Inspired By Chobits
Created By Clamp
Written by Me!
Chapter 1: Birth of an ArchAngel
Sun had long set in Tokyo, and the sky was a dark mirage of blues, violets, and oranges. Sayoko groaned sleepily atop her textbooks, and stretched out her arms.
"Homework never took this long back home," she thought, fondly recalling the memories.
"Home" was Russia, France, England.... "Home" was Canada, America, Brazil... "Home" was never a fixed place for Sayoko. For as long as she could remember, Sayoko had traveled across the globe with her father, whose jobs as both Assistant Director of the Angel Production Department and head of the Promoting Committee of Angelic Layer International made it nearly impossible for him to settle down. Fortunately, Sayoko's mother was also partner, so the family jumped from country to country without becoming separated. And though Sayoko's mother died when she was an infant, life with her father was still enjoyable ... until Michiru came along. Afraid that Sayoko lacked a normal childhood, Hoshiru moved back to his old homeland of Japan, and left his daughter in her Stepmother's care. Though Hoshiru visited frequently, life for Sayoko never seemed the same.
Sayoko turned her attention to the laptop on her desk. The laptop was connected to an electronic device that encompassed the floating doll that was inside her Angel egg in a cylindrical forcefield.
"My very own Angel," Sayoko mused, excited. "I wonder how it will turn out?"
WELCOME TO ANGELIC LAYER, the screen read. PLEASE FILL OUT THE DESIRED SPECIFICATIONS OF YOUR ANGEL.
"Hmm ... what should you look like? Maybe you should look like me? Or mama? Maybe even Michiru?" A frown creased her brow. She shook her head, hard. "No," she stated almost reprimandingly at herself. "Papa made you just for me. You're unique, so you should look unique."
Flipping on the TV for inspiration, Sayoko found an Angelic Layer tournament playing. The young girl was quickly enchanted by the Angels' grace and speed. Their movements were fluidic and beautiful, every step elegant perfection. Though each Angel that battled was special in its own way, there was one common factor...
"The're all girls," Sayoko commented. She swiveled her chair to the unfinished Angel. "Maybe that's how you'll be different. You'll be a boy."
She typed in MALE in the gender slot. Now she had to designate its body type, hair and eye color, specialties, attacks, and other items. Sayoko gazed back at the doll, her former happiness shadowed with deep longing.
"I want you to be everything I'm not," She said, her tone serious. "I want you to be athletic and strong. I want you to be pretty and outgoing. I want you to be swift, and fight well, and ... have perfect vision." She smirked as she adjusted her glasses.
"Demo ... you should also be warm and gentle. You should be intelligent and poetic and enjoy classical music and dance and...oh, what am I talking about. Angels can't dance, can they?" She laughed at her own imagination. "It's like I'm describing what I want in a boyfriend, not an Angel!"
()*()*()
And it was done. All the Angel's physical attributes were tailored to her wishes. Sayoko clicked the last response and pressed enter. Though she was fairly new to Angelic Layer and did not know what to expect, Sayoko knew that what happened was not normal.
Shrieking noise. Flickering lights. The laptop had gone utterly berserk as a flood of letters and numbers scrolled over the screen. Sayoko tried to touch ESC, but hot sparks shot out between the keyboard keys. The outlet where the laptop was plugged in exploded with electricity, and a brief flame erupted from the wires. Even the lights on the ceiling were faltering. In a matter of seconds, her entire room was a madhouse of fire, electricity, and splitting noise. A frightened Sayoko fled to the door, but it was locked shut. She glanced at the thick smoke consuming her desk, and prayed for it all to end.
Then came darkness.
Sayoko opened her watery eyes. The noise suddenly halted, fire and sparks disappeared. The room was in complete darkness, except for one thing. Through the window, a beam of silver moonlight was shinning on a small object. It had the built of a young man with ruffled short hair radiating like the sun. Silver transparent wings were attached to his back. Though illuminated by the moonlight, he was glowing with his own aura, and the forcefield once surrounding him had twisted into a golden halo, now crowning his head.
Sayoko was frozen. Fear paralyzed any movement. Her brown eyes were fixed on the floating Angel above her desk.
"What ... what are you?" she breathed.
The silver wings fluttered and withered, and the halo vanished. The Angel opened his eyes, gorgeous light emeralds that sparkled with life. Their eyes met, the Angel's and Sayoko's, and something inside her sparked.
"You.. you are my Angel, aren't you?" her voice said trembling.
The Angel's lips warmed into a smile, and for a moment his gentle calmness soothed her fears. But his eyes unexpectedly slammed shut, and the Angel fainted to the floor.
The lights snapped on. The room returned to normal. Sayoko ran to her new creation and held it in her shaking hands, and questioned herself if what she just saw was actually real.
The symbols streaming across the laptop screen disappeared without her noticing, and was replaced with a single phrase.