PROLOGUE

"It's quite lovely down here, isn't it?"

"Mm hm." Crawly languidly stretched out his long body, enjoying the heat. Lying on the dirt all the time wasn't as bad as he had originally thought.

Aziraphale nodded slightly, rustling his handsome white wings. Crawly was actually a tad jealous of them, but had said nothing so far. It wasn't a very Crawly-like thing to do.

Aziraphale gave a short cough. "So," he said awkwardly.

Crawley didn't respond.

"How's Hell been?"

Giving a non-committed shrug (or as close to a shrug as a snake could get), Crawly muttered an "eh".

"You fell around… three thousand years ago?"

"Eh."

"I'm sorry. I don't remember you too well. There were a whole lot of angels up There, then. Seems a little thinned out now…"

Of course. Did you think demons appeared out of thin air? thought Crawly, but his thoughts didn't have the biting venom they usually did. Eden was quite relaxing.

"Yes. Well…" Aziraphale began to fiddle about with his flaming sword, letting the flame dip dangerously close to the lush, green grass below his pale feet. "I suppose we're going to be down here a long while, then?"

"Mm."

"A very, very long time…" he said softly, looking up to the crystal-blue skies. Crawley wasn't listening. He had already fallen asleep in the heat of midday.

-

His belly had been scraped the rough bark, but he didn't mind. In fact, he hardly even noticed. Right now, he was concentrating on those wide-open eyes, the mouth that hung slightly open, waiting to savor the sweet juices of the fruit on the Forbidden Tree.

"It'ssssss delicioussss," he hissed, winding his lithe self around branches and through the foliage. She licked her lips while Crawly gave a small smile to himself. He'd been tempting her for a while now, mostly out of sheer boredom. This was the closest she'd ever gotten to actually eating it, though, and Crawly was quite enjoying watching her look so confused.

Then, surprisingly, she took it. If Crawly could blink, he would have. It wasn't though he'd been planning her to actually eat it. But that's exactly what she did. The sweet juice streamed down her chin as she cleanly and meticulously bit into the soft flesh.

Oops, thought Crawly, and he quickly slithered away.

-

It was quite strange. The angel didn't seem particularly upset that he, Crawly, the demon-snake, had gotten Adam and Eve booted rather unceremoniously out of Eden. As a matter of fact, Aziraphale just kept blabbering on and on. Crawly might have talked back on the day the only humans packed up (out of sheer madness; he hadn't been feeling very well then) but since then, he'd remained silent. Well, mostly silent. He didn't mind a little company now and then. As a matter of fact, the two were just sitting in Eden. They'd been sitting there for around two weeks. Just sitting.

"So." Aziraphale interlaced his fingers. He'd been feeling rather restless with his hands since he'd… misplaced… the flaming sword.

Crawly remained still, looking at the tree he'd been looking at for the past three days. It wasn't a very interesting tree, even at the first look.

"I should stop by and say hello to Eve. And Adam, I suppose. But really Eve. I just felt bad what with the whole 'Forbidden fruit' thing. You know, the pain-in-childbirth punishment. Really a pity." He shot an intense look at Crawly, who still was staring at the tree. Right now, a bug was slowly making its way up the trunk. It didn't look very… well, anything, really.

"Well." The angel stood up, brushing his wide-spread wings across the numerous trees. Crawly looked over in pure jealousy. Why couldn't the angel have been put on earth as a snake, and he got to be in his regular form? "I'd best be getting off, then."

"Wait, what?"

"I'm going to take a stop by Adam and Eve's. See how things are going."

"Oh. Yeah," said Crawly, disconcerted. "Bye then. I'll see you around."

A look of concern flitted around Aziraphale's face. "Would you like to come with? Company is always excellent."

"Nah. They probably wouldn't be too thrilled to see me. Go ahead."

He was so tempted. Yes, he was tempted to go with Aziraphale. But he was an angel, and Crawly was… well, he was the opposite.

The angel's clear grey eyes were unusually soft as he turned around one last time. "I could use the company…"

"Fine," Crawly muttered, slithering up his back. "You don't need keep pushing it."