March 17th, 0067. Davidson Funeral Home and Cemetery. Zum City, Principality of Zeon. Gihren Zabi POV
So far in my two month stay in the Universal Century, I had learned a fascinating new fact on a daily basis of life in the Earth sphere, due to both Gihren's memories and my new experiences. While the Universal Century was undoubtedly the most developed of all the Gundam timelines, it was not without lots of underdevelopment or an absence of information in regards to certain aspects of society. This was largely understandable as even the best works of fiction in regards to worldbuilding couldn't dedicate every single world to fleshing out the life and history of the setting. If it did then there would be no story to engage in and every piece of fiction would be an encyclopedia Britannica.
One of the more interesting parts of the Universal Century that I had come to find out about was how humanity took care of its dead.
Back in my first life, most of the deceased were laid to rest through burials, however such was an decreasing practice here in UC. For when nine billion people live in space colonies and every square meter of land has to be dedicated to some sort of specific purpose, you couldn't waste precious real estate on a one-time use for the dead when the living demanded land to build homes or start businesses. As such, most burials for Spacenoids were usually done to first generation Spacenoids. These first gen colonists would have their bodies preserved and shipped back to Earth where they would be buried in their previous homelands. It was a rather expensive process that costed thousands of credits at minimum, but usually there was not too much of an issue in the process with the savings of the dead being used as payment.
Transporting corpses back to Earth for burial was actually a multi-billion dollar business for Luio & Co with them earning 50 billion in revenue last year. It was a rather disgusting practice of the shipping mogul though I could at least take comfort that it could always be far worse under Anaheim.
Personally I always wished to be buried in the ground on my death as that was how God intended for us to go. Hopefully my original body was taken care of in such a manner by my family who shared the same beliefs. However, such a case was a near impossibility for my second body as Gihren as I doubt that relations would ever get good enough between Zeon and the Earth to allow a Zabi to be buried there, not to mention I had no way of explaining to Side 3 in my will why I wished to be buried on Earth instead of in the colonies.
For most Spacenoids of the second and third generation, the most common method of taking care of the dead was cremation, a now established norm for the average Spacenoid family. While I was personally disturbed by the practice, I could understand why others would want for their loved ones to be close by them at all times and as such I respected the choice. I couldn't even make a concrete religious argument as in my research into the Church, I found out a third of all deceased Catholics were cremated these days, a consequence of most of the faithful being Spacenoids.
Finally for those who wanted to be buried but had no ties to Earth or a wish to be interred on the third planet, there did exist at least a couple cemeteries in each colony. They were only allowed to exist thanks to the multi-layered format of colony construction which allowed several districts to be stacked on top of the cemeteries which were built on the ground section of the colony. Due to limited land however, these cemeteries were extremely expensive with tens of thousands of credits for an average plot, leaving them to be the resting grounds of the rich and elite. It was in such a cemetery that I found myself right now with the other members of my new family, where today we were visiting the fallen matriarchs of House Zabi, Alice and Naliss.
In the wills of Degwin's wives they both requested to be buried here within Zum City. For Alice it was due to a love of botany that made her want to rest on the ground instead of kept in a jar, herself not being buried on Earth as she was born in space and as such her home was always in the colonies. I didn't know why Naliss choose to be buried, though I had a small theory that she wanted to go the same way as Alice so that she didn't make Degwin choose over which of his wives to respect and mourn after their passing, their burial together while unconventional allowed Degwin to visit both at the same time.
Speaking of, Degwin was the only family member who these days ever ventured to the cemetery on his own. Outside of days near Alice and Naliss' birthday which was sort of a mandatory family visit, Degwin would come at least once a month and spend a great deal of time in the afternoon or late at night. I had no idea of what he did during these occasions as Gihren never journeyed with him. From what I was feeling now, visiting these graves was a sense of great awkwardness to the Zabi children that only brought up unpleasant memories. From what I received of Gihren's past, he seemed to regard the action as a waste of time where one would only be talking to dirt.
I took great comfort that from multiple Newtype scenes in the various UC animes that there was a hard confirmation of a afterlife within this reality. I only hoped that such a fate followed the Church's teachings and that after I died a second time, I would go to heaven instead of being inserted again and allowed to see both my original family, and the one that I shall hopefully accumulate here.
Right now the Zabis and I stood silently next to the two graves. My siblings radiated an intense body language showing that they wanted to be literally anywhere but here, it was a strong sign of their love for Degwin that they choose to accompany him at their most uncomfortable. It especially showed with Garma who while trying his best to stay calm, looked like he was going through his own personal hell. I didn't need to be a Newtype to figure out that this was probably his least favorite place in the colony.
