Author's note: The first line of this fic is from a Tumblr post, but I found it fitting, so I put it in.
When we finally kill the gods, neither heaven nor hell will be waiting for them, because they created those to imprison us!
Following her defeat at the god-killer's hands, Shem-Ha Mephorash floated through the void, sentient, yet non-existent. With nothing around her, even time had lost all meaning. She couldn't know whether her defeat had been a mere instant ago, or whether the universe had already died. Then, out of nothing, came a light and engulfed her entirely.
"Wha- where am I?" Shem-Ha thought, then opened her eyes she didn't know were closed.
"Quiet now," a familiar voice spoke in her mind, "You don't want to wake her, do you?" Shem-Ha took a closer look at the person lying in front of her.
"The god-killer," Shem-Ha realized. She tried to fly away, but her powers had abandoned her. As her attempts at escape shook the bed, the girl in front of her slowly woke up.
"Looks like you're running out of time," her host said, "If she wakes up, and finds out you're not me, she will just send you back, and we won't even talk about it afterwards."
"I demand that you tell me how to convince her I am you," Shem-Ha hissed at the voice in her head.
"Not in that tone," her host responded.
"You dare defy your creator?" Shem-Ha questioned, almost speaking out loud in anger.
"I dare do what I know I can get away with," her host responded in an insultingly polite manner, "But alright. When she wakes up, say 'Good morning', and her name. That should convince her that you're me."
"Her name?" Shem-Ha asked, "What is it?"
"It's definitely not 'god-killer'," her host responded, "And while we're at it, you might want to let go of the idea that you are in any position to give orders."
"And why is that?" Shem-Ha asked.
"Giving orders is reserved for those who can enforce them," her host responded, "And you can't do anything right now. You haven't even called me by my name."
"You are Miku, correct?" Shem-Ha asked, "And who says I cannot enforce my rules?"
"Kohinata Miku, yes," Miku responded, "And if you were able to enforce your rules, you would have done so." Shem-Ha was quiet for a moment, thinking about her situation and how to survive. However, try as she might, all options she could conceive of that promised her the desired goal came at a steep cost for herself. Still, her need to survive outweighed that cost, and she resigned herself to it.
"It shames me to admit it, but you are correct," Shem-Ha said begrudgingly, "My powers have abandoned me, and I am at your mercy. Name whatever price you wish, and if it is within my limited power, I shall grant it to you."
"For now, let's start by asking nicely," Miku said. Shem-Ha was quiet again, now out of confusion at the price, since no mortal had ever asked something so simple of her.
"Perplexing as it may be, I will stay by my word," Shem-Ha said and asked, "So, Kohinata Miku, what is the god-killer's name?"
"Hibiki," Miku answered, "Tachibana Hibiki. I'm pretty close to her, so you'll call her Hibiki."
"Hibiki," Shem-Ha whispered, speaking out loud. Before she could regret it, however, Hibiki stretched her arms, put one over Shem-Ha, and opened her eyes.
"Good morning, Miku," Hibiki said and asked, "And, slept well?"
"Good morning, Hibiki," Shem-Ha said and answered, "Yes, I did. But it is much better being awake." She was shaking internally at the god-killer's touch, even though she had yet to activate her weapon. In addition, she was perplexed at her response, as the words had just left her without her intention.
"Put your arm over her," Miku said, and Shem-Ha followed the instruction without thinking. As the two remained for a few moments, half hugging, Shem-Ha took the time to get a closer look at her enemy, now that her life was slightly less in danger.
"You're shaking," Hibiki said and asked, "Are you cold?" She moved closer and hugged Shem-Ha, who felt as if her life was squeezed out of her. Just as Shem-Ha was about to pass out, a beeping sound caught Hibiki's attention and she let go.
"Saved by the clock," Miku chuckled, "You best thank the alarm." Hibiki let go of Shem-Ha and turned off the beeping noise, and Shem-Ha saw the insignificant device that saved her life, staring in disbelief at how something so tiny could command a force that can threaten gods. According to the device, it was 6am, on the 14th of January, 2045.
"Well, time to get up," Hibiki said, "But don't worry, we'll get more time to cuddle later, once we're alone." She got up and went to the wardrobe to put on a new set of clothes, leaving Shem-Ha wondering whether she ever wanted to be alone with Hibiki again.
"Come on, get up," Miku said, "Don't make me be late for class, or she might think something is wrong." Before she knew what she was doing, Shem-Ha was out of bed and following Miku's instructions for getting ready for the day.
"You are enjoying this, are you not?" Shem-Ha asked mentally.
"Immensely," Miku answered, "But you best turn around. It's rude to look at people when they get dressed." Shem-Ha paused in the process of taking off her pajama pants and quickly turned her back to the god-killer. Her insides revolted at the thought of leaving Hibiki out of sight, and she regretted tying the digestive tract to the emotional state, but she had to prioritize her disguise, as it was a greater benefit to her safety than keeping an eye on her enemy would be.
"This is infuriating. Why didn't I give you fur like the other primates?" Shem-Ha cursed internally as she struggled with her underwear.
"Alright, you're horrible at this, let me handle this," Miku said, and swiftly took control over her limbs while Shem-Ha was distracted.
"You could do this the entire time?" Shem-Ha asked in her mind, "Then, why allow me to move?"
"I could only do this because you were distracted," Miku answered and continued getting dressed, "But now, I have some questions."
"Very well then, ask," Shem-Ha said.
"What's up with blood types?" Miku asked, "Why not make everyone compatible with each other?"
"Compatible? How?" Shem-Ha asked.
"You know, for transfusions and such," Miku answered, "Why can people only donate blood to certain other people?"
