Ineffable Husbands One Shots

Be My Guide Through Darkness

~!~ Today's Good Omens Celebration prompt was Dark. This one turned out a little longer than the others!! I actually really like it and I hope you do too :D <3 ~!~

Aziraphale had stayed in the garden too long. Usually, they returned to their post guarding the Gate before nightfall, but tonight they had failed to achieve that goal, as it was now pitch dark. They could only see things directly in front of their face, which was how they'd been able to play with the young beasts of the field. But then their mother had come and taken them along to their den, leaving the angel to look around and realize that the sun had entirely set, seemingly a while ago by now.

They shivered, hugging their arms around themself. Without being able to see anything more than their immediate surroundings, they came to the conclusion that they were as good as lost.

They weren't actually lost, since they knew they were by one of the two large trees of Eden (although, which tree they did not know. It didn't seem important at the time; it had been the tree that the beasts of the field had been playing next to!), but that didn't help them in the grand scheme of navigating their way back to the Eastern Gate. They also didn't have their flaming sword, which could have been quite useful in a situation such as this, to light their way and protect them. But no, they had left it on their wall, like the hare-brain that they were. Gabriel was right, they probably-

They froze, hearing a rustling behind them, their head snapping around in an attempt to see whatever was making the noise. "He-hello?" they called out in tentative greeting. There was no reply.

Shaking, they slowly made their way over to the tree they were closest to. When they finally felt the rough bark on their palms, they turned and pressed their back to the trunk. They felt safer with their back guarded, even if it was a little irrational to feel this way.

They really weren't used to this darkness. Heaven was never anywhere near this dark. It was extremely unnerving for them. They didn't know what was out there! Not that anything in the Garden of Eden was particularly treacherous, aside from that demon Hell had sent. Although, they hadn't seemed particularly treacherous when they'd talked to them earlier, but that was probably a trick or a trap of some sort. They were probably acting nice to get Aziraphale comfortable around them so that when the opportunity arose they could wipe them out of existence.

Suddenly, all of Aziraphale's attention was brought to the foliage above them as they heard more rustling. Even whilst squinting, they couldn't see anything. They whimpered, their mind conjuring up the most horrible possibilities. It could be the demon, or maybe a pack of demons, or maybe-

"Hey," came a soft voice, alarmingly close to Aziraphale's ear.

They screamed, falling to the ground and cowering.

"Woah, hey! It'sss jusssst me! It'sssss Crawly!"

"Crawly!?!" Aziraphale wailed, not feeling very comforted to hear that it was in fact the demon, despite their kind tone of voice.

"Yessss! Now hussshh, or you'll wake the humansssssss!"

The angel whimpered quietly on the ground and finally looked up to visually register the snake hovering over them from their perch on the tree.

"What are you doing over here? Aren't you ssssupposed to be guarding the Gate?" they asked in a surprisingly concerned tone.

Aziraphale sniffled, feeling even more alarmed and upset now because water had started to trickle out of their eyes. "I am! I'm afraid I'm terribly lost," they sobbed, before instantly regretting letting a demon know they were vulnerable. They trembled on the ground.