At least Dozle was trying his best to make some conversation, Sasro and Kycillia occasionally pitching in while Garma was silent.
I choose to be silent as well as I had no idea how to act towards "my deceased" mother and step-mother and I needed to be neutral until I allowed time for my new public personality to settle in with the Zabis. This was roughly along how Gihren would usually act, though I noticed Kycillia giving me constant confused stares.
After a period of time Degwin turned his back to leave, with everyone else starting to follow, though they stopped when I tugged on Degwin's arm slightly.
"Father, is it alright if I stay for a couple of minutes? Nearly dying at the beginning of the year has...changed my perspective a bit and I would like to have some personal time, if that is okay with you." I said.
All of the Zabis expressed visible shock at my words, though Degwin's face morphed into a melancholic smile.
"Sure Gihren, take all of the time you need." He said. With his blessing the Zabis went back to the car while I was left alone at the graves. Waiting a minute to make sure none of them would return and that there would be no one next to me to hear my words, I knelled down and began to speak.
"Hello Alice, Naliss. If Newtypes are any indication, you two are probably looking at me and realizing that I am a foreign soul existing in your son's body, although you would have probably noticed by now if he joined you two." I said quietly.
So far my leading theory on what happened to the old Gihren was that he did die in that accident, and while his soul left his mortal body, my soul entered his, bringing new life to his mortal shell while he most likely entered purgatory.
While the notion of Gihren Zabi entering heaven was disturbing, it wasn't impossible now as this was years before canon and the most recent memories I had of Gihren before the insertion was him being a power-hungry asshole, though he had never done anything that could be described as pure evil. The Gihren of the original timeline that was killed by a headshot from Kycillia was most definitely rotting in hell, however that Gihren was completely different from the one I replaced.
"I'm sorry that this happened, though believe me that I never consciously choose to take over your son's body. Whether this is part of God's will, or just some cosmic accident is something I have no understanding of. Sadly you'll have to believe me when I say that this is probably for the best.
First off let's start with introductions. My name is Christopher." I said, nearly breaking down at the sound of my first name. Everyday for the past two and a half months, I had to consciously react to the name Gihren as if it was the identity I lived with my entire life. From now on Christopher was a name that would mean nothing to me, a word that I would never be associated with for the rest of my second mortal life. It was a price to pay for my continued existence in this brave new world.
"You see, I'm not just some stray soul who got stuck in your son's body, there are rather special circumstances that led to my second life. You see, I was born in the 21st century, in a world where humanity barely made a dent in the Earth sphere half a century after the Apollo mission, where there was no Third World War with the peaceful breakup of the Soviet Union, and therefore no Earth Federation.
All of these facts are not the only unique thing about where I came from, for you see when I was first alive there was this Japanese anime called Mobile Suit Gundam. It was a mecha show focusing on a ship called the White Base as they underwent the One Year War to help the Federation defeat the nefarious Principality of Zeon, its rulers being the Zabi dynasty with a certain Gihren Zabi acting as the head of the war machine.
I have no idea if you can see the future and have any awareness of what should've taken place before I came here, but let's just say that this was one of humanity's darkest paths. While I do believe Zeon's cause for Spacenoid independence to be just, your family admittedly twisted the cause into some sick and twisted image where any future victory for Zeon would've had the blood of billions on his hands. Gihren is especially guilty as he choose to commit genocide on his fellow Spacenoinds and through his machinations a third of humanity died. While you can debate his rule in comparison to his predecessors, it's an undeniable fact that Gihren had the most blood on his hands and became a devil of whom makes Adolf Hitler seem like a wannabe terrorist in comparison."
Yeah...I have to admit that if I was not reborn into Gihren and was on the path to obtaining the massive amounts of power that he had in canon, then a part of me would have strongly considered joining the Federation. The main reason why I supported Zeon was due to the fact that the Federation, no matter how many victories it achieved, never once reformed itself into a better government, slowly but surely revealing its true colors as a decadent corrupt oligarchy that only existed to serve the interests of the elites on Earth and Anaheim while making sure humanity never prospered and would instead descend into the dark ages. The fact that fucking Australia after British willingly choose to become a bastion of support for the Zeon remnants for years to come shows how far the Federation had fallen.
