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[consultingcompanion94]

Once Upon an Eternity

Chapter Two

Summary:

Something happened since Aziraphale left. Will Heavenly or Hellish power be enough to fill the missing pieces, or will Crowley have to look elsewhere?

Under any other circumstances, Crowley would have scoffed at the ridiculous notion of the scene before him- the back room of Nina’s coffee shop functioning as a makeshift war council room in the loosest form of the term. 

Scoffing was very much abandoned in the wake of the tension filling the room.

It became clear there was one common thread among the Demon, Scrivener, and two shop owners present- their collective gaps in awareness of recent events proved they were, indeed, missing something that could not be explained away as easily as it could if those gaps had only affected one of them. 

Knowing they were in the same predicament should have been reassuring…

“You’re seriously telling me you have no way back into Heaven?” Crowley growled angrily at the smaller Angel, ignoring the voice in his head that sounded annoyingly like Aziraphale berating him for being overly harsh. 

Nina and Maggie had spent the day doing their best to keep up pretenses running the coffee shop while Muriel had been attempting to gather information. Crowley had been holed up in Nina’s back room, doing his best not to let the tension fizzling in his veins escalate into a lightning strike (he was certain Nina would hold any damage that would cause over his head forever.)

“I’m sure,” Muriel murmured, shifting uncomfortably at Crowley’s grilling. “I have no idea if I made any attempt to enter Heaven during the time we can’t account for, but I certainly didn’t report Upstairs in the weeks following my acquiring the bookshop. I tried all morning and afternoon to gain access to Heaven- no luck. Not even a hint anyone had received or even noticed my attempts to request entrance.”

Crowley wanted to snap that Muriel had acquired nothing. The bookshop belonged to one Angel and one Angel only, but he bit his tongue just short of drawing blood and growled softly, raking his fingers through his hair in frustration.

“I take it that’s unusual is it?” Maggie asked tentatively, earning a harsh bark of laughter from Crowley.

“You could say that. Apparently his Supremeness either found out about me sneaking in and doesn’t want a repeat, or he really wants to make sure I can’t gain access regardless of if he knows about last time,” Crowley replied.

Drumming her fingers against her knee, Nina shook her head, unsatisfied by that explanation. “I don’t know mate. Seems too big a jump to go from the Mr. Fell who left to now having him seal off… well, you know...” she trailed off, still having trouble wrapping her head around the world of the occult and ethereal she’d been plunged into.

“I agree. There’s got to be a larger trigger here. Something specific had to have set him off,” Maggie nodded.

After a moment, Muriel chimed in, “I supposed if you put it that way, isn’t it obvious?” When the looks directed back at them made it clear that it was indeed, not obvious, they continued a little more forcefully, “You must have snuck back into Heaven again Mr.- I mean, Crowley. Think about it! The Supreme Archangel finding out you snuck in last time wouldn’t give him enough reason to lock Heaven now. Something had to have happened to make him feel a security breach was a more active threat, and how many other Demons can you think of that would voluntarily go anywhere near Heaven?”

Crowley had to admit, what Muriel said wasn’t wrong. Of all the tactics Hell had ever used, they had always stopped short of attempting any actual infiltration of Heaven, all efforts focused solely on Earth. Crowley may consider Hell beyond incompetent, but not even the stupidest Demon would be willing to risk almost certain discorporation by going Upstairs uninvited.

Until Crowley had seen Aziraphale in danger and was just desperate enough to risk it.

“Hell of a lot of good that does us,” Crowley grumbled irritably. “Even if past me was stupid enough to go back again, that still gives us no answers to why I would think that would be anything other than a massive waste of time.”

“You and he did plenty of messing with minds at the ball,” Nina countered, “Why don’t you just… snap your fingers, wave your hand, whatever it even is you do and reverse whatever was done to us?”

“Miracles don’t work that way,” Muriel replied simply. “They can be tricky at the best of times, even for those most experienced in them.”

“And even the best miracles have their limits,” Crowley added with a sigh.“ Things would certainly be different otherwise. Wouldn't be much of a way to keep Heaven and Hell in line if all Miracles could be undone just like that. No consequences for going against orders if you can simply miracle them away. No way to actually fight the opposition if you can shut down each other's every move just like that.”

