Oh oh. Just one more chapter and then this story is done! I hope you enjoy the last of their shenanigans as much as you did the others.
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When they were outside the two looked around a bit, before turning their gaze to the café, where they easily spotted Crowley, which got up as soon as he saw them and walked up to meet them.
"It seems like you were able to sit close to the church without a problem." noted Aziraphale.
Crowley snorted softly. "Yup indeed. Now, shall we go and get crêpes?"
"Oh yes that is a splendid idea. I wonder if the same restaurant is still open where we first got our crêpes." said Aziraphale hopefully.
"We'll see. Let's go and find out, shall we?" said Crowley and he started to lead them. He recalled they had gotten the crêpes not that far from the Notre Dame itself so he walked on good luck and a minor miracle in the direction he remembered them going all those years ago.
Meanwhile Samantha simply enjoyed the area. This part of the city was well maintained and as beautiful as ever. She smiled. She very much liked the style of the sandstone buildings. It had a close resemblance to the sandstone buildings in London, yet different too. The France renaissance style was a tiny bit more complicated as the decorations of London.
At last they came to the restaurant. To Aziraphale's utter delight the place was still up and running, tough the look had changed drastically over the years. Crowley glanced over at him.
"Same as usual? Walking in and miracling a spot like the Ritz?" the demon asked.
"Why isn't that obvious? Of course we will do that. Now, let us go in. I can already taste the sweet sugar of the baking's on my lips." answered Aziraphale and he sounded perhaps a bit impatient.
Crowley showed an amused glance, then he took the lead and walked them inside. He went up to the counter and told with how many they were. Then they were leaded to a lovely table with a nice view of the place, yet it was calm.
With a content sigh Samantha sat down. The two others followed her example. The waiter came and asked them what they wanted to drink. Aziraphale tried it first in his broken France, and then Crowley attempted to take over. A tiny argument arose between the two about pronunciation. Samantha giggled and rolled her eyes, then told the waiter in a quite decent France what they wanted to drink. The argument stopped and the two looked first startled at Samantha, then a tad ashamed.
The waiter thanked her and laughed kindly, telling her since they had so much tourists around English had also been a good option. Then he walked off to get the menu carts.
Samantha watched the two amused. "What? It has only been a few years ago since I had France lessons on school and I had quite a good grade. I cannot blame you for your France being rusty. You haven't been here in ages, literally if I have to believe your stories."
"Ah yes, that is true." admitted Aziraphale. "Yet I feel stupid for it somewhere."
"That is understandable." answered Samantha.
The waiter came back with the menu carts and the drinks. He placed them down and went off again, while the three curiously opened their books.
"Finally a card you two don't know from the top of your heads. Hmm gentleman?" teased Samantha.
Aziraphale let out a soft chuckle. "You are correct. It is quite refreshing."
They looked at their charts now and curiously read through them. "There are so many types of crêpes nowadays." wondered Aziraphale. "With strawberry, caramel, banana, chocolate and even with cheese and meat. So much choice. Oh dear oh dear. I just don't know what to choose."
"Then just order them all angel." teased Crowley.
"Why I am afraid that would look rather odd." said Aziraphale, tough he did seem to have seriously considered it.
"Why don't we all three take a different kind of crêpe, and then let each other take a bite of the others?" offered Samantha.
"Well that sound like a lovely plan." said Aziraphale with a smile. Then he looked over at Crowley with a curious look.
He shrugged. "Sure why not."
"Nice. Then that is settled." said Samantha and she went back to choose a crêpe to enjoy.
After a bit of discussing who would take what crêpe they got to an agreement. In a perfect timing the waiter came over and took their order. After that they chatted for a little bit, talking about the architecture of London and France and what the differences were.
Soon after their food arrived, Aziraphale quickly looking up when the waiter came close.
"There it is.", he said cheerful.
The waiter put the plates down in front of them and wished them bon apetit. Aziraphale thanked the man and then swiftly started to eat. Samantha glanced at him and smiled soft.
