This is just something my weird mind came up with. I was wondering what would have happened if Layla hadn't died, but in fact had given birth to the baby. And what would have happened if the baby had been a girl? Slightly (or maybe not that slightly) AU, Kato/OC
I own: an eyebrow piercing, a dwindling (sniff) pack of vanilla!cigarettes and a new cell phone. Angel Sanctuary is one of the many things I do not own.
GAAAH! I've been wanting to write this for YEARS! The complete storyline is already in my head, but it's really hard (for me at least) to put it in words. Just so you know, I would never in a million years abandon this story, even if it takes me that long to update...
My first fanfic, please be nice. Constructive criticism helps a lot more than flaming…well, it helps me a lot more…
Enjoy!
Behind Red Eyes: Prologue
Heaven
Sevi's chambers
"This earring...what is this that the messiah dropped?" Sevothtarte, Prime Minister of Heaven, formerly known as Layla, examined the earring Setsuna had dropped. As far as she could see, there was nothing special about it.
"Just a worthless piece of junk!" She flung the earring away without even noticing that it fell into an open drawer…
In the tower
Layla sat in the chair, staring downwards at her pregnant belly. She was already half crazy with rage and despair (and would be more than half if not for the sedatives). Sandalphon's child…!
She could not bear to think of it. From outside her room, whispers could be heard. "She's due pretty soon…I still wonder whose child that is!"
The woman in concern laughed quietly. She knew whose child it was and she would rather not know or even have the child. Layla had contemplated suicide a few times, but she wasn't sure if the afterlife wouldn't hold more horrors in store for her. After all, hadn't she killed many, many people? And she was sure to go to hell, dirtied…stained as she was.
Suddenly, it felt like her whole body contracted. Layla screamed out in pain. The other women in the tower could not help hearing this. "Oh my God, the baby's coming!"
Later
Layla rocked the baby in her arms, singing to it (as best she could with her ruined voice), when suddenly there was a noise at the window. Since there was no view of it from Layla's bed, she was worried.
She heard the window open and someone slide in. The poor woman was nearly scared to death already, but she was trying to calm her daughter, who could sense her mother's fear and was starting to cry.
Whoever was intruding didn't seem to think much of being stealthy. Layla heard heavy breathing. A man's heavy breathing. Then footsteps. And who should appear quite close to the new mother's bed, but the father of the newborn?
Layla's eyes opened wide in shock. What was he doing here? Sandalphon seemed to only have eyes for the little girl. He took her out of her mother's arms and held her. A glow surrounded the child until Layla recovered from her trance enough to take her baby back.
"What in heaven's name are you doing? Leave us alone!"
"I was merely slowing her aging down."
"What?"
"Well, actually, I was hoping for a male child, whose body I could take over. That body would obviously have to grow fast enough that I wouldn't have to spend ages growing up. You were only pregnant for nine days instead of nine months, right?"
"Yes…but what now? Does this mean she'll age as slowly as a normal angel?"
"Alas, no. Since you interrupted me, it will be a little faster. More like how a human child would age."
"Can't you … slow it down some more?"
"No. That would be dangerous for her. What's her name, anyway?"
"None of your business. Leave us alone."
"Layla…"
"Now! Go away! If I ever see your face again, it'll be too soon!"
For a moment, Sandalphon looked as if he were about to cry. He turned away and left the woman he loved and their little girl. Somehow he knew he was never going to see them again while he lived.
A few days later
One of the attendants came up the stairs. "Here, honey, I've brought some clothes for you."
"From my old house, I suppose?" Layla asked wryly. "By the way, when's my trial going to be?"
"Oh, they've postponed that because of all the chaos out there. Anyway, you can't deceive yourself about the sentence and you'll probably want to make some arrangements for your little one."
"No, I know what will happen to me after the trial. But what will they do to Anael?"
"That what you've called her?"
"Yes, after my best friend. She died ages ago. What will happen to my baby when I'm a ghoul?"
