Its Own Place
is a 2005 Good Omens fanfic by Unravels in which Aziraphale and Crowley are separated in Heaven and Hell after The End of the World as We Know It finally occurs and neither of them are happy about it. However, things take an unexpected turn when Aziraphale's Heaven proves to be not so heavenly after all...
This fic contains examples of:
- Above the Influence: When Aziraphale finally acts on his feelings for Crowley after coming to believe that he's already Fallen and has nothing to lose now, Crowley learns that he hasn't actually Fallen and tells him this even though he could have just stayed quiet and gotten the affection from Aziraphale that he'd been wanting for six millennia. However, Aziraphale still goes ahead with giving Crowley the affection he's always wanted to because now he knows for sure that loving Crowley won't cause him to Fall.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Aziraphale puts on a very convincing "angel gone completely starkers mad from demonic influence" act to convince Beelzebub and Hastur that Crowley has successfully corrupted him.
- Call-Back: At the start of the fic, Aziraphale unsuccessfully tries to imitate the ducks sleeping with their heads tucked underneath their wings. In the ending, he tells Crowley that nowadays he just tucks his head underneath one of Crowley's wings.
- Drowning Their Sorrows: Aziraphale and Crowley spend most of the Second Apocalypse having a drunken "Goodbye, World" party.
- Dynamic Entry: When Crowley learns that Aziraphale is actually on Hell's torture roster, he barges into Aziraphale's Heaven illusion in a torrent of hellfire.
- Fallen Angel: Aziraphale is treated as one by Heaven and Hell for ending up in the latter, though it's clear that he's still an angel for all intents and purposes other than not being in Heaven. Later on, he comes to believe that he really has Fallen due to his wings having become black, but it turns out that they've just gotten covered by Hell's soot.
- Hell of a Heaven: The "Heaven" Aziraphale is subjected to. Part of it is because it's actually an illusion made by Hell to torture him but judging from Aziraphale's thoughts on it, he would have found the real Heaven to be just as joyless. The fic's title is even taken from the famous Paradise Lost quote, "The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven."
- Ironic Hell: Aziraphale's personal Hell turns out to be him being stuck in a dull, joyless Heaven for all of eternity — and he doesn't even realize that anything is wrong about "Heaven" because he fully expected to be lonely and miserable there after the End.
- Kissing Under the Influence: Aziraphale and Crowley made out during their drunken farewell party and mutually decided to deny it ever happened.
- Monster Clown: Beelzebub takes on a Pennywise-like form while confronting Aziraphale and Crowley.
- Oblivious to Love: Aziraphale wonders why he feels like something important is missing from his life in "Heaven"... and then proceeds to spend an entire paragraph thinking constantly about Crowley.
- Poke the Poodle: To start teaching Aziraphale how to be a demon, Crowley tries to get him to push a girl into a pool full of filthy rats. Compared to Hell's normal torture methods, this is a downright merciful punishment. Aziraphale still can't go through with it and Crowley summons some books for the girl instead, claiming that it's still a punishment because she hates reading.
- Reset Button Ending: The fic ends with Aziraphale and Crowley living in a "Purgatory" that's virtually identical to the Earth they started the fic on even after everything that happened with the Second Apocalypse, causing Crowley to wonder out loud if the Ineffable Plan is really just a huge practical joke. It's not a true Reset Button Ending, however, as Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship and emotional states are in a markedly better place in the ending than they were at the beginning.
- Unishment: After Aziraphale proves to be too good to stay in Hell, he's condemned to spend eternity in Purgatory instead... that turns out to be a world virtually identical to the Earth he and Crowley miss. When Aziraphale learns about this, his plans change from trying to escape his punishment to trying to get Beelzebub and Hastur to give Crowley the same "punishment" as him.
- You Are Worth Hell: It's heavily implied that the reason Aziraphale ended up in Hell instead of Heaven was that he subconsciously preferred to be in Hell with Crowley than in Heaven without him. He's also willing to risk losing his chance to escape to Purgatory to try to get Crowley into Purgatory too.
