S.t.a.r.d.u.s.t.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the stuff I made up. Like anybody reads these things anyway.
Summary: James hits his head on a tree branch and finds himself in paradise, only to discover everything had been a mistake and he has to go back to Earth. During the time everything is fixed up down below, he gets escorted around heaven by an angel and learns things about life and himself.
Author's Notes: This story has been in my head for a while now, and at first I was going to write the whole thing before posting it up, but one page turned into five pages, and five pages turned into 10 pages, and I realized that I had to chapter this sucker before it got any more out of control. It's a strange concept, so please bear with me, and I would be very happy to hear any and every comment anyone might have. Enjoy!
~
It happened the same way that day as any other. Team Rocket wanted to capture pikachu, Ash blasted them with the aforementioned rodent, and they went soaring past the clouds yelling the all too familiar, "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!"
*
James watched the trees rush past underneath him as he flew through the air. It was an almost guarantee that their landing was not going to be soft. Meowth was holding onto Jessie's leg, and Jessie was holding onto her hair. Flights like these always seemed to ruin her immaculate style, and she didn't want to go through the trouble of using all that hairspray again.
Soon they were heading downwards, and James was relieved to see a small clearing, filled with tall grass, which would make their fall at least a little less painful. Maybe their luck was changing after all, he thought. However, that statement did not turn out to be true, as those were his last thoughts before a tree branch came up to meet him very suddenly.
*
~
*
To say the least, James did not feel quite himself when he opened his eyes. For one, he felt quite a bit. lighter.
All that dieting finally paid off! He thought happily, wishing he had the money to go clothes shopping. But Jessie had sealed him off from all the accounts, since he had the unfortunate tendency to drain the money on sudden whims (i.e., Magikarp and tanks). After a few minutes, it finally registered that he was in no forest. He sat bolt upright as he took in his new surroundings.
To the left, right, bottom, and top of him were stars. They were scattered everywhere, twinkling and sparkling with a silvery light. Some were in clusters while others were spaced out, and some were so close it made them look like a celestial river of light had splashed across heaven.
James stared for quite a while, forgetting the predicament he was in, before he had the good sense to look down and see exactly what it was he was sitting on. It looked like a large slab of clear glass suspended in midair, until it hit him that it could be connected to something. He turned around.
The glass was actually a path, leading to the greatest structure he had ever seen. It was more like an arch, with great gates connected and flung wide open. They looked like they had been constructed of pure gold. The designs were intricate, complex, and beautiful. Every bit of it was glowing with a strange, ethereal aura. James took a step forward.
"Stop!" cried a voice, and the sound of frantic footsteps could be heard running down the path, although there was not a soul to be seen. James was acutely aware of someone watching him, but their presence was not seen until a small ball of light materialized in front of him. Gradually it expanded and stretched, until it had taken a human form, and then it solidified into a woman.
She was slight and dainty, wearing all white. Her hair was the very last and darkest shade of black, but it shone like obsidian all the way down her back, and her eyes were piercing and gold. "Where do you think you're going?" she asked. Her voice was deep and intimidating, a stark contrast to the rest of her.
"Uhh." said James intelligently, but then again, how can one know where they are going if they don't know where they are? But by now James was quite positive he was dreaming, and this knowledge gave him confidence. "To those gates," he replied.
"Do you think you can just go without an escort? Who knows what kind of trouble you people could cause. I've had so many problems, and you won't be the last, but if I can help it." she was now talking to herself, but that didn't pose to be too much of a problem, since James had stopped listening. He strolled idly up to the golden structures, plotting devious ways to steal them.
"Hey!" she snapped, and James turned back to her. "Come here! You have to have an escort."
"Why?" He had never been this aware of his dreams before. This was truly interesting to him. Or, perhaps he was always this aware but forgot as soon as he heard Jessie screaming at him to wake up. Maybe he always saw this girl.
"Because you are a mortal, and mortals are incompetent," she replied knowingly. "I bet you haven't even lived half a century."
"Well, duh!" James said angrily. "Do I look like a fifty year old to you? Do you see any wrinkles?"
She just stared at him, and he shrieked. "You see wrinkles? Where? Where? You've got to tell me!"
She sighed and wondered why she ever took this job. "I don't see any wrinkles," she relented, and watched as James stopped and sighed, immensely relieved. "Now follow me."
He pranced right up next to her. "Where are we going? What is this place? What am I doing here? Why did I come here?"
She cleared her throat and faced him. "If you must know."
"I must!" he interrupted, and her annoyance with him exploded out of control.
"Well, I'm not telling!" She said as she grabbed his collar forcefully and began to drag him towards the gates, huffing indignantly the entire way.
*
~
*
Upon crossing through the gates, James saw for the first time what must have been waiting for all good people once they die. To say the least, it was a gigantic, glowing, and humbling place, suspended between moons and stars and nebulae, with endless sparking waterfalls flowing down on all sides. The main area was a breathtaking collision of hills, dales and prairies, with mountains, forests, and valleys, and oceans and seas, lakes and rivers, and too many other naturally beautiful places to name. Some parts were rained upon while mists rose delicately from the ground; others were subject to an eternity of robust sunshine, while still others were caught in a blizzard to last all time. Parts were cast in a half dawn light, others in dwindling sunlight, and others in the dark of night.
