GUARDIAN ANGEL
An Iczer fanfic by Andrew Dynon
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to my first fanfiction story, and thank you for your
interest.
"I can see it now. There's a warm light inside your soul"
- Nagisa to Atros, Iczer-3: Episode 4
- Atros' life may have been tragically short, but although
she is dead, she is far from forgotten in Iczer-3, Nagisa and the
others' hearts, as well as in those of the Iczer series' many
viewers, in both Japan and the rest of the world. This story is
a tribute to one of my favourites among Toshihiro Hirano's
characters.
PLEASE e-mail me with any comments, positive or negative, on
any aspect of the fanfic, especially how I could improve my
storytelling.
CHAPTER ONE
DARK DESIRE, BRIGHT LONGING
She screamed, dark flames assaulting her from all sides,
penetrating her soul, forcing their way through it. There was
nothing to see nor hear, no way to perceive time nor space - all
she could do was feel the pain surrounding her. Before she died,
she had had the power to rule the entire galaxy, but now her
existence was reduced to nothing more than unceasing pain.
She sensed a presence that was not there before - a dark
consciousness, possibly even darker than hers. The consciousness
reached out to her, entrapping her own.
"I was impressed by you." Its thoughts pierced her like an
icy spear. "Therefore, I shall offer you a chance." Her mind
surged in confusion - and desperation born from the hope of an
escape from this place.
"Yes.", she felt it thinking. "You shall be allowed your
revenge against the ones who placed you here."
She felt her greatest desire emerging from underneath the
pain with which it had been covered. Revenge. She had been
granted REVENGE!!!
* * * * *
"You won't beat me this time, Kejid!" Atros yelled, hovering
above a mountain peak, ignoring the gale-force wind that blew in
her face. The figure challenged by her stood on a cliff, her
features visible against the dark blue sky and the prismatic
array of stars and planets glittering from it. She was a girl,
seemingly not too different in age to her adversary, wearing an
emerald-colored breastplate and leg guards that glittered in the
starlight. Her ponytailed, pale-blue hair was pulled through a
hole in the ornately gilded helmet she wore, and her eyes were
the same dark blue as the sky, with no irises nor pupils. As she
rose into the air, spreading multicoloured butterfly wings, a
sword appeared in her hands, radiating green energy along its
length.
"Do you really think you can defeat me?" Kejid teased.
"You're still so cocky."
"You bet I can!" Atros lunged at her adversary, launching a
flurry of beam-sword strokes at her. Kejid was barely able to
defend herself from the attack. Slipping underneath Atros, she
swung her foot up and kicked Atros in the back, knocking her
forward and giving herself some breathing space. Atros was
unfazed by the impact.
"Your technique has improved. Maybe I should work a bit
harder." Kejid blocked Atros' energy blades with her sword, and
kicked her in the abdomen. Atros tried to counterattack, but a
punch to her head sent her reeling. Before she could recover,
Kejid struck, and her sword penetrated Atros' chest.
Atros and Kejid fell back, laughing. An angel weapon could
not damage or cause pain to the spirits of pure good that were
native to the Heavens, and these two were great friends. After
her death at the hands of Neos Gold, Atros' skill in battle had
quickly led to her adoption by the Knight Array, angels whose
purpose was to combat evil spirits - devils, for wont of a better
word - and sometimes to protect chosen individuals from them.
The determined, self-assured Kejid, the first angel from the
Knight Array whom Atros had met, was nominally a commander in
charge of Atros' section, but angels mostly treated both those of
higher and lower rank than themselves as equals, and usually
worked as individuals. The two had a great empathy with each
other, and a great rivalry, with Atros desperately wanting to
prove herself Kejid's equal as a warrior, and Kejid determined to
make her earn this. Most angels retained the exact same
appearance they had in life, on whatever planet they came from -
feathered wings indicated those who were very high-ranking,
usually having existed in the heavens for at least 500,000 years.
"I warned you. You still don't stand a chance of defeating
me, Atros-chan." Kejid smiled
"Come on! It took nearly everything you had to block my
attacks."
"Yes. But it took -more- than you had to block mine."
