AN: Thank you, AmutoisLove, for being my first reviewer and for inspiring this second part. It's in Marco's POV, and it explains why he came back the way he did. Hope this clears things up!
Once again, feedback is greatly appreciated! Let me know what you think!
"Saying Goodbye"
I was sitting on the edge of Heaven when the idea of something almost unforgivable came upon me.
I was watching over my best friend as he snuck out of the headquarters. I made sure no one would catch him, because I knew what he was planning on. It was when he mounted his horse that I got the idea.
I knew I didn't have much time, so I flew as fast as I could past the gates, over the heads of the other angels, and sped towards the Kingdom. I saw the Archangel standing at the doorway.
"Sir, I have an urgent request to make," I spoke as I knelt at his feet. He looked down on me.
"What is it, child?"
Raising my head, I murmured, "My friend is on his way to visit my grave, and we never got a chance to say goodbye before I died. Would it be too much to ask if I could go visit him again?" The response I got was one I didn't like hearing.
"Ha! You poor soul, that's not possible. Once you're here, you stay here forever," the Archangel laughed. "Surely you can wait until he makes it up here? Then you can spend all the time you want together. Humans don't live very long, anyway."
The idea of my friend dying upset me. "Sir," I begged, "please, just this one time. He's fought for me, and he deserves to live for a long time. I don't want to wait. I don't think he'd want to wait, either."
The Archangel rubbed his chin and contemplated the idea for a long time. I shifted my weight impatiently as I waited for his reply. I was running out of time.
"Fine," he finally answered, "you can go back. But you have a time limit, alright? You get one hour." I could literally feel my face light up.
"Oh, thank you!" I exclaimed, making for the gates.
"You better hurry, time's ticking!" the Archangel called, and suddenly I disappeared from Heaven.
The next thing I knew, everything was dark, and it stunk like hell. And then I realized—
I'm in my grave.
The Archangel actually put me back into my body. All I wanted was to just see Jean in spirit form, not like this!
Grunting, I lifted my remaining arm and started to push against the lid of the coffin. All the dirt weighed it down. This would take a while. Using all my strength and my only hand, I scratched my way out of the coffin, and started digging a hole through the ground. By the time I was halfway up, I was weak and almost couldn't move. I wanted to give up.
But then I thought of Jean, and getting to see him again, and that drove me to continue. I dug and dug and fought my way up. When I broke the surface, I felt so relieved. And then I felt angry.
I was so pissed at the Archangel! Why would he do this to me? I just wanted a simple, harmless meeting with my friend, and now I'm going to scare him away because of that jerk!
I didn't realize who was sitting on the ground before me when my head emerged from the ground. I was so mad. I wanted to tear something apart.
As I was gnashing my teeth to express my anger, I heard a muffled "Marco?" in my remaining ear. I looked at the person sitting on the ground and growled, thinking it was the Archangel. I came closer to him. I was going to kill him—if that was possible.
"Marco," I heard again. "Marco, it's me, Jean!" The person started scooting backwards and I followed him. And then it hit me. This was Jean sitting in front of me. I whimpered at him, finding myself unable to talk. I reached for him as he froze up and inched my way towards him. My legs wouldn't work due to the strain of getting out of the ground.
"Mghhh…" I let out. I wanted to talk to him, but my vocal cords wouldn't work properly. Instead, I reached out and grabbed his boot, letting him know I recognized him. I wanted to say "I miss you Jean! Please don't be scared!" but all that came out was "Ehrrghh…"
I felt his warm, fleshy hand against my cold, dead hand and almost cried on the spot. "Do you remember me, Marco?" Jean asked me. With the little strength I had left, I nodded slightly. I wanted to smile, but the muscles in my face just didn't want to work.
I felt myself being pulled up and into Jean's embrace. He held me against his chest, and he was so warm. I hadn't felt warmth like that in a long time. "I've missed you, bud," I heard him say. I tried to say something, but nothing coherent would come out.
"Marco, say something, please." He was desperate. "Please, Marco, I need to hear your voice. I don't remember it well anymore. I don't remember you well anymore… I only remember that day now, that day I found you dead in the street. I don't want to remember that day. I want to remember the days before it." I tried to get something out to respond to him, but nothing would come out of the remains of my mouth.
"It's my fault you're dead!" he cried out. That made my dead chest tighten. No it's not, Jean. "It's all my fault… I should be the one six feet under, not you, Marco." I felt nonexistent tears, now. "I'm so sorry…" I was crying now. It wasn't his fault! It was no one's fault. I wanted to tell him that, that I gave my own life to save him, and that it was never his fault to begin with. I would have never lived with myself if I had left him out in the street that day in Trost.
Through my tearless crying I didn't realize I was actually trying to tell Jean all this. Only it came out as incoherent mumbling, and he couldn't understand me. I was so frustrated with myself for not being able to communicate properly. "I miss you too, Jean," I tried to say, but it came out as little grunts. I found my vision becoming blurry, and I felt so weak. I was running out of time.
"Dammit, Marco, please!" was the last thing I heard from Jean before leaving my body. When I opened my eyes, I was back in Heaven, kneeling in front of the Archangel again. He was smirking at me.
"Did you get everything off your chest?" he asked smugly, crossing his arms over his chest.
"That's not fair!" I cried out, barely restraining myself from punching this asshole in the face. There were actual tears in my eyes now as I screamed, "I didn't get to talk to him at all! That was the last time he would get to see me, and I was a damned zombie! What's wrong with you?" I had other angels staring at me now, but I didn't care. What he did to me was wrong and unjustified.
"Ah, but child," he said calmly, slyly, "If I had sent you in spirit form, he would not have been able to see you. And he will definitely remember this night. This was a lesson, you know. If you tamper with the natural order of things, you will surely ruin everything altogether. What I have allowed you to do could surely get me demoted, or even thrown out, if I were to be found out." He leaned down to my face and whispered menacingly, "If you breathe a word of this to anyone, I will make you pay." And with that, he sent me off.
I sulked back to the edge of Heaven, contemplating what the Archangel said to me. If he had sent me in spirit form, I would have let Jean know I was there. It would have been much better than scarring him for life with that deteriorating corpse.
I sighed and watched as Jean stuffed my dead body back down in the grave. I felt horrible for leaving him like that. I wanted to tell him so much. I wanted to let him know I was okay, that I was so proud of him, and that Heaven wasn't that bad (aside from the Archangel). I just wish things had gone a little differently.
I kept watch over him as he rode back to the headquarters. He slept in the horse's stall, unable to sneak back into the bunks. I had terrified him, and that made me feel awful.
Over the years, I kept him safe from harm. I made sure he killed Titans, and I made sure Titans didn't eat him. He would return to the grave every year, hoping I would show up again, but of course I couldn't. I wouldn't come back that way ever again.
The Archangel was found out (but not through me, or maybe it was me, we'll never know…), and he was thrown out of Heaven for treating me, along with other angels, so horribly. I wanted to tell Jean about the situation, but when I found that he started giving up on me, it crushed my heart. But I understood why he was losing hope.
I wanted so desperately to return, but I didn't want to scar Jean any more than I already had.
I had to say goodbye.
And I will swallow my pride.
You're the one that I love,
And I'm saying goodbye.