Relief soaked Mike as the memory of his final pain ended. He lay still, taking in his surroundings.
He could feel sunlight prickling at his closed eyelids. He was very warm; whatever he was laying on was unusually comfortable. He could hear a heartbeat, thumping below him. And… his hair was moving; someone was gently stroking him.
His eyes blinking groggily, he sat up.
Emily gazed back at him calmly. "Good morning, Mr. Carter. Did you know that your hair is quite springy? It is obstinate, and refuses to lie flat."
Mike stared back at her, then he leaned forward, eyes widening with joy.
"Emily! Emily, you're okay! I was so worried, you were really sick, I thought those monsters had hurt you."
She regarded him. "It was a hard fight. But I could not surrender control, I could not give up. I still have my duty."
Mike glowed. "You're amazing. I don't think I could ever have the strength to hold off that many of the monsters."
At his words, Angel blinked.
She quickly recovered. "You seem different, Mr. Carter."
He nodded. "Yeah… I just remembered how my life ended, you see. I was in a train accident, and we were trapped in a cave for days."
He scooted forward in his chair. "Before, I was depressed. I thought I never got to be a doctor, that I would never each my dream of helping someone. Does that make sense?"
Emily nodded immediately.
"But, in the crash, I was able to treat everyone's injuries. And then, at the end, I found some small way to make it up to my sister. I agreed to leave myself behind, so I could help another life. That was what I wanted, anyway."
He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up.
"I'm sure the stranger who accepts your gift will say 'thank you' every day of her life," Emily said. "She must appreciate you."
He felt curiously light, as if something had lifted off of him. "My life on earth wasn't that bad, after all. I mean, if I was able to help someone, then I had to have had some worth, no matter how small. My life, had a purpose."
Maybe there was more to life then I'd thought. Maybe it's more complicated than a world of pain. Honestly, now I'm not sure about anything. God was a mystery to me, he was behind so much pain; but he couldn't be all bad, could he? Not if he was had also created all of the beauty I've seen. Not if he made the people I've met, and the person in front of me.
He looked up. Emily was looking at him very strangely, like he could burst into flames at any moment. "Mr. Carter… have you overcome your anger? Do you feel at peace with your life?"
He frowned at her. "Well, right now, I do feel pretty peaceful, in fact. If my life helped someone, then… I guess I'm okay-" he broke off.
Emily had shrunk from him, her small hands coming up to cover her eyes. For a minute, he said nothing, highly confused as he watched her huddle.
Finally, her hands came down. The moment her hazel eyes saw Mike, they went wide.
"Mike, you're still here! You haven't passed on!"
He blinked. "Why, no, I haven't. Why in the world would I pass…" He trailed off as something jarringly fell into place. He leaned forward.
"Hold on Emily, what do you mean? Why would I pass on?"
She leaned forward as well, moving to brush his cheek in awe. "You are here. In the past, whenever one of my friends had found peace, they passed on, and left me. That is why I was so rude to you, I was selfish. I did not want to have to watch you go."
But Mike couldn't comprehend what she was saying; his mind had caught on her first statement. "No, people are obliterated when they follow God's will. It happens when they start obeying like the school wants you to!"
Angel shook her head solemnly. "The purpose of this world is to give people closure. It's to give them the peace that they never found in life. That's why this afterlife is in the form of a school, no one here was able to enjoy their childhoods. Once they come to terms with their existence, they move on to their future. They have found peace.
The morning sun glowed off of the soft pastels of the infirmary. The sheets of Emily's bed rustled as she moved forward, regarded Mike curiously. "Wasn't that obvious?"
He abruptly stood up, his chair scooting back. "No! No, it wasn't! How on earth were we supposed to know that?"
"Weren't you able to tell by looking at everyone? By the way they have always responded to my efforts with violent anger? By hearing the stories of the wounds they bear, and seeing the tension they still hold?"
Mike hesitated. Now that he thought about it, everyone here had endured difficult lives. And… it was true. All of his friends were holding onto their tension, their anger, their regret for what never was.
Was that what this afterlife was? A world, made to save young souls?
Hayley… he remembered her last conversation with her. She had seemed different from everyone else in the Battlefront, relaxed, her manner spoke of grace. She hadn't been obliterated by Angel after all… she'd chosen to move forward.
Everyone in the Battlefront, they're still here because they resist their unfair lives! Their pasts have hurt them, until they see life as ugly. But, they hold those memories in with anger, until it latches onto them, and drives them forward off of their own pain.
