(no subject)

[aeshma-daeva.livejournal.com]

Date: May 26, 2001
Status: Private (Aziraphale; Ellie; The Child & Asmodeus)
Setting: Cairo, Egypt
Summary: Cairo, where things start heating up.

The Four Seasons hotel was relatively new it’s pale beige walls were newly scrubbed and it’s decor was suitable. It may not have been an opulent palace as the demon had grown accustom to in his many years as posing as both the god Ra-Atum and as the Enemy of Ra, Apep. However, he felt a great deal of relief settle in his form.

Asmodeus sought out the front desk and, in fluent Arabic, asked to know which room his daughter was in. He presented the necessary paperwork to show that yes, he was Amos Diaz and was shown immediately to a corner room up on the twelfth floor with a breath taking view of the Nile. He tapped lightly on the door, hoping that she was not asleep.

Comments

[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

"Feel secure in His grace?" Aziraphale said softly. "No...I can't say that I do. Not completely. Who can? It's so bloody ineffable, after all. Do I think Michael deserved that? No. Frankly, I don't. Or you? Or Crowley? If it were up to me...but I can never forget that it isn't."

He looked down. "I wonder if, after something like that, if trusting isn't too much to ask. The thing I have seen about humans...they fail each other. In countless little ways, all the time, and sometimes big ways. And yet, regardless...they still love. It's silly, sometimes. They do beat their heads against walls, again and again. And yet, I can't help but feel it's one of the things they do right."

"If he's trying to protect himself, I can understand that. But..." he took a deep drink and let his body absorb caffeine. "When I said I was willing to die to save the Earth, that was a half-truth. It might have only been true because Crowley was on it at the time."

[chantinellie.livejournal.com]

Ellie smiled in an oddly serene way, and said gently, "I don't doubt that for a moment. And I'll bet Someone Else has a pretty good idea where things stand. Crowley's the one who has to get it through his thick skull." She leaned in slightly, the smile widening. "So why are you here telling me?"

[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale looked up at Ellie sideways, moved by her generosity. "Well, I assume Someone Else has a good idea of all of it, but alas for us all, He's not talking." And if He did, what would He say? How could He make it right again for those who had lost so much?

"As for why I'm here telling you, why," he smiled a little. "Of course sometimes the best way to distract oneself from one's own aches and pains is to try to help someone else. I do believe we have a current quest on our hands, and I am still at your service. I haven't been to Cairo in quite some time, but perhaps we'd best be getting on with it?"

[chantinellie.livejournal.com]

Thoose, alas, were questions to which Chantinelle did not know the answer. If she had, her own life might have turned out very different.

Reaching across the table to take and squeeze his hand, she said, "And I don't know how I could do this without you. But we'll make it home eventually. Think about it, all right?" She rose gracefully at his suggestion. "Yes, we should probably get moving. I shudder to think what those two might get up to unsupervised."

[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

He smiled and squeezed back. "I have every intention of making it home. But at my age...one Quest at a time please."

Ellie had a way of making herself the centre of attention when standing, and Aziraphale, just briefly, allowed himself to wonder how much Crowley would enjoy that if he were here. The thought, for the first in quite a while, made his smile just a little wider.

Unsupervised. Aziraphale was hardly an expert on the subject, but it seemed to him that Ellie was already beginning to act like the mother of a difficult teenager. It was a side of her he looked forward to seeing more.

[chantinellie.livejournal.com]

Ellie walked outside and waited until the angel had joined her. Then, masking herself from the surrounding mortals with a thought, she unfurled her wings and took to the sky, unerringly homing in on Cairo and the pair who awaited them there.

[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

Trusting in Ellie's potent instincts, Aziraphale followed.