James had never seen, or would never see, anything half so astonishingly beautiful. He just stood and gaped, and before he knew it, his legs were moving on their own accord towards the paradise. As soon as he saw it, all his mind was filled with was the desire to go there and rest. To be worry and sorrow free, forever. He knew that as soon as he stepped onto its threshold, he could take it easy, and never have to worry about little brats with pikachus or his boss or anything ever again.
"Oh no you don't," said a deep feminine voice, and he was jolted out of his reverie by a forceful backward tug. "Don't you think I've had this problem before? Yes I certainly have. I regret to inform you that you will not be going over there."
James turned and looked back at the woman- well, now that he got a better look, more like girl. She looked to be somewhere around his age, but shorter. He frowned, irritable at not being able to go to the paradise before him.
"Who are you?" he asked, and then, more to himself, "And when will this dream end?"
"Are you willing to listen to an explanation without interrupting me?" she replied. "I'll only tell you if you keep your mouth shut and listen, because I don't want to repeat myself here."
"Fine." James folded his arms and looked at down her as she cleared her throat. She flicked some of her dark hair over one shoulder and smoothed out her white robes.
"You really like to prepare yourself, don't you?" he commented. She stopped and glared up at him.
"For your information, when I am explaining something to a mortal fool such as yourself, I like to be sure there isn't anything on my person that would detract attention from what I am saying- which happens to be of great importance, and woe to you if you miss any of it. Believe me I have had problems- some people just can't get things straight even when I explain it to them twenty times. If fact there was one idiot that." her monologue was cut short by an exaggerated yawn coming from James. She gave him a nasty look before beginning once again.
"Anyway, the subject I was about to come to if I hadn't been so rudely interrupted, is this: people who come to this place are dead." Her voice was drowned out by a loud gasp from James.
"That's not true! It can't be! I'm too young and innocent to die! I've got things to do, places to see! I didn't get to tell any of my friends goodbye." he rambled like so for a good minute or so before it was his turn to be cut off.
"Excuse me! Didn't I tell you not to interrupt? I was about to say, in most natural cases."
"And I'm not a natural case?" asked James, calming down in a remarkable amount of time. Slowly, his earlier dream theory was dissolving in his mind, and he believed every word this woman said.
"No, as a matter of fact, you are not. Before you came here, you hit your head on a tree branch, is that correct?"
"I remember that! But..." He reached up and touched his head. "Why doesn't it hurt? I've run into trees before, and I never came out without a scratch like this."
"Because the form you are in right now is not your body. It's more like a manifestation of your consciousness."
"What?"
She sighed and shook her head. "I don't know how I ever got into this," she muttered, and then looked back up at James. "Listen, let me put it this way- when you are dreaming, the you in the dream is not necessarily the you that is flesh and blood."
"Yes it is. unless I'm dreaming that I'm someone else. One time I dreamed that I was."
"I don't care!" she yelled. "You aren't getting what I am trying to say. then again, that's what I should have expected. Listen to me, when you are dreaming, you can think and talk, but it is all in your mind."
"Right."
"That is your conscious. right now I am talking to James, but not his body." She stared at him expectantly, hoping he would understand.
James looked at her dumbly, before snapping his fingers. "Alright! I get it- when I am dreaming, it is me, because I can act and make decisions, but that is just part of what my mind is doing to create the dream. When I wake up, it is still my mind that I think with, but I use my body, instead of the body I have in my dreams. Is that right?"
Struck dumb by the ray of intelligence that had just broken through this otherwise dimwitted person, she could only nod.
He smiled happily like a kid whose teacher just gave him a gold star for good behavior. "So then that is the conscious that you are talking about. I can think and talk, but it's not my body, just. me." He looked down at himself. "But why do I look the same?"
She shrugged. "It's you, just not in body. You might as well look the same."
"So then what I am doing here?"
"Oh yeah! As I was explaining before, your body is still down on Earth where you came from. And, as I also said, you are an unnatural case, coming here without being dead. So that puts you in a position between life and death. Your body is alive, but you aren't in it."
"Why?"
"I was getting to that!" She sighed and smoothed over her robes once more. James began to see more and more of these little habits- from combing her hair with her fingers to smoothing out wrinkles in her clothing to just staring down at her hand, as if looking for imperfections. "Anyway," she continued, "Several coincidences piled up and warped the course of events. At some point, history was thrown off course." She paused and waited for his inevitable questioning.
"Coincidences? History?"
She grew serious. "These coincidences are things that were never meant to happen. Tiny things, but things nonetheless. They all came together and created one big unnatural event. For example, a butterfree could land on a branch that it was never mean to land on. When it flies away, the branch could break and fall before it was never meant to. It could fall on a place in which a sapling is growing, and crush it. That sapling could have grown to be a huge tree. All the pokemon who would have lived in that tree would have to find other homes. Maybe one of the pokemon would take its' family to the nearest city. And that family would grow and grow until that city had a problem. Then..."
"It's a pretty bad example, but I understand. Little things can add up to big things, is what you are saying."
"I'm thinking from the top of my head here!" she shouted. "But it's good you understand. Now, here is where you come in. Some of these coincidences come together and resulted in you dying before you were meant to."
