"Coventry"
An AMG holiday songfic by Glazius Falconar
One part of this is based on Kyousuke Fujishima's "Ah! My
Goddess", specifically, the five-volume OAV series, which it
follows. Some mythological and/or religious liberties are
taken with it, but to what I believe to be no greater extent
than liberties were taken with the original Norse. Another
part is based on a 12th-century carol, and barring ludicrous
extension of current copyright terms, it's in the public
domain. A final part is based on a story considerably older,
which is happily also in the public domain.
Please, read and enjoy. Comments are welcome.
Oh, and this is script, and [these] are camera directions,
and thisTHISthis is your brain on drugs.
****
[The temple kitchen. A clock on one counter fixes the time
in absolute fashion - December 28th, 6:55:32 AM. The seconds
slowly tick over. The sun, through one window, fixes the time
in relative fashion - very nearly dawn.
Belldandy enters, wearing a robin's-egg blue
housedress and humming a small snatch of nothing, and
takes a small rice cooker from one cabinet, setting it down
on the counter. She blinks once, and looks out the window,
something having caught her eye. One hand flies to her
mouth, and she glances over at the clock, then runs out
of the shot.
Fade to outside, the temple garden. Urd kneels by the pond,
which still has a thin skin of ice on it. She's wearing a
maroon leather jacket, a rather tight-fitting navy blue
swatshirt and equally tight-fitting jeans, and a calf-high
pair of leather boots. She gets to her feet as Belldandy
enters, having thrown on a tan longcoat over her dress.]
Urd: For a while, there, I thought you wouldn't
remember. Something else on your mind?
[Urd arches an eyebrow, and Belldandy colors slightly.]
Belldandy: No! ...no. It's just... this is the first
time we've all been away from home.
[Urd tilts her head back slightly.]
Urd: Heh. It _is_. Go figure. And after all we've
been through, who'd guess someone like _him_
would manage to get us all down to Earth?
[Belldandy colors a little more.]
Belldandy: He _is_... very special. Oh! Have you seen
Skuld at all? She wasn't in her bed this
morning.
[Urd frowns, and shakes her head.]
Urd: Nope. But she'd _better_ be along soon.
Dawn's almost over. Leave it to the brat
to mess this whole thing up-
Skuld (o.s.): HEY! Who are you calling a brat?
[Skuld storms across the frost-covered lawn and over to
Urd - she's wearing a slightly oversized green parka, and
has a few grease smears on her face.]
Skuld: I was _going_ to rig up Banpei to play
along with us, but...
Belldandy: We've always done this on our own, Skuld.
It wouldn't be right to-
[Skuld waves Belldandy off.]
Skuld: Yeah, yeah. That, and it'd wake up the
mortal.
[Urd smirks.]
Urd: Couldn't do it, could you?
[Skuld balls her hands and glares at Urd, but Belldandy
interrupts her before she can say anything.]
Belldandy: It _is_ almost dawn, Skuld. We don't have
much time to argue.
[Skuld's rage subsides a bit, and she nods.
Urd pulls a small metal pitch-pipe out of the back pocket
of her jeans. She blows into it, producing a rather
haunting chord - A minor. Belldandy and Skuld nod, and Urd
palms the pipe. All three begin to sing, in an ethereal,
minor, harmony.]
Lullay, thou little tiny child
Bye-bye, lullee, lullay
[The shadows and glints of dawn in the skin of ice on the
pond begin shifting, forming a picture.]
Lullay, thou little tiny child
Bye-bye, lullee, lullay
[The camera focuses away from the goddesses and in on the
picture - a desert landscape, at night, a sliver of moon in
the sky, and what looks like a small town. The image
suddenly shifts, the cracks and crenellations in the ice
gone - now it is just the picture, with the goddesses'
singing to accompany.]
Oh, sisters too, what can we do
For to preserve this day
[The camera lingers briefly on a figure in the dunes - a
man leading a donkey, on which rides a woman carrying a
small, bundled baby. It's making progress away from the
town, at as much a turn of speed as could be expected from
a donkey.
The picture then quickly focuses, narrowing through the town
and its streets and passing through a doorway into a small
hovel.]
This poor youngling for whom we do sing
Bye-bye, lullee, lullay
[The man, woman, and child here would not be familiar to
any of the viewers who have seen a Nativity scene. The man
is little more than a boy, a faint fuzz of hair on his chin.
He and his wife, dark-haired and dark-eyed, wearing simple
cloth robes, kneel on the floor, upon which is spread a
cloth and the remains of a not-very-extravagant dinner.
Their baby is sitting up, and looking around with the
relentless curiosity of the young.
Three figures occupy a small corner of the room - the
goddesses, in their robes. Urd holds the end of a small
blue thread, which loops once around Belldandy's hands and
feeds into a large skein of varicolored thread, held by
Skuld.]
