Chapter Three:

A Hand Of God

Dark and wet walls gave way to the bright light and warmth of the flames all around her. Robin began carefully stepping downwards on the precariously steep staircase. A feeling of dread welled up inside of her, this couldn't be the right way. Every time She would hit a turn in the stairs the urge to turn around grew.

This had to be the right way. The Angel had told her so. But she could see that angel so maybe it wasn't really one. What if it was someone trying to sabotage others? That wouldn't be allowed, not here.

This had to be the right way. But this wasn't what she had been told. Wasn't heaven supposed to be a pure place? A beautiful place? If so, then what was this?

If so then was everything she had been told a lie?

No! "I have to believe." There had to be some way, this had to just be a detour or something, it just had to!

She took her next step to find that what she was standing on wasn't as stable as before. Robin lifted her head to see that she was standing on a giant stone hand.

The hand was moving.

Robin shouted and fell as the hand moved upwards. From this angle she saw that the hand was connected to what seemed to be a statue of a man in clerical robes. "A moving statue?" She whispered to herself, eyeing the stone face as it fixedly stared off in a random direction.

"I'm no statue!" It turned to face and she yelped again. "Opps, sorry, I'm not supposed to talk to people." It turned back to staring out into space.

"Why aren't you supposed to talk?" It didn't answer. "Hello?"

"I told you already that I'm not supposed to speak to you." She decided to consider it a boy because of it's low voice.

"Can't you at least explain why not?"

She chuckled as he rolled his eyes. "It startles people."

"But I'm already startled so it's okay if you talk." He still didn't speak. "What's your name? I'm Robin."

"Chekov."

"And where are you taking me?" She asked.

"Nowhere."

"Nowhere?"

"It's not my job to take you any further than that."

"This is a job?"

"I'm a hand of God." He then quickly added. "But I hope to be promoted to a Guardian Angel soon." He glanced down at her. "Speaking of, where's your angel?"

Robin shrugged. "I've been asked that a lot."

"Then I guess I'll have to take you somewhere." Above her she saw an opening to the cave. Sunlight, blue sky, white clouds…there it was! He held her up towards it so that she could climb out.

"Thank you, Mr. Chekov!" She called down to him from inside the beautiful blue sky.

He smiled back up at her before turning back and disappearing from her view.


Maria flew him up through the hole in the cave's ceiling after waving a 'good day' to the statued man. "You're heavier than I thought Amon." She comment as she dropped him off in a tree just outside the hole.

He wondered briefly why Robin didn't notice them when they passed her but shrugged it off. "Thanks." He muttered, sitting himself on a branch.

She followed suit on the opposite side of the long branch. "Aren't you going to ask me something?" She asked after a silence. "Your usually so curious."

Amon watched Robin wander around aimlessly. "Why are we letting her do this?" He finally sighed.

"Ask me another question, the answer to that one will help you figure out the first." He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. They must look silly, he thought. She, smiling brightly dressed in pure white robes and he, glowering away from her in all black. On top of that they were sitting in a tree.

"Alright, why wouldn't you just fly her out of there yourself?"

"Because that's not my job."

That didn't answer anything. "What's with all this talk of 'jobs'? I thought heaven was supposed to make all people free."

"Okay, it's not my duty." He stared blankly at her, obviously not making any connection. "But it's somebody else's." She hinted.

Realization hit him like a brick in the face. "O-oh."