I like this chapter's title, I really do. And I had a good time writing it as well; it's of a decent length and includes some emotional scenes.

Also, this story now has 5,000+ views! So thank you to all for your support, it's much appreciated. Here's the fifteenth chapter.

VICTOR CHELAN, 20* - FIRST PERSON

The walk back from Enil Edam was almost as scary as the burning maze had been. At any moment, I half-expected something to jump out of nowhere and try to kill me again.

It was also rather embarrassing, because there really was no reason for me to be scared here. Not only had I already faced death and ended up in "paradise", but I'd also never been afraid of the dark before. Why should I start fearing it now?

And then, about a mile away from the city limits, I remembered what the darkness reminded me of. Compared to the Pit of Panda, this could almost be considered "diet darkness", but it still served as a reminder of what might be happening to those who hadn't achieved paradise.

I dropped to my knees, clutching my head in pain as I tried to block that nightmare out of my mind. Just thinking about it gave me a splitting headache, as though the two hemispheres of my brain desperately wanted a divorce.

It seemed, however, that I could only alternate between thinking of two dreams: The one involving the Underworld, and the other involving the Sky Garden. Nighttime on this gorgeous tropical island should have been serene, and it was to some extent, but I wouldn't soon forget how those dark angels had just come from the sky to terrorize the town.

But it didn't happen, did it?

Even though it caused the inside of my skull more pain, I slapped myself upside the head as I remembered it. Those words that had haunted me for much of the day.

Trouble in the sky...that fits with what I heard in my dream!

Those words were spoken by a forever-young Amanda Mariner, just that morning. It hadn't even been a full calendar day, and I'd already nearly forgotten about them! The increased physical durability hadn't seemed to come with increased mental capacity, at least not yet.

I don't know how long I kneeled on the gravel path. The tiny rocks were digging into my knees, but I was almost immune to the pain; it wasn't nearly as severe as what was being inflicted on my noggin.

Sick was rising in the back of my throat. It wasn't a vague feeling of nausea, either; it was one that made it abundantly clear that I would lose my lunch (or in this case dinner) within less than a minute. It was my choice whether I found a receptacle or just left it lying on the path.

Scanning the area ninety degrees to my right, I immediately saw a garden with a large fountain in it. The fountain was of what appeared to be a tall boy holding a Pokeball, and the subject looked vaguely familiar, but I didn't exactly care what figure I ended up disrespecting.

I ran over as quickly as I could, clutching my stomach. I attempted to hold back the vomit until I reached the fountain, silently praying that Arceus would forgive me for defiling a fountain with a statue that might be sacred.

The good news is, I didn't end up ruining the fountain. The bad news is, I tripped before I got the chance to do so, fell back to the ground, and my stomach basically exploded out of my mouth.

Within seconds, the pizza, garlic bread, and side salad that I'd ordered all came up, along with some stomach acid. I'm not going to get too graphic, but I will say that I'd hardly ever felt more embarrassed than I did in that instant.

Puking all over the path is something Cyrus Damasen would do. I should set a better example, shouldn't I?

My legs trembling, I managed to stand up again. The deed was done, and it was better if I put as much distance as possible between myself and the display I'd made in front of the fountain. I wasn't sure if karma existed in this world, but I didn't want to find out the hard way.

Even though I felt rather weak after losing my dinner, I still walked as quickly as I could back to Palm Drive. Fortunately by this point, I was acquainted with the island well enough not to have to consult the map whenever I walked this path.

At some point, I noticed that the night didn't seem as dark as the previous night had. At the time, I chalked it up to there maybe being a full moon, but in hindsight, it's very possible that this was the first concrete sign that my transition into a Growlithe was beginning. After all, Pokemon were known for having better night vision than humans.

Eventually, I smelled the familiar salty scent of the sea, as well as felt a gentle maritime evening breeze. The familiar three-story log cabin was right in front of me.

The door was ajar, and I wondered how Amanda could have possibly been so careless. As far as I knew, this wasn't like her at all.

Or maybe there's a burglar in here. But what would a burglar even WANT, when they have everything they need at their own home? This is heaven, for Arceus' sake!

