A/N: for those on , I have no idea exactly where to put this since it's got a little of a lot of other stories and whatnot so I put it in the Robin Hood category. I suppose I could put it in the Jeanne game category, but it doesn't have enough of that to do much with it. And yeah, I like shoving together various, different stories for my own amusement. It's fun. :D
Chapter One
Robin expected many things of heaven, but what he had not expected to see was a world like the one he left. Not with humans being horrible to one another and the daily grind of life, but the world itself was like Earth. In fact, if one chose it the world could change to be the place you loved the most or the one you were last laid to rest. But the colors and the smells, the sensations, all of it was intense and pure; it was as though Earth was simply an old artist's rendering of the real thing.
That is, he found heaven after he managed to get past the two strange figures sorting people out. One was a tall, faceless male figure with a gray cloak with its hood drawn up to hide his face. The other was a slightly shorter male figure, also faceless, but for some reason neither one made him afraid of them. The gray cloaked figure seemed to automatically pick off people and nudge them one direction or another. Every so often, Robin had seen a couple of people be shoved off and they would disappear through a door that read "Earth" on a sign over it.
On one side he saw a brilliantly lit place with bright fires in hues of orange and yellow and red. But for all of its brilliant light it was as cold as the coldest winter. There stood a man taking in small numbers of people, though Robin wasn't entirely certain he could really be called a man. He was tall with a human man's body, arms and legs entirely human, but his face was unearthly beautiful and his eyes were red like a demon's. His long, shiny black hair ran down his back over a pair of black feathered wings and two long bull horns protruded from his head.
On the other side of the rather blank "sorting" room was a brilliantly lit place that was as warm as the warmest, most loving embrace. This doorway was as wide as the "hell" doorway, but no one was standing and ushering in people, though a lot of men, women and children made their way toward the bright, warm door. That was how he had found himself inside Heaven. The gray cloaked figure looked over him and had nodded toward him and then nudged him to the Heaven door as though he had somehow managed to say "All right, in you go. NEXT!"
Once in Heaven, Robin had found himself wandering around aimlessly as people chatted with others and some few people glowed brightly with a strange, ethereal radiance that he was almost blinded by. These people he guessed were probably saints or something, so he meandered away from them to find himself a nice place to sit and rest a while before looking for something to do. It was so timeless in that place that Robin wondered just exactly how long he had been wandering about in it when he saw a bright figure, brighter than anything else, standing off and watching everyone. For some reason he couldn't see his face, or maybe he wasn't meant to see it, but the figure was dressed in rather fine clothes. Was this God? Or perhaps he was Jesus, but if it was Jesus, why was he dressed in modern clothes?
The tall, brilliantly lit figure walked toward Robin and put his hands in his belt. It seemed to Robin that the man had a broad grin across his face though he couldn't focus on his face well enough to see anything. "Hello?" asked Robin, raising a dark eyebrow toward the man as he crossed his arms in front of his chest and stroked the black goatee he had always sported.
"Greetings, Robert," said the figure in good spirits, "You look very well. I'm glad you had come out the way you had!"
"Pardon?"
"Oh! Sorry, I always forget to introduce myself," said the figure and took on a slightly more solemn stance, "I am God… The God of the Jews, the Father of all creation and all that." Robin was perplexed by this God figure. Wasn't God supposed to be a man with a long white beard and hair or something?
"You're God?" asked Robin incredulously.
The figure leaned closer and once more Robin found it even harder to focus on his seemingly endlessly changing face. "Do you doubt me even though I stand here before you?"
Robin snorted and eyed the man warily, clearly unconvinced. God seemed to grin once more and moved away from Robin. "I would doubt that the pope's underwear was white unless I checked it for myself."
God's grin became a mischievous smirk, though, as usual, Robin couldn't actually see it so much as he could sense it before the man chuckled and put his hands back into his belt as he had when he had walked up to Robin. "Trust is a virtue… so is faith," said God and shook his head. "I have no doubt that you'll find I speak the truth, Robert. Don't let my good humor fool you. I am every bit the God you know, although the Catholic church has distorted my image as well as that of my Son." Then, he offered a hand to Robin and said, "Come, walk with me."
