Stupid angels stop being mean to Aziraphale!
Chapter Text
"In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree. Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem and besieged Ahaz, but they could not overpower him. At that time, Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram by driving out the people of Judah. Edomites then moved into Elath and have lived there to this day. Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, "I am your servant and vassal. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are attacking me." And Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria. The king of Assyria complied by attacking Damascus and capturing it. He deported its inhabitants to Kir and put Rezin to death. Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction. So Uriah the priest built an altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned. When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented offerings on it. He offered up his burnt offering and grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and splashed the blood of his fellowship offerings against the altar. As for the bronze altar that stood before the Lord, he brought it from the front of the temple—from between the new altar and the temple of the Lord—and put it on the north side of the new altar. King Ahaz then gave these orders to Uriah the priest: "On the large new altar, offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king's burnt offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. Splash against this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance." And Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had ordered. King Ahaz cut off the side panels and removed the basins from the movable stands. He removed the Sea from the bronze bulls that supported it and set it on a stone base. He took away the Sabbath canopy that had been built at the temple and removed the royal entryway outside the temple of the Lord, in deference to the king of Assyria. As for the other events of the reign of Ahaz, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? Ahaz rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Hezekiah his son succeeded him as king." Aziraphale explained with a heavy heart. He looked up at Sandalphon and Gabriel expecting to find an angry scowl on their faces but instead saw smiles. He was a tad confused.
Gabriel clapped his hands together and said with a cheery grin "Excellent work Aziraphale! All is going according to the Great Plan!"
"But...but Hosea and Amos weren't able to warn the people properly. They aren't listening to them and Jonah was only able to save Ninevah and if I recall there was more than just Ninivah on the list of cities about to receive judgement from both Hosea and Amos?"
"That's correct Aziraphale. You are the deliver of those prophecies being the princibilatly of the eastern gate and you should know this." The face Gabriel made while saying this went from a delighted grin to a confused frown. This was not going to end well but Aziraphale had to at least try.
"Well...I was just thinking...you know being invaded and having horrendous things happen isn't fun for anyone...I know you can relate when the demons who followed Lucifer turned on us and attempted to destroy us-"
"Where are you going with this Aziraphale?"
"Well...I was just thinking that maybe...I could...intervene in some way...to prevent this from...happening."
"You want to stop the punishment by intervening? Why?"
"Well I was just thinking...you know there are children among the Hebrews and all those other cities and well-"
"Yes. That is part of the punishment."
"But I was just thinking about how it seemed really unfair-"
"Aziraphale. Sunshine they have had every opportunity to change. You know it. Besides, there is still Isiah who is the next prophet as well as many more. If you really want the humans in the marked cities to change their ways then maybe you should have taught the prophets to have been more persuasive and not so on the nose. If you want what is written to not come about then it will take more than your little angelic snaps and bell whistles to help bring a stop to it. Like I said there are more prophets to work with and more tasks to be had. If you want them to be saved then maybe try a little harder. After all, you are the main angel down there."
"But I don't understand. The Metatron was very clear that I should be having the words of God flow through the mouths of prophets in a way that best suits their personality and if the people didn't listen than it would be on their own heads."
"Well yes...but it is rather unfortunate that they have an angel looking out for them as incompetent as you are."
That hurt especially coming from Gabriel. Aziraphale really didn't know what to say because Gabriel was absolutely right. All the terrible things on going on Earth at this time could have been prevented if Aziraphale was more like Gabriel and less like-well-himself. In fact, all this sin could have been stopped if he had done a better job at keeping Crawly out of the garden of Eden and prevented Adam and Eve from eating the apple in the first place. And then he gave Adam and Eve the sword and who knows how many humans in power had gotten their blood lustful hands on it and killed millions in blind unintelligent rage. And now only that he had also failed to prevent so many human deaths it wasn't even funny. How many more children had to die before he got his act together? Really Aziraphale? Pathetic excuse for an angel Aziraphale. How the humans must hate you now.
"And also we need to discuss your frivolous miracles," Sadalphon added with a grimace and clearly something malicious hiding beneath his words. Thank you Sandalphon. Just what Aziraphale needs. To make Gabriel even more cross with him.
"Ah yes. Thank you for that Sandalphon. Aziraphale I fear you may be growing too attached to the humans down there. During one of the last Famines, you saved almost thirty children from starving to Death. You cleaned a river racked with Pollution from runoff fecal and urine matter. You helped cure a Pestilence outbreak in one of the South American tribes. You even stopped someone who was elderly from dying so they could say goodbye to their children after they came back from a War. All these little miracles have gotten out of hand. A few I could put up with but now it is just getting ridiculous."
Aziraphale swallowed hard not sure what to say. "I thought I was doing what Heaven wanted."
"And that is what Heaven wants. Of course, we want humanity to advance. But you have to let them. The humans will never work together to solve their own problems and if you keep caving into their pathetic tears and cries of agony and giving them what they want each and every single time then they will only stagnate and continue to live in that position forever."
"I see," Aziraphale replied grimly. Perhaps he wasn't as good of an angel as he thought on his way back to Earth. But he couldn't think of that now. For now he had to focus on what was important and that important was Isiah.