“We could have been us. We could have been… us.” A phrase wistfully heard in the back of Aziraphale’s mind.  The sound of Crowley’s crumbling voice softly penetrates the elevator walls, which would officially separate the ineffable husbands. The elevator to heaven, to be exact, which, as Crowley is aware, will inevitably lead straight to Aziraphale’s hell. With his eyes opened as wide as possible, Aziraphale stares into the bright white walls of the realm where he will pursue his convictions and bring peace to the world as he momentarily tries to hold back his tears. However, he stands next to a man whose intentions are clearly antithetical to the angel’s thoughts. The Metratron, so blatantly abhorrent towards Earth and humanity and general mortal happiness, has pulled Aziraphale into a series of events that should not only destroy Earth but will desecrate the angel’s heart. The being who indisputably created “heart eyes” and directed said heart eyes repeatedly onto his dear companion has made a bad decision.  Whether he is aware of the circumstance or not, Aziraphale is not only burdened with coping with his disassociation from Crowley, but he is also left with the most difficult task placed upon an angel in the observable history of Earth. The angel who paired up with a demon to prevent the first armageddon is now tasked with leading and executing “the second coming,” which would seem to be the final stage of the showdown between Heaven and Hell on Earth.

“Someone killed my best friend!” yelled Crowley in a faint memory; Crowley’s best friend was now the only being who had the capability to break Crowley’s heart and successfully did so in his submission to heaven. Torn apart by feelings he wasn’t aware a demon could possess, Crowley has begun to spiral into insanity, falling astray from the happiness he used to experience when in Aziraphale’s presence. He is now staying in a desolate motel room, unable to lie in his car because of how Aziraphale once said it was their car. He painfully rewinds the memory of when Aziraphale took “their” car for a ride and turned it into a yellow joy bus without the ability to go past the speed limit. Sometimes Crowley still envisions the illusion of yellow paint on the rims and hears the joyful sound of Aziraphale's guileless horn. The sensory deception often feels like a punishment from Hell and the people he would have sacrificed himself to in order to save Aziraphale. Now, the only thing he would sacrifice himself for is his collection of plants, and even then, they led him to tears with bittersweet recollections of shared moments with the angel. 

White walls and hollow shelves surround Aziraphale. No books exist in heaven, but Aziraphale is not there to establish a heavenly library. Besides, the sight of books would remind Azriaphale of his time in his bookshop with Crowley, which would only lead the angel into a deep depression. Tasked with a mysterious job, Aziraphale walks through the halls of heaven, pondering his decision, only to think about what could have been and not what will be. No more will he be able to be with Crowley, so more often than not physically, the angel looks down on his beloved friend; saddened to see what has come of Crowley in Aziraphale’s absence, he cries. Moreover, Crowley has been traveling from town to town, trying to run from Azriaphale, for he knows his friend all too well to assume he’d forgotten about him. Neither of them wants to forget the other, but to be tortured by separation and the memory of their existence together is almost too much to bear.  “Have I made a mistake?” says Azriaphale as he returns to his last thought on Earth. Soft lips, an ethereal smile, the love of his life, expressing his truest admiration for his Angel. Aziraphale cannot handle such a human emotion. The pain drives him mad, and heaven would not care, nor have they cared about him in the past. 

No more drinks. No more meals. No more time at the park. No more dancing. No more nightingales. 

Even though Beelzebub and Gabriel could do it, the demon Crowley and his angel could not. Even though they fought heaven and hell together, they couldn’t fight their own inclinations. Aziraphale could not reject Metatron’s offer to return to Heaven as an archangel.  Crowley could not accept Aziraphale’s offer to join him in heaven. Still connected, though fading each day, the angel and the demon will be face to face again one day. Maybe Crowley will be subjected to the destruction of Earth, knees down in front of Aziraphale, who heaven’s ungodly intentions have poisoned. Maybe it is Aziraphale who turns his back on heaven and returns to Crowley, begging on his knees for forgiveness from his demon. Maybe Crowley is being targeted by heaven, and Aziraphale unknowingly leads the Metraron to secure Crowley’s death. Maybe Earth is destroyed, and the two find each other in turmoil under the rubble. No matter the circumstances, the ineffable husbands will always be connected, even if they have to wait 6,000 more years to see each other again.