a little more force than is necessary, a smug grin that is definitely less than angelic on his face a he sees the other Angel wince. "No more Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Envy or Pride. And definite no Lust, it's just tacky." He glances at his watch. "Right, well I'd better be back off upstairs let them know the message has been delivered."
"Gabriel.."
"Don't beg, it's undignified. Just do as you're told and I won't have to come back and remind you." Gabriel took one step back towards him. "Or perhaps you would like Michael or Sandalphon to assist me in delivering the message in a more memorable form."
Gripped with outright terror, Aziraphale shook his head. Neither would show him an ounce of pity. Then again if what he'd been told was true he didn't deserve any.
Gabriel looked smugly at his fearful face. "I would say I believe you, but once a liar... So let's just say next time then."
As soon as Gabriel was gone Aziraphale's legs, already weak with fear, gave out from under him. Sitting on the floor of his shop, his back against the table, books still scattered on the floor around him, he began to shake. Wrapping his arms tightly about himself, he wept, knowing that whatever choice he made it would destroy him and all he held dear.
Part 2
Written for Hurt/Comfort Bingo, this is the part with the hurt, the next will have the comfort, promise :)
Fandom Good Omens
Word Count 11800
Characters/Pairings: Crowley/Aziraphale
Rating teen
Warnings/contains Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gabriel is emotionally abusive, mild violence, holding hard enough to bruise, Scared Aziraphale, Bookshop, Gabriel's idea of the truth and the actual truth are not the same, Manipulative Gabriel, Arizaphale pov, Post Series one, Kissing, dreadful plans, Hurt Aziraphale, Sad Crowley, they seriously need to talk, Lack of Communication, Crying, sleeping in a bed together
Summary
It's a few months after the Apocalyse that wasn't and Aziraphale had assumed that they were going to be left alone.
He was wrong.
Gabriel showing up at his shop was unexpected, and if he was honest, unwelcome. The message that Gabriel brought was worse than he could have ever expected.
Yet not everything is as it seems.
Written for the prompt desecration on Hurt/Comfort Bingo on Dreamwidth. originally posted October 2019
The presence in his shop was as unmistakeable as it was totally unexpected. It had been months since they'd helped to avert the apocalypse and had pulled the switch and fooled their respective sides. Time in which they had been left alone to finally being to explore the parts of their relationship that they'd previously felt unable to act upon for fear what would happen.
It was dreadful to have a rush of fear because of an angelic presence, Aziraphale though, but he couldn't fight knot of panic that had settled in chest. "If they were going to do anything to you they would have done it by now," he admonished himself. He'd be polite, but firm and then with any luck they would go away and leave him in peace. He just needed to stand up to him. It was one angel, he'd tricked the whole of Hell, Michael too. He could do this, he told himself, he really, really could.
Placing his afternoon tea and cake down back down on the table he went to greet his less than welcome guest. "Gabriel, to what do I owe this visit?"
Dropping the book that he'd been holding carelessly back on to the table, Gabriel turned to him with a smile. "You are still an Angel, for now at least. So I've come with important news. News that concerns you."
"Oh." The small knot of fear in his chest seemed to rise up, threatening to choke him. This wasn't good at all. "Oh, oh right. Yes, of course I am. So um could you just tell me what you need to and..." Aziraphale stopped, eyes going wide in panic. "What...what do you mean for now?"
"I mean your behaviour hasn't gone unnoticed." Gabriel gestured dismissively at him, before closing the distance between them. "This continued sullying of your corporation. It's unbecoming of an angel at best, at worse it's an act of wilful desecration."
Instinctively, Aziraphale retreated, stopping only once the back of his legs collided with a table covered in books. He wanted to answer back, but the words caught in this throat. He'd been so sure he'd be ready for any conversation that Heaven might want to have with him, but here and now it had happened he was afraid.
Placing his hands on Aziraphale's shoulders, he continued. "The sorry fact is that if you continue to live as you are you will Fall. You might have resisted death before, but that would have been a kindness compared to what it will happen to you. The punishments Hell will have for you." Gabriel closed his eyes and let out a slow breath. "The Angel who prevented Armageddon, the Angel who can't die in Hell Fire. What they'll do to you, it doesn't bear thinking about, does it? They'll never see you as one of them either, so the torment will never, ever end."
Aziraphale shuddered as much from Gabriel's touch as his words. Words that played too much into fears that he barely dared to acknowledge. Fears that he'd not dared to share with Crowley, as if somehow by giving voice to them it made them more likely to happen.
"You should tremble." Gabriel dug his fingers in tighter, holding him in place. "You should be afraid. You should be begging for forgiveness. Your actions are sins against God herself. You eat and drink when there is no need. Gluttony. These books you so carefully have hoarded. Pride and Greed."