"Don't you forget we want to taste your one as well?" she reminded him.
Aziraphale glanced up and seemed ashamed. "It is good you tell me, I had almost forgotten already." he said and then proceeded to neatly cut two bites, one for both. Samantha and Crowley did the same and they exchanged the pieces. They talked a bit about the taste, all three pretty much liking all of the other tastes as well, then they went on with eating their own dish.
Crowley was of course done first and he glanced up, watching the angel enjoy every second of his meal. Unwillingly he thought back at that day when they had gone for crêpes here so many years ago. He tough about saving the angel in the dungeon and about how silly yet adorable he had looked, and the stubborn mutter as he had to change his clothes in order for them to peacefully enjoy their coming dinner. He remembered sitting just like this, resting his head on his hand and watching Aziraphale eat. Unnoticed he smiled slight.
His pondering was disturbed when he saw the flashing lights of a police car come by, hearing the faint sound of the siren. It was familiar yet different, as sirens of different emergency services tended to be in different countries. He dismissed the sound and focussed back on the angel and his crêpes, but not long after another emergency wagon passed. A car of the fire brigade this time. He hummed. There must be a fire somewhere. Not his problem.
Samantha had finished now too and he followed Crowley's glance. Then her glance fell on the waiter, who had gone up to the window and seemed to try and get a better view of something. She then observed as the waiter actually went and stepped outside. She realised a few people outside were looking up too, and most were heading one direction. When the waiter came back in, his face was pale and he muttered something under his breath. Samantha beckoned him over.
"What is wrong mister? Is something amiss? ", she asked worried.
"Yes, yes something is certainly amiss. It is terrible, simply terrible." answered the man a bit upset.
Aziraphale, who had just finished the last bite of his crêpe, cleaned his face with a napkin and worried looked up at the man. "Then what is it my dear man? Won't you tell us?"
"It's the Notre Dame. The Notre Dame is ablaze!" exclaimed the man horrified.
"Whot?!" asked Crowley unbelieving.
"Oui, oui! I am not joking!" confirmed the waiter.
Samantha swiftly got up. "Oh no... That is horrible indeed. Gentleman I believe we should go and have a look. Perhaps they could use some help."
"Please, I don't think they could use the help of a few tourists. I think you'd be of better assistance staying away." said the waiter.
Samantha looked thoughtfully at the man, then nodded and smiled. "I understand what you mean. Yet I am sure we'll be able to help somehow. Trust us." she said resolute and then she headed for the door.
"Please, follow.", she asked of the duo and the two nodded, then swiftly got up and hurried after Samantha as if lured by some force.
They quickly hurried out the door and left the waiter slightly confused. He then wanted to call after them, for they hadn't paid. But as he looked back to the table he found money laying there on a plate on top of a bill he was sure he didn't give them. The bill was correct and the money given more than enough. Dumb folded he stared at it a bit, before finally resuming to his work. He somehow felt reassured a bit even though the dread of a burning Notre Dame still lurked within him.
Once outside the trio glanced up. From her position on the street they could just make out the tip of the Notre Dame, a big and looming black cloud rising from behind it. The lowest part of the cloud glowed a faint red, indicating flames were already reaching up high through the roof.
"Oh my good lord." muttered Aziraphale worried under his breath, while following Samantha. Crowley hurried after her too.
"You said it angel. This is shit." he uttered between his teeth.
They soon arrived close to the church. Or at least as close as they could get. A mob had gathered to watch the fire and police men were trying to get them to back off. Streets were closed down and people were driven back. The heat of the fire was great and Crowley drew in a breath.
"No way... Those dirty little bastards! I recognise that smell, heat and colour anywhere! It's hellfire!" exclaimed Crowley angrily.
Aziraphale squeaked. "The relics, the scrolls, the paintings! They will all be lost if we don't do something!" he said as he started to move forward.