"So that means I am dead, you liar!" He went back into hysterics, crying and sobbing about the unfairness of it all.
"I'm not lying! You are not dead. This is just a temporary development until everything down on earth is fixed up."
"Fixed up?" asked James. This was getting weirder and weirder for him, and he didn't know how much more he could take before he wrote himself off as insane.
"Yes, would you let me talk? They are going to have your body as good as new before I send you back down. I don't know how long that will take, so I might be stuck with you for a while."
"So when I hit my head on that branch, I should have been dead. But I wasn't meant to die there, so my conscious was sent here while my body gets repaired back down there."
"That is correct, I'm glad I wasn't wasting my time on you. Then again I would be quite angry if you were actually meant to die tomorrow." James gulped and became uncomfortable.
"But I'm not meant to die tomorrow, right?" he asked weakly.
"Let's have a look!" she said almost happily. At a wave of her hand, a huge book fell out from the stars and landed right in front of her. "This is the great Book of Fate. It lists the named of everyone who is presently living, and the date and time in which they will die."
"Let me see!" cried James.
"Here, have a look. Oh! What am I thinking?" she said as snatched the book away from him. "I can't just tell people what their fates are! The results would be calamitous! I can't believe I actually almost gave that to you."
"But why can't I just have a look?"
"Because, fool, what if I let you see this, and it says you are fated to die in an elevator two weeks from now. Would you get near any elevators two weeks later?"
"I don't want to die in an elevator."
"I think you've missed my point here."
"No, I see what you're saying. If people could see their fates, they would try to avoid them, and that would cause an unnatural prolonging of life."
She nodded her head approvingly. "You know," she said finally, "I think you are smarter than you look."
"Thanks. I think. But there is one last thing you haven't cleared up. Where do you come into all of this?"
"It's quite simple, really," she said. "I'm your escort through heaven. We immortals don't trust you mortals enough to let you wander around paradise. People who aren't dead are not meant to understand what it is like. That's why every person who is unfortunate enough to be a victim to the coincidence fiasco must have a guide so they don't see things they are not meant to see. But."
All at once her face grew sadder and more drawn. James took a step forward. She sighed. "But it's not often that something like this happens. Maybe once or twice in a decade. Most of the time it isn't even things I can talk to."
"But can't you talk to other people in charge around here?" he asked.
"No, some of us are lucky and get a job like a guardian angel, where you can talk to other guardian angels down on Earth. But I was stationed to be an escort to people like you, and it is such a rare occurrence that only one of us is needed. And that one is me. So I'm all alone here."
"But you always talk about how mad you get at the people who wander off and don't listen to you."
"I've been around here for a long time. I've met quite a few people, but the time is so far in between, I still have no one to talk to."
"So that's why you talk so much and worry about your appearance."
She glared at him angrily. "I don't know why on Earth I am telling you any of this. Like it matters to you. Come on, I might as well show you around." She began walking towards the paradise, and James noticed there were several other structures off to the side, all as magnificent as the gates. The glass path ran in a ring all the way around paradise, and every one of these places was stationed on this.
He walked slowly and stared at her from behind. She certainly had a lot of personality. She had a confident way of walking, but her strides were short. In fact all of her was short; he doubted if she would reach more than a little over five feet. But he was warming up to her, he could now see why she was such a perfectionist, and so long winded. "Come on!" she called as she turned back to him and held out a hand. "I don't know how much time we have, so let me show you around." He took her hand, it was cool and silvery as her slim fingers curled around his.
~
*
~
They came to the first building still hand in hand. James liked the idea of having a friend that lived in heaven; maybe she could help him out and get him a better opinion among others up here. But it seemed like she never got to opportunity to talk to other people unless they were like him. He knew she was talking, but the words came so fast and passionately it was easy to see she was speaking more to herself. He was only half listening, nodding or saying "hm" every time she paused. This amount to attention was enough for her, and she kept on rambling, as James gazed at his surroundings.
Finally she came to a halt in front of a huge palace. Its' spires and towers were all made of a shining crystal, and he could see every star reflected by its' surface. If this had been anywhere else, he would have sworn it was special effects from a movie. James had a very hard time taking it in as a real place.
"Do you like it?" she asked in a proud voice. "I remember when this place was built. Of course this was way before you existed. In fact it was way before humans in general existed, too."
"What is it?" he murmured, eyes still fixed on it.
"Well, this palace is where the greater powers in charge up here reside. It's got thousands of rooms filled with books on everything that ever lived. That way they can decide who comes and goes. It may look small for such a huge amount of rooms, but it's a great deal bigger once you go in."
"How is that?"
"Beats me. I didn't make it. I've been in there, though, and it's a real hard time to get out. I must have gotten lost a million times. I am pretty sure it uses an enchantment to make everything smaller once they cross through the doors, and bigger when they walk out. But don't quote me on that one. Things go on in here that even I don't understand. Some people say they don't understand how fate works- well, you would know if you understood what goes on in there. The ones who live there are the ones who take innocent's lives, and cause catastrophes, as well as choose who will discover miracle cures and make heroes." She looked up at the castle. "I don't know how it works. I'll never know. I've never seen the ones who live there, or know anything about them. For all I know, they might not even exist. Fate could be just a big joke."
"I believe in fate," said James absently.
"So do I."