I walked inside to find that all of the rooms were dark. There was no sign of life anywhere on the first floor. No fire crackling in the hearth, no lights on, no Braixen lady reading a book in the living room, and no computer flashing the logo for Pillowtalk.

This is rather eerie, I thought to myself. I tiptoed around the first floor, exploring a guest bedroom I hadn't even known existed, to find that there was nobody there. Where the hell was Amanda?

It was only once I climbed the stairs to the second floor that I heard it.

It was a very faint noise, but I thought I heard something whimpering up there. I hadn't believed in ghosts prior to coming here, but now I wasn't so sure.

This might sound rather cliché, but I wanted to be prepared for anything. In one of the closets along the stairs, I found what looked like a baseball bat. Had I been thinking rationally, of course, I should have known that a baseball bat wouldn't do me any good against a ghost. When you're all hyped up on sudden adrenaline, however, you don't tend to think rationally.

I grabbed the bat and located a ladder that led through a trapdoor to what I assumed was the attic. In all the time I'd lived here, I hadn't once ventured into the attic; there was a certain curiosity about what awaited me there.

As I climbed the ladder, one step at a time (it wasn't completely vertical), the whimpering grew louder. Perhaps it was still possible that a ghost was lurking up there, but it didn't sound like it anymore. The closer I got to the top, the more it sounded like…

"Amanda?" I asked, opening the trapdoor to find a long, low, rather dusty room full of all sorts of junk. Peering through the darkness and fighting the urge to sneeze, I saw that there was indeed a Braixen curled up into a ball, sobbing.

She didn't seem to hear me over her own cries, so I got a bit closer. "Hey, Amanda, it's me, Victor. Are you okay?"

My soulmate turned her body 180 degrees to face me. I saw that her eyes were bloodshot, as though she'd been crying for some time, and her nose was running. If she'd been a socialite or something in her previous life, this display would have made the other socialites faint from shock.

"Oh, it's you" she choked out, sniffling as she spoke. "Sorry about that...sometimes I get a little carried away."

"Eh, emotions are a normal part of existence. This isn't some dystopian novel."

Amanda snorted. "What's with the bat?" she asked, noticing the very conspicuous sporting equipment I held in my right hand, which I swiftly dropped to the floor.

I couldn't help but laugh. "I thought you were a ghost, Amanda! I heard whimpering up here and went to investigate!"

It was then that my soulmate began chuckling; some of the tears were leaving her eyes. She no longer seemed to feel like crying, but I still wondered what she was keeping from me.

For the moment, however, I was perfectly content to laugh along with her.

"Victor Chelan, a wannabe ghostbuster? Don't you know that you need a proton pack or whatever, not a baseball bat?"

"I'm sorry. Haven't seen any of the movies in forever; I won't see any of them ever again, because there aren't any movies here, are there?"

Amanda shook her head, no longer seeming to be in a lighthearted mood. "I'm afraid not," she told me. "I think we're just supposed to enjoy each other's company. If the only thing we can use the computer for is Pillowtalk, we've got to find alternative forms of entertainment. You can watch TV here, but not movies."

That's kind of weird. I've never tried watching TV here; I've got a hard time sitting still.

"Have you ever watched TV here, Amanda?"

She shook her head. "I knew someone here who did, a while back. But we don't talk anymore."

I figured there was a story behind that comment, but I didn't say anything to that effect. She'd been crying when I had entered the attic; the last thing I wanted was to invade her privacy any more than I needed to.

We sat there for a couple of minutes in silence, simply watching...well, there wasn't anything to watch there, really. Occasionally a bit of dust would fly around the attic, but on the whole, nothing of interest happened besides my nose prickling more and more with every passing second.

"Hey, Victor?" Amanda asked me after a while. By this point my eyelids were getting heavy, and my eyes themselves were itching to no small degree. There must have been even more dust in the attic than I'd thought.

"Yeah?" I replied.

The Braixen might have been eternally twenty, but she sounded much, much older than that when she responded.

"You were honest with me this morning about your dream", she said softly, sniffling as she uttered those words. Whether the sniffling was due to allergies or sadness, I wasn't quite sure. "Since you told me the truth, I should tell you the truth in return, shouldn't I?"

