Anna opened her eyes, and found herself staring up at the stars decorating the night sky. The ground felt hard beneath her, and the smell of gunpowder filled the air.
"Oh good...you're awake," a voice grunted from her right side.
Turning her head, Anna caught sight of a burly young man dressed in some sort of school uniform crouching nearby, a rifle in his hands as he peered down its scope. His blond hair was in a mess, and a part of her was faintly surprised that he could still see past his bangs.
His brown eyes were narrowed in focus, and he didn't bother looking her way as he continued, "The name's Kristoff. I'm the commander of the Afterlife Battlefront. Nice to meet you."
Afterlife.
Did he really just say that?
Anna shook her head, trying to clear away the pain from her head. She noticed his hand offered to her and took it, smiling gently with gratitude. "N-Nice to meet you too. Um…" She looked down, seeing an unfamiliar uniform around her body. Anna couldn't help, but to look front to back between Kristoff and to her clothes. And even looking around, she had no idea where she was.
School?
"Um… this doesn't look like my school…" Anna muttered. "I think…" What was her school? She couldn't remember. A...Aren... It was something.
"No, you're right. It wasn't your school. Now it is. Our school." Kristoff grinned, taking her arm and turned her around to look at the castle-like building in front of her, a flag flying high on top. "Welcome to WAA."
Anna blinked, recalling what he just said right after she'd… woken up? She turned to him. "Y-You said… Afterlife Battlefront, what do you-" Before she could even finish her sentence, Kristoff's eyes widened, catching something off from a distance and suddenly, but very quietly, dragged both of them down to the ground.
"What-"
"Shh… be quiet."
Anna frowned, grabbing his arm even as he repositioned himself with his rifle again. "Why do we have to be quiet?" she hissed. "And why do you have a freaking gun?!"
"Look, I'll answer your questions later-just be quiet!" Kristoff hissed back, peering down the scope once more. He briefly freed a hand to point her towards something further down from them. Anna hadn't noticed it before upon 'waking up', as the blonde had called it, but the two of them were situated at the top of a long set of stone stairs leading down to a large, open pavilion whose tiles were arranged to form a stylized W and D.
A young woman stood at the very center of the mosaic, her platinum blonde hair almost glowing beneath the light of the full moon, with bangs almost frozen in a windblown look and a thick French braid draped over her left shoulder. She was dressed in a white blazer, ice-blue vest and shirt, and a matching pleated skirt that ended mid-thigh. A navy blue tie was fastened around her neck, matching the color of her leggings. Her skin was almost as pale as her hair, and altogether...she looked absolutely ethereal.
Like an angel from above, Anna thought as she inhaled sharply, cheeks reddening at the unexpectedness of the woman's beauty. A thought suddenly occurred to her, and she turned her head towards Kristoff.
His rifle was pointed at the blonde down below.
Snap.
Anna quickly turned to Kristoff, quickly realizing what he was up to. "W-Wait what-"
Bang.
Yet, she didn't have the time to react, staring at the blond in horror, holding his arm in a tight grip. The girl, an angel, as Anna mentioned, was lying on the ground lifelessly, blood spluttering out of her torso. The wind blew, the sound of the bullet flying in sonic speed into the blonde's body echoed through the silence of the two living spirits.
"Phew, that should do it. I gotta go inform this to everyone-"
"What the hell…?"
Kristoff blinked at the muttering, turning to her. "What was that? Sorry, couldn't hear you. My ears are still ringing-"
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"
Slap.
Kristoff's head snapped to the side, and a moment later, Anna's hand stung fiercely from the force of her blow. Bewildered brown eyes turned back to her as he rubbed at his cheek, now imprinted in red with the vague shape of a hand.
"What the hell was that for?!" he shouted incredulously, as if he couldn't understand what was wrong with shooting someone.
Anna opened and closed her mouth several times, stuttering out syllables and struggling to find the words to express her disbelief right now. She finally settled for keeping her mouth shut, fixing him with a nasty glare before abruptly turning on her heel and hurrying down the stone steps.
"H-Hey, wait!" she heard Kristoff call, but she paid him no heed.
There was a crackle, like from a walkie talkie or something. "Hey Kris, are we good to go?"
Anna didn't pay attention to whatever Kristoff said in response to his dirty accomplice, focusing instead on reaching the poor blonde sprawled on the ground in-
Oh...No, wait a second…
"H-Hey! Whoa, you're...That's, uh...That's a lot of…" Anna cut herself off before she could say anything stupid, choosing instead to help the blonde that had slowly pushed herself up onto her hands and knees.
