Time went on. The Tabernacle was finally dedicated in a beautiful ceremony which Aziraphale was more than overjoyed to take part in. All his hard work and the people. He had grown quite close to them.
Aziraphale did truely love the humans. They were so fascinating and full of life. But when they did stupid stuff he did grow tired of them. Really really fast. Nothing ever seemed good enough for them.
When God provided food they didn't like it.
When God provided land they didn't like it.
When God provided victory after victory it still wasn't enough.
Aziraphale and Moses had tried to warn the people serveral times that perhaps yelling at the person who literally saved them from slavery wasn't the best idea they got yelled at too. Everyone just became so greedy and easy to agitate and Aziraphale felt his sancurary away from Heaven becoming more of a lion's den rather than a paradise.
After some time Moses was told to go round up tweleve spies and send them to the land of Cannon. These are their names from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zakkur; from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun; from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu; from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi; from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi; from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli; from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael; from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi; from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki. These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.)
They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan." Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."
But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there who were the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."
And then this lead to a massive panic and God finally put Her foot down and told them they would be wandering the desert for 40 years.
Aziraphale had about had it to the skyline and now was being told he would have to spend forty years in the desert. Fantastic. He soon found himself needing a break from all the pressure so he went up to the mountains where he had last spoken with Crawly before the census.
He heard snickering from behind a rock and saw Crawly rise up with a cheesy grin on his face.
"Hello, Aziraphale."
"If you tell me this was all your demonic work I will throw you off this mountain and bury you alive."
"Aziraphale! You can't say things like that!"
"You are literally a demon who goes to literal Hell all the time and that offended you."
"All I am saying is it wasn't very angelic and I just didn't want you to get the boot out of Heaven."
"I won't. I am an angel. I can't do the wrong thing."
"That's what Lucifer said."
"Crawly!"
"What? Just saying he was an angel once too so your statement here isn't backing up your argument."
"This close."
"Close to what?"
Crawly leaned over the rock on his stomach as he said that his yellow eyes gleaming with sarcasm and he balanced his chin on his hands. Aziraphale was done for today and not having any more of this nonsense.
"Why don't you go find some other poor soul to pester and leave me out of whatever this is?"
"Oh come on. I thought angels were supposed to have patience in infinity. Seems like you just ran out of yours."
"I am not in the mood Crawly."
"On the contrary, I am in the mood so-" Aziraphale held up a hand to quiet him and looked down with a displeased face.
"Oh good Lord, you must be joking?" He said as his face began to twist into an agitated fuss.
This caught Crawly's attention and he unfolded himself from the rock and sauntered over to Aziraphale.
"What happened?"
He looked down and saw a group of people gathering around Moses's tent shouting like a bunch of holigans.
Through grunted teeth Aziraphale mumbled "Korah."
Crawly looked over at him and clocked his eyebrow upwards.
"Uh who?"
"I knew that guy was up to something. I even told Moses about it. And at such an inconvenient time too."
"Are you talking about how you have to spend 40 years in the desert because that has got to suck angel?"
Aziraphale looked over at him and narrowed his sky blue eyes like daggers.
"You aren't helping Crawly."
"I am not supposed to be helping Aziraphale. I am a demon. Annoying people is one of our many key traits we are known for."
The two looked back and saw Moses and Aaron going into the Tabernacle to speak with the Almighty. Crawly jumped on a rock near them while rubbing his hands together.
"Oh yeah. It's about to go down."
"Knowing Moses he will be giving them a second chance. Stop doing that hand thing foul fiend. It is freaking me out."
"Come on angel. There must be some bone in your angelic body that really wants to see a group of pricks get what they fucking deserve. I mean you did threaten to discoporate me off of a mountain."
"You are a supernatural being. These are humans. They are like ants to us. I can not believe you just made that comparison."
"I can not believe you just made that comparison. Ants are a great species who always work well together. The humans would get a lot more done if they weren't so busy fighting each other and were more like ants. All working to the great goal and improving their lives. They could get further ahead if they stopped dividing themselves up with stupid nonsense like the color of their skin or wants in between their legs. They just need to act better you know. They are so fucking clever yet so fucking stupid at the same time."
"Yes. I will admit that when people in the tribes made fun of my pale complex I was a tad bit frustrated."
"Well you look like the full moon Aziraphale."
"Hey quiet you foul fiend!"
"It is an enduring quality."
Aziraphale huffed angerly and then did the thing.
He began to rub his hands nervously, look at the humans as anxiety-filled those precious blue eyes, his lips fumbled into a worry line and he was mumbling all sorts of laws and commandments to himself.
"I know that look. Please tell me you didn't give those humans a flaming sword or any other angelic weapons."
Aziraphale immediately snapped out of his worry state and looked Crawly dead in his snake eyes.
"No, I didn't. That was one time and I do not see a logical reason why you must bring it up every conversation we have."
"Calm down angel. I was just asking a question."
"Well excuse me for being worried about the people I was assigned to protect."
"You aren't responsible for everything they do. They have free will for a reason and it's not your fault they are using it to hurt others."
He genuinely meant it. He was tired of seeing Aziraphale beat himself up over other bad choices. Aziraphale was one of the kindest, most clever and critical thinking angels he had ever meet including when he was still an angel himself. He was doing his best and he wished he could see himself through the lens Crawly saw him.
"Oh please. I am not blaming myself for what wrath they are about to bring upon themselves."
They both jumped as they watched the ground open and swallow Korah's rebellion. Aziraphale jumped off the clift they were standing on and spread his wings to gently put himself on the ground outside the camp with incredible grace and skill. He never ceased to amaze Crawly.