Well, that's your choice, isn't it?

And then I realized: Amanda might be about to tell me what had been bothering her all day, the connection she was going to make to my dream about the Sky Garden. I didn't say anything, but on the inside I was very intrigued.

"The other night, I had a nightmare about my mother" the Braixen lady began, rubbing her right eye while being careful not to claw at it.

I realized then that I knew nothing about Amanda's Earthly family. Much like with other aspects of her personal life, I hadn't asked her about them because I thought they were, quite simply, personal. Even now, I wondered if she'd wind up regretting telling me the truth.

"What happened in the nightmare?" I asked, not able to help myself.

Amanda seemed hesitant to say more, but she didn't hesitate for very long. With tears in her eyes, she continued.

"My mother was in a golden jail cell, and she told me that the Heaven Renders, the court that Professor Oak is on, is going to put her on trial."

"That's why he wasn't at Orientation today!" I exclaimed; that was something of an "A-ha!" moment for me. A metaphorical lightbulb had appeared in my mind as I put two and two together.

Amanda nodded. "Unfortunately, the news gets worse from there. I asked her how she'd gotten into the afterlife, essentially how she'd died, and she told me that she died of a broken heart. It was only a couple months ago that she lost me, after all."

I had never been a parent, and I would never be a parent, so I couldn't imagine what it must be like to lose a child. Although it was definitely difficult for my soulmate to talk about this, I wanted to applaud her for being willing to pour her heart out to me the way she was doing. That's what real trust looks like.

"But wait," I asked, "why were they putting her on trial? Do they think she did anything wrong?"

Amanda rolled her eyes. "Yes, Victor, they do. Generally that's how the criminal justice system works; someone's only charged if they have reason to believe that an offense has been committed. Of course, I know my own mother, and she would never commit such heinous acts against the Sky Garden!"

It was then that everything clicked together. The mental jigsaw puzzle had been fully assembled, starting with the base of knowledge that I'd gained since learning the afterlife existed. Piece by piece, recalling my dream about the attack as well as the Braixen lady's words, I connected the dots to find the truth.

"Is she...do they think she's behind the Sky Garden attack?"

Tearfully, my soulmate looked me right between the eyes. It didn't matter that she was a Pokemon and I was still a human for the time being; there are certain forms of body language common to all species.

She gave a small nod.

That one movement of the head and neck, up and down, that lasted less than two seconds, told me all I needed to know. It made my blood boil, too, as though it had all been replaced with ghost pepper sauce.

"But that's just not right!" I exclaimed, gasping, my pupils dilating significantly. "Why would your mother do such a thing?"

I realized, belatedly, that those were probably the wrong words to use in this situation. Thankfully, Amanda didn't seem to be angry with me for them.

"Of course she didn't. The high court is really a Kangashkan court; they're just looking for somebody to blame for their problems, and the hammer happened to fall on my mother."

The hammer happened to fall on my mother.

I remembered reading that it was considered better for ten guilty men to go free than for one innocent person to be imprisoned. Many people would dispute this, since they want someone to suffer for what happened, but all of this logic is thrown out the window when the imprisoned party is someone you care about.

I couldn't even begin to imagine how Amanda must be feeling at that moment. She reached for a nearby box of tissues, which I hadn't noticed until that moment.

"It's okay to cry, Amanda," I told her, trying not to sound too playful. "I would too in your situation." I had to be careful with my words, for even the wrong tone might come across the wrong way.

The Braixen lady blew her nose and wiped her eyes down. When she was ready to talk again, she said, "The worst thing about all of this, the most heartbreaking part, is that I can't do anything about it. I can't break my mother out of her jail cell, nor can I teleport in front of the jury and give my testimony."

Without a word, I scooted over to my soulmate's side and hugged her. My heart was practically in my throat as I thought about what her mental state must be like. And when I got closer to her, I felt even more anxious.

Amanda didn't object to me embracing her. "Thanks, Victor. I'm really sorry for burdening you with all of this; that's not what you want in paradise, is it?"