Both were silent for a while, and James realized, startled, that he was still holding her hand. It was so small and light that he forgot it was even there. He let go of it and put his hands in his pockets, clearing his throat and glancing around. She looked embarrassed for a moment before walking ahead.
"You know," she said, "No one sees these places. Once they die, they are instantly taken to the paradise. None of this sightseeing goes on."
"Well, I'm special," James replied instantly without even pausing to think. She shook her head and sighed.
"No, you aren't. I'm just bored. You should be thankful."
James grew annoyed. "That's not true. You don't have anyone to talk to, and that's why. This is probably the highlight of your millennia." She looked hurt, and he stopped. Now that he thought about it, it probably really was the highlight of her millennia! He looked back at her, and saw that the earlier hurtful expression had dissolved into anger.
"Alright, that's fine," she growled in her threatening voice, "I can just send you back. You just see how much I care."
Being the stubborn person that he was, James said "I dare you." Immediately afterwards he felt bad, however, but he couldn't take it back. He wanted to apologize; he knew if he was in her position he wouldn't want to fight during the only time he had contact with someone to talk to. But that was too late now. She raised her hand, and with a flick of her wrist, he was gone.
~
*
~
For a moment all he saw was black, but eventually his vision came back to him. He was in the place which he last remembered hitting his head, in fact he was sitting on the branch. Voices from below caught his attention and he looked down.
It was him! Jessie and Meowth were kneeling by and shaking his body, which wasn't responding. He heard snatches of their conversation, pleas for him to open his eyes.
"Please, James. wake up. You have to be alright! We are in the middle of nowhere here. This is just like you! Picking the most inconvenient time!" It was Jessie alright. Then Meowth's voice rose over hers.
"C'mon Jimmy. dis ain't funny any more! Get up."
He smiled to himself, happy to see how much his friends cared. But he also didn't want to make them worry about him. He jumped down from the branch, not noticing that his impact did not cause the leaves to stir. He didn't even leave footprints in the semi muddy ground. But he was too busy making his way over to Jessie and Meowth to care about things like that. "Hey guys!" he called. "I'm over here!"
His partners made no move to acknowledge his presence, and James called their names. Still they remained fixed on his other body.
"Do you think he ever knew that I spent all his paycheck on catnip?" Meowth asked tearfully. James stopped. When did that happen?!
"I don't know, Meowth," replied Jessie. "James, if you wake up, I'll never steal your hairspray again!"
So that's where his cans of hairspray went!
He came up to Jessie, fully intent on letting her know exactly how he felt about the theft of his hair products. James reached out to tap her shoulder, and let out a loud shriek when his hand passed right through her. He ran over to Meowth and tried it on him, with the same result.
His friends didn't know he was here. They thought he was in that other body. What if they left him? How would he ever get back? The thought made his insides turn cold. That girl- the one in paradise- she would never let him come back now that he had made her mad. She had no concept of time- it could be years before she even thought about him again. He was doomed to wander Earth forever, without his handsome body. No one would ever admire his good looks again! Jessie and Meowth would think he was dead and forget him! He fell to his knees and tried to get his friends to notice him one last time. Still they didn't turn around. He closed his eyes and felt absolutely miserable.
A voice cut through his thoughts. "Now, I hope you think twice before being so rude again." His eyes snapped open and he found himself back in heaven, surrounded by twinkling stars. The girl stepped into his line of vision. "You humans," she said disgustedly, and then turned back around.
He jumped up. "I'm sorry!" he cried, even though the words sounded foreign (when they aren't directed at Jessie, that is). "Please forgive me! I'll never do that again!"
She looked back at him and smiled. "Alright, I forgive you. Don't worry so much, I couldn't leave you without a body. They'd banish me to the edge of the universe for something like that."
"So does that mean I was a ghost back there?" he asked.
"Yup. Soul without a body, classic ghost form."
He couldn't wait to tell Jessie and Meowth about this! "Does that mean ghosts are real?"
"Sure are. Sometimes after someone dies, they have unfinished business, or they just plain didn't want to die then. And, in rare cases, the family members or friends refuse to let them go. It happens. So they manifest themselves in a form much like the one you are in right now."
He tilted his head to one side. "But my friends couldn't see me. I always hear stuff about ghosts that people can see and get scared of."
"That would not be a ghost- those are called shinentai- or, the will of the person who has left the Earth behind. Their souls go here, but their will was so strong, it says and manifests itself into an almost solid form."
"That's scary. And confusing."
"I'm sure you'll get it one day," she said, and smiled for a brief moment. "This is probably the longest one of my charges has ever been here.
"Really? I must have hit my head pretty hard back there, then," he said, unconcerned. He wouldn't have minded staying for a while longer.
"You don't mind? Most people are scared out their minds, you know. I don't know if you are a truly special person, or just too dimwitted to have a proper reaction to all this."
"I'm a very special person."
"I think you're conceited."
He folded his arms. "I don't have any reason to be conceited. I think I'm great because I am!"
She sighed. "Forget what I said."
"Already did."
"Figures!" she said, gold eyes flashing, and walked up ahead, night black hair swaying behind her. Against a backdrop of stars and moons, she looked even more radiant and ethereal, like a goddess. James felt himself blush for a second before catching up.
