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026. Teammates
"I demand an explanation," said the general sternly. "You acted against orders!"
"But I was following orders, sir," protested the major. "Just not ones given by you."
"Then who gave this orders, that you would take them as equal or overpowering to mine?" asked the general angrily. "The Marshall himself?"
"No, sir!" Humiel said quickly. "Just –" He swallowed. "Just a random angel assigned to Earth, sir. An angel by the name of Aziraphale."
The general frowned. "I shall see both you and him punished for this," he grumbled. "This Aziraphale, does he even have any rank in the military?"
"Not that I know of, sir." The major was beginning to look more than a bit anxious.
"Then who is he to give orders to my men? Who is he to be obeyed? I will not take this lightly!"
"Oh," said a casual voice behind them, "I think we can overcome this little... issue. It is perfectly natural for Humiel to follow orders given by Aziraphale. He did so for so long a time. Such habits are hard to get rid of, even after such a long time, don't you think?"
The general stiffened and spun around. "Marshall, sir!" he exclaimed. "I didn't notice you there!"
"I'd be rather disappointed with myself if you had," replied Michael calmly. "Now, do stop harassing Humiel. I take full responsibility of Aziraphale and his actions. I'm sure following his orders didn't change the outcome of the mission negatively, did it, Humiel?"
"But that is –" began the general, only to be silenced by a sharp gaze from his superior.
"I asked from Humiel," Michael said. "Speak, Humiel, without fear. Was following the orders of the angel Aziraphale beneficial to your mission?"
"Sir, if I may say so," Humiel started, a bit hesitant, "I do believe we would have failed our mission without his help."
"Exactly as I believed," Michael said, sounding satisfied. To the seething general he said, "You'll have to excuse Aziraphale. As a retired four feather general, it is sometimes hard for him to remember that he is not within the Heavenly Army anymore. I fear he also may have learnt my manners of commanding, due to the excessive amount of time he spent in my company as a child – Gabriel so loved taking his little brother to our meetings, after all. Humiel is not at fault if he has followed the orders of Aziraphale. Truly, even though he has no official standing within the military anymore, and thus no warrior necessarily has to obey his commands, I'll take full responsibility of whatever may come to happen should some of them do so."
"A four feather general?" echoed the stunned general disbelievingly. "And he retired?"
"Truly it is so," Michael said. "You, my dear Oriel, as I remember it, are only two feather general yourself, aren't you? But Aziraphale's curiosity was great. He would rather go to Earth to look after humans and learn all about them than remain within my forces. Whenever he visits his brother, I test his skills, and I am indeed confident he would be more than well matched for any of my current generals. It is a pity, really, that he has now given up his sword. He had a great promise, that one."
Now, the general Oriel was quite pale indeed. This was, of course, hardly a surprise. Four feather generals responded directly to Michael himself, and in military rank they were only surpassed by the archangels. There were only one or two of them at a time, and the rank was almost as easy to lose as it was hard to gain. Michael only chose the very best to carry the rank. If he still considered somebody worth it even after they had left the Heavenly Army…
"Um, please excuse me, sir," he said. "I fear I have something urgent to take care of…" And then, only barely having the patience to wait for Michael's approval, he left.
Gazing after the departing general, Michael shook his head. "The Heavenly Host truly is in trouble when I have to have such idiots as generals," he muttered. "Back in the old days the commanding officers were the first ones rushing into problems, and they took care of the trouble, too. These new guys just send out their subordinates and then scold them for succeeding…" He turned towards the slightly baffled Humiel. "Look, major, this is not a command of any kind," he said. "This is no official order, nor anything you'd necessarily want to spread around as my words. However, as a piece of advice from one soldier to another… If you get one command from Oriel and another one from Aziraphale, follow the latter any day."
"I wouldn't ever think otherwise, sir," replied Humiel, nodding seriously. "General Aziraphale quickly devised a plan that helped us dispose of the Hellhound with no casualties or much damage to the surroundings. The same cannot be said about general Oriel's plan, if you forgive me, sir."
"Aziraphale is not a general anymore, so you shouldn't call him one," Michael said with a slightly wistful tone. "I'd exchange him for any of my current ones, though."
"Nice to hear you value us that much," said a voice behind Michael after Humiel had got out of hearing range. "Have we disappointed you somehow, Michael?"
"Or are you just trying to get rid of us older cases?" added another voice. "After all, we're well aware of the fact that no, you haven't been in time to any meeting ever since the Time was Created. You'd like to have people think you've been in time at least once, so you're intent on silencing us, right?"
"Oh, be quiet," chuckled Michael at that. "Canael, Umael, the two of you if anybody should know why I would say that." He looked seriously at the two. Canael had been a four feather general longer than anybody else, and Umael had been recently promoted after his predecessor had taken too much pride – or, rather, Pride – in his position. (Uriel had cried that night.) They were the only ones left of the generals he'd had when Aziraphale had given up his position; everybody else had either been transferred to another archangel or Fallen. Canael and Umael were thus the only ones who still remembered the exact skills of Aziraphale. The others had either forgotten him or never even got to know him well enough.
They were also a part of the very small group of generals who still insisted on calling him by his first name. To others he was "sir", or "Marshall", or, Heavens help, even "Prince". He, the one who was allergic to titles! Attachment to one's position was the easiest – and, sadly, most common – way for an angel to earn a Fall. Most of all he disliked being called the Prince of Light, because the opposite of that was the Prince of Darkness and he definitely didn't want to be reminded of that.
"I wish Aziraphale could just find that stupid sword of his," sighed Canael. "I'd gladly give up one or even two feathers to allow him a position true to his skills. Being demoted to make way for Aziraphale would be a lot better than stuck working with these idiots forever."
"Now, now, Canael," Michael said mildly. "Like I'd ever demote you. You've carried your four feathers longer than some of the other generals have carried a sword. I think Aziraphale counts on that, too, and that's why he won't return. He's waiting until we are desperate enough to grant him five feathers before he's going to agree to come back."
Both Canael and Umael laughed at that. However, Michael didn't miss the slightly wishful tone of their laughter.
Next Prompt: Parents