Starlight and the Time Vortex

Sucked in by a robot.

The quaint bookshop angel was seated at his desk on a late Tuesday afternoon.

The shop was cosy and filled to the brim with books and book shelves.

He looked up to the sound of the bell over the door.

"Hello!" He said happily.

"If you'd like to buy a book, I'm quite afraid that they are unavailable."
"No! No, that's not what I came for, I came to see you!" The young child explained, eager to talk to the Angel.
The angel tilted his head slightly. "You came to see me?" He asked curiously. "Why?" He pondered. "Well, I was wondering if you wanted to mabye...drink tea and...gossip?" The young girl asked charmingly. "Oh, yes, please!" The angel said cheerily, putting his hands together with joy.
"I'm in a bit of a spot, I've never had a visitor... this'll be wonderful!" He told his guest politely. He stood up from his chair, holding his tea service in his other hand. "Do take a seat!..." he gestured to the other chair and table.
"What's your name? If you don't mind me asking." Asked the angel. The young girl soon replied with, "Starlight! Starla for short! I'm assuming you're the famous Aziraphale?" She questioned, intrigued by this new world that she'd been sucked into. "So I am...its good to know that my name had gone beond my little bookshop, I hope it means I haven't been up to any mischief." He said, seemingly joking. "Yes..." Starla thought. "Your name sir has gone VERY far beond the bookshop for a human teenage girl to know you." She didn't want to come off as confusing or rude to him, so she kept it in her head, refraining from saying it aloud. "What made you want to visit my little bookshop today?" He asked as he poured the tea and handed it to the visitor. "Thank you. well, aziraphale, I'm... some what... 'new' ...around here, and I thought that a quaint little bookshop such as this one should be the best place to visit first!" She explained to the Angel. "Oh, how delightful! Where are you from originally then, young lady?" He asked, inquisitive about her past. "Well...I'm from..." The man looked at her with such pure, innocent eyes that she felt awful for lying to him, such a seemingly impressionable young mind. She let out a nervous laugh, feeling very awkward in the conversation at hand. "Not from around here, at least!" She laughed, feeling extremely awkward and out of place. Aziraphale picked up that she didn't want to talk about it. Maybe she'd moved from afar to get away from her parents, maybe there was a war, or manye she just wanted a change of scenery, he didn't know and didn't ask into it, not wanting to make her even more uncomfortable than she already was. The conversation went quiet for a good few minutes.  "Do you have a TV in here by any chance?" The girl asked him. "Why, yes! I do, actually! I knew this would attract you, youngsters! Through here, come with me, please!" He asked her politely. She did as she was told and followed him into the next room as they sat and watched TV drinking fancy cups of tea that Aziraphale had made them both. The first channel that came on was the news, Crowley was on it. "Oh, there's a picture of Crowley on there. I wonder why that is. You wouldn't mind turning the volume up, would you?" She asked. Aziraphale's heart began to race. Why was his best friend on the news? How did this little girl know his best friend? Is Crowley okay? He became very clammy as he panicked, Starlight picked up on this. He grabbed the remote and turned the volume up to 10. "...A man today in the village Greenstreet has died from drinking holy water, the police think that it was a suicide attempt. More with Brian, who is live at the scene now." The scene switched from a woman sitting at a desk to a man caught out in a storm with a fluffy microphone. "Yes, thank you, Sandra. As you can see, I am at the local Greenstreet church where the police and ambulance crew are, as you can see heading in and out behind me right now. A man named Anthony J. Crowley has unfortunately attempted to take his own life by drinking presumably poisoned holy water from the church. He is being assessed by the ambulance crew now. This has been BBC news, back to you, Sandra." The news got boring after that, so Starlight stopped listening. She noticed that Mr Fell was awfully quiet. "Aziraphale? Are you alright?" She asked. A million and one thoughts all rushing through his head at once. He couldn't think straight. All he knew now was that his closest friend had killed himself. He started to cry. It was subtle at first, but it was there. "Aziraphale?.." he continued to sob his eyes out. He couldn't bring himself to do anything but sit there and cry over his friend. Out of nowhere, Starlight found herself in the middle of a large man's arms, her shoulder becoming soaked from the Angel's tears. She hugged him back, attempting to calm him down. "There there, it's alright.." She mumbled, not quite knowing how to help. "He...he drowned?..." he muttered imbetween sobs. "I..uhh.. apparently?" She said, extremely unsure about what to say to comfort him. "My poor crowley.." he took a deep breath. "I heard there was a suicide note. There's no way the police are going to let you have it, though. You know that, right?" She explained. He continued to bawl his eyes out, and Starlight felt awful. She had no idea how to make him feel better. I..I should've known something was wrong. He's been so worried recently, and I just brushed it off as him being dramatic..." His voice trailed off, and he looked up at Starla. Aziraphale couldn't hide the visible guilt he was feeling.  "Thank you for offering to watch the Television with me. If you hadn't offered, I would've never heard about my poor Crowley..
