Somebody I Used To Know.

wingspan.

Crowley was laying on the floor. He had been laying there for what seemed like thousands of years. He was bloody, his hair was greasy, and he looked almost like a corpse. He had been in the same small room for three years, being beaten every single day. It happened so much that he was almost.. used to it. The physical pain numbed his emotional pain about Aziraphale. He still hadn't forgotten the last day they saw each other. The day he told Aziraphale how he 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 felt. The day they kissed. The day Aziraphale turned his back on Crowley. The day Crowley lost his only real reason of existence.

Crowley's thinking was interrupted by the archangel Michael walking into the room.

"Crowley. Hello."

Crowley groaned and looked at Michael. "What do you want?"

"To let you know that I understand your pain."

Crowley chuckled hoarsely and then coughed. "Like 𝘺𝘰𝘶 would ever try to sympathize with me."

"Look, Crowley, I am getting banished to Hell today and the last thing I would like to let you know is that I understand you. I know what it feels like to be in love with someone from... the opposing side. I've been in love with a demon before, just as you are in love with an angel. So, yes, I do sympathize with you, Crowley. "

Crowley just looked at Michael.

"You're probably wondering why I sought you out to tell you this."

Crowley nodded. "Actually that is precisely what I was thinking. Why would an archangel try to sympathize with the enemy? How do I know you're not completely lying?"

Michael sat down beside Crowley. "I fell in love with a demon, 7,000 years ago. Her name was Talia. We snuck around together like reckless children. We were happy. Until, one day, she told me that Hell was going to make sure she never saw me again. They made her mortal. And she died. I never got over her.  Do you believe me now, Crowley?"

Crowley put his hand atop Michael's. "I believe you, but why did you want to tell 𝘮𝘦?"

Michael's eyes met Crowley's and she spoke. "They're going to hurt you tonight. Then, they are to let you go back to Earth. You will go back to the bookshop as soon as you reach Earth. You'll be safe there."

Crowley was shocked. They were going to let him go? His eyes started to gloss over and before he knew it, his cheeks were soaked with tears. 

Michael wiped away Crowley's tears and spoke unto him. "He'll be there waiting for you."

Crowley smiled. He was finally, after three years of nothing but pain, getting to go home.

Crowley laid on the floor almost all night until 5 angels walked into the room with metal tools. 

"Demon Crowley, you corrupted Aziraphale, one of our best angels, therefore you are being punished for it.  This is the last punishment you will receive in your time in Heaven, and then you will be sent directly back to Earth, and you are to stay there."

Crowley smiled. "Okay."

One of the angels walked over to Crowley. "Please release your wings."

Crowley looked at the angel confusedly but he did as he was told.

His black wings spread across the room.

And that's when the searing pain started.

The angels each clamped their tools to Crowley's wings and started pulling. 

Crowley screamed.

The angels pulled and pulled for what had felt like centuries to Crowley, until the pulling stopped and Crowley's wings were ripped out from him. Blood gushed out of where Crowley's wings had used to be and Crowley collapsed to the ground. He screamed at the angels. All across Heaven, Crowley's screams had been heard. 

The angels picked Crowley up, brought him to the elevator, and dumped him there. 

He was going home.

And his wingspan was zero.