Heaven, a place that usually was filled with the sounds of music , laughter, and worship was getting a collective migrane, to say the least.

Infant cries echoed throughout the streets as a small bundle was bounced around from shoulder to shoulder to try and soothe the screaming. God sat in His office, lights turned down low and an ice pack on His temple, trying to keep His temper. He knew what He would have to put up with when He had the idea of creating the halfling, but that didn't make the noise any better.

The child had been relatively normal or the first few weeks of her life. Pretty much the darling of Heaven. Everyone wanted to hold her, shower her with love and attention.. They forgot that God had a special purpose for her, which was understandable due to the fact that some of Heaven's denizens had never seen an infant while it had been years since others had seen them.

Then, in the middle of the night one warm summer evening, the screaming started.

From what some of the Applicants had remembered (those who had been mothers in past lives), it was colic. A condition where a child cried for more than three hours a day. For more than three days a week. For more than three weeks at a time.

And nothing could be done to soothe it. The Ladies of Virtue sang lullabies, Amelia, the girl's mother, had told her stories to try anad calm her down. Nothing worked. It was disrupting Heaven's harmony and truth be told, God could not take it much longer.

Oh, how I wish I could send it down to that damned carnival and let the creatures down there deal with the little monster.. God thought to Himself as He shuffled some paperwork.

But He couldn't send her down to Heaven. He wouldn't. Her purpose was to make Hell fall to its knees in submission and recognize that God, the one who had created them, was divine ruler of all and His word was the first and last word. No. God would not take the chance of revealing the halfling to Lucifer, who could do the same thing God was planning to do and turn the child against Heaven.

Sirena would be raised in Heaven, would grow up knowing its citizens, its caste system and its Creator. God would teach her, train her, and when the time came, use her to defeat Lucifer and his minions once and for all. He could sense a storm brewing down in the depths and was preparing for it the best He could. And if that meant that He would have to put up with a little crying, then so be it. He was patient.

The crying ceased at last. God let out a sigh of relief and started working again.

Meanwhile, in Heaven's speakeasy, Amelia rocked her daughter and sang to her gently, as the Songbirds hummed in the background. The babe looked up at her mother with emerald colored eyes, her cries having been silenced for the time being. Amelia had been grateful that God had allowed her to keep the child after she was born. Sirena, albeit shrill most of the time was the light of her (after)life. And being apart of any plan God had was one of the greatest honors any Applicant (or any citizen of Heaven for that matter) could achieve. The deed itself had been quick and sloppy (Sirena's sire was drunk at the time, thank Heaven otherwise Amelia didn't think she could stand it) and God had approved of the result: a small girl, born a little early but with a small dusting of red hair just like her mother's and eyes that seemed to change from green to blue to silver most of the time.

She was perfect. God even said so Himself. The baby went without a name for the first couple of weeks of her life because Amelia couldn't think of any good ones.. plenty were suggested though. Then one day, the colic started and the Agent jokingly suggested Sirena for a name.

Dreamy though he was, truthfully Amelia couldn't stand the prick. But the name stuck and Amelia got used to it.

She looked down at the baby, who had fallen asleep. Amelia smiled and slowly got up, smiling at the Songbirds. "Thanks girls. That really helped."

Geraldine returned a warm smile in return. "It was our pleasure, Amelia. Wasn't it, ladies?" The others giggled and nodded. "Anything for Sirena." One of them chirped bubbly.

Amelia hurried back to her house, laying down Sirena in her crib, turning off the light and whispering softly.

"Good night, my angel. I love you with all my heart and soul. Never forget that."

4 years later

A blurr of red flurried down the streets of Heaven as Sirena chased a small blue light around, laughing and trying to catch it. The light had been appearing to her for a couple of days now, and she was curious as to what it was. Everytime she tried to point it out to one of her friends it (or her mama), it had disappeared and they'd always assume she was playing. But this time she wasn't.

"I'm gonna get you!" She shrieked, gaining on it. But she stopped abruptly, staring at where the light headed.

The elevator.

One of the many places that Sirena was FORBIDDEN to go on threat of punishment. And not just a normal time-out or spanking.. but punishment by the Translators. She shivered, just thinking about Batez and Bentz. They were two of the people in Heaven that she was most scared of, along with the Librarian, the Stylist, and God Himself. Sirena had been told she shouldn't be afraid of God, that He was good. He would never hurt her, He even wanted to teach her stuff when she was older. Though what, no one would ever tell her.

But the few times that she'd spent time with Him, she'd have nightmares afterwards. Nightmares of Him yelling at her because she did something wrong. Of her being *gulp* with chains and whips and handcuffs.. Nightmares of fire and pain and darkness and all around scariness that would wake her up in the middle of the night, crying for Mama and never leaving her side until daylight came and Mama would have to leave her for work.

No one would ever tell her what was in the elevator either.. just that it was a bad place where Sirena would get in lots of trouble if she ever went.

But Sirena was a good girl, who would never disobey a request like that.

But Sirena hadtoknow what the blue light was. Curiosity burned within her as she stared at the light, just hovering there in the open doors of the elevator. Taking a deep breath and looking around to make sure no one was watching her, she ran inside, and the light disappeared, just as the doors closed.

Sirena's gaze stayed fixed on the dial as it went all the way down to a floor marked with a big red 8. Then the doors opened.