Do the police know we were friends?.." he asked, his voice quivering uncontrollably while he sobbed, attempting to hold back tears. "I'm sure they do, Aziraphale. I'm so sorry this is happening to you.." Starla placed her tea down gently upon the table in front of her, then taking Aziraphale's tea and placing it next to her cup. She took his hands into hers, her fingers brushing the top of his. She looked deeply into his eyes, trying to make him feel more at ease. "Sometimes..qe don't always see what's the matter with our friends. We just know that there's something deeply wrong somewhere, and it's awful because we don't know how to help them. He loved you very much, Aziraphale. He always had his eyes set on you, you know, in a 'more than friends' kind of way." She explained calmly. "You.. he told you that..he..he loved me?" Aziraphale stuttered. He looked up at Starla, shocked. "He..he was...in love with me? Why...why did he never tell me this?" He said, feeling out of sorts. "Sometimes, people hide these things, either due to being embarrassed of how they truly feel or that the other won't feel the same back..its an awful and complicated thing, love."
"But he.. he loved me...and I never knew?.." Aziraphale looked down at his hands and took a deep breath. "I should've noticed... I always thought we just had a close friendship.." he looked back up at Starla. "I'm...I miss him already." He mumbled quietly, seemingly very upset. "Oh, aziraphale,  come here.." Starla stood up, opened out her arms, and let him fly into them. She held him as tight as she could, him sobbing loudly on her shoulder, his entire body shaking. "It's not fair!" He sobbed quietly. "I know my love, it's awful.." Starla ran her hand up and down his back soothingly. "I just wish I could've known so that I could've said yes to him.." he muttered.  Aziraphale continued to sob for a few minutes before finally managing to pull himself together. He straightened out his wings and took a deep breath. " I'm sorry for getting emotional... I think the news just took me a bit off guard. Thank you for staying with me.." he smiled shakily and wiped his tears with the palm of his hands.
"Do you know anymore about..how he..passed..?" He asked, his whole body shaking in shock. "I'm afraid I don't, love. I know as much as you do, I wish wr knew more, but you know what the police are like with these things.." Aziraphale's lip trembling from utter upset. "It's alright to be upset, Aziraphale. Cry it out if you need to cry it out. It's natural and expectable." She reassured him, still holding him close to her. "They must be analysing his body by now, looking into his cause of death. The only thing I could say about this is it seems like he had an allergic reaction to the water, or it was toxic in some way to him..you wouldn't happen to know why this was, would you? You don't have to answer if you don't want to, I know this is a sensitive subject, understandably so." She reassured the Angel. "Well..not many humans like you know this.. but.. Crowley was an angel once, but the all-mighty sent him to the 'nasty place downstairs', it burnt him to the crisp. He never liked talking about his demon heritage. It upset him a lot, so I tried not to bring it up." He looked up at Starla. "I think that's why he was so worried about telling me his feelings. He didn't know how I'd react to us being hereditary enemies and in a relationship, most likely." Aziraphale was quiet for a moment. "Why did he... you know..kill himself..?" the angel asked, looking for peace of mind in Starlight's answers. She let out a heavy hearted sigh. "You tell me, you knew him best after all. I suspect that he was a troubled man. Even if someone doesn't show it on the outside, when you look through the curtains, sometimes it can be quite the mess in there. Which is why you never judge someone for what's going on or what isn't going on in their lives or inside their heads. But your guess is as good as mine, Aziraphale." She explained, a tiredness lurking in her voice. "Oh.." Aziraphale was once again silent. It all felt so strange to hear. He wished it to all be fake, even though he knew deep down that it was as real as he was.  "The boy killed himself... in a church.. to show his love for me.." Aziraphale felt in that moment as if his thoughts were eating him alive. "He made himself have a reaction to the Holy water...the demon running in his veins..yet, not in his blood..." Aziraphale looked up at Starla, tears streaming down his pink little face with sparkling sky blue eyes. "He died for love, my sweet, sweet crowley.." he whispered quietly. "How do we go on..knowing that he's gone?.." the angel asked solemnly. "We just have to, my love, as awful as it may seem, he would want you to live for him, not die because he died for you. You will find peace in yourself one day, I did eventually when my grandparents passed on, I was low for a very long while, but I got better. It took time and a hell of a lot of effort, but I got better. I know you will be too one day. It just takes time and effort, like most things in life." She consoled the Angel. "I know  you're right.. I just.i hope I can't survive this.." he took a deep breath. "No, not 'think', 'will'. 'I will get through this' not 'I think' or 'I hope', 'I will'. I didn't think i would survive it. Mother Nature's cruel, tight fisted wrath. It was awful for me, but look at me now." She enthused. "Thank you..your kind words have meant a lot to me.." The angel mumbled. "Would you like another hug?" She asked sweetly, trying to console her new friend. "That...that would be lovely.. thank you, Starla.." Her warm embrace seemed to soothe the angel more than she had realised. "I... thank you for breaking the news to me..I'm glad it was you..." he mumbled, feeling sheepish.