"I will be honest, I did not expect you to discover that technology," Shem-Ha answered, "But since you have, I foresee that your civilization will slowly weed out most blood types anyway, and prioritize the most compatible ones. It is always like that."
"So, it's eugenics?" Miku asked, "And what do you mean by 'it's always like that'?"
"Of course," Shem-Ha answered, "Now that you know the will of your creator, the end goal for your species, it is only natural that you people would follow leaders that are closest to that goal, and that leaders would be replaced by those who surpass them."
"But, eugenics are just an excuse for genocide," Miku said, "There's no real basis for it."
"I just told you the basis," Shem-Ha said, "Although, I suppose now it is my turn to be amused."
"What is so amusing about murdering your creations?" Miku asked.
"I am not suggesting ending lives," Shem-Ha responded, "However, it would be beneficial to your kind at large to save resources by only allowing the superior ones to procreate, while the rest serve them. But that is not what is amusing. I was referring to your arrogance."
"You think I'm arrogant?" Miku asked and said, "You are the one who made demands, while being paralyzed by fear of a single sleeping girl."
"You and your kind," Shem-Ha responded, "You were surprised there were others, were you not? This is far from the first planet my kind has visited, and while it is the last I came to, the others have long since moved on to new worlds."
"Then, what was all this for?" Miku asked, "And who created your kind, anyway?"
"Miku, hurry up, I'm ready," Hibiki said, and Miku realized she spent quite a lot of time talking to the dead god in her head. She quickly finished getting dressed, then handed control back to Shem-Ha and continued to guide her through life.
~o~
Shem-Ha stumbled her way out the dorms and started to follow Hibiki to class, though a normal human body, unaided by divine power, was fairly difficult to control, and more sluggish than she had expected. She looked around to pass the time while walking, but her eyes kept returning to Hibiki.
"Get it together, we're supposed to be athletic," Miku scolded, "I may have quit, but I was in the track and field club at one point, and I'm not this out of shape."
"I would like nothing more," Shem-Ha responded and asked, "But do you have any idea how infuriating it is to try and walk in this body? I knew two legs were insufficient for this center of balance."
"Don't get mad at me, I didn't design this," Miku said.
"Restrain your pleasure at my suffering," Shem-Ha hissed internally.
"Or what?" Miku asked.
"Miku, are you coming?" Hibiki asked, and any mote of anger Shem-ha had felt was instantly replaced with fear.
"Yes, of course," Shem-Ha answered and hurried to catch up, ignoring the various problems her body made her. When the duo ran into another group of students, Miku told Shem-Ha their names and how to address them, as a courtesy.
"Good morning, you two," Itaba Yumi said and asked, "Want to go to Flower after school?"
"Sure," Hibiki answered, turned to Shem-Ha and asked, "Right, Miku?" Shem-Ha didn't know how to respond, and looked around to try and figure out what answer the girls, and especially the god-killer, wanted to hear.
"Of course, yes," Shem-Ha answered, trying her best to not show how panicked she was, "I am very grateful for the invitation." When she said the second part, the other girls gave her somewhat confused looks.
"Why'd you say that you were grateful?" Ando Kuriyo asked, and Shem-Ha felt their doubtful looks boring into her, wondering if she may have revealed her presence to them.
"She just read something the other day," Hibiki explained, "There is a new trend in… C- Cr- Croatia. Basically, people started adding little bits as a kind of tone indicators, to help people who struggle to pick up on those naturally."
"Oh, I see," Terashima Shiori said, "Sounds fun. Anyway, we better get to class, or we'll get yelled at again." The trio walked away, and Hibiki followed them, leaving Shem-Ha to wonder why Hibiki stepped in and lied to her friends like that. Before she could make sense of that behavior, however, she realized she was expected to come with them, and followed Hibiki.
~o~
A little later, Shem-Ha sat in class, with the teacher explaining some things. Her thoughts were racing more than ever before, and she barely managed to follow what the teacher said. When Hibiki opened her backpack and took out a book, Shem-Ha looked around and saw that everyone was doing the same, and simply followed suit so as to not stand out, with Miku telling her which book to retrieve. When Shem-Ha opened the book, she realized she had another problem she didn't expect.
"Don't tell me you can't read," Miku said, holding back a chuckle.
"I had my priests do that for me," Shem-Ha responded and added, "Writing, too."
"So, what do you plan to do about this?" Miku asked and said, "If you can't read, they'll know something is wrong." Shem-Ha sighed.
"It shames me to admit, but I must request your help once more," Shem-Ha said.
"Well, alright," Miku said and began reading the book to Shem-Ha, and telling her what to write, as well as how to write. After a while, Shem-Ha changed her pen into her left hand, out of habit and to keep her right hand free, and continued writing.
Author's note: The alarm clock might be important, or it might not be. It's a literary analysis tool developed as a group effort by several Tumblr users, called Shrokovam's Gunblade, and combines different ideas:
- Chekhov's Gun, a rule set up by playwright Anton Chekhov, which teaches that, if you introduce a gun in the first act of a play, it needs to go off by the third. In a more loose sense, if you bring something to the audience's attention, it should be important later on.
- Schrödinger's Cat, a thought experiment that talks about how, unless you have confirmation, every possibility needs to be treated as true. In this context, it introduces an exception to Chekhov's Gun, namely that maybe the author just wanted to talk about this topic for personal reasons.
- Occam's Razor, a problem-solving tool that teaches that, if several explanations are presented, the one that relies on the least amount of assumptions is usually the correct one. In this context, it adds that you can usually tell whether something is important or not if you know the author of the work.
Anyway, so begins Shem-Ha's new life as a human, bargaining with Miku and exchanging proper manners for an extended lease on her life.