I smiled. Make no mistake, I wasn't actively trying to flirt with her, nor did I believe that we made a credible couple. At this point, however, I was comfortable calling her a friend, and a fairly close one at that.

"It's not paradise if you're hurting" I replied simply. "Because let me tell you, this is torture."

Virtually every conception of heaven differed with regards to what one would find there. However, I was absolutely, positively sure that torture wasn't supposed to be one of those things.

"This isn't the first time I've wondered about this", Amanda said in a panicked voice, "but what if there's been a huge mistake on our part? What if Arceus, or whatever deity exists in this world, wants us to use our minds and realize it's torture, and then he'll send us to the actual paradise once we figure it out?"

It was as though a pitch-black room were being illuminated slowly but surely. The more I thought about it, the more her theory made sense, even if it sounded outlandish at first.

"That sounds crazy, but it just might be true", I said with conviction. "We still miss our loved ones, we're not allowed to keep our human bodies, and we get storms that smell like raw sewage. Maybe Arceus does have a sense of humor!"

I then raised my voice and pointed up at the heavens. Amanda shushed me, clearly hoping I didn't do anything impulsive, but I did it anyway.

"Hey, Arceus! We figured your little game out! Now take us to the good place!"

"What did you just do? He might smite us right here!" the Braixen exclaimed in both a whisper and a shout.

"Trying to see if you were right," I said, shrugging. "Now we wait."

We sat there in silence for several minutes, looking through the window at the night sky. At any point, I half expected that Arceus would rapture us out of here, zap us into the Hall of Origin, and laugh at his little joke.

Within about a minute, it became clear that this wasn't going to happen. I felt like an idiot, and for that reason, I kept my mouth shut as my face turned red.

When Amanda glared at me, I replied with, "It was worth a shot."

"No, it wasn't, you dolt! I thought I was going to be electrocuted or something; you don't just provoke Arceus like that! If you're not careful, we could end up banished to the Underworld before my mother!"

I raised my hands in the air apologetically. "Okay, then I'll admit that I was wrong. But I don't think your mother's going to be banished. The truth will come out during the trial if they look hard enough for it."

Amanda clearly wanted to be reassured by what I said. I wanted them to have a calming effect. However, the reality was that I said those words less to calm her down, and more to convince myself that her mother wouldn't end up in the Underworld.

When she didn't reply for about a minute, I spoke for her.

"I'll sleep in the room with you tonight. That's what I want to do." It was a spur-of-the-moment suggestion, because I wanted to make her feel better any way I could.

"You don't need to" the Braixen responded softly. "I'll be fine."

I shot her a glance of feigned annoyance. "Amanda, I'm not asking. I'm demanding. I am going to sleep on the floor of your bedroom, so that I can be with you."

One might say that now was a bad time to make the first move; surely I should have broached the subject of sleeping together when she was in a better mood. Even as I asserted that I would stay with her that night, I knew that my promise might not be wise.

In a signal that she was acquiescing, Amanda shrugged and pointed to a nearby mattress that was just lying around in the attic. It looked dusty and old, but it would be more comfortable than the hard floor.

"There's no need to sleep on the floor, Victor. That futon will do just fine."

I realized then that it was going to be difficult to move the futon through the trapdoor. Actually, replace "difficult" with "damn near impossible", and you'll have a more accurate adjective.

"I'm not going to be able to get the futon into your room, Amanda. I'll just gather the blankets and sleep on the floor, because…".

Amanda glared at me. "Because of what?"

Because I want to be there for you in your time of need. Because I want to make sure you're okay.

No, stop that. You shouldn't say those things; Amanda's not some damsel in distress that you constantly need to watch over! She's an adult just like you, and she can take care of herself. Hell, even sleeping on the floor of her room is a bit intrusive.

"I just feel like it tonight" I said simply and flatly. "Besides, we're soulmates, so…".

"Just because the universe decided we're soulmates doesn't mean we have to share a room. Victor Chelan, I really do care about you, but this is not my finest hour. That being said…".

"I promise I won't make any noise. I'm not sure if I snore, but I'll be as quiet as possible, like I'm not even there. Please, just this once?"

