"The Angel of Death arrives and decides to be the judge? Or accepts being the judge?" Betty asked, only half believing it.
"Azrael's responsibility is to prepare those whose "time" has come for the journey to the afterlife," Marie-Eliza spoke, "and as with most deities or spirits that deal with the moving of those who have died from this plane of existence to the next, he was neither good nor bad. Death is something that knows neither "realm". BOTH good and evil die. The reason why death is so commonly portrayed as an evil force is that no one likes death and dying. No one likes looking at dead bodies. The Nazis turned to using poison gas, first Carbon Monoxide and then Zyklon-B, was that their units were having incidences of men being sick from seeing so many corpses. And the Nazis were brutal, evil, and cruel people. For many of them to be made sick by what they were doing is telling about how people see death."
"Some of that was efficiency," Lawrence commented, "they needed more bullets for the army, and shooting their "prisoners" wasn't cost effective."
"The most cost effective genocide occurred in Rwanda," Marie countered, "the gas used by the Nazis cost money, and couldn't be used over again, especially since the Carbon Monoxide they used was generated by engine exhaust. The Rwandans used machetes, which could be used over and over again... but that isn't the point."
The others nodded.
"So why did Azrael decide to be the judge?" Betty asked, "wouldn't we be unimportant to him until we reach our "time"?"
"I would believe it was from the magics that the witches had unleashed on Glendale," Marie explained, "like many things the witches never understood, or never learned, or never believed, life can not exist without death. The Pagan cultures of the Ancient world had Gods or Goddesses devoted to death. The Romans and Greeks had Hades. The Norse had Hel, who was depicted so evilly in Norse mythology that her name was given by Christians to Satan's kingdom... Hell. The Egyptians had Osiris. And modern religions do not really deviate. Azrael oversees the passing from this world to the next for Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Shiva in the Hindu religion is the destroyer of live, without which Brahma can not create new life, and Vishnu can not preserve life."
"So, the witches upset the balance between life and death," Lawrence commented on what the metallic gold pup was getting at.
"And that is what Azrael was investigating," Marie nodded, "now, because of rules that he had to follow, he couldn't just perform some miracle and reset everything. Things would have to balance out on their own, but as the judge he would find out EVERYTHING he needed to know and make the wisest decision allowed."
There was a brief silence for a few moments.
"But he wasn't the only part of the story that was ongoing," Marie spoke again...
+++++++++++
1689
"Will she be alright?" Joella asked nervously as she looked over Lark's sleeping form, now clothed on a spare bed and covered by a warm blanket. Joella did not ask why the other beds appeared to have been used.
"Nothing appears to be broken," Running-Bear answered, "a few loose teeth, but they're all baby teeth."
Joella felt relieved to hear that.
"I think she over did it," Running-Bear said softly, "Best to let her sleep. Come along. I'll get you something to eat."
Joella followed the elderly man slowly. She didn't want to really leave Lark's side. She wanted to look over her until she got up and said she was better. Even if Running-Bear said she was fine.
+++++++
"Which she was not if the destruction of the geass that defeated the witches left their followers unconscious for the duration of the trail," Alice said fearfully.
"Running-Bear didn't know that at the time," Marie-Eliza sighed, "He thought that Lark had tripped and fell and knocked herself out."
"Did he know about the battle?" Lilly wondered.
"He knew very little," Marie answered, "the amount of magic that the witches were using threw off his abilities, just as it did Marie's and Golgotha's."
+++++++++
They came downstairs and Running-Beat set about getting something ready for a lunch for Joella to eat. Joella sat quietly at the table. Her mind nervously torn between Lark and the clear signs of a battle going on in Glendale... or had recently ended in Glendale. She couldn't understand why the Hunters were after her "mothers". They'd told her that everything they were doing was to help people. To look after those that had been caught by the demons. She wondered why that earned them a "death mark".
"My word..." Running-Bear suddenly spoke, dropping what he had been holding a moment earlier.
Joella looked up to see Running-Bear looking out a window.
"What is it?" Joella asked.
"If you'll excuse me, for a moment," Running-Bear spoke and then moved to head outside.
Joella followed curiously, wondering what it was that Running-Bear had seen. As she came outside, she found it was the gargoyle hunter carrying Free. Both looked heavily damaged, though Free appeared to have the worst of it. The lower half of her body was gone, and worse, she wasn't moving.
"FREE!!" Joella screamed in horror, making both Vatican and Running-Bear turned to face her.
There was an awkward silence as Vatican had stopped his trek toward where his new form was, and Running-Bear put himself between the two gargoyles and his foster grand-daughter, fearing Joella for the first time in her life might actually fight with someone.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?" Joella screamed.
"This is not my doing," Vatican said in a low voice, "the female was hit by a shell from one of the cannons the witches had summoned. By some miracle, she still lives."
Joella slowly began to approach. Did he mean that Free was hit by one of the metal tubes the Witch Pride had been carrying around? But the Witch Pride would never hurt Free...
"Why do you hate my mothers?" Joella asked, tears starting to form.
"I hate no one," Vatican answered, "as for why I oppose your "mothers", that is because Marie opposes them. I protect Marie. As I have SWORN to protect her."
"Then why does Marie hate my mothers?"
"I do not believe she does," Vatican answered, "Marie loves them as friends very much..."
"Then why is she attacking them? Friends stay together. They help each other. Protect each other. No matter what." Joella was in tears.
"As humans would put it, because they have crossed a line between good and evil," Vatican said slowly.
"BUT THEY'RE HELPING PEOPLE!" Joella nearly sobbed.
"If their original intention was to be good... the manner in which they went about it was faulty," Vatican said slowly, "or perhaps their vision was clouded by mistakes or a lack of education and understanding. Regardless, whatever cause put a great many people in danger. If you let me put Free in place where she can rest, I will try to explain."