The Sacred and the Profane
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"Suffer the little children to come unto me..." |
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Somewhere else, the happy ending was different.
The Sacred and the Profane by Afrai is a retelling of Good Omens Canon with Aziraphale as the one who fell instead of Crowley. Don't worry, they're still instantly recognizable to anyone who's read the original book: Zirah is still a kindly, smiling bookseller, and Caphriel is still a sunglasses-wearing Deadpan Snarker dedicated to his job. They've just been translated through a dented mirror. The plot, while rather condensed, is largely faithful to the events of the book, but with a couple of necessary tweaks to match Zirah and Caphriel's characters.
Maybe you should worry. And keep a box of tissues by your side while reading.
It's still an excellent read for those who want to see the original canon in a whole different light.
Warning: Spoilers ahead!
- Affably Evil: Zirah
- Alternate Universe Fic
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: "...Caphriel had a bizarre tendency to get upset over the slightest things, like murder and rape and duck torture."
- Axe Crazy: Zirah
- Badass Longcoat: Caphriel
- Bilingual Bonus: Caphriel means "God is my redemption."
- Dark Fic
- Deadpan Snarker: Caphriel
- Deconstruction
- Determinator: Caphriel can't afford to give up.
- Dissonant Serenity: Zirah
- The Dog Shot First: "You hurt him!"
- Downer Ending
- Epiphany Therapy: "I'm a demon."
- The Fettered: Caphriel
- For Want of a Nail: ...all from having the wrong thought at the wrong moment.
- Friendly Enemy: Of course, but in a much more painful, conflicted way than in the original.
- Good Is Not Nice: Caphriel
- Caphriel was very nice. It made the story hurt more.
- Positively angelic, even.
- He's kind, but he's not necessarily nice. He'll go out of his way to help anyone, but he might end up swearing at them.
- Caphriel was very nice. It made the story hurt more.
- Hannibal Lecture
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Caphriel
- Insult Backfire
- Knight in Sour Armor: Caphriel
- Like a Badass Out of Hell: Zirah was up on earth because Hell didn't want him there, they're all scared of him.
- Love Martyr: Caphriel
- Mad Love: Caphriel and Zirah.
- Mirror Universe
- Mistaken for Pedophile: Caphriel wears sunglasses and a long black coat and just wants to help people.
- Murder Is the Best Solution
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Caphriel gets slapped for trying to help a crying child.
- Noodle Incident: "When had he got the stick, anyway? In the fourteenth century, hadn't it been -- he'd been given it by a carpenter he'd helped in a small matter involving a priest, three goats, and a rosebush."
- The Nothing After Death
- Original Flavor
- Only Sane Man: Caphriel
- Perfect Poison: "Drink your tea, dear."
- Poisonous Friend: Zirah
- Psycho Supporter: Zirah again.
- Shoot the Dog: Caphriel's killing of Zirah.
- Slash Fic
- Sociopathic Hero: Zirah is a combination of this and a Complete Monster.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism
- Stepford Smiler: Zirah, denial isn't just a river in Egypt anymore it's mostly to convince himself that he never fell.
- The Stoic: Caphriel
- Not So Stoic: after Caphriel kills Zirah.
- Time Abyss: This is why Caphriel wears Cool Shades in this universe, his eyes are older than his face and reflect the suffering of millennia.
- Which also falls under What Beautiful Eyes!.
- Trauma Conga Line
- Truth in Television: Caphriel's reasoning behind wearing his sunglasses all the time is terribly similar to that of mild agoraphobes or people with social anxiety.
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He felt a little better with their comforting weight on the bridge of his nose. They were a sort of protection against the world. |
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- Making his self diagnosis with clinical (suicidal) depression all the more awful.
- The Unfettered: Zirah there's nothing you can do to him that would be worse than what has already happened and there's no Moral Event Horizon he won't cross.
- Villainous Breakdown: Zirah
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Zirah
- Who Wants to Live Forever?
- Yandere / Cute and Psycho: Zirah
- You're Insane!