"Grrr, I am evil. And you suck." (art by Quantum Witch)
"You gave me quite a fright, you did. Usually one person doesn't get hurt quite so badly, but you've always had to go above and beyond, haven't you? ...And you never visit anymore, and I can't believe you never mentioned your demon boyfriend."
— Raphael, to Aziraphale
Manchester Lost
by JAMoczo is a very funny Good Omens Crack Fic / Action-Adventure / (non-explicit) Slash Fic in which Aziraphale is captured by Hell and Crowley, War and the Archangel Michael (on a Mission from God) break in to save him and set off a second apocalypse. It introduces entertaining characterizations of other angels such as Michael, Raphael (Aziraphale's adopted father), Gabriel, and Uriel. It's a self-parodying Affectionate Parody with many interesting twists and turns along the way.
It is technically a sequel to How Crowley Fell Out of Love with the Bentley (which is a sequel to Good Omens). Manchester Lost has a sequel, itself, which is complete: Paradise Thwarted, and which now has its own page.
Warning: Spoilers ahead!
This fanfic contains examples of:
- Accidental Marriage: Aziraphale's last name has technically been 'Crowley' for the past 500 years or so; they both thought that the other had arranged the divorce.
- Aerith and Bob: Names of angels and demons varies from Aziraphale, Crowley, Beelzebub and Steve.
- Berserk Button: The only time Raphael is anything other than patient and kind to the other archangels is when they seem to be treating Aziraphale's death as a triviality.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Uriel is a perpetually happy Cloud Cuckoolander, who's also one of the most powerful beings in heaven and is quite merciless when it comes to smiting.
- Boring, but Practical: Operation Micheal, which is 'stab it until it dies'. Much to Gabriel's annoyance, it works perfectly.
- Chekhov's Gun: The chocolate muffin Rafael tucks away after the Archangels visit the diner in chapter 8 resurfaces when he shoves it in Uriel's mouth after the latter attempts to smite Zira in chapter 15. May double as a Brick Joke or a Chekhov's Gag depending on the reader's sense of humor.
- Church Militant: The Order of Our Most Holy Lady of the Righteous Smiting.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Demons tend to have darker wings in this ficverse.
- Cool Old Lady: This line:Sister Josephine, aged ninety-two but with the heart of a woman in her fifties, took out more demons that day than any one angel. Upon her death, she was declared Patron Saint of Arse-Kicking.
- Crack Fic: Part of the charm.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Uriel may be a childish Cloudcuckoolander most of the time, but if he thinks you need to be smitten...
- Crowd Song: Don't Stop Believin', which the angels use to defeat Satan.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?:
- Crowley punched Lucifer - In the FACE!!!
- War: Mommy, you're an idiot! * decapitates*
- Doting Parent: Raphael thinks that just about everything his little Zizi does is amazing and adorable.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Aziraphale and Crowley get together, Crowley Rises, and everyone ends up happy. But boy did they have to go through hell first. Literally, at one point.
- Evil Makes You Ugly: Subverted with Aziraphale/Zira; after he Falls, he starts looking more "evil", but his behavior doesn't actually change.
- Flanderization: Crowley and Aziraphale's respective Good Angel, Bad Angels are basically Flanderized versions of the characters they represent.
- Full-Name Ultimatum: God does this to Crowley to get his attention when he's too depressed over Aziraphale's death to listen. Also counts as I Know Your True Name.God: Oh, and now you're trying to leave? Without even saying goodbye? Kireawel Gadre'el, would you quit forgetting who you're talking to?
- Good Angel, Bad Angel: Crowley has Inner Aziraphale and Inner Hastur, Aziraphale has Inner Raphael and Inner Crowley.
- Good Is Not NiceRaphael to Lucifer: "And I know you have a very strong fondness for... er... sharp, pointy things, and so help me Light-Bringer but if you don't let me keep this child I will mount your immortal head on one of those sharp pointy things outside my office as a reminder to everyone that even though I am the Healer I am not a pansy!"
- Then there's Uriel's Righteous Smiting. He cares not who the sinner is, or was, or who might care about him/her.
- The Heart: Raphael, to the rest of the archangels. He is the healer, after all. At one point he notes that without his stabilizing influence they'd probably be a lot less sane than they are.
- Hero Stole My Bike: When the Four Archangels "borrow" some motorcycles. "It’s not stealing if you’re On a Holy Mission."
- Hippie Jesus: Jesus come in as a 'Southern Hippy'.
- Incendiary Exponent: Zira kills Beelzebub while lit on holy fire, much to Michael's pride and jealousy that he died so awesomely
- Irritation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery:No, Michael isn't taking fashion tips from Crowley, not at all.
- Lampshade Hanging: Lots; it's a lot of Snark and Self-Parody.
- Large HamMichael: Wait, it needs something. Wait, I know - ambiance!Music: You're the best, around! Nothing's gonna ever keep you down!
- Mood Whiplash: One scene has some characters battle Lucifer, and one of them becomes exhausted and falls down. The gripping suspense is somewhat broken as the author inserts the following note:His face looked like this: X_X
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Nice job opening a portal that connects Hell and Earth that can't be closed, dumbass.
- No Social Skills: Those entities that haven't been on Earth for very long aren't aware of appropriate human behavior.
- Noodle Incident: Death owes the Antichrist a favor for never mentioning this one incident. It involved two kittens, thirteen girl scouts, an ice cream cone, a goat and six pairs of socks.
- Running Gag: There is only one response, be you demon, nun, Jesus, or Satan to the question "Would you like some tea?". —> Would I!
- Screw Destiny:
- God doesn't want the Apocalypse stopped this time. Aziraphale doesn't care.
- Carried over from the original book, Adam Young may be The Antichrist, but that doesn't mean he wants to destroy the world.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: The mood lightener after Aziraphale's torture; Crowley feels the need to remind War "He is not my mate!"
- Shout-Out:
- Turtle Power!
- "Brian, you are such a geek, you are NOT Sailor Moon!"
- Author's notes reveal that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the body of Tifa Lockhart.
- Shown Their Work: The author has done a lot of research on the Archangels. Their personalities are mostly comedic versions of what Christian tradition has them as.
- Third Law Of Genderbending: PMS, meekness, and a tendency to cry were not part of the New Testament.
- Too Much InformationRaphael: Perhaps you can skedaddle back to Hell and tell him to call things off? It would be awfully sweet of you. No one wants existence to be over, especially since my son's boyfriend would be destroyed too.
- Too Spicy for Yog-SothothBeelzebub: That's it, he's not coming anywhere near my Hell.
- Trap Door: "Sauntering vaguely downwards" sounds so much better.
- What You Are in the Dark: Aziraphale/Zira after Falling does not change in his resolve to help save humanity.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Averted. Aziraphale/Zira accidentally Falls and becomes a demon, but it doesn't change his mission to save humanity or his sweethearted personality in the slightest.
- Zen Survivor: Hell does not scare Aziraphale, he survived Auschwitz.