The protagonists were hardly blameless for this as despite the fact that they were in positions of power to change the Earth sphere for the better, they refused to launch a revolution and instead stayed with the status quo of a corrupt Federation. For all that the AEUG was the most morally righteous of the UC factions and claimed to be an organization dedicated to eradicating Earth's corruption, after the end of the Gryps War and First Neo Zeon War, when they had near complete authority and could change the Federation in their image, Bright in the rest choose to become lapdogs of Earth and didn't do a damn thing to change the government. Eliminating the Titans only killed the symptom of Federal rule, while the cancerous establishment remained and was allowed to grow to new heights in generations to follow.
Zeon had plenty of dark marks on his history, I would never deny this, but the cause was always right and almost all of its faults could be traced back to the concentration of power in the hands of a single tyrant that fucked it up to commit unnecessary evil. By living as Gihren I could eliminate most of these horrors before they happened and transform Zeon into a true force of good that it never had the chance to be, a nation to end the Universal Century's stagnation and bring humanity back on track for progression and prosperity.
'Kind of sad that the most morally righteous of Zeon's successors was a nihilistic clone of Char.' I thought to myself in quiet shame.
"I know this can be quite the disturbing revelation for you to hear, and I'm sorry that your loved ones would have so much blood on their hands. Now that I am here though, I promise to do everything I can to make sure that your family stays on the right track and becomes leaders of a nation of good, one who can stand alongside its fellow Spacenoids and lead them to freedom against the Federation through noble and righteous means.
My words may not mean much as they are coming from a stranger, but I swear that I will not go back on my word. The Zabis are now my family and I will lead them to good futures. It'll be a long time before you can see all of us, but it will happen one day and I'll make sure that we're all reunited at God's side. I hope to see you then and I'll make sure to answer whatever questions you two need."
After that I then trailed off into conversation on a variety of topics for the next five minutes, then beginning a small prayer to ask for God's intercession on the salvation of their souls in heaven.
"-and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen." I finished, making the sign of the cross and then raising myself from my kneeling position to stand.
"I'll try to come back at least once a month and talk to you two more often. I might even come back with De-"
"Gihren?" I heard a soft voice ask behind me.
'Damn my lack of Newtype perception!'
Jumping off at surprise and letting out a light holler, I turned around and saw myself faced with Garma, who was staring at me with a very confused face.
"Christ, Garma you scared me. Why would you sneak up on me like that, how long have you been here?" I asked with great concern. Hopefully he didn't walk in on the part where I said I was some foreign soul from a different timeline and that this reality was all an anime. That would lead to some very awkward questioning fast.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. It's just that you were taking a long time and I wanted to see what you were doing. I came here and I saw you...praying?" Garma said with concern and bewilderment. I let out a soft sigh at the fact that this was what he walked into.
I had only just recently revealed to the Zabis my intentions to "become" a Catholic Christian, an act which left them pretty much flabbergasted and stunned to say the least.
While I tried my best to naturally transition myself away from old Gihren to my real personality, I was never a good actor and barely bothered to try in the first place. While they could probably reason Gihren's changes as coming from his near-death experience, I don't think any of them could have expected the eldest son to turn to Jesus.
"Why were you praying?" Garma asked.
"I was asking for the souls of our mothers to enter into heaven." I answered truthfully, an answer which I noticed froze Garma up at the mention of Naliss.
Feeling slightly guilty that my time spent here caused Garma to continue to further stay at his most uncomfortable, I lay might hand gently on his shoulder and give him a reassuring smile.
"Sorry I took so long Garma, let's head back home now okay?" I said, receiving a slow nod from Garma with us both walking to the car afterwords.
Garma Zabi POV
Among the Zabi family, Garma was universally loved as the golden child of the family, with him in return loving all of his siblings and his father equally.
Unlike his older brothers and sisters who had stained their hands in one way or another in family politics, Garma had remained pure and innocent, completely absent from Degwin's plans for Side 3 and living life as a normal child.
Due to Garma's unconditional love for his family, there were some thoughts, primarily from Kycillia, that Garma was completely blind from the faults of all of his siblings, especially Gihren. While Garma was by no means highly mature and lacked experience to notice many discrete social cues, he was never as completely naive or clueless as everyone led him to believe.
Garma knew that everyone of his siblings contained some sort of personal flaw that made them rather...undesirable to others. He noticed this when they interacted with each other at home, not with love and kindness as his father always taught him that a family should be, but with cold calculations and cautious mind games.
Whenever Garma interacted with other people, most were nice and put on a bright smile for the purple haired boy. When Garma saw his siblings interact with others, those niceties went away and were instead replaced with flattery, fear, nervousness, and greed.