To show I meant it, I made "Lillipup eyes" at Amanda. In what was little short of a miracle, they seemed to do their job.

"Okay, fine. Just this once."

I was, in a way, glad that I wouldn't be sleeping on the futon, for as soon as I left the attic, I found myself sneezing my head off. There had been so much dust up there, it was ridiculous.

"Arceus bless you" Amanda said as she climbed down the ladder behind me. "That doesn't really have the same ring to it."

Snorting, I went to my bedroom and retrieved some bedsheets and my pillow from my bed. I then carried them over to the door Amanda was standing in front of, and walked inside.

Her room was nearly identical to mine, except that unlike my own bedroom, there was a small fireplace against the wall. There wasn't too much space to bed down on the floor, so I simply put my bedding parallel to the Braixen's bed.

"I said we'd be sharing the same room, Victor, not the same bed!" Amanda exclaimed, seemingly on the edge of slight laughter. "If they raised that part of the floor upwards by like two feet, then we'd have a double bed."

"Very funny" I replied sarcastically. I wasn't quite ready for that mental image yet.

I had not gotten into my pajamas yet, but that didn't matter. All of a sudden, as if some spell had been cast on me, I felt downright exhausted. Perhaps this was due to me having been weighed down by the knowledge that Amanda had given me about her mother; in fact, I'm almost sure of it.

Curling into the fetal position, the pose I normally slept in, I waited for Amanda to turn out the lights. Once she did so, and I closed my eyes, it didn't take long for me to fall into a (thankfully) dreamless sleep.

PROFESSOR SAMUEL OAK, 54* - THIRD PERSON

That same night, high above Paradise Island, in the city known as the Sky Garden, Professor Oak was not so successful in his attempt to get a good night's rest.

From the moment he'd finished with the dinner Lauren had brought him (which, on a side note, tasted like cardboard to him), the professor had been trying to drift off. It was of course earlier than he normally went to bed, but there was nothing else to do in this mostly blank room. Perhaps there was a copy of the Book of Arceus somewhere in here, much like how many Earthly hotel rooms had a Bible in them, but he didn't really feel like looking for the book or reading it.

Besides, the lack of windows made it so that Professor Oak couldn't tell what time of day it was. This quality of the room was mostly undesirable, but it might make it easier for him to sleep.

Alas, he wasn't going to doze off as easily as he'd wanted to. From the moment he closed his eyes, the professor was tossing and turning in an effort to find the most comfortable spot on the bed.

This shouldn't be difficult, he thought bitterly after about half an hour. This is a luxurious hotel, and this bed is objectively very comfortable. So why is it so hard?

Sleepless nights were hugely unpleasant on Earth; the professor had experienced them on a few occasions during his first life, but he'd naively believed at first that they might not happen in the afterlife.

Unfortunately, that had been too much to ask for. Being a Heaven Render was stressful, and he sometimes lost sleep over the immense amount of paperwork he'd have to do the next day. However, he'd never been so conflicted over a case like he was now.

Is Mrs. Mariner guilty, or is she not guilty? Is it better to risk throwing her in the Underworld when she's innocent, or to leave her on the good side of the afterlife and run the risk of her doing it again? If she IS guilty, what should we do to make sure nothing like this happens again?

Answering these questions wouldn't be Oak's job alone, of course; the Heaven Renders numbered nine for a reason. But the questions just kept on coming, and the professor knew that, regarding the chances of him feeling rested tomorrow: "They're slim to none, and slim just left town."

He tried counting Mareep, as ineffective as he expected that tactic to be. He tried hugging his pillow like it was his spouse (although he had never been married), no matter how embarrassing it would be if someone discovered him doing this.

They're not going to discover me. I'm pretty sure these rooms are locked very tightly from the inside, and are probably bulletproof too. I just hope they're Windborn-proof, if that's even a word. Well, I guess it is now!

Speaking of Windborn, the attack on March 5 can never be repeated. Even if Sarah Mariner didn't leak the information, punishing her might send a strong message to any would-be attackers: Don't you dare!