Probably worked in our favor with Jim, Crowley thought. It would have made for a very different argument if restoring “Jim’s” memories had been possible and Aziraphale had been attempting to convince Crowley to help in that way, rather than by simply hiding him. Very unlikely he’d have been willing to risk actively restoring the being who had tried to burn hi-the Angel.

“Bottom line,” Crowley continued, shaking himself out of his reverie, “We’re not likely to get anywhere unless we figure out what we’re missing that Az-the Supreme Archangel is working so hard to keep us from knowing.”

“With Heavenly and Hellish power off the table, where does that leave us?” Muriel asked, nervously fiddling with the throw pillow they’d grasped in their lap.

“Really hoping you’re not about to say there’s some other third entity we haven’t heard about yet,” Maggie chuckled nervously, causing Crowley to sit up straighter.

“Not unless you count humans as a third entity… weeell, technically human… he might not have accounted for that, could be worth a go…” He muttered, the others watching his mind whirring before Nina finally huffed in irritation, “Mind sharing with the rest of the class?”

Ignoring her questions with a dismissive wave, Crowley pulled out his phone, snapping his fingers to miracle the phone to pull up the number he needed, only waiting a few moments before responding with an almost imperceptible sigh of relief, “Hello? Book girl? What do you mean you… You seriously knew I was going to… Rolling his eyes, Crowley cut off, “Of course you did. I’ll save my breath then. How long till you can be here?” Nodding, Crowley merely gave a few more affirmative grunts and hums before ending the call.

“And that call was…” Maggie trailed off, Crowley finally turning his attention back to the room with a mischievous curl of his lips.

“Another power source to try using in getting our memories back, one that if we’re lucky a certain Supreme Archangel won’t have accounted for,” Crowley grinned. “Courtesy of a certain descendant of a certain witch.”

Previous Chapter

[consultingcompanion94]

Once Upon an Eternity

Chapter 1

Months after Aziraphale left for Heaven, Crowley finds himself waking up back in the bookshop after months of coping with his broken heart. But… is it the first time he’s been back? Why does it seem like there’s something he’s missing? When he’s reunited with the new Archangel for the first time since that day, he can’t stop the overwhelming dread that something is very, very wrong… AU of my interpretation of S3 as inspired by the show Once Upon a Time. If you’ve seen it, no spoilers for anyone who hasn’t!!! If you have, hope you enjoy my little mash-up!!!

Notes:

Hello everyone! Welcome to my first fic in the GO fandom! I fell in love with the show after binging the whole thing just in time to dive right into S2 when it aired (and experience all the devastation that brought us all). I was finally inspired enough to dive back into fanfic after a very long hiatus by the show and by Rebecca Flutter’s amazing GO podfics on Youtube (seriously, do yourself a favor and check them out!) I couldn’t stop picturing certain scenes from another one of my favorite shows, Once Upon a Time, with Crowley and Aziraphale, and this is the result! Hope you enjoy, and let’s get on with the show!

The storm must have been what finally caused Crowley to come to. Lighting lit the sky as rain beat against the windows, thunder crashing just far enough away to not be an immediate concern. 

Speaking of immediate concerns…

Now that Crowley was slowly regaining awareness, he shot to his feet from his current position on the floor. Not his floor, mind you, his flat strewn with bottles as it had been for months. Not even the floor of one of the hotels of questionable quality he vaguely recalled bolting to the numerous times he couldn’t bear being anywhere near Soho since…

Since he’d last been here in the bookshop.

Tensed and alert, Crowley fled from the back room. He was fully set on outrunning the memories ready and waiting to spring like arrows notched and ready to fly, before freezing at the sight of another figure slumped near the register.

“What the…” the flash of panic and concern that struck Crowley seemed out of place (at least in its intensity), considering how comparatively little he’d had to do with the small Scrivener to warrant such a reaction on their behalf. “Muriel?”

Apparently his words did what the storm had not, Muriel shifting weakly as Crowley crossed the room and bent to help lift them from the ground.