Robin, not one to really argue with God, did as he was bade and walked beside the strange, faceless man as they walked by small groups of people talking, eating, resting or just enjoying themselves. The landscape kept changing to that of place Robin had seen or heard of, but before them was the land he prized the most. Tall, green trees surrounded him and God as though they had always been there. Suddenly it seemed as though no one was around at all except the morning mist rolling in.
"Why am I here?" asked Robin after a while as he looked up at the trees.
"Because you were meant to be," said God. "Very few warrant the other place, believe me. My children are my children no matter what they do, but sometimes I have to give them over to Lucifer to take care of so they might learn a very valuable lesson. It pains me to do so, but it must be done." He spoke without his good humor now. His voice was, instead, incredibly sad. "What's worse are those that harm my chosen children."
"The Jews?" asked Robin.
"Yes," said God with what seemed to be a faint smile. "They have suffered much over the years and will suffer still long after this era. It is the way of humans to hate that which is different from them. The Hebrew people are no different."
"Then, why make us to be that way?" asked Robin. He felt younger than he had in a long time. He felt like he was a child in this man's presence and that both intrigued him and revolted him.
"Free will," said God as he stopped walking and his head moved toward the canopy of the trees above them. "I gave humans free will. You are free to do and say as you please because I gave you that right."
"Then, it's our fault that all the bad things happen in the world?" asked Robin.
"Yes," said God. He lifted his hands out on either side of him and pointed his palms upward as he spun around in a circle. "Isn't it marvelous? The things you loved, Robert, are absolutely wonderful!"
Robin wondered, briefly, if perhaps he were speaking with a madman. He sighed and nodded before looking up at the sky through the leaves of the tall trees. "Yes, it is a wonderful place. This is Sherwood Forest. Just beyond that tree there should be where my encampment lies."
"Mmm, yes, I'm sure you'll find a few of your mates there soon enough," said God, having stopped spinning around. He turned toward Robin and held his arms wide toward Robin as though he was going to embrace him. "And you are most welcome inside this holy land."
Robin watched silently as the man known as God dropped his arms to his sides and walked backwards away from him before disappearing entirely into the morning mist. Robin wondered if he should go looking for the friends that had died or stay in this one spot and rest a while before deciding on the latter and hopping up into the branches of one big tree and laying down like a big cat. He pulled the brim of his hat down over his eyes and then nestled himself into the crook of the tree branch before he allowed himself to sleep.
Something pricked Robin out of his restful sleep. He wasn't certain what, but it felt like hundreds of souls were coming in, far more than normal. Time had no meaning in Heaven so Robin wasn't certain how long he had been in it. He had seen that most people went to yet another faceless figure and were reincarnated in human bodies, but a few stayed behind to watch over the world. Robin, on the other hand, simply just didn't care about dealing others anymore. He had seen the worst the world could give a person and lived the worst a man could live, but he had also loved as much as he could love and felt very irritated in the people who had shunned him when they ought to have offered him a hand simply because of his reputation. So, Robin didn't join the others to be reborn nor did he watch over the world like everyone else that stayed behind. Instead, he holed himself up inside his haven of greenery and slept dreamlessly.
Robin had no idea how long he had been in Heaven, but he was certain he had been in it a while when he had been woken up by the influx of people. And those people looked very French and very English to him. Overtaken by curiousity, he made his way out of his wooded haven and found himself watching as some of his mates and even his half brother William Scarlett walked over to the growing crowd to watch the newcomers.
Will looked like when Robin had first seen him. He was a young man with dark blonde hair that was wavy and shined in the light of Heaven with a strange glow. His face, though young, was joyful as he spied Robin, his blue eyes lighting up in good cheer. "Robin!" he cried out and waved to him. "You came out of your squirrel hole?"
Robin smirked faintly and shook his head. "I felt the people coming in."
Will's face became suddenly very solemn and rather angry as he looked to the crowd coming in. "Our countrymen and France are getting into a war. It's been going on for a while, though I'm not certain how long."
This hardly surprised Robin, though it surprised him that his fellow countrymen would go after France in particular. "That's not too unusual, Will," said Robin as he watched a few women and children walk in with the large number of men. "Humans are very violent people, after all."
"Aye, but this is fucking stupid," said Will. Robin snorted and hid his smile behind the long, dirty, grayish green scarf he wore around his neck before looking over to the crowd of people coming in.