Oh god...it's a miracle she's even still alive. "W-We gotta get you to a hospital soon, or you're gonna die," Anna stammered out, almost tripping over her words as panic flared up her spine. "Come on, let's-"
"Yes, I did that just now," the woman said as she pushed herself up to a standing position, wobbling slightly as she regained her balance. "It was most unpleasant. Dying, that is."
She raised her head, and Anna was met with the most intense blue eyes she had ever seen. Although her expression was carefully neutral, she still retained her ethereal beauty. And from up close it was…
Anna's cheeks flushed red, and she couldn't help the nervous laugh that fell from her lips. "That's...That's silly. You're still alive.."
For now, at least.
"Oh, I'm not alive. And neither are you," the woman answered coolly, calmly smoothing out the wrinkles on her vest as if she didn't have blood splattered all over her.
Anna blinked, caught off guard by the ridiculousness of that statement. "Is...Is everyone crazy around here?!" she exclaimed, frowning, "I'm not dead, I'm still alive!"
"No, you aren't."
"Then prove it!" Anna demanded, her frown deepening as she narrowed her eyes.
She expected the woman to check for her breathing, or her pulse, or whatever.
"Guh…!"
Anna didn't expect the blonde to form a dagger made of freaking ice in her hand and stab her through the heart WHAT THE FU-
Then the world went black.
It took only a few seconds, to Anna, that she began to wake up with a sudden start, gasping for air. "MY HEART!" She screamed, grabbing her chest-
Blood...?
This time she screamed again, looking at her palm, covered in her own blood, clothes coated with the red substance. "BLOOD! I'M DYING!" She screamed once more, but there was no one else that could listen to her pathetic screams.
Plus, where was she?
Anna began to look around, hearing the birds singing outside, the sun showering down her back. It was morning already and however long the girl was in this bloody bed, sleeping or dying.
And then she remembered what happened, her hand clenching to her very lively heart. "Afterlife battlefront...? Angel...? WAA? Is everyone crazy here...?" She loomed at herself. "I'm the crazy one here, how am I still alive...?"
There was a knock on the door before it swung open a moment later.
"WAKE UP, FUCKERS!"
Anna gasped, startled from the scream of a man and-
"HOLY SHIT, AN AXE!" The startled girl quickly fell off the bed, her body shuddering and she was god, on the verge of crying like a baby. She stared at the man, trying to move away from the intense, possibly even threatening, stare of his, but she was trapped in the corner.
"Hm? Who's this? Newbie?" He smirked, twirling his weapon around in one hand, walking towards the frightened girl with ease. And before Anna could even blink, the tip of the metal blade was just inches from the tip of her nose. She swore she saw the metal sparkling through the sunlight and Anna didn't have the right time to react.
She gulped, sweat and blood dripping down to the floor. "U-Um… D-Don't kill me?"
The man raised his eyebrow. "Kill you? You're already dead, and you've already been killed the second time. Are you stupid?"
"N-No, just confused a-and oblivious, I guess?"
"Huh. Well, you're going to die the third time." He quickly raised his axe and before Anna could even protest or plead, blackness filled her eyesight once more.
"Honestly, Herc needs to tone it down."
"Well, I can't help it if Wonder Boy decides he wants to test the newbie."
The second voice sounded distinctly feminine, whereas the first was...Kristoff?
Anna opened her eyes just enough to peer through her eyelashes, barely making out two figures standing near her hospital bed.
"She's already been killed by the Snow Queen-if Herc wants to test her skills, he's going to have to wait until after we explain everything to her. I promised her that, at least."
There was a sigh, and Anna saw the more feminine figure cross her arms. "Fine, Reindeer Boy. I'll try to talk to him. But you know how he can get around new people."
"That's all I ask, Meg."
A snort. "Hey, Carrot Top...You can stop pretending you're still unconscious now."
Oh god, no.
Anna, as casually as she could ever be, sat up, stretching as if she'd just woken up after an afternoon nap. She yawned, arms stretched up. "Well, that was an amazing nap…"
The group of people, very intimidating people, stared at her. But it was Kristoff that helped her up as she was getting an awful lot of stares. "Hey, you need help getting up? I think you should change your clothes. Meg has them."
