Chương 68: Choices for the Fallen

I looked at the spirits and felt my stomach twist. They'd died for me, believing I was worth it. And I'd been hiding from them like a coward.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly.

"I should have done this sooner. I just didn't know what to say. You all died because of me." Buck's spirit dipped his head.

"We died believing in you, Great One. There's a difference."

"Not much of one from where I'm standing," I muttered.

"There is, though," Almond said.

"We chose this. We knew what we were doing." One of the rabbits spoke up, her voice trembling.

"You gave us hope and showed us we could be more than prey. That's worth dying for." I wanted to argue and tell them they were wrong. I was just making it up as I went along. I had no idea what I was doing most of the time, but the words stuck in my throat.

"So what happens now?" Buck asked, his tone gentle.

"What comes next?" That is the question, isn't it? I'd pulled them into the Liminal Land, but I hadn't thought past that, which was classic Abe, act first, plan never.

"I don't know," I admitted.

"I'm still figuring this out. But I owe you choices. You died for me, so you get to decide what happens next."

"What are our options?" one of the smaller birds asked. I took a breath, trying to organize my thoughts. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. Maybe I can steal for Dungeons and Dragons. The more I thought about it, the more sure I was that it would work.

"Okay, so here's what I'm thinking. First option, I can bind you to someone living, such as family members, friends, or people you were close to. You'd be something like a familiar spirit."

"We'd be with our families again?" Almond's voice lifted with hope.

"Sort of," I said carefully.

"You wouldn't be alive. But you'd be there. You could watch over them and keep them safe. You'd even be able to communicate with them." The spirits murmured among themselves. I could see the appeal in their expressions.

"What's the second option?" Buck asked. Here's where it gets weird, I thought.

"I can't bring you back to life. Not fully, at least not yet. You've already been reincarnated once already and I can't do it again." Technically, making them familiar spirits sort of was a third chance, but I was pretty sure I could manage it. I tried not to wince when I saw disappointment ripple through the group. Buck just nodded.

"Understood. So what can you do?"

"I can give you new bodies," I said slowly.

"Just not living ones. You'd basically be statues when asleep. You'd be made out of stone, wood, marble, or whatever material feels right to you." If I could tie them to a person, I could tie them to an object. I just hoped they'd be satisfied with that option. One of the birds, a sparrow, perked up immediately.

"Like the Gargoyles?" I blinked.

"The what now?"

"The cartoon! The one you watch sometimes! The stone guardians that protect the castle!" The sparrow was practically vibrating with excitement.

"We could be like them!" Oh for the love of...

"You've been watching TV through my window?" Note to self, close the damn curtains. Stop watching cartoons that 'inspire' the animals. We've already got Splinter teaching fake ninjitsu and now they're probably going to want to be Gargoyles. What's next, someone's going to ask to be Batman?

"Everyone watches through your window," Almond said it like it was obvious.

"Of course you do," I muttered. Why wouldn't you? It's not like I have any privacy or dignity left to lose.

"So we could be like the Gargoyles?" the sparrow asked.

"I... yeah. I guess? That's actually pretty accurate." I rubbed my face with my paws.

"Sure. You can be gargoyles. Why not?" The next few minutes brought a new headache, a real one. Needless to say, the spirits were excited. They talked among themselves about materials and forms. They didn't even realize how loud they were getting.

"I want to be an eagle!" the finch declared.

"Phoenix for me!" the sparrow added.

"Hawk! No, falcon! No, condor!" another tiny bird chimed in. I stared at them.

"You guys were like... two ounces each."

"Exactly," the finch said triumphantly.

"Now we can be huge!" I could already feel my bank account crying. Large stone eagles didn't come cheap, even on Amazon. This is going to cost a fortune.

"Okay, let me get this straight," I said, trying not to think about the expense.

"Most of you want the spirit familiar option, bonding with family members. But some of you want physical statue bodies because you watched Gargoyles through my window and thought it looked cool."

"Very cool," the sparrow confirmed.

"And the small birds want to be reincarnated as large predatory birds because... why exactly?" This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Because we were always small," the finch said quietly.

"Always prey. Always scared. Just once, we want to be something big. Something strong. Something that doesn't have to run away." Well shit. How am I supposed to argue with that?

"Fine," I said, trying to sound grumpy about it even though I understood completely.

"Eagles, phoenixes, whatever you want." Buck snuffed to get my attention.

"I've made my choice as well. I have someone I'd like to watch over, if you'll permit it."

"Who?"

"Bambi," Buck said simply.

"She brought us back the first time. She gave us hope and purpose. If I could bond with her, I would consider that an honor." Threads from the Web of Wisdom let me know the decision was definitely going to cause some unintended consequences in the future, but I ignored the warning. I mean, really, what's the worst thing that could happen?

"That actually makes a lot of sense," I said.

"Yeah. I think Bambi would appreciate having you as her guardian. Fair warning though, being bonded to a goddess might change you over time."

"My decision is final. I choose to serve the Spirit of Second Chances." Buck definitely sounded like he was absolutely sure.

"Done," I said, and felt the divine energy shift as I created the bond. A silver thread stretched from Buck's spirit toward Bambi. The connection settled into place with a satisfying click. Buck's form solidified slightly, becoming more real. Then he started to fade away. At first, I thought I'd screwed up.

