Title of the Story: Second Chance in Disguise-Chapter 9
Author's Penname: Alyssa Smith
E-mail: Ok, so far I've got 3 people who want me to notify when chapter is updated. Along with the notification, I give summary of the one updated, summary of the next unwritten one, and the title of the one after that. If you want to join, just say "I want to know when updated" and leave your e-mail addy.
Disclaimer: If I owned AWTR, would I have to write a fanfic? Nope.
Author's Note: As said in the summary for the e-mail list, this chapter takes a break from the living Landon and Jamie and deals with the sub-plot. It explains just who Selena, Tera, and the Queen are and how any of this could happen.
"Hello, Jamie," the queen said staring down at her visitor. "What is it that you want?"
"I merely ask for the knowledge I will lose. I'm wondering exactly how it works," Jamie said.
"How what works?" the queen said.
"This system. This system of life and death. How do you choose, and how do you make it happen? How did you become queen, will you always be queen. How do you choose your workers?" Jamie started to ask.
"Slow down there. The way we choose is too hard to explain and changes ever constantly. We make it happen through the workers. There are several ways we kill people. It would be sort of odd if people died just because we made them, people would suspect us. So, we made ways that mortals accept. Disease, car accidents, murder, etc. Murder is very complex in our jobs though. Would take a lifetime to explain," the queen began.
"So my leukemia came from you," Jamie said.
"Yes, that's right dear. You were taken by Tera herself. She's one of my favorite workers. Always very good at her job," the queen said.
"How is she good at her job? How is it any different?" Jamie asked.
"Oh, sometimes the soul doesn't want to leave. It holds on tight, very hard. Others want to go, they leave willingly. You were a hard one. Very hard. Tera says you were one of the hardest. A worker is judged by how well they managed. Their techniques and such. For some reason, souls give up a smaller fight with some workers, and a large fight with others. We don't know why, they just do. I will not always be queen, although I have been for over 1,000 years. The queen chooses her successor," the queen continued on.
"Where did you come from. How did Tera come to her job?" Jamie questioned further.
"Tera was alive once. I believe she was a previous princess of a European country. Selena was a princess of China. They are all very old. I was alive once, but it's so long ago. It was before they started counting your years. I worked my way through the ranks, became my queen's favorite. Got higher statuses as a worker, and here I am, the queen. They however were in limbo first. Their future was undecided. Their admission to heaven was questioned, so they took the job as worker. Its how they stay up here. I will be given a second chance once I retire from the throne. I will be able to reincarnate. Anymore questions?" the queen replied.
"Just one more. Are you happy as queen?" Jamie asked. Throughout her whole time here, she had sensed something in the workers, and as the queen told the tale, she could feel it screaming out from the queen. When she talked to Tera, she seemed cheerful but there was something that wasn't right whenever she looked into Tera's eyes. They didn't match her facial expression, her voice, or her attitude. She awaited the queen's answer.
"I can't remember what happy feels like," the queen whispered. Jamie looked into the queen's eyes. Those were Tera's eyes, those were Selena's eyes, it represented how the whole work force felt. It struck Jamie, they were lonely and sad inside. They were stuck. Tera could only talk to Jamie because Tera had taken her, and Tera said most of her charges didn't want to speak to her, since her job was for those that resisted hardest. They couldn't talk to the family members they once knew and it took a long time to escape their job. They had to become queen, and then serve as queen for a while. Some workers who never climbed the ranks would be there forever. Jamie wanted to do something, but she couldn't think of what to do. How do you fix a system when, by the way it was designed, it wasn't broken? Jamie could go back, but they couldn't. It was a sad truth.
"Thank You," Jamie said quietly and left without another word. She had to do something. "Tera, tell me about the queen's life when she was mortal," Jamie said approaching Tera.
"Sure. But it's a long story," Tera replied, seeing the determination in Jamie's eyes.
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"So, she died for him?" Tera asked.
"Yes she did. She loved him. Then, after she dies, her spirit pays him a visit the next night. When she appears, he's talking and making out with some other woman. He and the woman have a conversation. He apparently actually never loved our queen and used her for the purpose to save his life. He was actually happy she was gone and dead. The man died a few years later and also become a worker. She rose through the ranks and got her revenge when she became queen. She demoted him to the bottom and declared he would be there forever. She passes to story on to me, and I will do the same to my successor. It has made her very bitter," Selena said.
"That's why we threw Selena at Landon in the beginning, to see if he would succumb. We had to test whether that love was strong enough for him to deserve it," Tera said and then finished, "Right now we are checking to see whether he deserves it. He's doing well enough, but time has to pass. We need to check to see if that love is true, and wasn't infatuation turned into guilt."
"How is Landon doing so far?" Jamie asked.
"Very well my dear friend. Very well," Tera said.
Author's Note: More tomorrow. Don't forget to R&R! ~Alyssa