28-Apr-2000
Warning!!!! If you're religious, don't read this part as I've taken
some MAJOR liberties with portrayal of heaven. Poetic license, if
you will ^^. You have been warned. On to the next installment of
the ficcie. Enjoy!
C&C are very much appreciated, flames will be used as kindling for
this weekends's BBQ.
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is NOT mine. I'm not making any money
off of
this. If you sue, you'll get my dirty socks, so don't
bother.
Warnings: a VERY irreverent view of the afterlife^^, AU,OOC abound.
"OK, keep it moving! Come on, come on, we don't have an eternity here, despite what you might think!"
The long procession of souls due for reincarnation slowly shuffled along, the saints flitting back and forth to make sure no one fell behind. At the front, a sort of a counter was set up. There, a scribe stood with a list of destinations for each of the souls. A soul would come up to the counter, give its name and the scribe would find its destined new body on the list. Then, St. Abelard would administer special eye drops, which made the soul forget everything that happened to it in the previous life. Only after the medicine was given, would the soul be sent on its way to be reborn again.
Very efficient system, a recycling program of sorts, which kept the population level upstairs and, with all the wars that had been going on lately, population control was an important issue for the celestial dwellers.
Usually, the operation Reincarnation went smoothly. Lists were drawn up far in advance, signed, stamped and otherwise approved. However, even in heaven they experience glitches every once in a while, and this one day in A.C. 332 turned out to be one of them. Far down, in a small town on Earth, a woman went into labor very unexpectedly. The reincarnation department did not foresee this and as a result, no soul had been prepared for the baby. A minor turmoil ensued and a messenger was quickly dispatched to find an adequate candidate, and soon.
Archangel Michael was sick and tired of being ordered around for ages and this last errand annoyed him even more. He had been interrupted from one of his rare quiet moments, which he had been spending reading Letters from Earth[1] - a book that he found enlightening.
Therefore, all he wanted was to grab the first soul he saw and get back to the book as soon as possible. When he perceived a lone spirit wandering around aimlessly, he rubbed his hands together gleefully (mentally, of course!). As he neared his target, Michael saw that it was a boy with long hair and sad eyes.
"Rejoice, spirit, for today is your lucky day!"
"How is that?" the boy retorted, apparently unfazed by the fact that one of the high angels was speaking to him.
"Why, you get an early chance for rebirth, of course."
"Yeah, whatever."
Michael was surprised by the kid's lack of enthusiasm, to say the least. In general, souls danced in joy when their turn came to live again. But, as we have mentioned before, Michael was a tired, overworked and under-appreciated angel; therefore, he didn't much care about the boy's reaction, or lack thereof.
**Poof**
and they were standing in front of St. Abelard and his helpers.
"Name?" the scribe questioned the boy without looking.
"Duo Maxwell."
"Maxwell... Maxwell..." the scribe started looking through the list (which was several miles long, we might add). St. Abelard was impatient, however.
"We don't have time for this! The woman will give birth any minute and we must hurry. Sit down, child!"
Duo sat, and Abelard got the eyedropper[2] ready to administer the drug of forgetfulness. But, as luck, or fate, would have it, something distracted his attention at the last moment and, instead of putting two drops into each eye, he only put one. A second later, when the soul was well on its way, too far to return, the saint noticed the leftover liquid in the dropper. However, since it was too late anyway, the saint just shrugged and continued his work. Hopefully, it would all work out.[3]
Meanwhile, on Earth, the first cry of a baby boy announced the arrival of new life into the world. His cry was music to the new mother's ears. The exhausted woman accepted the baby from her doctor's hands and held him gently.
"He's perfect." she whispered.
"Have you decided what name to give him yet, madam?"
At that moment, the boy opened his eyes and smiled up at his mommy. His eyes were a stunning shade of violet, which the woman had never seen before. She touched his tiny cheek, afraid somehow to injure the fragile skin, and smiled back at her son.
"Rowan. I'm going to call him Rowan."
End of Part 4
NOTES:
[1] 'Letters from Earth', by Mark Twain. About as irreverent about
religion as it gets, in my opinion.
[2] I chose eye drops because of the proverbial "Eye is the
mirror of the soul," or something like that. 'Sides, I was thinking
about 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' at the time **sweatdrop** I think there
was an idea like that in some movie I saw a long time ago and whose name
I forget.
[3] Portrayal of Michael and the saints was heavily influenced by the
movie 'Dogma', which I think everyone should see because it rocks ^^.
So, did you like it? Hate it? Please let me know.
(:./murasaki/second4)