Every part of him said run, hide, don't listen, but he couldn't move. Pinned with panic, all Arizaphale could do was was take shaky little breathes as he tried desperately to think of something to counter the Archangel's words. Nothing would come, but visions of pain and fire and blood.
"You sit around indulging yourself when you should be fighting the wiles of demons. Sloth. You look at humans, look at their lives, short and filled with base desires, and wish it for yourself. Envy." He dug his fingers in tighter until Aziraphale flinched. "You get angry, you argue, you disobey. You fight those who would help you and you feel justified in doing it. That's Wrath. So many sins, how you haven't Fallen already I really don't know."
"Stop." Aziraphale knew it sounded pathetic, but it hurt, words and bruising grip alike. He tried to pull away. "Please stop."
"No, you have to hear this. Don't think we don't know all your vices." Gabriel increased the pressure, until it elicited a choked off gasp of pain. "Oh we know of your base desires. How you abuse your lustful flesh in secret, that you think of that Hell spawned serpent as you do so. That you would corrupt and desecrate this God given corporation by acting upon those carnal desires with It."
Blushing red, his voice shaking with too many emotions to keep under control, Aziraphale stuttered out, "I really don't know what you're taking about."
"Lying too." Gabriel made a tutting noise, "There really is no hope for you, is there?" He released his grip. "All those doubts and fears you have. You have them because you know what you're doing is wrong." He placed a gentle touch against Aziraphale face. "A good Angel knows nothing of doubt, because they have done nothing wrong. A good Angel knows nothing of fear because they are on the side of God. Don't you want to have that? To know that certainty again?"
Az shuddered at the touch, his shoulders feeling bruised to the bone. "Yes, but..."
Gabriel pressed a finger against Aziraphale's lips, cutting off his protest. "No. No talking. This is for your own good. For the good of Heaven. Your behaviour, your base desires and sins, Gluttony, Greed, Pride, Envy, Sloth, Wrath and Lust. They are destroying you." His eyes seemed to glow with a deep, amethyst fire. "Worse there are those in Heaven who look upon you, upon your abject failings and wonder how you have not fallen. They start to wonder what they could get away with. You tempt them with your casual disregard for sin."
"But-" he tried again, wanting to ask how he was able to both disgust them and tempt them at the same time.
"You will be silent!"
Aziraphale flinched, the volume, the sheer power of an Archangel's fury at him make him want to cower on the floor and beg for forgiveness. The was nowhere to retreat to and the table rocked behind him, books toppling over and falling to the floor.
"You know I haven't come here out of familial love for you," Gabriel said with a cloying sweetness. "I have come to the conclusion that you are long past saving, that you deserve to be cast out, that you deserve all that Hell will do to you. But I cannot allow your sins to threaten the stability of Heaven. Your continued existence threatens a second schism, another war. More Angels lost to Hell, cut off forever from her Love and Grace." He placed a hand against Aziraphale's cheek again. "I'm sure you remember how we had to take up arms against the Fallen, how we had to cast them out. How our brothers and sisters perished, bleeding and burning for their unending faith in God as they cast out the traitors. Will you really dishonour their sacrifices like this?"
Aziraphale knew he was shaking, eyes wide, tears running down his cheeks. Of course he remembered, no one who was there could ever forget. It had been devastating for them all, Heaven had changed, they had changed. Every time he thought of it, of everything that had been lost, it made him want to weep.
"So even if you no longer have to decency to respect the sanctity of your once holy corporation, then have pity on those Angels you are corrupting." Gabriel lent in close to his ear. "Their screams as they Fall, their wings and souls burnt to cinders by Hell Fire. That will be on you for all time."
Gabriel stepped back and gave him an incongruously cheerful smile. "So no more of this self desecration." He pats Aziraphale's aching shoulders with a little more force than is necessary, a smug grin that is definitely less than angelic on his face a he sees the other Angel wince. "No more Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Envy or Pride. And definite no Lust, it's just tacky." He glances at his watch. "Right, well I'd better be back off upstairs let them know the message has been delivered."
"Gabriel.."
"Don't beg, it's undignified. Just do as you're told and I won't have to come back and remind you." Gabriel took one step back towards him. "Or perhaps you would like Michael or Sandalphon to assist me in delivering the message in a more memorable form."
Gripped with outright terror, Aziraphale shook his head. Neither would show him an ounce of pity. Then again if what he'd been told was true he didn't deserve any.
Gabriel looked smugly at his fearful face. "I would say I believe you, but once a liar... So let's just say next time then."
As soon as Gabriel was gone Aziraphale's legs, already weak with fear, gave out from under him. Sitting on the floor of his shop, his back against the table, books still scattered on the floor around him, he began to shake. Wrapping his arms tightly about himself, he wept, knowing that whatever choice he made it would destroy him and all he held dear.
Part 2
Written for Hurt/Comfort Bingo, this is the part with the hurt, the next will have the comfort, promise :)