Author: Morien Alexander
-
Series: Bakuretsu Tenshi
-
Warnings: SPOILER for the end of the series. Meg/Jo. Lots of gooshy blood.
-
Disclaimer: I don't own Bakutenshi. Sadly enough.
-
Notes: I wasn't sure whether or not I liked the ending of the series. Regardless, however, I loved the Meg/Jo love love in the series, and wanted to play with that a little, regarding the last episode. Please do not read this if you're not into girls loving girls, if you don't like spoilers, or if you can't stand bloody stuff. I was also playing with a different sort of writing style than I usually use. Hope it's not too confusing.
-
-
-
Glass Coffin
They found her with it, broken, but not steaming.
It had fallen with such a crash that no one in the area had been able to avoid the curiosity of peeking out of windows. Heads appeared, saw the mass of red metal, and vanished again into their holes. No one wanted the kind of trouble promised by investigating the steam-shrouded robot. No one but the children.
They crept out of their dilapidated houses, curious wide eyes searching for each other. In groups of three and five they came, peering over the ruin, poking it with discarded straws, cigarette butts. One child actually reached out with her hand, but snatched it back, screaming, burnt. The brothers from the top floor of the shortest building hung together, lead by their dark haired companion- testing the ruin for any possible toys. Where they lived, toys were things you found on the streets. Cups, stones, parts of cars, discarded toothpicks. And this was fair game. This was their territory. Once it cooled, had been forgotten, the adults would be on it, searching for valuables, but when it was still hot, the children had their chance.
The twins found her.
She was bent into a nearly impossible position, half in, half out of the cockpit of the robot. The door had closed over her abdomen, spilling her blood and innards in little dark burned spots. The back of her head rested against the machine, smelling of blackened hair. Her blue eyes were wide, shivering, her mouth moving with the oncoming twitches of death. Her red hair spilled out around her, shining, smoking.
"Miss?" One of the little girls asked, politely.
Ragged breathing.
"Miss?" The girl reached up and touched one long-nailed hand in the center of her palm. The hand twitched convulsively, and the girl couldn't help but squeak just a little. "Should we call a 'nambulance?"
Choking sounds.
Sputtering.
"Call it!" said one of the twins, stamping his foot to emphasize the point.
"Phone gone," replied a child of no more than three.
"Pretty!" Another small child held up her arms to the dying woman, asking to be picked up.
"She is pretty," a boy of roughly eight said.
"Is she dead?"
"Soon."
The children watched her intently. The phone to call for help was indeed gone. No one had bothered to use telephone lines in this area for at least six months. None of the adults would help her. She was dying under the eyes of the innocent- those who would grow up to kill and maim and be recognized as the offal of the city. Her chest heaved, blood rushed from her mouth.
And in one choked breath...
Nothing.
Risky, risky. The children looked at each other. And then they gathered her in their arms. Seven to her upper body, ripping it from the other half. The other five dragged her legs, extracted from the cooling body of the robot. They lay her out, the fresh, beautiful, blood soaked dead, on the pavement. Like small, respectful vultures, they circled around her, unsure of what to do next. One of the twins placed a rock beside her. And then another. And another. The chain grew, encircled her, became a protective ring about the lovely dead.
And the children watched her, even as their parents crept from houses to strip the metallic monster of its shine, and crept back inside to gloat over their possessions. It wasn't until the streets grew dark that they began peeling away from her reluctantly. She was theirs, their body in an invisible coffin.
The rats came out and more children left, only five staying behind to shoot rocks at the rodents with hand made slingshots.
She cooled slower than the robot- she did not steam.
-
-
-
Above and beyond the physical world, there is a middle land where souls wander, falling through holes, slipping up ladders, waiting for their next shipment. Babies, ghosts, gods, murderers. Spirits. And she was among them.
The red haired girl was sure that she hadn't moved on.
She wouldn't.
And then... like light... like shadow... there she was. Not quite the same, and yet, not different at all. Same silent expression, same narrow red eyes. Same... and somehow more of herself. The red haired girl moved towards her. The girl with red eyes looked back.
"I expected you."
No response.
"You took too long."
And then Meg burst into tears, running forward and burying her face in Jo's shoulder. "If you leave me again, I'll kill you. I loved you, you stupid stupid stupid girl!" And she was comforted with the thoughts of destiny.
End