"Thank you, Great One," Buck said, bowing his head as he disappeared.

"Just Abe is fine," I muttered as Buck's soul got drawn toward Bambi. Sighing, I turned to the other spirits.

"Okay, so," I said, trying to get things back on track.

"Buck's bonding with Bambi. Who else has family they want to bond with?" Most of the spirits stepped forward. As expected, Almond wanted to bond with her aunt Agnes. Pocket wanted to be with a family member as well. I didn't even recognize the family members the other animals told me, so I just nodded politely. Whistler wanted to be an eagle statue which I shrugged and accepted. Personally, I would probably have chosen a phoenix, but an eagle was perfectly fine as well.

As for the rabbit, he didn't have a name, at least not yet.

"I want to be called Bugs and I want to be a bunny gargoyle," the rabbit told me after the others had told me what they wanted. I could only close my eyes and sigh. Fudge me. Still, I nodded in agreement while wondering if future generations would curse me. The threads were letting me know what they thought. I could feel them screaming at me, NO!

"You're sure about this? Being stone guardians isn't the same as being alive."

"We'll still be there. We'll just be different," the finch said.

"Plus we'll be eagles and phoenixes and that's awesome," the sparrow added.

"Fair point," I admitted.

"Alright. It's going to take me a bit to arrange the bodies. I'll need to acquire appropriate statues and prepare them. It'll cost a fair amount of divine energy to animate them and bind you to the stone." The spirit guardians were much easier for me since they received a lot of their energy from their companion. It'd take a lot more to permanently animate statues.

"We can wait," the finch said.

"We've already been dead. What's a little more time?"

"Practical," I said.

"I like it. Okay, here's what we're going to do. Those of you bonding with family, I'll create those connections now. You'll be able to reach out to your bonded partners immediately." I raised my paws, feeling for the threads of connection between the spirits and their living family members. The bonds were already there. They were just waiting to be strengthened. I poured divine energy into them. The spirits began to fade just like Buck had done.

"Thank you," Almond whispered as her form grew ghost-like.

"We knew you were worth believing in." Then she was gone, pulled along the silver thread to her sister. One by one, the other spirits followed. That left just the three birds and Bugs floating in the Liminal Land who were eyeing me expectantly.

"So about those statue bodies," the sparrow said.

"I'm working on it," I said.

"Give me a day or two. I need to make arrangements."

"You three can stay here in the Liminal Land until I get your bodies ready," I said. I turned to check on Lifna, who was floating in the expanded space.

"You okay?" I asked. Much better… Father, she sent the thought to me. Thank you… for the room.

"You're welcome. Try not to grow too fast, okay? I can only expand this place so much." Will try... no promises. Fair enough, I thought. That was when I felt Mort approaching. Moments later, he appeared before me. I didn't even want to think about what part of his body he reached into to transport himself here. Since I was a little worried Mort might do something with the statues I intended to buy, I let him know about my plan. The second I did, I knew it was a mistake.

"So," Mort said carefully, "About those statue bodies."

"No." I had an idea what he was going to ask, but considering who it was, I wasn't certain. Whatever his question was going to be, though, I already knew my answer.

"You don't even know what I was going to ask!"

"You were going to ask if you could get a statue body too, even though you're not dead. The answer is no."

"But what if I die later? Can I reserve a phoenix? Just in case?"

"That's not how this works, Mort."

"It could be how it works. We could make it a thing. Pre-order your afterlife body. I bet other people would want that."

"Mort," I started to say.

"I'm just saying."

"Mort." Apparently, my tone was enough to shut him up, at least temporarily. Then again, he'd probably just bring it up again, probably the next day.

"Fine." He deflated slightly. Then perked back up.

"But when Splinter dies, can he get a statue body? He'd probably want to be a rat, but like, a cool rat. Maybe with a staff carved into the stone."

"Splinter's not dead, and stop giving me ideas for future problems."

"I'm helping with contingency planning!"

"You're giving me a migraine," I said. And it was true. The headache the spirits had given me had transformed into a full-blown migraine with Mort's arrival. Through our bond, I felt Tala's presence stir. She'd been quiet during the whole conversation with the spirits, but now her amusement flooded through the connection. You're buying them statue bodies on Amazon? she sent. You have a better idea? I shot back. Actually, no. But I'm definitely telling everyone you furnished the afterlife via two-day shipping.

I hate you. No you don't. I could feel her smirking. See, everything worked out. There was nothing to worry about. I wasn't worrying about it, I thought back. I also made sure I didn't remind her about Bugs. I was starting to have second thoughts about what I'd promised him. \ Anyway, I figured it out. They're taken care of now. Everyone's happy now. Except your wallet when you see the price of a stone phoenix. Don't remind me. I looked around the Liminal Land one more time. I was actually feeling pretty satisfied.

It wasn't perfect, but it was something. And for a trickster god making it up as he went along, I was feeling pretty good.

"Alright," I said to the waiting bird spirits.

"Stay here, and I'll be back soon with your bodies."

"Thank you, Great Trash Panda," the finch said solemnly.

"Just Abe," I said automatically.

"How many times do I have to say that?"

"At least once more," the sparrow said with what might have been a grin. Smart-ass bird. Even in death, he has an attitude. Unfortunately, while I'd dealt with the animals who had died, I now needed to deal with the ones who'd killed them. Yeah, it's time they pay.