Of all of his family's faults, Garma was most aware of Gihren's, with himself seeing Gihren act nasty to several people in the past and overhearing a few of his ramblings about how Side 3 should be run with him at his head.
Garma knew that Gihren was not someone who could be called a nice person, but he had always loved his eldest brother nonetheless as he assumed that Ghiren acted harsh for good reasons, that everything he did was for the good of the family and Side 3 as a whole.
Gihren was the smartest and most skilled after all, shouldn't he naturally be the one in charge?
So despite all of Gihren's flaws and faults, Garma loved him and was steadfast to supporting his big brother for many years to come.
Then New Year's came and everything changed.
Those three days that Gihren was in the hospital were some of the worst of Garma's life. When he saw Gihren lying comatose in the hospital, he couldn't handle the sight and collapsed into tears, powerless to do nothing but to wail upon Degwin with his body acting as a giant tissue for Garma. Thanks to Garma's existence his mother Naliss had died, Garma holding himself personally responsible for many years as the person who killed her. After having managed to mostly move on from the guilt, he was now about to watch Gihren die, and all thanks to some drunk driver?!
Thankfully Gihren didn't die and reawakened. However, when he did wake up he changed greatly, and to now Garma didn't know if it was for the better.
At first Garma didn't notice the changes due to his euphoria of Gihren's recovery, but as he spent more time with his eldest brother he noticed a greatly different person. Many of Gihren's physical cues and ticks were no longer present and replaced with new patterns. His once formal style of speech was replaced with a highly relaxed and casual tone, with Gihren uttering new phrases and jargon that Garma never heard before. He hardly delved into any of his previous hobbies and passions anymore, only his love for gardening with his intense care of the nursery remained.
Recently Gihren had just dropped another bombshell by stating that he was going to become a Catholic. Garma was completely shocked when he heard Gihren say such a thing as while religion never interested him, he knew that Gihren hated the concept. Yet today he had witnessed Gihren praying at his mother's grave. It was an impossible sight that Garma would never have imagined last year.
'Gihren, what happened to you?' Garma lamented.
While many of his brother's changes could be considered for the better, as many of his worst flaws had been erased and he was becoming highly active within the family, it was a great change that was so alien to Garma that it was greatly discomforting. Sure this new Gihren may be a better man, but all Garma wanted was his old brother back, to know that he was still the same person.
This was why Garma was heading towards Gihren's room, to try to question just what exactly changed his brother so drastically.
As he neared his room, Garma noticed a slight crack in the doorway. While he hated the concept of spying on others, Garma's curiosity got the better of him and he took a light peak. What he saw shocked him.
"Glory beat to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and forever shall be, a world without end, Amen."
Gihren was kneeling next to his bed, arms positioned reverently over the mattress in prayer. His back was facing the door, allowing Garma to eavesdrop without being caught.
"I'd like to thank God for Deg-Father, Sasro, Dozle, Kycillia, and Garma. I ask of you Lord to watch over Side 3, to protect and shepherd its people and to help its nation prosper in the Earth sphere. I ask for your blessings for my plans, that they may come to fruition and guide the nation to a better future. Pray that both mother and Naliss shall receive salvation in heaven and for the intercession of all souls in purgatory, especially those in most need of thy mercy. Amen." Gihren finished, making the sign of the cross and releasing a contented sigh.
While it felt wrong to Garma to eavesdrop on his brother doing a practice that appeared to be most important to him, it had confirmed something that Garma had suspected at the cemetery, that Gihren's conversion was real and he was being serious about it if he was taking time out of his day to pray.
Gihren's last words also brought great discomfort to Garma when it mentioned his mother Naliss and how she could be in an afterlife, something that Garma never thought possible before today.
Unsure of how to approach Gihren, Garma in his uncertainty accidentally pushed the door forward, causing Gihren to notice him.
"Garma! If today is anything to go by I'd say you're starting to develop a habit of spying on me." Gihren said in a warm tone, showing Garma that he was not overly bothered by his actions.
"I'm sorry Gihren!" Garma stammered, expecting some harsh rebuke from his brother, only for Gihren to continue smiling.
"It's quite alright, just knock next time. Is there something you wanted to talk about?" Gihren asked.
Garma nodded his head, with Gihren then motioning him to sit on the bed with himself taking a seat on the edge of the mattress.
