Ultra Symphony
Chapter 4: Yomigaeri Magirawashii (Confusing Resurrection)
*** Ultraman and all respective characters, likenesses and items are copyright © 1966-2002 Tsuburaya Productions Co., Ltd. Ultra Theresa is copyright © 2002 Wayne Koizumi, and used with permission This fan fiction is not an official sequel to Ultra Theresa and is not considered to be part of the original Ultra Theresa timeline or universe.Original characters are the property of Chibi Cel-Chan, except where specified, and are not to be used without permission.***
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The sky was gray, yet surprisingly bright.
Well, of course it was bright. This was the afterlife, and a dreary gray afterlife was hardly worthy of inspiring all that speculation and such back on Earth!
Back on Earth... doesn't that just sound weird?
But it had to be true, after all, she was dead. She had to be..
She closed her eyes and winced. How could this have happened? What was it that did this, and why? What were they after?
She clutched her hands to her breast and realized she was lying down, and that it was rather cold. Heaven wasn't supposed to be cold...
Unless....
Her eyes widened, and she attempted to sit up, only to konk her head on what felt an awful lot like a steel bar.
"OWWWW!!!!" She collapsed back down and curled into a fetal position, cradling her head in her hands. She was only faintly aware of voices and shuffling coming from several meters away, but before she knew it, she heard a deep but very smooth voice coming from directly above her head.
"She's awake."
She slowly opened her eyes and relaxed her form. Although she was seeing stars and her head was pounding, she found herself utterly in awe at the beautiful creature which hovered over her. His deep, black eyes masked intensity yet kept no secrets. His jet black hair surrounded face, coming to extremely pointed ends that hovered just below his smooth but strong jawline, and over his left shoulder the rest of his hair was set aloft by a soft breeze. And he was wearing all white.
The girl sighed a soft sigh of relief. She had nothing to worry about! This was heaven, because lord knows no HUMAN could look that good. She found herself blushing and demurely smiled.
Suddenly, another form in all white stood beside the man, this one a woman..
The girl frowned. Guess they aren't all that good looking... The woman acknowledged her facial expression and met her eyes. "Can you hear me?"
The girl relaxed her forehead and simply nodded, still distracted.
The woman looked at the man, who also nodded. The woman turned back to her. "What's the last thing you remember, Hayagane?"
The girl looked shocked. They know my name?
Wait.. of course they would.. They're angels.. and this must be heaven. But she didn't remember getting in...
Oh crap! What if this was some sort of analysis of her life, to determine whether or not she belonged in heaven!! If that was the case...
I'm screwed! By gods, the last moments of my life were full of sin! Vanity, greed, gluttony...I ate a whole damn pie before the concert!!! Why.. why did I eat the damn pie??...
She gulped. I'm not ready for this!! I'm still young!!! I haven't had time to rethink my sinful ways!! This is unfair!! Give me another 40 years and I could be a nun!
She realized she had only one option at this point..
And that was to lie.
She inhaled, and cleared her throat. Try not to meet the handsome one's eyes...
"What I last remember?" Her voice came out squeaky.
"We just want to make sure you haven't suffered any permanent damage." The man explained.
The girl practically inhaled her bottom lip. This was some sort of trick!! They give her the idea that this was some sort of medical exam, when in reality, one wrong word and she could end up in the fires of Hades for all eternity!
Oh, you're sharp, pretty boy, but not sharp enough!
She cleared her throat again.
"Well, immediately prior to my unfortunate demise at the hands of a.. surely a non church-goer, I was spending an afternoon... e to... aano..."
Shit!!! What was a good deed?? Donating clothes... washing cars...making soup...?
Soup..?
A-ha!!
"Baking pies!!! I was Baking pies for the needy!" She smiled triumphantly, closing her eyes.
When she opened them again, rather than all of heaven beaming with joy and the gates of heaven opening, all she saw was the two angels looking very confused.
The woman turned to the man. "There's never been any memory loss before..."
He frowned. "But then, the chalice has never had to reform a human body in this way before... we knew there'd be side effects.."
