Chapter Text
“Transport to next ring: boarding in 5 minutes”
The PA of a feminine voice, calm and even like their soul had been taken away, rang across the large hall. Annoyingly calm voices in panicked situations. Crowley remembered taking credit for that one.
The station was full of bustling demons. Imps, hellborns, and the occasional afterlife human soul moved from place to place. Some moved fast, angrily making their way through the crowds. Some even pushed through hastily for the next transport. Probably up to some business with higher-ups, perhaps for souls. Maybe cash agreements. Others seemed excited, eager. A trip to Loo-Loo World. Some maybe fancying a portrait of a duck?
He didn’t really know where he fit. He just needed to escape.
Crowley kept looking nonchalant, or as nonchalant as he could muster right now. He checked his watch, switching the settings for the Limbo-Ring. He flicked one of the 3 switches on the side, dials on the bulky, complicated machinery whirring before showing him the comparison.
8pm London time. It had been 6 hours of whatever this was. It didn’t feel like that. His head shouldn’t still be spinning. He wondered what Aziraphale was doing. Probably getting reacquainted with those angels. The real hellspawn, if you asked him. He imagined the metatron glaring at Aziraphale with pride. Aziraphale happy to get away, to prove-
“Transport Boarding Now” the PA blared. He heard some people running, screaming “FUCK YOU!” as the gate closed. This was hell of course. They’d just have to wait. Despite everything happening in his mind, Crowley felt himself smirk.
That was why he was here wasn’t it? Driving away from Whickber Street, he felt numb. He didn’t really know where to go. Every street, every little restaurant, everything reminded him of Aziraphale. The whole planet was too much right now. So he just… kept driving. Until he reached St. James.
There was no real escaping it, so he just sat on their… his… usual bench. He must’ve been there for half an hour, jus’ kind of staring. Into the distance. He didn’t really know to be honest. In the past 3 hours Aziraphale had:
Called him one of the bad guys.
Rejected him, sort of. The sort of hurt more.
And then he kissed the angel, and then said goodbye to his oldest friend in all of existence. Also said angel. That was… a lot.
Snapping back to the present, he hastily found a place on the carriage. It took more energy performing miracles here, while on a different plain than headquarters. No wasting miracles here. He was lucky to have found his seat. Crowley looked around. A small imp was reading a comic book next to him, something about crime instigators. Lots of hellfire around and guns. Their parent looked a lot like them. Similar horn patterns and everything. He could tell they were happy. It made him smile. Unfortunately, it made him think back.
He sat there in St. James’s, sulking, until he heard a quack. It seemed like a few ducks had come up to him from the pond. The mother duck, a mallard, looked up expectantly, craning her little head. Her children followed expectantly. The little fellow knew she could manipulate him.
“Fine, okay, my treat”. He snapped, and miraculously he was feeding the little ducks from his bag of frozen peas. The usual routine. It felt weird that anything could be “usual” anymore. He’d take it though, the little fellows looked so happy. He wished he were one of the ducks right now.
He’d always liked these ducks. He remembered going to ponds with Lucifer ages ago. Well, not “Lucifer” Lucifer, well, sort of. There were 2 Lucifers. Much like there are 2 Beelzebubs. Humans come up with all these images of what they think eternal beings are. And sometimes they take form.
And SOMEHOW he ended up working for their worst image. The ones humanity painted as the emblems for hell. Terrible bosses, them. But they only existed on the plain humans are on, plus the plain right below, kind’ve connected one would say. This was the traditional “hell”, and the office he worked for previously. ‘Downstairs’, he liked to call it, not quite existing in limbo or the human plain.
To him, that made 9 rings. Here, it was often referred to as the 7 rings. A lot of people disregarded limbo and the office. Like Crowley didn’t know of this world, many here were unaware of his own.
Anyway, other Lucifer, the much better one, if you asked him, was the one to give him access originally to the other circles of Hell. The one to originally show him this elevator station, and how not to get caught.
In the past 1000 years or so, “Hell”, as in the office, had gotten much tighter on security, approaching the end times. He couldn’t get here anymore. He was prevented from going… because he was employed… they couldn’t catch…
Wait.
And that’s how Crowley found himself in the station.
He was surprised at his own contentment, being here. It was nothing compared to Earth, and on Az… and on Earth. But he was among demons, some not awful. A group more like him. When he had learned about the nature of the other circles, he felt like he’d been assigned to the wrong job in Hell. These demons had lives, and occasionally weren’t all that bad. He liked that. Not everything was one enormous soul-processing unit to be chucked off to Pentagram City or elsewhere on the Pride Ring.
Not everything was toxic bosses and expectations. The seven circles gave him that perspective. Gave him that optimism of freedom. And here he was, wasn’t he? A nice realm, away from where everything had happened. Maybe even a new life.
Right. Yes. Only the rattling of the cart, the indiscernible chatter, and the occasional ‘dings!’ when reaching stops. He heard some demons, who he assumed were from Greed, plotting on their next pick-pocket victims. Another voice came from a couple arguing about who set the house on fire.
All this chaos grounded him. Maybe he could make it through this. Maybe it would be okay.
There were several people he wanted to catch up with. Asmodeus for one, what a demon! Wonder what he’s up to these days.
Right now, he really wanted to see one person. The fact that his Pride ring was first down made this the perfect first choice.
It was time to find Lucifer Morningstar.