Angel wasn't trying to defeat us. Emily wanted us to see what we refused to acknowledge. She wanted to show us that there was more to life.
Arg, this is so frustrating! Everyone was just trying to defend their own beliefs, but it led to fighting… Our weapons against her guard skills, until now, every day is vicious battle.
He stopped pacing, his sneakers resting on a floor that seen its share of grime, his included. "Emily… you are inept. You know that? I mean, you really can't communicate with people."
She nodded. "Yes. I'm aware. Unfortunately, I have had next to no experience with other people." She looked at him anxiously. "I don't really know how to talk with them."
He sighed.
"But… it's possible, that now I can help them. That is if, if you still wish to associate yourself with me."
Winnie's fiery eyes flashed in his memory, and Mike flinched reflexively. She's so tense all the time. She tries to cover up her confusion by leading us, he realized. And with what happened to her family, she has a reason to be upset. But I'm worried about her, and everyone else too. I know what they're going through, until today, I felt the same way.
I want them to feel the same peace that I feel now. Everyone one of them deserves joy. I'm still not totally sure where I stand in the fight between my Battlefront, and the Lord. I've seen so much; and I don't know what to make of it. I'm their friend, but I want to help Emily. What can I do?
What can we do? Me, a professional loser, and the clumsiest angel ever known?
But I have to help them. I have to try.
Mike smiled at his ally. "Let's help them find peace. No matter how tough life is, I think we'll be able handle it. We'll be able to face whatever comes after this life; if we all move on to face it together. And besides, it's not like I'd leave you."
Emily immediately stepped out of bed, her toes shuffling until they found her shoes. She peered up into Mike's eager face. "Very well. Regardless of what I say to them, I do not believe everyone else will be willing to reconcile with me, especially after what my reflections did to them. What should we do?"
"Hmm…" Mike began pacing again. Actually, he did have a plan. A plot, actually. Oooh, this felt nice, this must be what Winnie feels like. "Actually, I have an idea. Will you help me?"
"What a curious way of phrasing it. Mr. Carter, it is you who have helped me. I will do whatever I can."
"It has come to our attention that there was an incident of underhanded debauchery during our last testing period," the principal droned. His mike crackled with feedback as he appraised the assembled student body.
"A group of misguided delinquents appears to have sabotaged the tests of our own Emily Robinson. Upon reflection, we have realized that the writing on her tests does not match her handwriting, proving her innocence. The delinquents in question will be reprimanded.
"It is our wish that Miss Robinson rejoin the student council as Student Body President. Miss Robinson has graciously accepted. Substitute President Albert Lecher will be returning to his role as Vice President."
"Aw, this sucks," Harry groaned. He sat around a table with Winnie, Leonard, Elly, Luke, and Mike. Piles of potatoes waiting to be pealed smiled back at them. "I can't believe they found us out. And after all of that pain from blasting off."
"It's really not fair," Elly agreed.
"Yes!" Harry exclaimed. "Only we truly understand each other's pain, my friend. We're brothers in blasting off!"
"O-oh? Are you trying to make me strip?"
"Why the hell not!"
Winnie shot them a look, and they immediately sat down.
"It's not like we had a choice in accepting the punishment," Elly finally noted. "Now that 'Emily Robinson' is the vessel of the Fallen Angels, this punishment was the only option. If we'd refused, she would have cut us to ribbons."
"It would seem God has traded his servant in for an upgrade," Leonard agreed dryly.
Luke poked at a potato mournfully. "It's kinda sad, actually. I mean, Angel was scary, but she couldn't have been all bad. And to be abandoned like that…"
With a sigh, Harry flicked a potato at Mike. "Well, what do we do now?" His eyes glinted. "Because we sure as heck aren't going to let her push us around like this."
"No," Winnie spoke up. Her knife lay at her left hand, untouched. "We have lost this battle. But we have not fought all of this time just to surrender to a monster. We'll think of some way to destroy her. And then, we find, and take down, the master."
At Winnie's right hand, Mike peeled potatoes calmly. He imagined it must be hard for Emily, pretending to be something so far out of her nature. But against all odds, she was trusting him.
The Battlefront needed a distraction, and Angel was their enemy. Once they were occupied, no one would notice Mike, as he helped them do what they'd avoided for so long.
To find lives of peace.
A/N End Of Mission Eight. It was at this point in the show that I was doomed. Once I figured out the true purpose of the afterlife, it was just… ahk. It only got more powerful from there. I'm going to do my best to translate that intensity. Most of you know what happens next.
Deep bsreath