Crowley grabbed him by his sleeve. "No you stupid idiot! You won't go in there I am not losing you again! We did Alexandria once and I am never letting that happen again."
"B-but.", protested Aziraphale.
"No angel! Just no I am not having it.", bite Crowley at him.
"Then... Then can't you do something? It is hellfire as you said." asked Aziraphale desperate.
Crowley smirked. "No I can't. Even though the building is ablaze with hellfire, that doesn't mean the place isn't as holy as the gate of heaven itself! It would be the death of me."
"But... It won't be of me.", said Samantha now, hushed.
Before the two realised what she meant, before they even had the time to react, Samantha made a run for it. She stormed straight at the building, suddenly clothed in a firefighters outfit and busted in through a side door.
"Samantha! No!" yelled Aziraphale and Crowley in unison as they saw their friend cast themselves carelessly into the burning building and disappeared out of sight. Once again Aziraphale tried to run at the building, but was held back by Crowley.
"No! It'll be your death for sure! All we can do now is wait. You better make sure no harm comes to those brave humans fighting the fire while Samantha does what she has to, and hopefully no harm will come to her. We don't know what she is, we don't know if she handles this but it is her own choice. We cannot go running after her like this. As she said, we are important for the faith of humanity."
Even though Aziraphale was panicked and didn't like this idea at all, he had to admit Crowley was right. They could only pray Samantha would be all right.
Inside Samantha looked around, and then up. The ceiling was ablaze, but the walls seemed largely fine. Quickly she ran up to the centre of the place, shielding herself from falling debris and the heat of the fire. Looking up again she noticed cracks started to form in the delicate work of the ceiling. Realising the fire must have started upstairs she summoned her wings and flew up, avoiding a chunk of ceiling that came tumbling down with hot ash and sparks of fire. The hole it created was large enough for her to fly through and she took a deep breath.
'Now it is the moment of truth.' she thought as she flew up into the sea of fire. The old wooden structure of the ceiling was made purely out of dry wood, constructed long ago. It burned like firewood. Shielding herself from the fire he backed off to a spot where she could survey the area. The fire didn't burn her up, but she did get harmed. Nothing seriously because she used her powers to keep the fire away from her. This was the first time she had actually come in contact with hellfire and she praised the lord she had resistance to it. Otherwise her tale would have been cut very short right there and then.
As she looked up through the flames she noticed water. Firefighters were trying to put out the fire. But since hellfire is the strongest fire in existence, it didn't work. Then she got an idea. Swiftly she got to work and blessed all of the fire trucks that were pouring water over the building. This worked. Without them knowing they were now spraying holy water over hellfire. When she saw this helped she quickly went back down to the main hall. She looked over at the golden cross in the centre and the artefacts on the wall. She decided she would protect the artefacts, so when people came to check up on the damage the fire had done, they would find as tough by a holy miracle, the artefacts would have been spared. She hoped this would spark hope and faith in the hearts and minds of the people.
She landed in the middle of the building and started her idea, using her powers to bend debride away from the precious artefacts.
A long time went by until the firefighters managed to get the fire under control. When Samantha noticed this, she cast one last blessing over the artefacts, before flying up and out of the building. She did it swiftly. Fast enough to not to be recognised as a fully realised being, but slow enough to be noticed as something with shimmering wings by the firefighters and onlookers close enough to the building. Quickly she flew down and landed in a quiet alley, where she cleaned and healed herself up. She had gotten a few burn marks which didn't quite heal all the way, but she didn't mind. Then she made her wings disappear and went to search for her friends.
Aziraphale and Crowley were very worried meanwhile. They had observed the situation closely for a long while from the crowd. They had at least found out the building had caught fire after closing time and no one had been inside at the time, but they were now overly worried as time went on and they heard or saw no sign of Samantha.
They were overjoyed when they finally saw Samantha making her way through the crowd up to them. Crowley let out a hiss and grabbed her arm firmly, then shook her angrily.