“M-Mister Crowley?” Muriel groaned, eyes still unfocused and leaning against Crowley for support. “W-when did you come back? I- I thought you’d driven off after Archangel Az-”

“How many times have I gotta tell you to drop the Mister? I’m ancient, not old,” Crowley cut them off with a huff, and where the Heaven did that come from? As if it was a long standing argument? He very pointedly shoved aside acknowledging that his interruption also served to prevent Murial from saying his name (He included himself in the list of people he was very good at lying to.)

Frowning Muriel questioned again, “When did you get here? How did you get here?”

Having no answers, Crowley could only shrug noncommittally. His eyes darted around the room, taking in every inch as he’d done when assessing the bookshop after the Armageddon that wasn’t. He failed to find even the smallest of changes this time around, but that didn’t stop his hands from twitching uneasily as he felt the air faintly stir with an energy he could only describe as wrong.

Both beings jolted at the sound of the front door’s bell ringing, Maggie and Nina stumbling their way into the shop looking as if they were in a similar state of disorientation.

“What the hell have you gotten us into this time?” Nina snapped, marching up to Crowley and crossing her arms with a pointed glare.

“Does it look like I have any clue what’s going on here?” Crowley retaliated, only stopped from advancing on Nina when he saw Maggie place a calming but firmly restraining arm on Nina’s arm.

“She’s just tense and jumping to conclusions. Can’t blame her really. Both of us woke up in Nina’s shop with no idea how we got there, on top of it being the first time in months we’ve seen your car hanging around rather than just passing through…” Maggie paused her explanation, brows furrowing before she continued questioningly, “It.. it is the first time you’ve been back… right?”

“Course it is, what kind of question…” Crowley trailed off, matching Maggie’s state of confusion. 

Now that he paid attention, he had that feeling of an unexplainably increased sense of familiarity, eerily identical to what he’d felt with Muriel and equally as uncountable. Not only that, but how was he so much more unaffected than he should have been by being back in the place he’d had his heart obliterated? He hadn’t expected his first time back (assuming he ever did come back), to feel anything less than agonizing, yet here he stood, heart still unmistakably raw and scarred over far more than he expected but not actively bleeding out.

“See, not as far of a stretch to link you to whatever's going on as you thought, wouldn’t be the first time you’ve meddled in something and caused a right mess,” Nina grumbled, still visibly on edge but less openly hostile.

“Excuse you, but if you recall, you know very well the main meddler last time was…” Crowley swallowed, flinching at coming even close to mentioning him.

“What’s that lovely human expression? Oh yes- guilty as charged,” a posh voice replied from the shadows near the front door as they all whirled to face the intruder. Crowley shivered at the familiar cadence he’d know anywhere, though not from pain as would be assumed, but from the unfamiliar iciness he’d never heard from that voice.

“Aziraphale?” Crowley breathed, frozen to the spot as he took in the figure walking into the dim lighting the storm had brought on. 

“Speak of the devil as they say,” Aziraphale smirked, stopping just shy of the group clustered in the middle of the shop. The sterile white of the new suit was less surprising than the harsh, sharp angles of the design that contrasted so severely with the soft lines and curves of the Angels usual ensemble. It was nowhere near what Crowley would have imagined from the new Archangel, had he been in any state of mind to ponder such things, anymore than the flecks of dark gray mixed in with the halo of blond curls that had never changed until now.

Unsettling as all of that was, what caused Crowley's blood to freeze in his corporation was when he finally met Aziraphale’s eyes. Gone was the ocean blue Crowley had gotten lost in far more times than his sunglasses would have allowed anyone to know. 

The gaze that met his eyes now was not the lavender he wasn’t sure if he would have recoiled from due to its association with a certain former Archangel, or embraced despite everything because it still would have been his Angel gazing back regardless of the hue of his irises.

What Crowley saw now was a twisted shadow of that same flowers vibrant shade, if left uncared for to grow dark, decayed, and withered, long since abandoned to rot. 

“W-what are you doing here?” Crowley stammered, breathing erratic as Aziraphale slowly continued his progress towards the group, “You’ve been plenty content to piss off to Heaven without a backward glance until now, don’t let trivial little connections like ours hold you back now Archangel,” Crowley spat, doing his best not to shrink away every step closer Aziraphale advanced.