Herod the king, in his raging
Charged he hath this day
[Skuld bites her lip as a man in legionnaire's armor
strides into the room. The husband and wife turn around,
surprised - a surprise which turns quickly to shock as the
legionnaire points at their son.]
The men of might in his own sight
All children young to slay
[The legionnaire shoves them aside as they try to get to
their feet. He kicks aside the wood bowls and plates, and
sets himself on the cloth in front of the baby, drawing his
sword.
Urd steps behind him as he brings the blade back, holding
the thread tight in both hands. As the sword comes forward
and down, it hits the thread, which snaps easily.
Fade to black.]
Then woe is me, poor child, for thee
And ever mourn and say
[Fade back in to the street outside the hovel. The
legionnaire emerges, wiping some blood off of his sword
with his cape before sheathing it again.
Belldandy is leaning against the wall, hugging Skuld, whose
face is buried in Belldandy's robes. The skein of thread
leans against the wall of the hovel. Urd looks at the small
loop of blue thread in her hand, and tosses it into the air.
It suddenly glows, and collapses into a small blue spark,
which begins drifting upward.]
For at thy parting none say nor sing
Bye-bye, lullee, lullay
[The legionnaire marches off purposefully. Urd motions to
Belldandy, who gently pushes Skuld out to arm's length.
Skuld wipes her eyes on her sleeve and picks up the skein,
and the three move off, following the legionnaire.
The camera zooms out until the entire little town is
visible - a dozen or so sparks, each a different color, are
slowly drifting skyward.]
Lullay, thou little tiny child
Bye-bye, lullee, lullay
[The camera zooms out further, until the town is lost in
the featureless dunes of the desert. The sparks are no
longer distinct, but a small dot of multicolored light hangs
where the town was - several of them are now visible, spread
out across the sky, all drifting slowly upward.]
Lullay, thou little tiny child
Bye-bye, lullee, lullay
[Suddenly, the picture changes - the same dots of light,
from a slightly different angle, and the man, woman, child,
and donkey are making progress along the sand, away from
the lights. The child suddenly sticks his arm out over the
woman's shoulder, and begins crying. The donkey stops
walking as the woman tries to comfort him. Eventually, he
calms down and pulls his arm back into the cloth bundle.
The man pulls on the donkey's reins, and they are off
again, making slow progress across the dunes.
The picture suddenly gains the cracks and crenellations
of the thin skin of ice again. As the final chord hangs in
the air and fades to silence, it slowly begins shifting,
until nothing remains but the faint, reflected light of dawn
and the shadow-reflections of the three goddesses.
The camera pans back up to Belldandy, Skuld, and Urd. Their
eyes slowly open. Skuld sniffles a few times, but Urd sets a
hand on her shoulder and she stops.]
Urd: Not bad, squirt. You held together better
than I thought.
[Skuld looks a little indignant at the 'squirt', and
sniffles a couple of times.]
Belldandy: You see why Banpei was a bad idea?
[Skuld nods, slowly, then yawns.]
Skuld: ...I can go back to sleep now, right? It's
over?
[Urd looks down at the pond. The skin of ice is slowly
breaking up as the sun warms it.]
Urd: Yeah. It's over. Until next year...
[Skuld wanders off, still yawning, and Urd waves to
Belldandy and starts walking away from the temple. Belldandy
frowns, slightly, then turns back to the temple. The
camera follows her as she walks, and then pauses as she
catches sight of Keiichi, standing in the door. He's wearing
an old t-shirt and a pair of loose shorts and looks like he
just crawled out of bed. He yawns.]
Keiichi: I... heard the last bit of that song,
Belldandy. What was it?
[Belldandy hesitates slightly before she responds.]
Belldandy: It was just... a carol, Keiichi.
Keiichi: It sounded... kinda sad.
[Keiichi starts a bit, and blinks away a little sleep.]
Keiichi: Is it because you're... away from home?
[Belldandy laughs slightly, and shakes her head.]
Belldandy: No. It's just... a tradition, that's all.
[Fade to Urd walking down a street lined with gaudy
decorations. Her steps are rather purposeful, as she comes
to a stop behind a small building whose sign proclaims it a
bar. Through the grimy window, a salaryman belts back a
small cup of sake.]
Belldandy (v.o.): Something from the past.
[Urd takes a few easy strides to and through the door.
Fade to black.]
****
"When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi,
he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys
in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in
accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.
Thus was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the
prophet:
A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loud lamentation;
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she would not be consoled,
since they were no more."
--Matthew 2:16-18
December 28th marks the feast of the Holy Innocents in the
Roman Catholic church. The above carol is the only one I
know of dedicated to that holiday; it is called, simply,
"The Coventry Carol".
So as you go through the holiday season, and you sing about
decking halls and walking through winter wonderlands and
following stars of wonder over moor and mountain, remember
this other part of the Christmas story, and the innocents
who were in the wrong place at the wrong time under the
wrong ruler.
Happy holidays, everyone.
--GF
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