The Fifth Spirit

The little girl opened her eyes to the cold, sterile hospital room. There were many pictures and paintings hung on the unpainted metal walls, but none of them brought any comfort to the child. She was cold, and her stomach hurt.

She wondered where her mother was. Her father wouldn't be there, she knew, but only because he was busy. Her mother had been with her when she woke up earlier, but that couldn't have been right. Her mother had been dead for over a year, and her father had been too busy to take care of her.

Why was she here? There had been an accident? One that left her hurting… but she wouldn't cry. Crying was a sign of weakness, like her parents always said.

There was a woman next to her. She tried to sit up, but her strength had left her. She settled for turning her head, turning those dulled, slate-blue eyes to the lady.

"Can you hear me?" the woman asked softly, and the girl nodded a silent 'yes.'

"My name is Aki," the lady introduced herself, "What's your name?"

"Meg," the little girl answered. She must be another doctor, so why doesn't she know my name?

"How are you feeling, Meg?" she didn't talk like the doctors Meg knew. Instead of the cold, sometimes sad, manners she was used to, this woman was warmer and more compassionate.

"I don't feel any better," she replied, meeting Aki's eyes. This was certainly not one of the doctors she knew.

"That's too bad," Aki smiled, "I'm sure you'll get better soon."

"That's not what the doctors say," the girl said, her tone indifferent, "They say I'm gonna die."

"They told you that?" the woman's smile faded as Meg nodded again. If anything, this world was cruel, but to tell a child…

And what would you prefer? Aki scolded herself, False hope? Lies? You're dying too.

"What's wrong?" the innocent question nearly broke the scientist's heart. What's wrong…

"Nothing's wrong, sweetheart," the smile was back, less sincere than before.

Meg turned her head to look around the room, suddenly aware that the lights were off. That was strange, because all the other visitors always turned the lights on. She turned back to Aki, and struggled to sit up. The woman helped her, and she smiled for the first time in months. No one ever bothered to be kind after her mother died. For a year and a half, she had been shipped from orphanage to orphanage with a group of other San Francisco foundlings, and no one cared.

"Then why do you look so sad?"

Aki stared at the little girl in disbelief, and unsure of what to say. Come on, say something. Heck, tell her the truth.

"I don't see a reason why such a pretty young lady should die," she said, running her fingers through the child's dark brown hair.

"It's not a choice," Meg said, "You die when you die, and it's the end."

"No," Aki insisted, "No, death is just a…" how had Dr. Sid said it? "A transformation."

"A transformation?" the girl asked.

"Mm hmm. A transformation," Aki explained, "See, the earth is alive. And everything living here has a spirit, all the plants and animals, and the people."

"Everything?" Meg asked skeptically, "Like, my dog and my mother's cats?"

"That's right," Aki beamed, "From the tallest tree to the smallest little girl. And when we die, we change and exist as part of Gai… the spirit of the earth."

"Thanks for trying," Meg smiled, "But my dad already told me about death. I'm not afraid, so you don't have to make things up to try to help." Aki bit her lip. On this little girl's face she saw the expression she saw on every soldier, every officer… every man or woman ever sent into the war against the Phantoms, "Are you afraid?"

"Yes," the scientist admitted. She was afraid to be right, and terrified to be wrong. She believed with her whole heart in the Gaia theory, and she was still afraid to die.

"You don't have to be," the child said reassuringly, "Dad said that when you die, everything stops. So nothing hurts anymore."

"You're father sounds pretty smart," Aki relented, "Where is he?"

Meg looked down at her hands, "I don't know. He's an important person, but they said he's too busy to take care of me, so they sent me to a place with lots of other kids."

"Where's your mother?" Aki's stomach churned, expecting the worst. She felt sudden loathing for whatever man would abandon his child.

"The Phantoms killed her when the barrier fell."

"I'm so sorry, sweetie…"

"Don't be, you didn't do anything bad."

Silence filled the room. Aki felt sick. Her reason for being there suddenly made her feel terrible, but if she didn't hurry she'd get caught. She picked up her bag and smiled at Meg.

"I'm conducting a very important experiment," she announced, smiling in encouragement, "Do you think it would be okay if I took a sample of your blood?"

Meg only gawked in astonishment. This was definitely a strange doctor. None of the others ever asked if she minded being poked at or examined. She nodded mutely.

Aki took the sample as quickly as she could, and stored it in a container designed to keep it fresh. She stood and looked at the clock on the wall. She had definitely been here too long.

"You're going now?" Meg asked, lying back down. She felt so tired….

"I'll come back tomorrow to check on you, as long as it's okay with you," the woman promised.

"It'd be okay," the child replied, closing her eyes. She faintly heard the door close before sleep overtook her.

Aki rushed down the hall, brushing past a security guard. She could have had a heart attack if he'd tried to stop her, but she praised luck that he didn't. Meg's attitude had greatly upset her, and she planned on spending as much time as she could with the girl, maybe find out what was wrong, and perhaps find a way to help…

"Meg?" the secretary's stare made Aki feel uneasy, "I'm not sure, let me check."

She watched the man get up from his desk and flag down the nearest doctor. From where she stood, she could barely hear wisps of conversation between them before the doctor rushed off. The secretary gestured to one of the many chairs in the cramped waiting room, "Have a seat, someone will be along shortly."

It was less than ten minutes when an aging doctor arrived, and waved Aki to follow him. Shortly down the hall, he stopped and looked her over, "You're looking for a girl named Meg?"

"Yes," Aki replied, "She was in intensive care. Blue eyes, black hair, pretty thin…."

"Are you her mother?" he demanded, clasping his hands in front of him.

"No," the woman ignored the bluntness of the question, "Her mother is dead."

"Relative?"

"No, I'm her friend," she knew there was a chance that they would not allow her to see the girl, and for a moment regretted trying to be honest, "And I'm a doctor. My name is Aki Ross."

The man wrung his hands, and looked at the silver walls, the floor, anywhere but at the woman before him. After a minute, he looked up at her, and stated in a low voice, "Dr. Ross, the girl you're asking for, Megan Hein, passed away late last night. I'm sorry."

The End

Working Title: The Fifth Spirit

Inspiration: The commentary track, which alludes to lots of drafts and characters before the final film version we saw.

Noteworthy: Meg is taken from the character we see in the Gray Project, who got her role switched around a couple of times before being dropped. I know that in at least one draft, she was Gray's daughter.

Disambiguation: There is shadowy work here, where people are neglecting to tell Hein where his daughter is. ... Or it's just paranoia.

Derivative work of material © Square Pictures, Squaresoft. Reformatted to abide by 'site standards. None of the original text has been modified, 'cept in case of typo.