(Untitled)

[anthony_crowley]

Date: March 27, 2001
Status: Private - Crowley and Gabriel
Setting: London
Summary: The first leg of the journey, continued from here

Comments

[dontcallmegabby]

After three days, he was beginning to wonder if this was all rather a bad idea

[anthony_crowley]

Gabriel had finally stopped. Crowley assumed he'd found Belial, but he couldn't rejoice in the idea; didn't want this confrontation. He would be severely injured again and for no reason but the preservation of all their existences. Well, he'd give as good as he'd get, anyway, and he couldn't claim that he wouldn't enjoy that part at least. It had been too long since he'd been able to let go entirely on opponents that he didn't need to be careful around and who probably wouldn't kill him outright. It'd be a nice change from all the fruitless verbal arguments at any rate

[dontcallmegabby]

Stark anticipation heightened Gabriel's senses: unlike Crowley, the archangel had not fallen into the habit of sleep, and the confrontation in the air banished his contemplative weariness and stirred him to vigilance more than a night's rest could have. Gabriel had no real desire to fight Crowley, of course - realistically, he'd been the one patching the demon up afterward, lately. But he understood that that might be just what the demon was prepared for - might be what the angel had driven him to - and while he knew he should be able to overpower Crowley easily if it came down to it, it didn't hurt to be prepared.

"Crowley," he said in return. "Fancy meeting you here." The irony of the statement seemed to fall flat in the empty street; he expected the demon was likely in no mood for his humor. That didn't stop him, however, from summoning up a near-smile and gesturing to the chair opposite his. "Do have a seat, won't you?"

[anthony_crowley]

Gabriel was toying with him and Crowley wasn't going to stand for it; he'd had enough of being treated like an idiotic third-class citizen for having had the audacity to attempt to help in the first place.

Furious, he stepped forward, grabbed the archangel's shirt collar, and hauled him to his feet. "I haven't followed you for three days jusst to engage in casual civilities," he hissed, no longer actively tired, but dusty and travel worn. "Is he here or not?"

[dontcallmegabby]

Well, he'd managed to keep Crowley unsure; which hopefully meant anyone who might be tracking Hell's agent or his progress would be thrown off their guard as well. Hopefully it had all been worth something...

He did not react to Crowley's violent movement; he hoped that Crowley had no real drive to hurt him and that by showing no resistance, they could bypass the physical side of this fight and get straight to their usual verbal argument, which he was at least more accustomed to. The Messenger was, by nature, not much of a warrior. And on top of everything else, Gabriel did not wish to carry with him the guilt of using his powers against the frustrated demon unless it became truly necessary.

"He's not here," he answered, careful to keep any emotion from his voice. "I don't know where he is."

[anthony_crowley]

With a sound of utter disgust, Crowley threw Gabriel back into his chair. "Why are angels such fucking morons?" he screamed to the night and the empty street. "Did you think I was actually going to go looking for him?" The demon ran a hand through his mussed hair and half turned away. "Damn it! Now you've exposed us both and accomplished nothing. I hope you're well pleased with yourself, Messenger," he spat.

[dontcallmegabby]

"I didn't know what you were going to do." Gabriel kept his gaze not above or below, but down the deserted street, as though he thought someone really might have followed the two of them here. Mostly, though, he saw nothing but shifting shadow; harmless, for the time being. "But somehow I don't think that you trailing me for three days is going to look any more suspicious than you not leaving the manor at all."

[anthony_crowley]

"And you didn't think to - oh, I don't know - ask?" Crowley snapped.

He swiveled on his heel and moved against Gabriel's ear to whisper harshly, "No? You don't think they'll think it's a little suspicious that the second I got the first hint of his location, I followed you instead? If they didn't know about the two of you before, they do now. That or they think I'm unfit for this task, neither of which does you any favours, trumpet boy. And now the plan I made while I was biding my time is shot to shit because you decided to be clever."

[dontcallmegabby]

Gabriel sat a bit more stiffly in his seat as Crowley moved closer. He'd been expecting the demon to be angry, of course, but it wasn't always easy to stay passive in the matter. Crowley had, after all, spent six thousand years learning just what he could say that would burrow deepest under one's skin, that would sting the most.

The angel had, in fact, considered discussing the matter with Crowley, but only after his first plane had taken off: It didn't seem the most tactful thing to admit now that, as he'd watched Heathrow recede into a small blotch beneath him, confident that Crowley was somewhere nearby, he'd quickly decided that the demon would only have been argumentative and unpleasant about the issue. So far, he was seeing no evidence to the contrary.

"They don't know you're following me, serpent," he said; and though his own confidence in this statement wavered, there was a hardness to his previously not-quite-amiable tone that spoke otherwise. "They don't know where he's gone, and they don't know what my orders are, so

[anthony_crowley]

Unwilling to admit that Gabriel's barb about being unfit had hit home, Crowley sneered.

"They don't know I'm following you? It's more plausible to think that I just happen to keep ending up in all the same places as a sodding archangel with an unnatural interest in an ex-Crown of Hell? Most demons are dumb, but not all of them and not that much. Underestimate the wrong one at the wrong time and you're fucked." He smacked the table with the heel of his hand. "If I'd had any indication that I didn't have to come after you and save your sorry arse again, I'd be halfway across the planet right now and we could have done this right

[dontcallmegabby]

"So your plan," Gabriel began, his cautious tone not matching his inflammatory words, "was to sit about reading newspapers for another three months and... then wander aimlessly? And you're upset because, what, I didn't stop to peruse the headlines first? Should I have consulted Belial's horoscope in the back, too, just to be sure?"

He surveyed the demon across the table, noting that Crowley's face seemed tight, drawn with the same lines of fatigue that the angel suspected might have been etched in his own expression upon arriving in Amsterdam. Perhaps it was the discovery of this similarity that added more understanding to his tone as he continued. "Or is all this just to emphasize that I should have spoken to you first?"

[anthony_crowley]

"Oh, fuck you," said Crowley wearily. "This isn't easy, you know. I put everything on the line for you and your boyfriend and it's a fine fucking line to tread."

He sighed. "Look, we both care about him, though in vastly different ways and for vastly different reasons. The least we can bloody well do is talk. I refuse to have him caught and me dragged down with him because you and I couldn't manage a civil conversation. So can the tough act and let's figure out what happens now."

[dontcallmegabby]

"Fair enough," the angel replied. He was uncomfortably aware of the risks they each had taken thus far, and he also knew that Crowley was right: there was no better way to help Belial than to attempt to do so together.

"So far as I am aware, the only demons who know of any special circumstances between Belial and myself are you and Lucifer. I think it would be plausible for you to say you were after the Crown, but were waylaid in Amsterdam by the archangel Gabriel? No one needs to know you have any idea why I would be seeking him as well." The angel's gaze was sober as he watched the demon across from him, but Gabriel kept any malice from his tone, even when he spoke the Morningstar's name, and tried to sound as though he were inviting the demon's - hopefully less vehement - opinion.

[anthony_crowley]

Crowley would have given his opinion whether it was solicited or not