~
*
~
to be continued.
Please review!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the stuff I made up. Like anybody reads these things anyway.
Summary: James hits his head on a tree branch and finds himself in paradise, only to discover everything had been a mistake and he has to go back to Earth. During the time everything is fixed up down below, he gets escorted around heaven by an angel and learns things about life and himself.
Author's Notes: This story has been in my head for a while now, and at first I was going to write the whole thing before posting it up, but one page turned into five pages, and five pages turned into 10 pages, and I realized that I had to chapter this sucker before it got any more out of control. It's a strange concept, so please bear with me, and I would be very happy to hear any and every comment anyone might have. Enjoy!
~
It happened the same way that day as any other. Team Rocket wanted to capture pikachu, Ash blasted them with the aforementioned rodent, and they went soaring past the clouds yelling the all too familiar, "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!"
*
James watched the trees rush past underneath him as he flew through the air. It was an almost guarantee that their landing was not going to be soft. Meowth was holding onto Jessie's leg, and Jessie was holding onto her hair. Flights like these always seemed to ruin her immaculate style, and she didn't want to go through the trouble of using all that hairspray again.
Soon they were heading downwards, and James was relieved to see a small clearing, filled with tall grass, which would make their fall at least a little less painful. Maybe their luck was changing after all, he thought. However, that statement did not turn out to be true, as those were his last thoughts before a tree branch came up to meet him very suddenly.
*
~
*
To say the least, James did not feel quite himself when he opened his eyes. For one, he felt quite a bit. lighter.
All that dieting finally paid off! He thought happily, wishing he had the money to go clothes shopping. But Jessie had sealed him off from all the accounts, since he had the unfortunate tendency to drain the money on sudden whims (i.e., Magikarp and tanks). After a few minutes, it finally registered that he was in no forest. He sat bolt upright as he took in his new surroundings.
To the left, right, bottom, and top of him were stars. They were scattered everywhere, twinkling and sparkling with a silvery light. Some were in clusters while others were spaced out, and some were so close it made them look like a celestial river of light had splashed across heaven.
James stared for quite a while, forgetting the predicament he was in, before he had the good sense to look down and see exactly what it was he was sitting on. It looked like a large slab of clear glass suspended in midair, until it hit him that it could be connected to something. He turned around.
The glass was actually a path, leading to the greatest structure he had ever seen. It was more like an arch, with great gates connected and flung wide open. They looked like they had been constructed of pure gold. The designs were intricate, complex, and beautiful. Every bit of it was glowing with a strange, ethereal aura. James took a step forward.
"Stop!" cried a voice, and the sound of frantic footsteps could be heard running down the path, although there was not a soul to be seen. James was acutely aware of someone watching him, but their presence was not seen until a small ball of light materialized in front of him. Gradually it expanded and stretched, until it had taken a human form, and then it solidified into a woman.
She was slight and dainty, wearing all white. Her hair was the very last and darkest shade of black, but it shone like obsidian all the way down her back, and her eyes were piercing and gold. "Where do you think you're going?" she asked. Her voice was deep and intimidating, a stark contrast to the rest of her.
"Uhh." said James intelligently, but then again, how can one know where they are going if they don't know where they are? But by now James was quite positive he was dreaming, and this knowledge gave him confidence. "To those gates," he replied.
"Do you think you can just go without an escort? Who knows what kind of trouble you people could cause. I've had so many problems, and you won't be the last, but if I can help it." she was now talking to herself, but that didn't pose to be too much of a problem, since James had stopped listening. He strolled idly up to the golden structures, plotting devious ways to steal them.
"Hey!" she snapped, and James turned back to her. "Come here! You have to have an escort."
"Why?" He had never been this aware of his dreams before. This was truly interesting to him. Or, perhaps he was always this aware but forgot as soon as he heard Jessie screaming at him to wake up. Maybe he always saw this girl.
"Because you are a mortal, and mortals are incompetent," she replied knowingly. "I bet you haven't even lived half a century."
"Well, duh!" James said angrily. "Do I look like a fifty year old to you? Do you see any wrinkles?"
She just stared at him, and he shrieked. "You see wrinkles? Where? Where? You've got to tell me!"
She sighed and wondered why she ever took this job. "I don't see any wrinkles," she relented, and watched as James stopped and sighed, immensely relieved. "Now follow me."
He pranced right up next to her. "Where are we going? What is this place? What am I doing here? Why did I come here?"
She cleared her throat and faced him. "If you must know."
"I must!" he interrupted, and her annoyance with him exploded out of control.
"Well, I'm not telling!" She said as she grabbed his collar forcefully and began to drag him towards the gates, huffing indignantly the entire way.
*
~
*
Upon crossing through the gates, James saw for the first time what must have been waiting for all good people once they die. To say the least, it was a gigantic, glowing, and humbling place, suspended between moons and stars and nebulae, with endless sparking waterfalls flowing down on all sides. The main area was a breathtaking collision of hills, dales and prairies, with mountains, forests, and valleys, and oceans and seas, lakes and rivers, and too many other naturally beautiful places to name. Some parts were rained upon while mists rose delicately from the ground; others were subject to an eternity of robust sunshine, while still others were caught in a blizzard to last all time. Parts were cast in a half dawn light, others in dwindling sunlight, and others in the dark of night.