Garma cautiously advanced towards the edge and sat next to Gihren. At first silence reigned between the two brothers as Garma didn't know how to start, though he eventually found how to begin the conversation.
"Gihren, are you...are you alright?" Garma asked with concern.
Garma noticed his eldest brother's face briefly contort into alarm, though it was quickly replaced with a comforting smile.
"I'm fine, why do you ask?" Gihren replied, though Garma suspected he knew the answer.
"Ever since you got back from the hospital you've been...weird and different. Not that it's a bad thing or anything! I do like how you're acting towards everyone, you're a lot nicer these days. But you're not yourself and you don't do most of what you used to do. Why are you different, what changed?" Garma asked, eyes looking towards his brother in a pleading fashion.
Gihren let out a great sigh, trying to keep up his smile for his brother, though signs of melancholy and exhaustion making themselves apparent.
"So in other words you want to know why I'm not an asshole anymore?" Gihren said in low mirth. That was another thing that greatly changed about him in the past few months to Garma. While Gihren was never so prude as to never cuss, nowadays his language was far more relaxed with dirty words being thrown casually in conversations. Garma had never heard him say these words with true hatred or scorn, they were just a part of his vocabulary now.
"I never said that, you've always been a great big brother!" Garma said to defend himself.
Gihren let out a soft laugh and lightly patted Garma's back reassuringly. "I know you didn't, I'm just stating the obvious and what did happen. Should've known that you would be the first to notice." He said, though Garma was unsure what exactly he meant by that.
Gihren looked straight at the doorway, eyes distant and gazing upon a past that no longer exists. "I wish I could explain, but it's hard to put into exact words. It's not that I don't want to tell you Garma, it's just something you have to experience to truly understand. I will try to do so though. As you can guess, it all started when I was at the hospital, more specifically under the coma. I saw some things then that changed my life forever, and hopefully for the better."
"Is that why you became a Christian?" Garma asked, curious on how his brother became a believer overnight.
"Pretty much. When I was comatose, I had a close encounter with Christ, where he showed me a vision of what is to come in the future."
"What?" Garma said, completely flabbergasted at what his brother had admitted.
"I know it sounds crazy, but please understand that I don't want to lie to you." Gihren said, Garma missing the sadness in his eyes as he spoke every word.
"I saw glimpses of how our future would be within the next decade. It was a dark time, one where humanity walked along one of its worst paths, and I contributed to much of what would occur. However, now that I have seen what's to happen, it will most likely never come to pass and there's still hope for a better path, for our family and our country.
God gave me a second chance at life, to become a better person and to leave behind a legacy of great works for our people. It is thanks to him that I am here talking with you right now, he showed mercy on me even though I refused to believe for all of my life. By giving praise and worship to God, I am giving thanks for my second life, and in return I hope to stand by his side and receive salvation for all of eternity. That is why I choose to become a Christian, Garma.
As for why most of my personality is seemingly gone, well...ever since I've reawakened in the hospital I've gained a new perspective on life. There's a lot of things that I regret from the past, and I was far from being a good person. It's not that I don't want to completely erase who I was, it's just that I'm trying to discover my identity, or who I am. I want to be better Garma, I want to be the big brother who you deserve and not the terrible sibling who I was. I don't know if I'll ever truly be anywhere near the same as who I was before, just know that I will always love you and the rest of the family, and that for every part of myself that I change, it's only so that I can be the best person that I can be, and I can become a man truly worthy of the name Zabi. That is why I have changed Garma. Do you understand?" Gihren asked, gazing at Garma with sincerity.
Garma looked away from his brother and sat in contemplation. What Gihren just revealed to him was quite the tale, something that Garma could have never imagined coming from him months ago. Despite how outlandish it may seem, there was something about Gihren's conviction that gave off an air of honesty, that he truly meant everything he said and that this was the man who he know was, something Garma was more than ready to accept.
At the end of the day, Gihren would always be his big brother. He may act completely different, but at the end of the day he was still the same Gihren and Garma would love him as he always had, changes or not.
"I...I think I understand. Thank you for telling me Gihren." Garma said, Wrapping his brother tightly in a hug, with Gihren returning while lightly patting his brother on the head.
"Your welcome." He replied.
The two brothers continued their embrace until Garma detached himself, remembering an aspect about Gihren's new faith that made him highly uncomfortable.
"Gihren, you said that you were praying for mother, I mean both our mothers to enter into heaven. But neither of them were Christian. How can they be in Heaven if they aren't Christian?" Garma asked, scared that Gihren according to Gihren's beliefs, that they would never rest and be in hell or some other scary place.