A few seconds later, Professor Oak hated himself for such a suggestion. There would be few things more depraved than chucking an innocent person into the Pit of Panda, no matter what the supposed benefits would be.

He continued writhing around on the bed in a state of mild emotional turmoil for hours, eventually producing a decent amount of sweat all over the sheets and mattress. He knew then that he would want a shower in the morning.

Hell, I'd like a shower now. But I'm not going to get out of bed, because I must sleep.

At some point, probably well after midnight, Professor Oak was able to doze off, but his sleep was anything but a restful one.

He saw a jail cell where everything was painted gold, even the small toilet in the corner. It vaguely reminded him of the hotel room, and made him wonder if his own room should be likened to a dungeon, but that was a rather scary thought. He preferred not to dwell on it.

Seconds later, he noticed a woman of average height with brown hair that was of average length. Of course, it needs to be said that her facial expression was far from average; she seemed to be completely and totally horrified.

"Sir, you must save me!" Sarah Mariner exclaimed desperately, holding up her arm as though expecting the professor to grab it. "They're going to throw me away, and they don't have the right person!"

"But why should I believe you when you're the one whose afterlife is on the line?" the professor blurted out. He didn't know if he actually said it, or if he simply thought those words and she heard them.

The tears of fear continued streaming down Mrs. Mariner's face, but they were soon joined by another type: Tears of fury.

"Do you realize what awaits me in the Underworld?" the woman all but yelled at the professor. "They tell me that it's fire and fury like the world has never seen! Those were the exact words!"

Within seconds, the woman was screaming like a banshee, causing the professor's very body to shake with fright. He hadn't expected Mrs. Mariner to shriek like this.

Then again, I would probably do the same if I were in her position. Especially if I didn't actually commit the crime.

Professor Oak tried to think of his next move to continue the conversation, but there didn't seem to be any good options. If he tried to minimize the woman's potential punishment (not that such a thing should be minimized), then she would only scream louder.

The only other option was to stay silent.

Wait a minute...this is a dream. I know it's a dream. So why can't I wake up?

All of a sudden, realizing that he couldn't rise from this bad dream at will caused the song "Baby" by Justin Bieber to play in his brain. That infernal tune was so loathsome that the professor had to fight not to yell as loudly as Mrs. Mariner was.

"Shut up!" he shouted against his own better judgment. It was addressed against his own mind, not Mrs. Mariner, but the defendant didn't take it that way.

"What did you just say?" the woman roared like a caged lioness. "You told me to shut up, as though my plight doesn't mean shit to you! How depraved do you have to be to say something like that?"

The professor raised his hands in the air. "It was a misunderstanding, ma'am…". He found himself trailing off; how could he possibly explain it in a way that wouldn't make Mrs. Mariner even more irate?

"How can there possibly be a misunderstanding about something like that? You told me to shut up when I was airing very real concerns; how do you get by acting like that?"

When he didn't respond, Sarah Mariner stared right into his soul, with an expression that he knew would be burned into his retinas for the rest of his afterlife.

It was one of fear and fury, one of equal parts intense anger and even-more-intense anxiety. It was one of betrayal, since she clearly believed the heavenly criminal justice system, which was never supposed to fail, had done the unthinkable by failing her.

The message was unmistakable: You're on the jury that might end up condemning me to a fate worse than death. I thought heaven was supposed to be perfect, and you're proving me wrong right here. I could not be more furious with you; can't you see what awaits me if you can't convince them that I'm not guilty?

Sarah Mariner didn't say any of those words, but Professor Oak could practically hear her utter them with venom in her voice.

And then, suddenly, he awoke to the sound of knocking on the door, and opened his eyes to see that he was still in Ponderosa, the "heavenly" hotel at which the Heaven Renders were sequestered.

It took the professor a few seconds to realize what the knocking meant; he didn't exactly feel rested, still coated in a fine layer of sweat all over his body. But it was clear that the room service Lauren had arrived with his breakfast.

"Come in," he said simply.

The door opened, confirming his hypothesis, and Lauren set a plate piled high with eggs, sausage, and home fries on the dresser. Professor Oak was a little embarrassed to have Lauren see him in his pajamas, but he tried not to draw attention to this fact.

