Sky Fall

Chapter Two - Detective Work

Chapter Two - Detective Work

"Ahh, well, Hastur's handwriting and spelling have improved greatly. Remember the last letter he sent? Took us an hour to read the thing," Alexandria said, nudging Aziraphale and trying to ease the tension.

Aziraphale looked up at Alexandria with a horrified expression. "Okay, that was a bad joke. Sorry, I thought it would help lighten the situation..."

"That's not the point, my dear," Crowley responded with a grim expression, snatching the paper back from Alexandria's hand. "This letter is no prank, and I am being threatened to ensure the end of the world. And I have a sneaking suspicion that Aziraphale might also be dragged into this."

Aziraphale stood up and began to pace around the lounge area when a thought came to their mind. They turned towards Crowley and walked towards them, placing their hands on Crowley's shoulders. "But what if it is a joke! I mean, Alexandria and I haven't received any news from Heaven. And this is quite big news. I mean, Armageddon is supposed to be the final big fight between Heaven and Hell. We would have received a similar note and package if this was true. Or have been called up to Heaven to discuss the matter."

Alexandria began to speak, "Aziraphale does have a point, Crowley; we haven't received any messages from Gabriel, Uriel, or Archangel Michael. Besides, Hastur and you do not get along. Maybe he did it to get you back for something. Who knows." Alexandria shrugged her shoulders and took a sip of her tea.

"But if you want us to check this out, we can. Aziraphale, would you mind going up to Heaven and seeing if you can find any information on this? Crowley and I will stay here and do our own investigating. I want to look through the reports Heaven sent us the last three weeks and check if anything was mentioned in them."

"Of course, my dear," Aziraphale said with a slight nod. "I'll head up to Heaven and gather any information I can. Hopefully, we can figure out whether this is a real threat or a prank. I'm sure Michael has been informed of this." Aziraphale made their way to the door, stopping before opening it.

"Take care of yourselves, both of you." Aziraphale said with concern in their eyes before stepping out of the bookshop and making their way towards Heaven.

Crowley stared at the door, silently cursing Hastur for causing such chaos in their already complicated (yet somewhat comfortable) life on Earth. "I highly doubt it's just a prank, with the urgency and threats in this letter," Crowley said with a grim expression. "But I'll do some digging on my end, too. We need to be sure this is Armageddon or not."

Alexandria shook her head in agreement and began to speak softly. "Everything will be fine; Aziraphale and I will do all we can to help. However, if it's part of the 'Great Plan.' I am not sure how much Aziraphale will be willing to help. You know him with rules and following everything to the last letter. He might need to be persuaded... If that's the case I'll leave that up to you. After all, that's what your department is known for tempting poor souls..." Alexandria winked at Crowley, causing a slight smirk to appear on Crowley's face.

She rose from the couch, placed her cup of tea on the table, and adjusted her outfit. "I am going to get started on looking through the reports. If you would like to help with that, you can. I am not sure if you will be able to see what's in them though, because of clearance. But you might be able to do so with you being a fallen angel."

As Alexandria made her way to the desk, she raised her hand and snapped her fingers, causing many reports to fall on the desk. She picked up one of the many reports and quickly scanned it. Not taking her eyes off the page, she picked another report to give to Crowley so he could see if he still had access to the document.

He took the document swiftly out of her hands and flourished his hand on top of it, seeing if he still had access. The page started to glow, and words appeared. Crowley began to laugh. "Ahhh, they never change their passwords, do they?" Hearing Crowley's laugh, Alexandria paused from her reading and looked up at him.

"Ohhh, great! You were able to get access to it!" 

Crowley smirked and leaned against the desk next to Alexandria, using his powers to scene the reports faster than any human could read. "It's like stealing candy from a baby," they said with a wink, causing Alexandria to roll her eyes playfully.

The two continued to flip through the numerous reports, taking their time to scan through the writing. Not wanting to miss anything that could give them clues about Armageddon. "Anything interesting so far?" Crowley asked, getting more anxious and irritated by the minute.

"I'm afraid not; what about you?" Alexandria responded, leaning over Crowley's shoulder to investigate his report.

"Maybe we should switch reports. That way, we can get new perspectives on them. One of us possibly could have missed something." Alexandria held out her report for Crowley to grab. Crowley and Alexandria switched their paperwork, and each one began to read through the new reports to see if the other possibly missed any information.

Crowley gave a dry chuckle and said, "Well, it looks like Heaven hasn't changed much in their paperwork either. These reports are just as dull as when I read and wrote them ages ago."

"Angels tend to be dull and straight to the point; unlike humans, they don't see the point in being creative and descriptive with their writing," Alexandria responded, still scanning her document, lost in thought.

Until she came upon a particular passage that struck her interest. "OH! I might have possibly found something that looks quite interesting. Could you hand me that quill and notebook over on Aziraphale's desk?"

Crowley walked towards Aziraphale's desk and picked up the quill and notebook laying on top of it. They walked back over to Alexandria, handing her the two items. They began to lean against her desk, looking over her shoulder as she scribbled on the report. Alexandria occasionally switched to the notebook and wrote something down on the pages. She continued to go back and forth between the report and the notebook.

"Well, well, looks like I'm not the only one with a secret talent for snooping around. Color me impressed," Crowley said as he leaned closer to Alexandria, still watching her scribble on the document and notebook.

"AH, I've got it figured out!" Alexandria exclaimed with excitement. She laid down the report and the notebook on her desk.

She began to run around the bookshop, gathering items and laying them on the couch in the lounge. Crowley peeked at the documents on her desk, furrowing their eyebrows in question, unable to interpret what all her scribbling meant. Littered all across the document were circled words, crossed-out words, and notes that Alexandria had written in the margins. Crowley coughed, gathering her attention, and picked up the report, bringing it closer to their eyes to try and understand what she had seen. "Pray, tell what exactly you could find from this. All I see is a bunch of scribbling." Crowley said as he moved the paper away and squinted their eyes, trying to read. "Bloody hell, perhaps my vision is getting bad."

"No, I think it's just my handwriting; I tend to write sloppily when rushed for time," said Alexandria as she sorted the items on the couch.

"I just hope your detective skills are better than your handwriting skills. Otherwise, we're all in big trouble," Crowley quipped with a smirk, still glancing over Alexandria's messy notes.

"I heard that, you foul demon," Alexandria shouted over her shoulder, not paying Crowley's comment any attention. Causing Crowley to smirk down at the paper.

Suddenly, she snapped her fingers, and a little beaded bag appeared in her hand. "Wonderful, let's see if it has that charm put on the inside." Alexandria drew the string loose and stuck her hand in the little bag, and slowly, her whole arm disappeared into the bag. Smiling, she withdrew her arm and threw the items from the couch into the bag. She had placed an extension charm on the inside of the bag a hundred years ago, so she wasn't sure if it was still on the bag. But apparently it still was in tack.

After packing everything into her beaded bag, she quickly turned around and looked at Crowley. "I know exactly where we need to go to find out if this is true or not. Are you willing to go on some adventure before Aziraphale returns? We will be back quickly. He won't even suspect us being gone! Or if you don't feel like going, I could always take the Bentley out for a spin." Alexandria said with a twinkle of mischief in her eye.