James had never seen, or would never see, anything half so astonishingly beautiful. He just stood and gaped, and before he knew it, his legs were moving on their own accord towards the paradise. As soon as he saw it, all his mind was filled with was the desire to go there and rest. To be worry and sorrow free, forever. He knew that as soon as he stepped onto its threshold, he could take it easy, and never have to worry about little brats with pikachus or his boss or anything ever again.
"Oh no you don't," said a deep feminine voice, and he was jolted out of his reverie by a forceful backward tug. "Don't you think I've had this problem before? Yes I certainly have. I regret to inform you that you will not be going over there."
James turned and looked back at the woman- well, now that he got a better look, more like girl. She looked to be somewhere around his age, but shorter. He frowned, irritable at not being able to go to the paradise before him.
"Who are you?" he asked, and then, more to himself, "And when will this dream end?"
"Are you willing to listen to an explanation without interrupting me?" she replied. "I'll only tell you if you keep your mouth shut and listen, because I don't want to repeat myself here."
"Fine." James folded his arms and looked at down her as she cleared her throat. She flicked some of her dark hair over one shoulder and smoothed out her white robes.
"You really like to prepare yourself, don't you?" he commented. She stopped and glared up at him.
"For your information, when I am explaining something to a mortal fool such as yourself, I like to be sure there isn't anything on my person that would detract attention from what I am saying- which happens to be of great importance, and woe to you if you miss any of it. Believe me I have had problems- some people just can't get things straight even when I explain it to them twenty times. If fact there was one idiot that." her monologue was cut short by an exaggerated yawn coming from James. She gave him a nasty look before beginning once again.
"Anyway, the subject I was about to come to if I hadn't been so rudely interrupted, is this: people who come to this place are dead." Her voice was drowned out by a loud gasp from James.
"That's not true! It can't be! I'm too young and innocent to die! I've got things to do, places to see! I didn't get to tell any of my friends goodbye." he rambled like so for a good minute or so before it was his turn to be cut off.
"Excuse me! Didn't I tell you not to interrupt? I was about to say, in most natural cases."
"And I'm not a natural case?" asked James, calming down in a remarkable amount of time. Slowly, his earlier dream theory was dissolving in his mind, and he believed every word this woman said.
"No, as a matter of fact, you are not. Before you came here, you hit your head on a tree branch, is that correct?"
"I remember that! But..." He reached up and touched his head. "Why doesn't it hurt? I've run into trees before, and I never came out without a scratch like this."
"Because the form you are in right now is not your body. It's more like a manifestation of your consciousness."
"What?"
She sighed and shook her head. "I don't know how I ever got into this," she muttered, and then looked back up at James. "Listen, let me put it this way- when you are dreaming, the you in the dream is not necessarily the you that is flesh and blood."
"Yes it is. unless I'm dreaming that I'm someone else. One time I dreamed that I was."
"I don't care!" she yelled. "You aren't getting what I am trying to say. then again, that's what I should have expected. Listen to me, when you are dreaming, you can think and talk, but it is all in your mind."
"Right."
"That is your conscious. right now I am talking to James, but not his body." She stared at him expectantly, hoping he would understand.
James looked at her dumbly, before snapping his fingers. "Alright! I get it- when I am dreaming, it is me, because I can act and make decisions, but that is just part of what my mind is doing to create the dream. When I wake up, it is still my mind that I think with, but I use my body, instead of the body I have in my dreams. Is that right?"
Struck dumb by the ray of intelligence that had just broken through this otherwise dimwitted person, she could only nod.
He smiled happily like a kid whose teacher just gave him a gold star for good behavior. "So then that is the conscious that you are talking about. I can think and talk, but it's not my body, just. me." He looked down at himself. "But why do I look the same?"
She shrugged. "It's you, just not in body. You might as well look the same."
"So then what I am doing here?"
"Oh yeah! As I was explaining before, your body is still down on Earth where you came from. And, as I also said, you are an unnatural case, coming here without being dead. So that puts you in a position between life and death. Your body is alive, but you aren't in it."
"Why?"
"I was getting to that!" She sighed and smoothed over her robes once more. James began to see more and more of these little habits- from combing her hair with her fingers to smoothing out wrinkles in her clothing to just staring down at her hand, as if looking for imperfections. "Anyway," she continued, "Several coincidences piled up and warped the course of events. At some point, history was thrown off course." She paused and waited for his inevitable questioning.
"Coincidences? History?"
She grew serious. "These coincidences are things that were never meant to happen. Tiny things, but things nonetheless. They all came together and created one big unnatural event. For example, a butterfree could land on a branch that it was never mean to land on. When it flies away, the branch could break and fall before it was never meant to. It could fall on a place in which a sapling is growing, and crush it. That sapling could have grown to be a huge tree. All the pokemon who would have lived in that tree would have to find other homes. Maybe one of the pokemon would take its' family to the nearest city. And that family would grow and grow until that city had a problem. Then..."
"It's a pretty bad example, but I understand. Little things can add up to big things, is what you are saying."
"I'm thinking from the top of my head here!" she shouted. "But it's good you understand. Now, here is where you come in. Some of these coincidences come together and resulted in you dying before you were meant to."