"Would you never ever do that again?!" he growled angry, before letting her go. "You stupid idiot. What if we had lost you?"
Aziraphale gently grabbed one of her hands. "That was really unwise. We were scared half to death. Oh lord I am so happy you are okay."
Samantha sighed and nodded. "I know it was very unwise of me. Yet I felt somewhere inside I had to do this. It was an impulse. Yet I will indeed try to pay better attention from now on."
"I am glad to hear." said Aziraphale. "But if I may ask, what did you even do in there?"
"I will answer that for sure. But not within this crowd. Let us walk for a bit to calm our nerves and to get somewhere quiet." said Samantha.
The others agreed and they went to walk away from the scene. While walking among the banks of the river Samantha told all she had done to the two, who listened silently and with some lever of respect. When she was done Crowley hummed.
"It still stayed a stupid move." he said. "But you got the job done and at least we know now you can endure both holy water and hellfire."
Aziraphale nodded, then he sighed. "I must say I have had quite enough excitement for today tough. I suggest we'll head home."
"That is a good idea. I can certainly use some rest as well." agreed Samantha while she glanced up ahead of her. She could see the outline of the Eiffel tower lit up with a billion little light, sparkling in the night.
"It looks like I was able to witness the spectacle of the Eiffel tower after all." she joked softly as she watched.
Crowley let out something that sounded like a weak attempt of a chuckle, before humming. "I'll pop us back over. You have used enough of your power today."
"Let us watch the Eiffel tower for a bit please. I haven't seen this event yet as well." said Aziraphale.
"Fine, as you wish." answered Crowley.
The three now stopped to watched the lightshow of the tower for a while, before the lights stopped making patterns and returned to a simple outline of the monument. After that Samantha glanced back. There was still smoke and a fiery glow coming from the Notre dame and she frowned, wondering if she should have stayed.
Crowley guessed her look and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You already did more as you really had to. Don't sweat it you did amazing."
"Thank you." said Samantha with a tiny smile.
"Now, let's head back." said Crowley and he flicked his fingers, popping them back over the channel, back to the mansion.
They all three sighed when they arrived back at the mansion. Glad the day was over. Aziraphale walked over to the couch and sat down. He glanced over at the book he left on the table and hummed.
"Time for some rewinding."
"Yeah. I agree." said Crowley and he went to sit beside the angel on the couch.
Samantha stretched herself. "I think I'll go and take a long bath. I deserved that at least. After that perhaps a nap."
"A nap does sound very nice." said Crowley softly.
"By the way, I had a lovely day with you two. Thank you for showing me around Paris. The day might have ended a little rocky, but that doesn't mean I didn't have a lot of fun." added Samantha.
Aziraphale smiled at her now. "I am glad to hear that my dear. I had fun as well."
"Yes agree. A nice day it was." confirmed Crowley. "Now go ahead and relax yourself. As you said just now, you deserve it."
"Yes, yes I will do that." Samantha said with a smile and then she hurried upward to one of the bathrooms. She went in and calmly arranged everything the way she liked it. She wasn't using miracles now for she felt like she had used more than enough of them today. While letting the bath fill she slowly undressed. Then she looked at herself in the mirror. She had indeed gotten a few injuries, but they didn't look too bad. Nothing that wouldn't heal in a few weeks.
After the bath was filled she went in slowly, having to let herself get used to the water slowly. Her wounds stung for a bit, but it quickly faded. Then she laid down with her head against the edge and relaxed. She thought about how she had handled today and what she had done and felt a slight proud drift up in her belly. She had never dared to dream this would be something she could be able to do. And yet here she was. Relaxing after softening a large disaster. She figured this was the first of many to come she would experience and she wondered if her miracles would have the wished effect on humanity. Only time would tell.
She decided she had thought enough about disasters and her future today, so she allowed herself to drift off in the memories of all the fun stuff they had done today. She closed her eyes and let herself enjoy her well-deserved bath.