"It's a complicated topic that I admit I need to delve further into, however I talked to the priests at Saint John Paul's they answered this question. To put it simply, while one needs to be both a believer of Christ and to perform good works in order to receive salvation, it is possible for members outside of the Church to enter into heaven. So long as someone has never willfully rejected Christ or has strived to seek God within their lives, then it is possible to receive salvation through Jesus' mercy in purgatory, a place where we all cleanse our souls before entering into heaven.
Mother and Naliss were good people who while never members of the Church, had never consciously rejected God while also never having the opportunity to understand the Church's teachings through their respective lives. Therefore, it is still possible for their souls to receive salvation and enter into heaven. It is why I was praying earlier, to ask for God's intercession to help them stand by his side."
Hearing Gihren's explanation filled Garma with both awe and a sense of comfort. For many years he thought that he had murdered his mother with herself ceasing to exist, an entire lifetime cut short by his existence. However, if Gihren was correct then it meant that she could live a happy afterlife.
And maybe, if Garma was a Christian like Gihren he could meet her when he died.
Garma looked at his brother with newfound conviction in his eyes, "Gihren, how can I become a Christian?"
For the next three years Garma delved himself into Christ's teachings, finding spiritual comfort in the gospel and dedicating himself to becoming a member of the Catholic Church. If God was so merciful that he not only saved his brother's life, but could save his mother's soul, then God was someone that Garma wanted to devote his life to in prayer and service.
This is the story of how a soul from another universe became an accidental evangelist. It was a unique event that was one of many new paths undertaken in this brave unknown called the Universal Century.
June 14th 0070. Zum City, Principality of Zeon. Pope John Paul IV POV
While partaking in morning prayers, Pope John Paul IV was in a state of deep contemplation. As he was partaking in his usual worship of God, he asked the Lord for guidance on how to best move forward, on how to deal with the magnificent and extraordinary revelations of Gihren Zabi yesterday.
To most lay Catholics, the Sacrament of Reconciliation was a practice of shame. For while the sacrament was a righteous act that cleansed them of their sins and made them at peace with God, it came with the necessity to confess one's vile deeds to a priest, an action that brought about great embarrassment for the average believer. John Paul remembered how he had dreaded the times as a child when his parents had sent him to confession. While he was never a troublemaker as a young boy, admitting anything to a priest, even the smallest of venial sins such as being mean to his sister or stealing a sweet, made him quake in utter terror as he sat before the priest.
Despite these common sentiments, Gihren Zabi had openly revealed to him extraordinary miracles that had been bestowed upon him by God. It was a miracle that showed of how he could have become history's greatest monster, and yet despite the tremendous stain that such a disclosure what mark on his character, he had still soldiered on and admitted his gruesome potential fate to the Pope.
It was an act of great bravery that made John Paul partially admire Gihren for the sheer courage in saying such things to a pontiff. However, it only further confused the Pope's image of who Gihren Zabi was, when a partial reason for his visit to Side 3 was to investigate just who the Crown Prince of Zeon was in relation to the Church.
Never before in the history of the Church had such a miracle been recorded quite like Gihren's. To not only have been shown by God of the atrocities that they could have committed in a path yet taken, but to have experienced memories of another man not only in the past, but a different timeline?
There was nothing like this in the scriptures or in the accounts of the Saints, and it deeply troubled John Paul. While the Lord Almighty was of course capable of anything and everything, and such a deed should have been within his power, why did he choose to reveal this information to Gihren in such a manner. Most importantly, if there were multiple timelines and worlds, how were they all connected in God's creation and his will leading up to Revelations?
It was a grave mystery that had been thrust upon John Paul just as he was attempting to form a concrete doctrine on the existence of Newtypes. The fact that this revelation came from the Crown Prince of the family who were Zeon Deikun's heirs made things all the more complicated.
For now, Pope John Paul resolved that he would first have to tend to the greater needs of his flock and solve the Newtype issue, specifically with what he hoped to be a Vatican IV council. Once Newtypes were assured safe worship within the Church, then he could use the resources of the Vatican to investigate Gihren's experiences and uncover just what exactly was God's will in this extraordinary miracle.
With the issue of Gihren's miracle on the back of his mind for the moment, John Paul continued his personal investigation of the man through a current conversation with Cardinal Wood. The Pope and Cardinal were having a light breakfast with John Paul having two slices of pancakes with maple syrup, while Roy Wood had a small bowl of oatmeal drizzled with honey and cinnamon.
