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Overall Disclaimer: KoDraCan Productions disclaims the Super Robot…oh, screw it- We disclaims SRMTHFG (!). I repeat, we do NOT own, distribute, produce, or sell this franchise for profit or ratings. The following document is a fan-based piece of literature intended for entertainment purposes only, and should be regarded as such. Ciro Neili and the Jetix division of Disney own this franchise.

Overall Claimer: KoDraCan Productions claim all rights to the fictional place Harkening Square and all non-canon fictional characters that are NOT part of the SRMTHFG canon.

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Overall Warning: This story contains the following themes that should be regarded with caution before reading. If you do not approve of the following, then we kindly ask you not read this story in the first place. The following themes are:

OUT OF CHARACTERNESS

Heterosexual Romance

Homosexual Romance

Hurt/Comfort

Foul Language

References to Self-Harm

Reference to Some Religion

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

Pairing(s): eventual Gyrus Krinkle/Valina; eventual Alchemist/Captain Shuggazoom

PROCEED WITH CAUTION, OR GET OUT OF DODGE!! YOU WERE WARNED!

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Notes: If you're going to leave a review, don't bitch at me about

A) The fact that I'm pairing Krinkle and Valina and

B) Any possible occurrences of OOC-ness. That's covered in the warning.

Also, Scrapperton from 'Magnetic Menace' and other episodes will be known as Milton Remington in this story. (He became human when he died.)

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The After Life Chronicles

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Chapter One: The New Arrival

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"Mistress Avon?" A voice of a young girl asked as she shyly made her way into a lit room. A winged, female deity with blond hair and soft grey eyes looked up from her scrolls and acknowledged the young, child-like cherubim in her otherworldly office. The cherubim looked like a little girl with short curly hair and rosy cheeks and super-deformed white wings.

"Yes, Erika?" The older deity asked placing the scroll down.

"The new arrivals are stationed in Harkening Square, awaiting verdict."

"I already sent Ayara to situate the new arrivals." Avon waved off, getting ready to go back to her mountain of paperwork and scrolls.
"Ayara is encountering some…difficulty...with one of the arrivals. She's adjusting rather violently to the news that she had passed on." Erika admitted, starching the back of her head.

"Ayara sent you to ask me for help?" Avon concluded with a small, knowing smile.

"Yes, Mistress Avon. Forgive my intrusion as you are very busy as of late." Erika blushed, bowing in respect to the elder deity.

Avon sighed and rolled up the scroll she had been studying for the past few hours."It's quite alright, little Erika, I don't bite. I am just as much as your sister as your ruler."

She stood up, letting her white wings spread out. "Very well; I will assist Ayara with this arrival."
"Yes, Mistress! Thank you, Mistress." Erika chirped.

Harkening Square; it is a place where all recently passed life-forms go when they die to await where they will be placed in the afterlife. It can be accurately described as a city like Shuggazoom, only there's more noticeable greenery and fewer skyscrapers. This particular purgatory is under the observation of High Mistress Avon, keeper of the deceased's life stories and her various seraphim and cherubim. One seraph, Captain Ayara, watched in wonder as she witnessed an odd young woman.

"I AM NOT DEAD!"

Such was the words of the once great skull-sorceress Valina. Amongst the thousands of ghostly apparitions wandering about the brightly lit Harkening Square, there she was, running. To where she had no clue, she had no powers, no recollection of how she got here and she was alone. Everywhere she stopped, she heard:

"Give up, girl. You're dead."

"You've some nerve talking back to Captain Ayara."

"Is she insane?! She ought to be happy that Captain Ayara was gracious enough to let her come here!"

"I AM NOT DEAD!" Valina repeated after catching her breath. She was now slumped against a wall and exhausted from screaming her lungs out. Two white-winged seraphs cornered her.

"Please, Valina Suenko. Calm down." The first one pleaded.

"I am not dead! And how dare you use that name to refer to me! I am the Skull Sorceress for the great Skeleton King! I am--" Valina began on a rant before the second one held his hand up to silence her.

