Carroty bangs hid the eyes that gazed down at a raining part of Japan, near the sea where a robot saw its end. Where a Japanese youth and a young child sat kneeled by the watcher's physical form, lying battered and motionless.
0013 sighed to himself, wishing that he didn't have to leave his new friend so soon. But at least he had learned the true name of the one person who had treated him with kindness.
Joe Shimamura. Shimamura Joe. 009.
A pity that he wasn't able to answer his new friend's last question. It only came out of the cyborg's mouth minutes ago, and it resonated clearly in his mind…
"My name's Joe Shimamura… and what's yours?"
He couldn't stay awake long enough to answer. His spirit couldn't stay with the living long enough.
It was just like waking up… to a new world.
A hand gently clasped his shoulder, and his head turned to face an elderly man, with kind eyes that shone behind glasses. Said man was also looking down on to the Earth, at the little girl and the young man.
"I see you've met Joseph… or as you know him, Joe."
"…You're the priest that he mentioned before..."
A nod in response. "Yes, I am. And I know you've heard him mention about the mishap with my murderer. I knew about that too… but tell me young man, how has he grown up?"
The younger paused, thinking over the question. "He's a good person. And I think he would've been a good friend."
"Now, now… there is a saying that friends remain friends no matter how far the distance between them may be. Even between worlds. Joe knows this as well." The Father gave a comforting smile. "Now then, you'd better come with me, I'm sure the others would like to meet you."
A blink behind bangs. "Others?"
"Others like you who have met unfortunate ends… I watch over all of them, just as I did with the children at the church."
0013 paused, then questioned, "…Are they anything like Joe?"
"Yes, they are… You won't have to worry about anyone harming you, though; I think you already found this out down there…"
"Yes… I think I did." He gave one last look at the Earth below, and then followed as the Father departed.
"By the way, I forgot to ask, what do you preferred to be called by?"
A longer pause, with more walking… "Just 0013 for now please." The two traveled farther into the Spirit World, taking cherished memories of the living with them.
Sorry for not updating in a long time, but schoolwork and school in general was too much too handle. That, and the ongoing case of writer's block. I'm writing up some stories for the more recent episodes of Cyborg 009 (I can't believe they took it off before the finale!!) but I need to look over my tapes for reference. As for this one, I wanted to do a story for 0013... and I still have several more to do. There's 007, and 002, and the other Assassin Cyborgs... Black Ghost if possible... And other characters... /Sigh/ It either will, or will not be a while until the next story gets posted though. Wish me luck.