Hearing this, the attendant gasped.
"You told me not to deceive myself. I am fully aware I'll get my wings cut off. Now, please answer my question!"
"Well, depends on the regime, doesn't it? Rosiel won't want any descendant of yours around and many others don't like Improper Children at all. The best hopes for her are the messiah and the Anima Mundi."
"I never liked either, but if that means Anael survives…well, good luck to them!"
The attendant woman smiled. "I'll just put your clothes here next to your bed then, shall I?"
"What? Oh, sure."
Suddenly, Layla started coughing so heavily that she convulsed every time.
"Honey? You OK?"
"Does it -cough- look like it -cough-?"
The woman ran off to get a doctor. Neither of them had noticed the earring in between the layers of clothing on the bedside table.
It turned out that Layla had some kind of lung disease, which would kill her in a week or two. Unfortunately, Raphael couldn't be found anywhere and he was the only one who could have healed her.
Soon afterwards, the news came out that the Anima Mundi had won. The Messiah had defeated "God", Etemenanki had collapsed and Rosiel was nowhere to be found.
Layla, however, was at a point where she almost didn't care anymore.
By now, she had found the earring and left it on the table. Suddenly, it started to sing, causing Layla to lift her head from the pillow. It seemed as if ivy were coming out of it, which
then began to take the form of a man Layla had almost forgotten, but in a way remembered every day.
"Layla, my love," Nidvhegg said, "I am here to take you with me."
"Where to?"
"Another place, maybe it could be the real heaven…"
"Me, go to heaven? Sure, after all I've-" Layla exclaimed, before being interrupted.
"Shh, love, you're a good person at heart, no matter what this world has turned you into," he said, trying to placate her.
"But what about Anael? What about my child? I can't just leave her!"
Nidvhegg looked at the little girl sleeping peacefully in the crib. "Layla, I am sorry, but, as you may know, you are dying. I-I'm sad you'll never be able to raise her."
"Like I would be able to anyway. You're right, even if I didn't have this disease...well, I'm as good as dead anyway. I-" Layla, ex-dictator of Heaven, who thought herself above emotion or
any sort of "weakness", began to cry. "I just w-want her to have a b-better life than me - she - I don't even know what's going to happen to her!"
Nidvhegg put his arm around her shoulder. "My dearest angel, you can be assured she'll be alright. If I know the Messiah like I think I do, he'll make sure she's all right."
"As long as I don't have to worry..."
Saying this, Layla got up from the bed, frowning when she noticed she'd left her body behind. She went to the crib and looked at her daughter, who, wide awake now, stared back.
"Anael, my darling baby girl, I love you more than life itself. Life has now left me, but I will never leave you. I will always be there for you, in a way. You will never believe how sad it makes me to not be able to hold you, or pick you up ever again. I wish you all the best of this life, and nothing of it's worst. Goodbye, Anael."
With these words, Layla left, hand in hand with her - for want of a better word - soulmate.
The little girl in the crib gave out an ear-splitting wail, bemoaning the loss of her mother.
Just then, two men came up the tower stairs. Their talk being interrupted by the wail, they paused in front of the door.
"What do you think is going on in there, Uriel?"
"I don't know, Raziel, we'll have to look."
Upon entering the room, they beheld the scene. Raziel checked for a pulse on Layla, but to no avail. Uriel, meanwhile, was trying to comfort the baby.
"Uriel - she's gone. The time to determine the girl's future is now."
"What do you think of my earlier suggestion?"
Raziel shrugged.
"Well, that was the best plan so far. To Earth it is, then."
A/N: Flying monkey droppings! Over 1800 words! How did I manage that?
So, how was that? I like the idea of Uriel trying to calm a baby down. One character might seem to be a bit OOC, but the Sevy/Layla-in-my-head is just a tiny bit sarcastic. Wouldn't you be?
Sorry for the insufficient paragraphing, but something screwed up and it's not letting me put more in.
Please review!