"—his chosen one, yes we're well aware of your title preference, Ms. Suenko. But the fact remains that you are dead by your great king's hands."

The news struck Valina's heart (or what was left of it) like a fury of rapier strikes.

"YOU LIE! That's not true! My king would never--"

"If your precious king didn't kill you…then why are you here in the afterlife?" The first seraph questioned her.

"I…I…I am not dead…" Valina shakily repeated. The memory of her king's last words to her before he revealed his palm to her and then the blinding force of the resurrected Skeleton King's power, tearing her body to nothing were playing over and over again in her mind. She was shaking violently, hugging herself.

A new voice commanded, "Stand down, seraphs. Valina Suenko is in my company now."

"High Mistress Avon and Sgt. Erika!" The seraphs beamed, gladly backing away for the High Mistress to take control. Avon looked at Valina and offered a sympathetic hand.

"Valina Suenko, you are in my jurisdiction for now." Avon began. Valina swatted her hand away, staring at the other woman with a wild expression. How dare this…thi…this bitch pity me!

" Wench! I am--"

"I'm aware of who you are, Ms. Suenko." Avon concluded, unfazed by Valina's hostility towards sympathy.

"How dare you refer to the High Mistress as a wench, you insolent human girl!?" The seraphs gasped, readying their weapons should the skull sorceress further insult Avon.

"Enough, seraphs. I had expected Ms. Suenko to be hostile, as all practitioners of sorcery are when they arrive here in Harkening Square. Return to Ayara for further instructions." Avon commanded.

"Y-Yes, High Mistress." The seraphim nodded, withdrawing their weapons.

The seraphs flew away with Erika behind them, leaving just the confused skull sorceress and the deity. "Come, Valina. I will explain everything." Avon instructed.

"And I should go with you WHY?" The young woman snorted.

"Do you want answers as to why you're here or not?" Avon sighed, placing her hands on her hips.

"I could just blast you; you know. I just didn't choose to do it when you had your little winged entourage to interfere to protect their precious mistress. What kind of a title is 'High Mistress' anyways?"

"You bluff a lot for a woman who's utterly powerless and lacking her repertoire of magic."

Damn…her, Valina snarled mentally. The bitch called my bluff.

"I didn't 'call your bluff'. I know you have no magic. And I am not a bitch." Avon said.

A fuming Valina crossed her arms and muttered, "Fine."

Avon snapped her fingers and a white disc wide enough for the both of them appeared under their feet. Valina shrieked and tripped, landing ass-first on the white surface. The disc flew them over the city as the deceased souls waved to Avon.

"This is the Afterlife under my jurisdiction. I am High Mistress Avon, overseer of this plane of reality and the bookkeeper of all the chronicles of a person's life. However miniscule the act, it is recorded in their chronicle and continued to be recorded when that person arrives here." Avon began as Valina struggled to keep her body on the disc.

"I don't care about the afterlife! I want to return to the living realm! I want to return to MY world!!" Valina shouted holding on for dear life.

"You cannot do that, Valina. Your body was obliterated in your realm."

"PUT ME IN ANOTHER!"

"You were a sorceress in your life and because of that occupation; there is no option for you to be reborn in another vessel. You can, however, observe what is happening in your world. There is a vantage point in Kayos Tower that lets you peer into the world you left behind." Avon told her, pointing to the tallest skyscraper.

"WHAT FUCKING GOOD DOES THAT DO ME?!"

Avon ignored Valina's profane inquiry and continued, "From here, you are given two choices, Ms. Suenko. One you can go into the Void, where lost souls rest indefinitely. Two, you can stay here in Harkening Square and live out your new life."

"Did you not HEAR me, you blonde succubus!? I DEMAND THAT YOU RETRUN ME TO MY WORLD IMMEDIALETY!"