Chuckling darkly, Aziraphale lifted his hand to caress Crowley’s cheek, smirking at the shiver his touch was able to cause in the Demon even now. 

“Ah, you see, therein lies the problem. I admit that you were right in one respect. My newly appointed position wasn’t exactly as I expected. Some… Changes were required,” Aziraphale paused with a curl of his lips. “However, I suppose you could say that leaves us even, considering I was also right.”

“In what way?” Crowley barely managed to choke out, stomach dropping as the Archangel snickered sinisterly.

“That you had no idea what I was offering you,”  Aziraphale sneered. One of his hands fisted into Crowley’s lapels as the other rested on his face, a lovers embrace that should have been warm and tender but was instead forceful and possessive. Breaths mingling for only a moment, Aziraphale hissed quietly enough only Crowley could have heard it, “And I’m going to ensure you regret turning me down, that you beg me for another chance. And don’t worry, when you’re ready, I’ll be waiting.”

Breaking the embrace, there was a flash of blinding light, and the Archangel was gone.

Thank you all for reading! If you want to read more now, here’s the link to what I have up so far on AO3. See you all in the next chapter!

Next Chapter

[consultingcompanion94]

Okay this was my favorite part and I just…I had to put it together like this. It’s just so sweet and nice and good and the artists did SUCH a good job on everything, just….my heart is very full. Good stuff right here, good stuff, A+ content. 

[Please do not repost this without permission, it took me a long time to put together.]

[consultingcompanion94]

“It’s a trip discovering you’re NOT The Hero“

                                                   “And you wind up back where you Belong…“

                           “I never wanted to be the Bad Guy“

–

It’s heeeeere! @thatsthat24 I apologise immensely for the pain I keep putting these lads through.

Jeez this turned into WAY more than a part 2 to the Protective Virgil art that @stinkbuglifespan triple dog dared me to make.

I spent hours on this and honestly, I hope it looks as good to you all as I think it finally does. You don’t even want to know the trial and error that went into this badboy. All the little details and edits and so so many recolourings.

[consultingcompanion94]

VIRGIL IS BACK BABY!!!

WITH PURPLE EYESHADOW? THAT HE IS SLAYING!! 💜❤️🙌🏻

[consultingcompanion94]

They were so happy, it's contagious

[consultingcompanion94]

They were so happy, it's contagious

[consultingcompanion94]

They were so happy, it's contagious

[consultingcompanion94]

“Thank you”

“You’re welcome I guess-?”

[consultingcompanion94]

Can we.. can we talk about this scene thought? Like Virgil was clearly anxious about this and super scared but seeing how dejected Thomas felt and seeing Roman’s disappointment...

He took a leap.

I’m so proud of my boy

[consultingcompanion94]

Can we.. can we talk about this scene thought? Like Virgil was clearly anxious about this and super scared but seeing how dejected Thomas felt and seeing Roman’s disappointment...

He took a leap.

I’m so proud of my boy

[consultingcompanion94]

WAIIITTT VIRGIL'S EYESHADOW TURNS PURPLE WHEN HE'S EXCITED/HAPPY THAT'S SO CUTE

[consultingcompanion94]

I am LOVING the shimmery purple eyeshadow look

[consultingcompanion94]

my two cents for Virgil with purple eyeshadow 💜

[consultingcompanion94]

HOLD ON

HOLD ON

WHAT??!!?!?

AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

HIS EYESHADOW CHANGES COLORS WHEN HES HAPPPYYYY???!!!!!?!?

LOOK HOW PRETTY AND HAPPY HE IS!

LOOK AT MY PRECIOUS BOYY!!!!!

♥️💝❤️🥰💕💖🥺❤️♥️💕🥰😍🥺♥️🥺❤️🥰💕🥺🧡🥰♥️💖

Plus some bonus of still happy but slightly anxious Virgil

[consultingcompanion94]

i decided to do more of these because i was just too bored

time to draw virgil with purple eyeshadow because i finally got back to my graphic tablet u.u

[consultingcompanion94]

Rage