"So that means I am dead, you liar!" He went back into hysterics, crying and sobbing about the unfairness of it all.
"I'm not lying! You are not dead. This is just a temporary development until everything down on earth is fixed up."
"Fixed up?" asked James. This was getting weirder and weirder for him, and he didn't know how much more he could take before he wrote himself off as insane.
"Yes, would you let me talk? They are going to have your body as good as new before I send you back down. I don't know how long that will take, so I might be stuck with you for a while."
"So when I hit my head on that branch, I should have been dead. But I wasn't meant to die there, so my conscious was sent here while my body gets repaired back down there."
"That is correct, I'm glad I wasn't wasting my time on you. Then again I would be quite angry if you were actually meant to die tomorrow." James gulped and became uncomfortable.
"But I'm not meant to die tomorrow, right?" he asked weakly.
"Let's have a look!" she said almost happily. At a wave of her hand, a huge book fell out from the stars and landed right in front of her. "This is the great Book of Fate. It lists the named of everyone who is presently living, and the date and time in which they will die."
"Let me see!" cried James.
"Here, have a look. Oh! What am I thinking?" she said as snatched the book away from him. "I can't just tell people what their fates are! The results would be calamitous! I can't believe I actually almost gave that to you."
"But why can't I just have a look?"
"Because, fool, what if I let you see this, and it says you are fated to die in an elevator two weeks from now. Would you get near any elevators two weeks later?"
"I don't want to die in an elevator."
"I think you've missed my point here."
"No, I see what you're saying. If people could see their fates, they would try to avoid them, and that would cause an unnatural prolonging of life."
She nodded her head approvingly. "You know," she said finally, "I think you are smarter than you look."
"Thanks. I think. But there is one last thing you haven't cleared up. Where do you come into all of this?"
"It's quite simple, really," she said. "I'm your escort through heaven. We immortals don't trust you mortals enough to let you wander around paradise. People who aren't dead are not meant to understand what it is like. That's why every person who is unfortunate enough to be a victim to the coincidence fiasco must have a guide so they don't see things they are not meant to see. But."
All at once her face grew sadder and more drawn. James took a step forward. She sighed. "But it's not often that something like this happens. Maybe once or twice in a decade. Most of the time it isn't even things I can talk to."
"But can't you talk to other people in charge around here?" he asked.
"No, some of us are lucky and get a job like a guardian angel, where you can talk to other guardian angels down on Earth. But I was stationed to be an escort to people like you, and it is such a rare occurrence that only one of us is needed. And that one is me. So I'm all alone here."
"But you always talk about how mad you get at the people who wander off and don't listen to you."
"I've been around here for a long time. I've met quite a few people, but the time is so far in between, I still have no one to talk to."
"So that's why you talk so much and worry about your appearance."
She glared at him angrily. "I don't know why on Earth I am telling you any of this. Like it matters to you. Come on, I might as well show you around." She began walking towards the paradise, and James noticed there were several other structures off to the side, all as magnificent as the gates. The glass path ran in a ring all the way around paradise, and every one of these places was stationed on this.
He walked slowly and stared at her from behind. She certainly had a lot of personality. She had a confident way of walking, but her strides were short. In fact all of her was short; he doubted if she would reach more than a little over five feet. But he was warming up to her, he could now see why she was such a perfectionist, and so long winded. "Come on!" she called as she turned back to him and held out a hand. "I don't know how much time we have, so let me show you around." He took her hand, it was cool and silvery as her slim fingers curled around his.
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*
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They came to the first building still hand in hand. James liked the idea of having a friend that lived in heaven; maybe she could help him out and get him a better opinion among others up here. But it seemed like she never got to opportunity to talk to other people unless they were like him. He knew she was talking, but the words came so fast and passionately it was easy to see she was speaking more to herself. He was only half listening, nodding or saying "hm" every time she paused. This amount to attention was enough for her, and she kept on rambling, as James gazed at his surroundings.
Finally she came to a halt in front of a huge palace. Its' spires and towers were all made of a shining crystal, and he could see every star reflected by its' surface. If this had been anywhere else, he would have sworn it was special effects from a movie. James had a very hard time taking it in as a real place.
"Do you like it?" she asked in a proud voice. "I remember when this place was built. Of course this was way before you existed. In fact it was way before humans in general existed, too."
"What is it?" he murmured, eyes still fixed on it.
"Well, this palace is where the greater powers in charge up here reside. It's got thousands of rooms filled with books on everything that ever lived. That way they can decide who comes and goes. It may look small for such a huge amount of rooms, but it's a great deal bigger once you go in."
"How is that?"
"Beats me. I didn't make it. I've been in there, though, and it's a real hard time to get out. I must have gotten lost a million times. I am pretty sure it uses an enchantment to make everything smaller once they cross through the doors, and bigger when they walk out. But don't quote me on that one. Things go on in here that even I don't understand. Some people say they don't understand how fate works- well, you would know if you understood what goes on in there. The ones who live there are the ones who take innocent's lives, and cause catastrophes, as well as choose who will discover miracle cures and make heroes." She looked up at the castle. "I don't know how it works. I'll never know. I've never seen the ones who live there, or know anything about them. For all I know, they might not even exist. Fate could be just a big joke."
"I believe in fate," said James absently.
"So do I."