"Hey, Kejid," The two were interrupted by an orange-haired
girl wearing a white tunic and pants - her name was Tiam - who
had been sitting and watching. "She can beat me now. At least
she's improving."
"That might be true, but she has to improve a lot more"
replied Kejid. "At least she isn't afraid of making an effort."
she teased. The three of them laughed - this was a great
understatement. Although Tiam was by no means a quitter, there
seemed to be nothing Atros enjoyed more than pushing her powers
and skills to their limit, trying to improve them through sheer
strain, and this seemed to be paying off for her. One earth-year
ago, when she had first been inducted into the Knight Array, Tiam
had been significantly more skilled than her, but Atros'
determination had allowed her to soon equal her friend.
"Atros, when was the last time you checked on your friends?"
Kejid asked. "In the beforelife, I mean." Atros thought for a
moment. The 'beforelife' was the name her friends used for
people who had not yet entered the spirit realms. It had been
some time since she had observed them - by Earth standards, two
or three months, due to the amount of time she had spent training
and fighting recently. Kejid, Tiam, and the other members of her
group took an interest in her friends, and she in their friends
and the beings on their planets. Kejid had entered these realms
nearly 3000 years ago, so obviously her beforelife friends had
all entered the spirit realms, but Atros found her species, the
Chofae, enthralling. This was a race, from a galaxy billions
upon billions of light-years away, that possessed a power that
dwarfed even the mightiest in her native part of the cosmos.
Even the Iczers seemed insignificant compared to their power.
Yet even with all their power, and their consciousness of the
galaxy around them, for better or worse, they did not attempt to
affect their galaxy's balance of power in any way. Kejid told
them they had not always been like this - during her beforelife,
they had been ruthless invaders, and when she, a princess, had
tried to stop their senseless slaughter, her own mother had
killed her. Atros could hardly believe how much the race had
changed.
Snapping out of this distraction, Atros spread out her arms,
shaping the bright ki which flowed around her. An image formed,
and the three relaxed, watching. In the image, Atros saw
Iczer-3, running around on a jungle planet, playing with some
large catlike creature. As always, Iczer-3 was completely
oblivious to the fact that she was being watched, but Atros
sensed the happiness in her.
"Ah, Iczer-3 ... you don't need to come to this place, ne?
It's already come to you." Atros sighed. She refocussed the
realm's ki, and sought out Nagisa.
Nagisa had turned the light off in her room and was sitting
on her bed, exhausted. Atros didn't even have to try to see her
mental patterns. Since Neos Gold's attack, Nagisa had become
something of an unwilling celebrity. She wished she could escape
her present existence, go back to her life before the invasion,
before all these crazy goings-on had begun, to the time when the
media had no desire to follow her everywhere she went, to the
time before she had witnessed - and felt -Atros' horrifying
death...
Sensing something, Nagisa turned her head around. She let
out a yell, part in elation, part in fear.
"ATROS?!"
Atros stood in shock - how could Nagisa have noticed her
presence?
End of Chapter One
* * * * *
CHAPTER TWO
VISION
"Atros? How ... can you be ..." Nagisa's mind whirled in
confusion. As she saw Atros, she felt her spirit leaving her
body and floating through space. Was this another vision of the
past? If it was, why had it appeared to her now? Was another
tragedy about to happen? Would she have to fight again? No,
please, don't make me. she thought. I just want to go back to
my normal life now.
"No, it's not like that." Atros said. "Please, I can't
stand seeing you in this state of mind." She focused herself,
concentrating on altering the ki melody around her to create a
calming sensation. Being a member of the Knight Array, this
melody was one that she was not accustomed to using, but as the
ki-tune altered, Nagisa's mental stress died down.
"But why have you come here, then?" Nagisa asked. "And is
it really you, or are you a ghost?" She had laughed at
suggestions of the existence of ghosts for most of her life, but
after her experiences, she would never - could never - dismiss
-anything- as impossible.
"Both. It's really me, and I suppose I'm a ghost. Nagisa,
I'm living in the Heaven Realms now. There was no way you could
have known it, but I've been watching you, when I'm able to."
