Angel and the Beast (A Good Omens fanfic)

Chapter 10

In an unfair twist of fate, the headmaster of the School For Disobedient Boys was indeed quick in arriving at the village, even coming prepared with a horse and cart, which looked more like a wooden cell on wheels.

"Please don't send me away!" Adam protested again. "I promise I'll be quiet! I'll stop talking completely if you want!" (Secretly he wasn't sure just how much he could realistically stick to his promises, but at this point he was desperate.)
"You should have thought about that before you opened your mouth in the first place!" Mrs Young replied fiercely. Adam tried to run, but Gabriel took him by the shoulders, and he and Mrs Young lifted him, still kicking and struggling, into the back of the cart.
"Don't worry Madame, I promise we'll take very good care of him," said the headmaster. He had a nasal-sounding voice and a smile that came across to most people as obnoxious, but Mrs Young didn't care, if she even noticed at all.
"I don't care what you do with him," she replied haughtily, "just teach him some manners and some good firm discipline!"
"It'll be my pleasure," the headmaster replied simperingly. He got onto the front of the cart and was just beginning to ride off, when his path was blocked by a figure riding in on a white horse.

"WAIT!" cried Aziraphale. He dismounted Kamael and ran over to the window at the back of the cart. "Adam are you okay?"
"Monsieur Fell! You're alright!" said Adam. "Monsieur Fell they're sending me away! I don't want to go!"
Aziraphale looked around desperately, and turned to the headmaster.
"You can't do this," he pleaded.
"Oh but I can," the headmaster smiled. "His mother's already given me the go ahead!"
Aziraphale turned to Mrs Young. "Please, Mrs Young, surely Adam couldn't have done anything too terrible!"
"You've been a bad influence on him," Mrs Young jeered. "He's got too much of an active imagination for my liking."
"It's true, Aziraphale," Gabriel added. "He's been telling everyone you were stuck in a castle with a beast!
Though I must ask, where have you been? And what are you wearing?"
"If you must know, Gabriel," Aziraphale replied, "I have indeed been spending my time at a castle recently, and at that castle resides someone who you could quite understandably describe as a beast!"
Gabriel sighed. "Okay, look, I would love to believe you right now, but how do I know you're not just saying it so the boy can go free?"
"Oh, you want proof?" Aziraphale asked. "I can certainly show you proof!" He pulled out the mirror and spoke to it, loudly enough for everyone else to hear. "Show me the Beast!" He then turned the mirror to show the rest of the villagers, who recoiled and backed away in horror.

Mrs Young, after recovering from the initial shock, marched over to Aziraphale. "Let me see that!" she snapped, snatching the mirror from Aziraphale and inspecting it, with Gabriel looking over her shoulder.
"Looks to be some sort of dark magic," Gabriel mused. "And that Beast thing, well..."
"It's a danger to society, that's what it is!" said Mrs Young.
"No! You don't understand!" cut in Aziraphale. "I know he might look rather fearsome, but deep down, he really is quite a nice person!"
"A nice person?"  Gabriel scoffed. "Aziraphale, are you hearing yourself right now? I mean, look at it! It's an ugly creature at best and a terrifying monster at worst!"
"It's got him under his spell!" Mrs Young sneered. "If I didn't know better, I'd say he even cared for it!"
"Well, if you're going to act that way, then I must say that the only monsters I've seen recently are the ones that stand before me!" said Aziraphale, turning up his chin defiantly. Gabriel gasped. Mrs Young continued scowling.
"I have heard of the effects of sorcery, but I've never seen it with me own eyes before now!" she said. Mrs Young m turned to Gabriel. "This Beast is a threat to our very existence! Something must be done about it, and you are just the man to lead the charge!" It was worded like a compliment, but Mrs Young's expression framed it as an order.
"Please Gabriel, the Beast would never want to harm a soul!" Aziraphale pleaded, but Gabriel ignored him, turning instead to the rest of the villagers.
"Listen up everyone!" he said loudly. "You all have just seen what I have seen: a large, terrifying beast, who could come after us at any moment! Just imagine the things he could do if we continue to allow him to wander free! He could wreak havoc on our village! Go after our children! Attack us in the dead of night!" The villagers were gasping and whispering in all the right places - this was easier than expected. Gabriel continued.
"We're not safe until he's dead! And you know that means there's only one thing to do!"
"Kill the beast!" Mrs Young cried, unable to let Gabriel have all the spotlight.
"KILL THE BEAST!" the rest of the villagers chorused.