Both were silent for a while, and James realized, startled, that he was still holding her hand. It was so small and light that he forgot it was even there. He let go of it and put his hands in his pockets, clearing his throat and glancing around. She looked embarrassed for a moment before walking ahead.
"You know," she said, "No one sees these places. Once they die, they are instantly taken to the paradise. None of this sightseeing goes on."
"Well, I'm special," James replied instantly without even pausing to think. She shook her head and sighed.
"No, you aren't. I'm just bored. You should be thankful."
James grew annoyed. "That's not true. You don't have anyone to talk to, and that's why. This is probably the highlight of your millennia." She looked hurt, and he stopped. Now that he thought about it, it probably really was the highlight of her millennia! He looked back at her, and saw that the earlier hurtful expression had dissolved into anger.
"Alright, that's fine," she growled in her threatening voice, "I can just send you back. You just see how much I care."
Being the stubborn person that he was, James said "I dare you." Immediately afterwards he felt bad, however, but he couldn't take it back. He wanted to apologize; he knew if he was in her position he wouldn't want to fight during the only time he had contact with someone to talk to. But that was too late now. She raised her hand, and with a flick of her wrist, he was gone.
~
*
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For a moment all he saw was black, but eventually his vision came back to him. He was in the place which he last remembered hitting his head, in fact he was sitting on the branch. Voices from below caught his attention and he looked down.
It was him! Jessie and Meowth were kneeling by and shaking his body, which wasn't responding. He heard snatches of their conversation, pleas for him to open his eyes.
"Please, James. wake up. You have to be alright! We are in the middle of nowhere here. This is just like you! Picking the most inconvenient time!" It was Jessie alright. Then Meowth's voice rose over hers.
"C'mon Jimmy. dis ain't funny any more! Get up."
He smiled to himself, happy to see how much his friends cared. But he also didn't want to make them worry about him. He jumped down from the branch, not noticing that his impact did not cause the leaves to stir. He didn't even leave footprints in the semi muddy ground. But he was too busy making his way over to Jessie and Meowth to care about things like that. "Hey guys!" he called. "I'm over here!"
His partners made no move to acknowledge his presence, and James called their names. Still they remained fixed on his other body.
"Do you think he ever knew that I spent all his paycheck on catnip?" Meowth asked tearfully. James stopped. When did that happen?!
"I don't know, Meowth," replied Jessie. "James, if you wake up, I'll never steal your hairspray again!"
So that's where his cans of hairspray went!
He came up to Jessie, fully intent on letting her know exactly how he felt about the theft of his hair products. James reached out to tap her shoulder, and let out a loud shriek when his hand passed right through her. He ran over to Meowth and tried it on him, with the same result.
His friends didn't know he was here. They thought he was in that other body. What if they left him? How would he ever get back? The thought made his insides turn cold. That girl- the one in paradise- she would never let him come back now that he had made her mad. She had no concept of time- it could be years before she even thought about him again. He was doomed to wander Earth forever, without his handsome body. No one would ever admire his good looks again! Jessie and Meowth would think he was dead and forget him! He fell to his knees and tried to get his friends to notice him one last time. Still they didn't turn around. He closed his eyes and felt absolutely miserable.
A voice cut through his thoughts. "Now, I hope you think twice before being so rude again." His eyes snapped open and he found himself back in heaven, surrounded by twinkling stars. The girl stepped into his line of vision. "You humans," she said disgustedly, and then turned back around.
He jumped up. "I'm sorry!" he cried, even though the words sounded foreign (when they aren't directed at Jessie, that is). "Please forgive me! I'll never do that again!"
She looked back at him and smiled. "Alright, I forgive you. Don't worry so much, I couldn't leave you without a body. They'd banish me to the edge of the universe for something like that."
"So does that mean I was a ghost back there?" he asked.
"Yup. Soul without a body, classic ghost form."
He couldn't wait to tell Jessie and Meowth about this! "Does that mean ghosts are real?"
"Sure are. Sometimes after someone dies, they have unfinished business, or they just plain didn't want to die then. And, in rare cases, the family members or friends refuse to let them go. It happens. So they manifest themselves in a form much like the one you are in right now."
He tilted his head to one side. "But my friends couldn't see me. I always hear stuff about ghosts that people can see and get scared of."
"That would not be a ghost- those are called shinentai- or, the will of the person who has left the Earth behind. Their souls go here, but their will was so strong, it says and manifests itself into an almost solid form."
"That's scary. And confusing."
"I'm sure you'll get it one day," she said, and smiled for a brief moment. "This is probably the longest one of my charges has ever been here.
"Really? I must have hit my head pretty hard back there, then," he said, unconcerned. He wouldn't have minded staying for a while longer.
"You don't mind? Most people are scared out their minds, you know. I don't know if you are a truly special person, or just too dimwitted to have a proper reaction to all this."
"I'm a very special person."
"I think you're conceited."
He folded his arms. "I don't have any reason to be conceited. I think I'm great because I am!"
She sighed. "Forget what I said."
"Already did."
"Figures!" she said, gold eyes flashing, and walked up ahead, night black hair swaying behind her. Against a backdrop of stars and moons, she looked even more radiant and ethereal, like a goddess. James felt himself blush for a second before catching up.
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to be continued.
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