"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" asked John as he made his way over. Little John, despite his name, was hardly little, but he was a gentle hearted man with dark hair and dark eyes. He had not been very receptive to Robin when Robin had first found John and the outlaws in Sherwood, but he had managed to make his case to John after a while.
Will laughed. "I'll kiss your sister with it readily!"
"You leave me sister out of this," countered John, grinning a bit at the boy. It was as though they had never died.
A chubby young man made his way over, wearing a friar's clothing, though he was didn't quite resemble the man Robin had known. He grinned slightly as he saw Tuck move closer to them. "This is the Kingdom of God, Will. One would hope that you would keep a better tongue in your head here."
"God took me in anyway," grinned Will.
Tuck grinned after a moment before he spied Robin and stopped. "Bless my soul! Robin! There you are, you old fox!"
"You expected less of me, Tuck?" asked Robin, though he didn't sound nearly as jovial as once he might have. It forced Tuck to regard him carefully before Robin nodded toward Tuck. "I am fine, friar."
Tuck smiled and looked to the souls coming in, found himself leered at by the Frenchmen walking by. Tuck was accustomed to people throwing him angry looks and fixed them with a stern look. "If you have something rude to say to me then out with it. Nothing you can say to me now can be any worse than what I have endured in life, though I will warn you that you are in Heaven and not on Earth and this land is as much God's land as I am a man of God."
"Mange du merde et meurt!" spat one Frenchman.
"Va te faire mettre!" shouted another, spitting at Tuck. John grabbed a hold of Will's arms and held him still as he was about to jump at the men shouting and spitting at Tuck. Tuck, meanwhile, stood still and simply gazed at the men with a determined glare.
"Are you quite through?" he said finally. When the men said nothing he smiled and bowed his head, "Good, then you can be off now to enjoy the after life. I'm sure you men are good men, despite you spitting and shouting obscenities at an old friar such as myself." The men seemed perplexed by Tuck's behavior before one of them prodded the others in their sides and nudged them onward, a solemn look on his young face.
"Go. This is a peaceful place," said the man. "There is no war here. Not anymore. Come on." His voice was heavy with a French accent, though he spoke perfectly fine English. With that, the men followed their fellow away, one of them bowing to Tuck in respect before catching up with the Frenchmen.
Will relaxed finally and moved toward Tuck before looking after the Frenchmen. "I can't believe them!"
"It is the way of all men and women, Will," said Tuck softly, "It is simply the way we are. They will soon realize where they are and move on beyond their hate. In the mean time, allow them their peace."
Robin moved away from his merry band and went searching for more information as to what was happening down on Earth. His goal, however, as usual, was hard to find. God seemed to find ways of making it absolutely impossible to find and so Robin was left to go find the only other being left. He found the gray cloaked figure through the doorway and walked right toward him. However, he was suddenly shoved back by a force that he couldn't see, but felt like he had run right into a wall.
"Oi," called Robin to the faceless figure. "OI! I know you can hear me!"
The faceless figures turned toward him, though the other looked way and continued to usher people through the two doorways and shoving them out the Earth doorway when they seemed to not belong there. The gray cloaked figure, however, continued to look at him, though he had no eyes to see him with. "I hear you," said the figure, though he had no mouth to speak with.
"Why can't I get through?" asked Robin.
"Because you are walking through the wrong door. The reincarnated go through another," said the gray clad figure.
"I don't want to be reincarnated!" said Robin. "Why can't I just go looking around? I want to see what is happening!"
"You are at the wrong door. The world mirrors are over that way." Then, the gray clad figure lifted a hand and pointed behind Robin to an area he had not noticed before. There Robin saw a bunch of portals that were silvery like mirrors but were the clearest he had ever seen in his life and afterlife.
"I don't want to watch from afar," said Robin, getting irritated. His voice dropped low into a sort of growl when he grew angry. "I want to see it for myself."
"Then, be reincarnated. That is the way of things," said the gray clad figure. Then, Robin was thrust away from the door with so much force that he found himself landing right in front of a very large, clear mirror suspended in the air. So much for getting out for a while to see things! Robin had heard of one spirit getting so restless that the other spirits petitioned for him to be able to get out whenever he wished so he might amuse himself outside of Heaven and give everyone a bit of peace. A plot formed in Robin's head as he looked into the mirror. He saw the devastation of war upon the French land. He saw the bodies of the dead riddling it and staining it with blood. He would get the same privileges. He would make certain of it!