Atros paused. "As for why you can see me, we both got pulled
into the border heavens. You were exhausted, which altered your
state of consciousness. It must have been a combination of that
and your psychic abilities. They're more powerful than I
thought."
"Do you think so? I'm not ... Oh no!" Nagisa suddenly
realised her spirit body was naked. In embarrassment, she tried
to cover her breasts with her arms.
"Don't worry. Can you sense the ki around you?
Concentrate. Try and find it. No, don't close your eyes. Just
set your mind to locating it." Atros was repeating Kejid's
instructions from the very first lesson she had learned after
entering Heaven.
Nagisa concentrated, and could eventually sense - see, hear,
feel and in a hundred other ways detect - the Light ki. It
looked like shining lights of thousands of colors, sounded like
the most beautiful music she had ever heard, felt like being
wrapped up in a soft, warm blanket on a winter night. Its sheer
presence brought a euphoric feeling to her, almost causing her to
forget herself, to be absorbed in its essence.
"Don't lose yourself. Now, bring your positive thoughts
forward.
They're what give shape to the ki that surrounds your body. Make
it something simple for now."
Nagisa did as she was told. Being unfamiliar with these
methods, her mind strained a little, and her creation took almost
thirty seconds to come into existence. Eventually, the clothing
she was trying to form materialised around her body - a plain
red, skintight jumpsuit. The two giggled at each other.
"You did it, Nagisa!"
"Atros, do you think ... could I learn to do more? How much
of this can you do?"
"I've learned a lot more than this. Actually, in the Heaven
Realms, and here in the Border Heavens, we Angels - that's what
humans call us, isn't it? - since these places are pure light ki,
everything that happens is under our control. Kejid, my Oneesan,
can create a planet, and some of the most powerful Angels I've
met can make entire galaxies. In the Astral Plane, the space
that exists between the Universe and the Spiritual Realms, and in
the Universe, things are more difficult. To answer your first
question, I'm sure I'll be allowed to teach you more about your
powers. I'll teach you in dreams, when I don't have other
duties." * Oneesan: Literally, big sister. Used when talking
about older students, etc.
"Duties? What do you mean?"
Atros laughed. "Really, Nagisa, you knew me before I went
to Heaven. What do you think I would have chosen as my duty
here?"
"You're right. I really should have guessed you'd be
fighting evil, shouldn't I?"
Atros began to speak, but abruptly stopped, feeling another
presence emerge. Nagisa was startled - but only slightly - as
another girl materialised next to them. She appeared to be the
same age or a little older than Nagisa, tall, with short, light
brown hair and orange eyes, wearing a yellow, two-piece,
leotard-like garment with light blue edges. On her back were
slung two golden swords with S-shaped blades.
"Atros, I'm sorry, but you must end your conversation." the
girl said. "First Commander Ylara wishes to see you, so get
yourself ready."
"All right, Laveka, I'll be there." Atros replied. She
turned back to her beforelife friend. "Nagisa, one more thing.
I can feel how much trouble you're having adjusting to your new
status. Angels aren't allowed to directly affect events in the
physical universe, but I'm allowed to give you advice. Things
won't go back to the way they were, so adjust to the way they are
now."
"Thanks Atros. You're right. I'll do my best."
Atros concentrated on the ki again, and a ball of blue-white
light appeared in front of Nagisa.
"I can't create a full-sized star yet, but then you won't
need one. Whenever you're sad, summon it and think of this
place. It'll make you feel better."
"Atros, that's too much! You don't have to give ..."
"Nagisa, I owe you everything. It's because of you, and
Iczer-3, that I'm here and not in hell. Goodbye now. I promise
I'll visit you again."
Nagisa felt the Border Heavens fade, and her spirit
return to her physical body. She lay down on her bed, and, for
the first time since before Atros' death, she slept peacefully.
End of Chapter Two
Thanks for making it to the end of these two chapters. And in
case you think it's a bit slow so far, I can promise you the pace
is going to pick up in chapters 3 and 4! See you soon!
FANFICS CURRENTLY BEING PREPARED:
Iczer: Guardian Angel ch. 3-4
Iczer-3/DBZ #1
BGC/Batman #1