After reading Magda's post, I remembered a story I read sometime ago. It is part of a chapter in a fanfic written by ShatteredLyre, who's truly a marvelous writer, and who I hope won't mind me posting this. Knowing the characters doesn't matter for understanding the story, but, for your information, Pirika's a nurse and Redseb and Seyram are two kids she's supposed to be taking care of and who love the stories she tells them. The other people mentioned are characters in the story, where lots of things happen and that's why Pirika has to keep the kids calm.
No pictures 'cause the point of this is the actual story.
Characters from the Shaman King manga (c) Hiroyuki Takei, Shueisha, Viz media I guess.
Story (c) ShatteredLyre
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"So once upon a time, when the gods first created the earth, they didn't create humans as we know them today. Instead, they created these scary, all powerful, domineering beasts that had two heads, four arms, and four legs."
Redseb and Seyram clung to each other. Nope, Pirika still wasn't sane yet. "Erm…Pirika?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you tell us something that isn't so freaky because you are definitely freaking us out."
Never again. Never again should I be asked to keep anyone calm, Pirika thought to herself.
"Al…right…" She paused and frowned, trying to think of a less "freaky" way of telling the story to the kids and still be conveying the same message. "Okay. So here we go. Once upon a time, when the gods first created the earth, they didn't create humans as we know them today. Instead, souls, these bright, pure souls that were made out of the essence of light with the clarity of crystals roamed the lands. The gods saw this and they were pleased that they had created things that were so beautiful."
"Those do sound beautiful," Redseb agreed while Seyram yawned contentedly and rested her head on her brother's shoulder.
"However, the gods, since they were so pleased with their creation, didn't stop with making them beautiful. They were so encouraged with the perfection of these souls that they gave them everything they could: intelligence, power, agility. And over time, the gods saw that this, their pride in thinking that they could concoct something so perfect, would be their downfall. They did indeed make the perfect being, so perfect that they were more powerful than the gods themselves. In fear, the gods enslaved the souls instead of peacefully coexisting with them and ordered that the souls praise the gods constantly. Gradually, the souls saw the fear of the gods, they saw that they were more powerful than the gods and began resenting why they are being treated so badly. Why, they asked, why should they be the ones to be enslaved? Why should the gods be the one receiving praise? Shouldn't the souls be getting praised since they are the perfect ones? The stronger, smarter ones? They rose up and began to revolt. However, seeing that they would fall from the heavens if they were overcome by the souls, the gods banded together in a last ditch attempt. While it was nighttime on earth, the gods snuck down and split all of the sleeping souls into two halves. That way, the souls would still be perfect but would each half would take half of the original soul's power, thus making them weaker than the gods. For their insolence, the gods banished these half complete souls to roam the earth who were constantly in search of their other half so that they could finally be—"
"Complete," Redseb breathed.
"Yup." She smiled.
"I think…I think I heard something like this before. But the person before said that the gods split the souls into two halves, one male and one female. How come you didn't say that?"
Pirika blinked, surprised that Redseb had picked up on a small detail like that. "W-Well… I'd like to think that whoever we find that makes us 'complete' isn't going to be limited by gender. And it isn't necessarily just romantic love. It can be love between friends, familial love, you know. And I'd like to think that my guy friends and my brother make me just as happy as my girl friends." She smiled. "Not to mention, romantic love doesn't have to be just between a male and female."
Redseb laughed and clapped his hands together. "You know, I actually like that explanation a ton more than the other one I heard. It's nice. It's like…like…breakin' boundaries and stuff."
"Since love is love is love, no matter what kind, it will transcend all differences, all conflicts and bring us together as a family." Pirika tucked the two kids in.
"Say, Pirika, who's your other half then?" Redseb asked innocently.
She was caught off guard yet again, never having been asked this question before. "I…ah…"
But before she could answer, Redseb cut in. "Is it that Ren guy?"
Pirika's jaw locked in place as she remembered her less than pleasant initial encounters, then getting a huge donation from him for the fundraiser, then getting to know Ren, then seeing him with that infant, then swimming in abandoned hotel pools with him, then with giving him advice, then realizing that he actually listened to the advice, then getting severely threatened by Tao Ran. "I don't…I don't…No," she said mechanically.
Redseb cocked his head to the side and studied her. "Are you sure?"
"I honestly don't know but I do know someone who is my other half for sure," she said confidently.
"Really? Who is it?" he asked, bouncing up and down in his bed, ready to get some gossip.
She pointed at him.
He looked at her in confusion. "Me?"
She nodded and then pointed at Seyram.
"Seyram too?"
"Yup and Yoh and Anna and my brother and Lyserg and Jeanne and even Dr. Tao and Tamao and just about everyone here."
"But I thought that the gods split the souls in half…"
"I think…I-I think that more than one person can make us feel complete. That more than person can make us feel happy. How saddening would it be if only one person existed that could complete us, that could make us feel whole? I feel like a whole person around you guys and everyone in the hospital. Everyone in my home. Yes, I just called the hospital my home but you know what, it's totally true despite how lame and sad and cheesy it is. I love coming here. I love working here. I love everything about everyone, even if it is bad or good."
"It's not cheesy," Redseb declared. "I like it!"
She smiled. "That's good." Before leaving the two kids to sleep for the night, she said one last thing to him. "You know why it's important that the original souls were pure and beautiful?"
Redseb thought about it and then shook his head.
"It's because when we're rejoined with people who make us feel complete and whole and wonderful and happy and break down all the awkward, angry barriers that we might have erected during our isolation and sadness and then they make us feel like everything and nothing at the same time and the only thing we're sure of is that it feels absolutely right…then it's as beautiful and pure as the souls." She stopped by the door before opening it and going outside.
"Then it's perfect."
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Birthday Countdown: 1 day