"I'm glad I could help, Azi, it's okay if I call you Azi, right?" She asked the angel in question. "Yes, Azi works just fine, thank you.. you've been a great comfort to me today..." he took a deep breath and wiped his eyes with the back of his palms. "I...I have to figure out what I'm going to tell his boss..and I will be visiting the mourge to collect his body later..I don't know what else to do...I...his death will come as a shock to many people...and I don't know how they will react..." The angel cried, longing for answers. "Of course, dear, just take your time, alright? Crowley would want you not to rush. He would want you to take care of yourself, alright? Just take it slow, rest, and recover. Grief is something a person never gets over. remember that. You just learned how to deal with it over time, I reacted the same when my grandparents passed on. It was deeply upsetting for me, and my mental state deteriorated rapidly, but I got better. It took time and a lot of effort, but I did it. The right people found me eventually, and I've been getting better every day since it doesn't mean that they aren't constantly on my mind, though. Even if they're always on my mind, I look back, I miss them, and then I brush it off, or I get distracted and forget about them for a while. You'll get there one day, it'll take time, and it'll hurt quite a bit, but you'll get through it, ok?" She explained, trying to reason with the angel. Aziraphale smiled softly at Starla's comforting words. "Thank you... I've never been good at comforting people, so I'm sorry if I don't seem good at saying anything decent right now..but you mean alot to me, Starla...you're a good friend to me.." he admitted softly, still trying to maintain his emotions. He gave her a gentle pat on the back and looked at her again. "I'll be fine...eventually. i'm just...not good at facing things head on..especially when people rely on me for emotional support..." "Oh I can only imagine, Azi
You're an amazing advice giver, especially for your books!" Starlight praised playfully in an attempt to lighten the mood. "That's why I write them, to give advice on things that I've never experienced...like this, for example.." he said, gesturing vaguely. "But even my writing can only go so far. Advice on love is quite hard to do when you're an angel and have never felt love." Aziraphale sighed. "I wish I could've known about how crowley felt about me sooner...if only he'd been a bit more confident.." Starla felt awful for her newly acquired friend due to him feeling as awful as she did four years ago, bit she started to worry that if her being here had kicked crowley out of this universe and into another, ripping a hole in time and space. She soon brushed it off and took Aziraphale into her warm embrace. "There, there, Azi..." he continued wiping his eyes, trying to stop his gentle sobs. "He thought I wouldn't like him because he was a demon..but he wasn't...he was just as much as an angel as me...and all because he was afraid that I would stop loving him..if he'd told me.." he turned to face Starla again. "I really should've noticed.. I really should have.." saying those words made the angel sob even more, burying his head into her shoulder while hugging her tight. "Aziraphale, look at me." She ordered, glaring passionately into his eyes. He attempted to look elsewhere. "Aziraphale." She demanded. "Look. At. Me." Aziraphale finally turned towards her, struggling to look her in the eyes while they watered. "Stop blaming yourself for not noticing. He wasn’t brave enough to tell you. That was an issue on his part that he obviously needed some assistance with, but that had nothing to do with you. Do you understand? It was an issue that you couldn't fix for him. He would've had to fix it himself. I know this sounds unreasonably harsh and cruel for me to be saying this, but sometimes you just have to be cruel to be kind. Now you need to pick yourself up, dust yourself off,
and tell yourself that you can do this."  There was a lengthy pause between the pair. "Go on, I want to hear you say it. Seriously, Aziraphale says it."          *beat*
"Repeat after me, 'You can do this.' "
"I-...I-...o-...okay..." The angel took a deep breath. He looked at Starla once more, the most confident that she had seen him in a long time, and he didn't even attempt to look away from her.