"U-Um yeah…" She grabbed his hand, getting up, but quickly realizing what she needed to ask. "Um… I was supposed to be dead…"
"You are."
Anna didn't understand. If she was, she wouldn't be standing here, talking to these people. Kristoff turned to the group, putting a hand on "Wonder Boy" who quickly shoved his hand away. "We all are."
Kristoff smiled tightly. "All of us, at some point, showed up here after we died."
"'Here?" Anna echoed, and a skinny woman with long brown hair tied back into a ponytail stepped forward. She was dressed much like Kristoff in a navy blue school blazer and vest, with a white shirt and red tie. She wore a navy blue skirt as well, and matching leggings.
"Walter's Afterlife Academy," the woman explained with a smirk, and Anna recognized her as the 'Meg' from before. "WAA for short."
A few snickers resounded around the room as her smirk grew, and Kristoff cast them all an exasperated glance. "C'mon, guys...Let's be serious here for-" He stopped mid-speech, a faint flush rising to his cheeks as he looked back to Anna.
"Uh...I don't think I got your name earlier."
Anna crossed her arms, frowning as she recalled the last time she had been with him. "Well, earlier you were trying to shoot an innocent woman!"
He shrugged, like killing someone was no big deal. Of course, the blonde was still alive and Anna had no idea how she was still talking. "She's not innocent, you know? But if you say she is, you'll understand once we explain everything to you back in the camp. At the meantime, why don't you get dressed? There are still others that you're going to meet."
Before he even got to turn, Anna interrupted, "W-Wait, others? Strange people like us who wake up right after dying?"
Wonder Boy growled. "Hey, we're not-"
"Stop, Hercules, she's just confused." Kristoff sighed, patting the man on the shoulder. "Yes, strange people like us. Like you. Meg will be here with you, she'll show you the way back, alright?"
"So I have to take care of Carrot Top here?" Meg asked, arching an eyebrow.
"That nickname doesn't even make sense!" Anna protested, but the brunette seemed to be ignoring her.
"Just for today. We need to make sure the Snow Queen won't track you two back to camp."
Anna pouted, arms crossed. "So, where exactly am I?"
Kristoff looked at her, smiling. He turned to Meg. "I'll let you take care of her."
"Whatever, just go, alright? I'll explain everything to her and if she still doesn't get it, well, it's her lost."
With a pat on the shoulder, the blond, muscular man left with Wonder Boy. Anna stared at the woman, leaning against the doorway, eyes on her nails. She gulped, slowly sitting up from the ground to the bed.
"Get dressed." She threw the new uniform to be and Anna shrieked, hearing her footsteps coming towards her way. "Seriously, though...what's your name?"
"...Anna."
"Ah-na?" Meg tested out the strange pronunciation, arching an eyebrow.
Anna nodded, slowly taking off her clothes. And for some reason, she felt those eyes of hers, making such a sorrowful look. As if she was dead- Anna blinked. "Y-You're joking right?" The brunette sat next to her.
"About what?"
"What he said… I'm dead? Like, really, really, dead?"
"As dead as you can be in this world," Meg muttered, absently running a hand through her ponytail as Anna began putting on the uniform. "We all died, and just...woke up here. The Afterlife Battlefront was already established when I came around, so I'm not sure how the others first dealt with it."
Anna bit at her bottom lip as she buttoned up her shirt. "Do you...Do you remember how you died?"
"Of course," Meg scoffed, throwing a smirk her way as she crossed her arms. "Don't you?"
She shook her head. "No...I don't. All I can remember is my name. Hell, I can't seem to even remember my last name, let alone how I died."
Meg's smirk immediately vanished, her brow furrowing instead. "You'd be the first, then. Everyone that I know remembers." She paused, gazing contemplatively up at the ceiling. "I could...ask Milo if you want. He's our resident genius. Hiro too, though that kid's more of a tech genius than anything else."
Anna managed a shaky smile as she finished dressing. "I'm assuming they're both waiting back at this camp of yours?"
And Meg grinned, pushing off the hospital bed to land on her feet. She turned back, extending a hand.
"Come on, Carrot Top. We've kept them waiting long enough, and I'm sure they're all very excited to meet you."
"Yeah… excited." Anna took her hand, squeezing it. It was warm. Not cold. Not at all… dead. "Really… excited."
A/N: Thank you to the-wandering-quill, totojess, and iamrottingbitch for contributing to this fic! Please review and do follow if you want more! :)
Inspired by the anime: Angel Beats