"So do you have any idea if the rest of the Zabi family has a desire to convert. While I did answer a fair number of questions from Degwin yesterday, he seemed heavily guarded and on edge throughout yesterday. Aside from his duties as Sovereign I believe he only attended for his sons." Said John Paul.
Roy nodded in understanding from his personal experiences with the Zabi patriarch. While Degwin was always civil, there was an everpresent tone of cautiousness in their interactions. Most likely a form of weariness in the belief that Roy was acting as some sort of puppeteer, using his position to manipulate Gihren to do his bidding. While Roy was disgusted by the notion, history did have many precedents and especially within the Church, a certain French Cardinal of the 17th century especially came to mind.
"I don't think we can expect Degwin to join anytime soon, though I highly doubt our current Sovereign would ever be outright hostile to the Church, he's simply trying to cope with his favorite sons partaking in the faith when he has never had any. I have observed Dozle occasionally join his two brothers, but he gives off an air of an observer rather than a stray soul seeking guidance. Lastly I can strongly confirm that Sasro and Kycillia have no desire to join the Church. While it is a sad state, I try to be delicate as I don't want a repeat of the Deikun era when the Church within Side 3 is beginning a new age of growth. It's best for now to leave the Zabi's faith to Gihren, his children will leave the next generation after all." Roy said, bringing light to the current dynamics of the Earth sphere's most (in)famous family.
"Still, are you sure that if Gihren ascends to become Sovereign that he wont make the Church, Zeon's state religion?" John Paul asked for verification, and not the first time.
Contrary to what some might believe, John Paul believed that such a case would be bad for the greater Church. History had proven that the Church's leaders were at their most corrupt when they delved too far into temporal affairs. As bittersweet as the fall of the Papal State may have been, it was also one of the Church's greatest blessings as it allowed them to go back to their roots as humble disciples of Christ instead of powerbrokers for Europe and the greater western world.
While John Paul wanted to do away with the Federation's hypersecular laws, growing up as an American taught him the importance of how a separation of Church and State led to a socially balanced society. Gihren mandating Zeon as the state religion could potentially spell the end of the current state of peaceful coexistence with other established religions that the Church had maintained for nearly 250 years since Vatican II.
Roy let out a soft sigh, answering a question that had been asked of him many times in this past year, "So far he has given me his word that wants the future Principality to have no state Church. While he does love to push the boundaries of the establishment clause, he has not given me any hard evidence to mistrust him, his support of our brothers and sisters within and outside of Christ being a major sign. Still, one cannot deny that if he marries a Catholic wife and all of his children are baptised into the Church, then the Zabi dynasty would be a de facto Catholic dynasty, which many wold consider to make Zeon a de facto Catholic state.
For now at least domestically, my counterparts in the other faiths are for the most part unconcerned. Even with Gihren's strong public patronage of the Church, to them it is a far greater state of affairs then to wherever we were headed under Deikun."
"Despite his vocal nonsense about Gaia, it cannot be denied though that somehow Zeon Zum Deikun was blessed enough to foresee the coming of Newtypes where no one within the Church could." John Paul admitted. Roy agreed as he finished the last of his oatmeal.
"Deikun may have been completely wrong about the evolution of Newtypes, but he was still aware of their existence, a situation that puzzles me to no end. Right now within Side 3 there is a growing belief that Deikun himself may have been a Newtype, as he did die before Doctor Flanagan could test him. So far there is no confirmed genetic finality concerning Newtypes, but there are several cases of blood playing a role within Newtype relationships. If his children Casval and Artesia are Newtypes while their mother is not, then many believed they inherited their powers from Zeon, even though the process is entirely random at birth." Roy informed.
"As for what the domestic Church believes, there is a somewhat growing theory that has spread among the lower ranks of our priests." Roy said, raising concern within John Paul.
"A theory?" He asked gravely. While the modern Church encouraged discourse on the faith and its teachings and was far from the dogmatic state it had been in the Middle Ages, there were still lines that could not be crossed and doctrines that must always stay as undeniable truths.
"I was intending to share it to you with the other Cardinals later, and I don't believe it's anything too concerning, it's just that I would like an official stance from the Vatican in case it becomes too mainstream.
It is the belief of some priests that not only was Deikun a Newtype, but that he was blessed by God and received a mandate from him to inform humanity of the existence of Newtypes to begin our next age. While Deikun never converted before his death, he lived as a virtuous non-believer, much in the same way as Cyrus the Great and Emperor Trajan."