The girl frowned. What were they talking about? She decided to try again.
"I was thinking about going into the sisterhood, you know. Preach the word of the Lord, I say! In fact, my next album was going to be Contemporary Christian, did you know that? Halleluia!"
They looked even more confused than ever.
She inhaled angrily.
"What the hell do you people want from me anyway!?!? What does it TAKE to get into Heaven?!? Some stupid code word? Do I have to memorize the Bible?!? You know, you people really piss me off! Do you even know who I am?!?!"
The two looked at each other.
"You're Hayagane Mikono-san." The man stated.
"You're DAMN STRAIGHT I'm HAYAGANE MIKONO!"
"Hayagane Mikono the idol singer."
"Yeah! Well I bet more people went to my last concert than went to Church last week!!"
The woman frowned. "Why does she keep talking about Church??"
"Well isn't that what you people WANT?! Can't get into heaven unless you go to church, you all say! Are you even a real angel?!?"
"Angel...? We aren't angels."
"A-HA!!! I KNEW IT ALL ALONG!!! Where are the real angels?! Huh? If I'm getting into Heaven, I'd like it to be today!"
The man suddenly seemed to realize something, and he shook his head. "Hayagane-san.. you think you're dead, don't you."
She smirked. "Nice try, pretty boy, but nothing you say will convince me otherwise. I was at that concert, I was shot. I'm dead. I'm not in some other realm of being, nor was I beamed onto the damn Starship Enterprise. I'm DEAD, and I'd like a cup of tea when I get to the afterlife, if you so please."
"You can have some tea right now, but I'd be careful, you're still recovering from the surgery..."
"Surgery? I thought in heaven they automatically repaired your body.. man, are you guys behind the times or what?! What else don't you guys have?"
The woman seemed to be losing patience with her. "Hayagane-san, sit up."
She blinked. "Hey, no way, toots! I already bonked myself on your.. thingy..."
The woman glared at her and suddenly grabbed her arm and dragged her into a seated position. Hayagane screamed the whole time, at first in surprise, but afterwards in pain, as a deep and excruciating pain fluxuated through her entire abdomen. She curled up and fell back down.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME?!?!"
"Do you still believe you're dead?? If you were really in the afterlife, wouldn't you feel no pain?! You're alive, Mikono."
She screamed again, tears squeezing through her tightly shut eyelids. This wasn't right! She had to be dead...but how could she feel pain?! Especially pain like this?!
"What... did you do to me?!?!" She cried through gritted teeth. "Why does it hurt like this?!?"
"We did the best we could to subdue the pain, I apologize." The man sighed. "You may not remember, but you were very badly injured. Your body was... ripped open by a blast of energy from a UFO. A UFO that is part of an army commanded by a very evil woman. Your concert was a target because of the massive number of people in attendance. She's attempting to build the greatest army in the universe, and enslaving humanity is part of her plan."
Mikono shook her head. "Okay, look, you don't need to overcompensate, okay? So you're not an angel, so what! Everyone has a gritty job sometimes! My dad had to drive a meat truck, you have to perform disgusting surgery! At least you get paid.. so really, when will the pain stop? Before or after St. Peter gets here?"
The woman slapped her.
"Ikeda-san!" The man exclaimed. She ignored him and grabbed Mikono by the shoulders.
"YOU INSOLENT BRAT!!!! YOU WILL LISTEN TO US!!! WE SAVED YOUR UNGRATEFUL LIFE TO FIGHT THE EVIL THAT HAS MURDERED YOUR OWN FANS!! Not everyone in that stadium lived, you know! Over a hundred are dead!! They were devoted to you, don't you understand?! You aren't dead, god damn it! But you would have been, if Captain Zoffy hadn't taken pity on you! You would have been dead just like all those people who worshipped you!! Doesn't that mean anything to you?! You're alive to avenge them! To save this planet! You aren't in heaven, we aren't angels, and if you don't shut up, I will personally rip you to pieces and leave you bleeding on this table right here to PROVE that I'm no angel! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!?"
The silence was so overwhelming you could hear Mikono's nod.
***