"Today's proceedings begin in half an hour," the perfect-looking woman told the professor. "Make sure you put on your robes this time."

With a jolt of embarrassment, the professor remembered that he hadn't worn the proper robes to court yesterday either. He wasn't going to make the same mistake again; while he might not end up in the Underworld if he did that, it would certainly be frowned upon.

After bolting down his breakfast, Professor Oak put on his robes and then sat back down on his bed. The sheets were still damp with perspiration, and he knew that they would need to be washed before he slept in this bed again. Fortunately, there was plenty of time for that to happen, and he had little doubt that Ponderosa had housekeeping.

He'd been a juror in plenty of trials before. Most of them were for crimes far more minor than what Mrs. Mariner was accused of; some had been convicted, some acquitted. However, for the first time, he was appreciating what it must feel like to be the defendant.

In a way, that dream's the best thing that has happened to me in a while. And, since I'm supposedly in heaven, that's saying something.

Once he was finished with his service on the Heaven Renders, if he still had an appetite for working in the courthouse, he might try to replace Danny California as the public defender. Of course, to do that, he'd most likely need to remain in the good graces of his superiors in the Sky Garden.

That's easier said than done, since I loathe this job. But I would love to replace such an incompetent lawyer as Mr. California, so I can't fuck this up.

In the dream, Sarah Mariner hadn't seemed like a monster. She'd simply seemed like your average woman who faced fire and brimstone, or whatever else was in hell, and was absolutely terrified at the prospect. And that begged a question...was she too scared to be guilty?

Maybe. I'm hardly what you would call a criminal psychologist.

All too soon, the door was opened again, and the security guard told Professor Oak that it was time to head downstairs.

AMANDA MARINER, 20* - FIRST PERSON

I'd been very scared to fall asleep that night, simply because I knew nightmares were likely. After learning that your own mother's in such legal trouble against the high court of the afterlife, it's hard not to be terrified.

And terrified I was. The instant I woke up, I sat bolt upright in bed and opened my eyes widely, not unlike a Deerling caught in the headlights. My heart was beating faster than a stallion could run.

It was early in the morning, perhaps 5 or 6 AM, judging by the color of the sky. The sun hadn't risen yet, but it would soon, and although I wouldn't be able to see the sunrise itself, I'd be able to see the sky's reaction to it.

Calm down, Amanda. You're safe, at least for now.

That wasn't Victor telling me that; rather, it was my own subconscious, or whatever part of the brain was responsible for helping one assess whether or not they're in danger.

I threw back the covers and looked around the room more thoroughly. Everything was exactly as it had been the previous night. There weren't any demons from the Underworld intruding on my...well, you wouldn't exactly call it bliss.

And then I saw my Victor Chelan on the ground, underneath his blankets, fast asleep. He didn't seem bothered by my sudden jolt of wakefulness.

Even though I liked to fancy myself a strong, independent woman, and didn't exactly support traditional gender roles, I had to admit that having Victor in the room with me felt good. There was just something about being with your soulmate that makes everything a little more bearable.

Getting control of my breathing, I laid back down again. I didn't intend on going back to sleep, of course; being late for one's assignment was never a good idea here. I'd made that mistake on one occasion and had vowed never to repeat it.

I looked back at Victor, grateful not to have disturbed him. I'd resisted his decision to stay in the room with me at first, but I was now glad he'd won that argument. In light of the situation I was dealing with, I needed someone else's company more than ever.

Not everything here was going to be easy, but I felt sure that I could do whatever was necessary to save my mother. It would require moving heaven and earth, or heaven and Nexus, but anything's possible when you're immortal, isn't it?

Smiling at the sleeping body of my designated soulmate, I thought to myself: As long as every day starts and ends this way, I think everything is going to be okay.

The last sentence of this chapter came from a card next to my parents' bed at home, which has an image of two stick figures cuddling each other. I thought it was a sweet line to end this one on.

Also, today is a double update, probably the only time this will happen for Otherside. Sixteen chapters is what I've written so far; after this, chapters will be released when they are complete. Stay safe, everyone.