He made direct eye contact with her and at last spoke up. "I can do this." His voice still quivering quite a bit. "Yes, Aziraphale! Again!" Starlight yelled. "I CAN DO THIS." he spoke with great power and confidence, but Starlight still wasn't fully convinced. "Good, again!" The angel took a deep breath, then readied himself to repeat it for what he hoped would be the final time. "I CAN DO THIS!" He screamed, the people in the bookshop beggining to stare. Starlight rushed over to congratulate him. "YES! GOOD JOB AZIRAPHALE!" She shouted. He laughed. "NOW WHO CAN YOU DO THIS FOR EXACTLY?" She yelled. "i can do this...I CAN DO THIS...FOR CROWLEY, I CAN SURVIVE THIS!" Starlight couldn't even begin to express how proud she was of him. He actually shouted that time around, his voice coming out stronger than ever before. He took a step forward towards Starlight before wrapping his arms around her tightly. "Thank you, Starla... Thank you so much." He kept a hold of her, not wanting to let her go in case he lost his confidence... but he felt so much better than he had done a minute or two ago. She squeezed the angel tightly, ruffling his hair while excitedly squealing. "Thank you..."
The angel mumbled softly. He was wearing his gorgeous smile once again as he was seemingly back to his usual self. "I'll be fine...it'll take time and effort.. but I'll be okay, thank you again," the angel smiled warmly at her before gently letting her go. he paused for a moment, admiring her unmannered beauty for the first time. Fully taking in how pretty her pale, propitious hair curled up at its ends. how her warn, umber leather jacket made her look like some fashion icon fron the 60's. And how
her tights matched  her skirt with pure perfection, a dark melyn colour, perfectly plaid and venust.
Or how her auburn snakeskin boots had the perfect tones and textures that somehow complimented her jacket stunningly. Aziraphale was stunned at how a young teenager such as herself could pull off such a mature outfit so well, but however she did it, Aziraphale simply adored it. He let out a heavy sigh, finally announcing, "I am most simply exhausted from such a confusing and troubling day, I must go home and rest." Starlight nodded her head respectfully. "Would you like me to accompany you home?" She asked the angel friend of hers with a pretty smile on her face. He let out a giggle, realising that she didn't know the angel lived where he worked. "My living quarters are just upstairs. There's no need to tuck me in!" The angel joked, looking at Starlight for her reaction. The girl looked at him, puzzled, whilst feeling a bit awkward. "Sorry, stupid joke.." Aziraphale mumbled whilst walking to his spiral staircase, attempting to laugh it off. Starla still didn't get it. "Anyway, I need to go and get some rest. Please, could you tell everyone that they're allowed to leave early?" He asked her solemnly. Starlight nodded to him politely, showing signs of understanding. They both departed ways. She grabbed Aziraphale's
'old school bell' from off of his desk, ringing it ferociously. "Alright, you're all allowed to leave early. Please go home!" The workers all looked at each other, puzzled as to why a little girl was telling them what to do, but they followed her orders anyway, collecting their things and departing home. Starlight knew that she had nowhere to stay due to this not being her universe, so she decided to sleep on one of the sofas downstairs. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she went out like a light.