Chapter Text
The Pearly Gates get a lot of complaints.
Believe it or not, the job is as much of a hassle as it is an honor. The angels bear it with grace of course, their patience is almost endless. But nobody gets as many complaints as Heaven does except for Hell itself. But unlike the fiery downstairs, the pearl gates at least have a complaints desk.
Not that there were many complaints. Mostly people had questions instead of real demands. And those who did have demands usually aligned something with “F**k you. God isn’t real and I want to reincarnate as a tree RIGHT NOW.” It was alright, that was the plan anyways.
It was on a fine wispy eternal-day that the complaints desk received an unusual visitor in the form of a species that did not even usually conceptualize heaven. Eyes flicked up from thoust’s steady flow of work as someone trudged in to make their complaint very known.
Solace paused and gently placed thou scrolls away with a dismissive flick. A portion of attention was now entirely enraptured with the small brown pentagonal creature making its way over. The complaints hall wasn’t large, but it was still nearly sprinting.
….They don’t get complaints from their kind. Their afterlife is so full of music and joy that none of them ever leave, they wouldn’t even think to. They sing and sing and sing until eventually they are reborn.
Solace peers over the desk at the short, stubby looking creature and gently asks “Are you lost..?”
“Where. Grace. Question.” The small being was making a visible effort to be polite. However, it was almost trembling with rage.
Grace was on the four hundredth and eighty ninth cloud sorting through a small backlog of reports along with Brevity and Gallance. But that clearly wasn’t what the small one meant.
No, it’s not talking about any kind of angelic grace. It means a…. Ryland June Grace who died approximately four hundred and twenty seven human years ago.
Solace feels their face twist pityingly. Separated from their friend so soon, no wonder they were upset. Their threads were practically twisted into knots, they were so tied together.
The horror of your closest ones being born in different species. Solace could almost weep from the beauty of it. To have one life so long and the other so short.
Well, that solves the issue of why it is here then. Now for the solution…
“Apologies. The human known as “Ryland June Grace” is no longer here. His soul was sent for immediate reincarnation as reward for his successful efforts to continue the lineage of his species.”
At this information, the being proceeded to fall to the ground, wailing
“GRACE SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!!!” They screamed.
The being’s name was translated to something along the lines of “Sturdy Tough Stones Surviving Uncracked First of their clan Mated to Chiming Rocks Echoing Beyond Caverns“. But for the sake of the story, thoust will call them by the familiar nickname of Rocky.
Solace watched as Rocky threw together a discordant symphony of screeches, holding multiple incoherent communications across their internal gas exchange organs. Demanding, Begging, Pleading, Screaming, Threatening, Bargaining.
Rocky’s temper had just started gaining speed as their Mate, “Chiming Rocks Echoing Beyond Caverns Second of their clan Mated to Sturdy Tough Stones Surviving Uncracked“ Or Adrian came in at a slower but still loping gallop.
“Grace said we’d see each other again in the great beyond!” The creature wailed between nasty words directed toward the angel. “Grace say that Grace would wait for Rocky, Wait for Rocky and Adrian and be together again!!!” They let out another long incomprehensible shriek even while their mate did their best to coo comfortingly down at them.
Solace let out a sympathetic hymn at the obvious distress. Yes, this was another unfortunate duty of the complaints desk. To act as witness to the unsatisfied and unresolved whims of those whose souls yearned for the opposite of what was given.
Solace yearned to give it the comfort and safety worthy of their sacrifices. To soothe the horrors of living and carry them back to the great thrumming on golden wings. But thou was unfortunately puzzled to what solution was most appropriate for such a situation.
Thus, upper management was hailed.
A supervisor responded promptly to the emotional outburst. Tolerance manifested just behind Solace, gazing over the desk to get a good long look at the visitors.
Both the creature and its mate stopped their sudden thrumming to try and perceive the new being in front of them, tapping at the floor to try and get a better idea of how thou appeared. Tolerance cleared thoust’s vocals and began to speak. “It is thy understanding that you, child, wish to reunite with the being known as Savior Ryland June Grace?”
Rocky nodded eagerly, almost demandingly.
“It was a very slim chance, that one. So many things had to be pushed into alignment, and even then it was all down to the human in the end.” Tolerance hummed. “So he was rewarded, and did not have to wait for his next life.”
It was much kinder in the end. A generosity to move his soul onto a beautiful and simplistic life, one that was everything his previous incarnation wanted.
“Where Grace go? Rocky follow!” The creature immediately demanded.
“This world will face its own battles, but the savior Ryland Grace will not be part of them.” Thou clarified. “It is as normal of a life he can achieve, anyways.”
“Rocky go now. Go NOW!” The creature stomped again and again, repeatedly honking at the beings floating over it.
“Hm. Such arrangements will be made. Yes, but there is one issue…” the angel hummed. “With the type of world this is, you will need a couple… changes. If you are to reunite with your friend, that is.” It would be tough to reunite with a physical wall between the two.
Oh to live an entire life with but a single burning touch between your loved one…
“Yes yes make change! Must go to Grace. Quickly!” The huffy eridian snapped. Two of his arms were waving around the air like he wanted to grab the angel and shake thoust.
Tolerance huffed an exasperated if indulgent noise. Tolerance thy might be, thou was unfortunately not Patience. “Now calm down. If you’d spare an hour or four, thy can guarantee you’ll never need a barrier between you and your friend again.”
Both Rocky and Adrian’s carapaces rose rapidly at the proposition.
“Can… do that?” Rocky asked hesitantly. There was a kind of mystified wonder in its voice. Both of thou could see the many, many years of distant yearning come flooding back to the surface.
“Child, we can do that and more. Follow me now, this way.”
✧ ༝┉˚* ❋ Four or so hours later, in another world ❋* ˚┉༝ ✧
A filthy mechanic stumbled out of a warehouse and into the sun, finding himself blinded for the first time despite his entire life being blind.
He wasn’t very good at walking yet. This body was decades old, but had barely been used for a couple of minutes. Blessed muscle memory was the only thing keeping the creature upright.
And what a creature it was! Not quite human, not quite Eridian. Somewhere in between. Thankfully, Tolerance informed he could “shift” back to his normal form if he needed to. Mentioning how it wasn’t unusual to have a second form in this type of reality.
This reality was full of unusualities and rapidly mutating lifeforms.
Light had been a faraway concept his entire life, colors even more so. For the first time ever the brilliant blue sky stared back, the deadly radiation of the sun shone down upon his new form.
He stared down at his hands. Then finally, let out a long whale song's worth of laughter.
‘I’m coming, Grace.’