"I gave you your options, Valina. So I would suggest that you consider them well." Avon warned her in a n icy tone, " I will now take you to your temporary lodgings. Perhaps talking to some of your fellow deceased will ease your mind."

"Wait! What are you—AIIEEE!!"

The two were at a small lodging of sorts. Avon, having wings, was unfazed by the ride, looking like a true beauty. Valina on the other hand…well, her hair and clothing were a mess and she looked as if she was about to puke.

"Whatever you choose, Ms. Suenko, the decision is yours." Avon said, hopping off the disc. She commanded the disc to place Valina down.

"I…dislike you so much." Valina managed to say before she retched on the ground.

"…In time, you will adjust to your lot here. I am sure of it."

"You're impossible!" Valina shouted, yanking her hair.

"You will find that I am not as 'impossible' as you feel I am being towards you. You better get a room while there is still some availability here. Otherwise you'll have to travel by foot to the next lodging clear across Harkening Square. It's a very big place, as you can imagine."

Avon took flight to the sky, leaving a pissed-off witch in her wake. Valina looked back at the small, building and sighed, dragging her feet towards the entrance.

"Oh, it's the one that High Mistress warned us about." One cherub said to another in the vast lobby.

"You! Sorceress! Come over here! Your room's already reserved." The other one said, waving to get Valina's attention.

Later, the former witch found herself in a spacious cabin with a bed, a dresser and a mirror. After explaining to the two cherubim that she was THE SKULL SORCERESS, she was given a key and a smart ass remark. ("If you're such a grand witch, you could have used your powers to stay alive instead of getting all pissy at us.") "Great." She growled, "I'm stuck here in this pit with no powers, no way out and no way back to my world. I have to deal with a perky High Angel who thinks she's the shit and a bunch of her winged pixies that all have something smart to say to me!"

She stomped towards the mirror and looked at her reflection. Staring back at her was a woman who looked like she had been through a windstorm. Above her head was a dull halo. The halo was something she never noticed, nor was small protruding bone mass with black fuzz growing from her back, She touched the bone mass, trembling as she felt it twitch from her icy grasp. "They CAN'T be." Valina gasped.

"Yes, they can. You're growing wings…black wings at that." Another voice explained. Valina turned around and saw a woman with russet skin, grey eyes and snow-white hair. She looked no older then twenty and was wearing a slate-colored pantsuit.

"Who are you?" Valina demanded.

"I'm Denise Defoe. You're my new roommate and charge."

"Forgive me if I'm not for sharing my space." The witch snarled.

"Oh, you're gonna be fun..." the other girl snickered, "Relax, lady. You're obviously new to being dead and a little hostile. I'm not really a roommate, I'm more like a babysitter assigned to watch over you by the High Mistress and be your personal tour guide."

"Great, another winged pixie under that bitch's—wait…you don't have wings like the others."

"Well, I hide mine. And for the record, that 'bitch' is someone's mother: mine." Denise huffed.

"Now I have an even bigger reason to hate this place..."

" I'm gonna let those slide, since you're a bit fixated on Mr. Skeleton King."

"YOU'VE NO RIGHT TO SPEAK HIS NAME!"

"Easy, Valina…" Denise waved her hands in defense.

"NO! Every person I come across in this forsaken pit tells me to relax! I being told I'm DEAD!"

"How did they say you died?"

"I was…I was killed by my beloved master's hands!"

"Well, that's true. I brought your chronicle over for you to witness your last moments living and get this cleared up." Denise offered, holding up a big book.

Denise opened the book to the last page. A projection showed Valina's body being blasted to nothing as Skeleton King 'rewarded' her for resurrecting him.

"Now do you believe me?" Denise asked her.

"That….that proves nothing!" Valina began, trembling again. The images, combined with her memory proved too much to comprehend. She sunk to the floor and cried for the first time since her youth.

"Valina…?" Denise asked, watching the witch break down.

"I'm not dead…I can't be dead…I'm Skeleton King's chosen one…I'm not dead…" Valina chanted.