To be quite frank, John Paul was not surprised at the least of hearing such a development. Zeon Zum Deikun always did carry a strange aura that made others follow his will like mice to the pied piper, a cult of charisma that the Zabis seemed to inherit. Even the most devout of Side 3's believers would probably follow Contolism on some level within their hearts. It was all the more reason for John Paul to mend the divide that was growing between Terran and Spacenoid Catholics. While nothing too drastic would likely occur in the near future, if he and his successors remained content in the status quo, then it would be possible for a schism to be created within the Church that would far surpass the East-West divide or the Protestant reformation.
John Paul gave a reassuring smile to Roy to show that he was not too troubled by the news. To be honest this was rather on the low end of the scale of his worst fears of developments within the Zeon Catholic Church.
"While somewhat worrying I believe this is something we can decide on within the conference. Speaking of, it would be best for us to leave now." John Paul said, both the Pope and Cardinal done with their breakfasts.
Agreeing with the Holy Father, both priests made way to exit the Pope's hotel suite where they had dined, flanked by members of State Security and the Papal Guard as they began to travel to Saint John Paul's where a conference of Zeon's Cardinals were waiting to meet the Pope. There John Paul would receive their thoughts and beliefs on Newtypes within Zeon's society, and ask for advice on how to make them part of the Church with a potential Vatican IV council.
When the Universal Century began, it was a time for great fear within the Catholic Church as the end of the old calendar of Anno Domini was felt to be a great omen to Christianity. Despite increasing levels of hostility and apathy among the Earth sphere towards the concept of religion, the Church continued to endure and move forward as it always had from the days of the Roman Empire.
Now with the proliferation of Newtypes throughout the solar system, it was a time of great excitement for the children of God with the beginning of a grand spiritual awakening. Whether this was the beginning of the end as the Universal Century was meant to be, or start of the next great age on the journey to salvation, would be a path that all of humanity would have to choose within the next generation.
A/N: So this chapter exists as a direct continuation of the last one with how Kaiser Gihren came to terms with his faith in the immediate aftermath of his insertion, how he managed to convert Garma to becoming a Christian like him, and a small glimpse into the thoughts of Pope John Paul IV as he struggles to deal with the existence of Newtypes and what Kaiser Gihren had just told him. On the topic of Garma, I said in previous chapters that the SI managed to get him to become a Christian just like him, but I never did enough development on that front or properly explain it till now. While Garma is one of my favorite characters from UC, it's hard to spend a lot of focus on him when he's just a kid with no involvement in the Zabi politics yet. From here I want to better delve into the changes that happened to Garma and what kind of person he shall become, with 0071 being the start of him becoming a reoccuring character. I choose to have Garma become a Christian as out of all of the Zabis he would be the most likely for Kaiser Gihren to influence into joining the faith, especially at his young age. Garma converted mainly due to the peace that of believing that his mother Naliss is in heaven brought to him, and I definitely plan to expand on Naliss' in the future, specifically the influence that she had on Garma and the rest of the Zabis while exploring where her family has been. For the most part Garma is mostly similar to his canon personality, though he'll be far less naive, more pious, and definitely have a greater chance to survive with Casval being his actual best friend instead of faking it to plot his death. Just to answer right now, for Cosmic Crusade Garma will at the moment remain an agnostic. Like I said before Kaiser Gihren won't convert everyone within Gundam to the gospel, though some canon characters may decide to do so due to how the plot progresses. I'll later dedicate time to how other religions are faring, and right now I have specific subplots planned to the future of Islam and how Nanyang Buddhism will come to pass, so stick around for that. Lastly of note is the point of view of Pope John Paul IV, who will definitely show up again in the future. Right now he's recently been coronated so he's still trying to find his feet at the head of the Church while dealing with Newtypes and how they greatly alter Church doctrine, and we'll take a look at that in a future Vatican IV council that was brought up here (yes there was a third one and I'll explain later). Right now John Paul is not pro-Zeon and he doesn't want to get involved in the Earth sphere's politics, though he is at the moment sympathetic to Kaiser Gihren with how open he has been on his "visions", which will definitely be brought up later. Next chapter will be focused on the fluff of three relationships, then we'll dive straight back into traditional Gundam tales. The next series of developments will feature a lot of political upheavels, rapid technological strides in the military, proliferation of mobile suits in Zeon, and the colonization of the fourth planet just to name a few upcoming topics. So for those who didn't like the last few chapters, trust me when I say that this story will get moving forward soon. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!