Angel Beats

[Raven]

"How is he here?" Kenny asked. "What do you mean wake up. He's dead, and he just died again..." The pain was evident in his voice.

[Gifted]

"No, he's not... well yes he is, but..." She gave a bit of a laugh. "This is what happens when I make a fool of myself, okay? I get all tongue-tied." She sighed to steady herself. "You appeared here because you just died. Everyone here is dead. You brother, you, me, the musicians on stage there... everyone. Since we're all already dead, dying here doesn't actually do anything except hurt like hell and knock you out for an hour or two. And ruin your clothes, that's always annoying. But when I say he'll wake up, I mean exactly that... he'll just open his eyes in an hour or two and be perfectly fine."

[Raven]

Kenny was stuck on one of the first concepts. "I just died..." He didn't seem that surprised, and he didn't seem to be denying it to himself.

[Gifted]

"Yeah. Do you remember? If not I wouldn't worry, amnesia's pretty common to those who suffered some kind of brain injury when they died."

[Raven]

"I remember," Kenny said, flatly. He just hadn't been sure. "Why are we here, if we died?"

[Gifted]

"Because our lives were miserable and unfair. Least, that's what it seems to be. I don't know everyone elses stories, but I know enough to make that deduction." Rakel said. "You fight, or you get obliterated. That's just how it works here. That guy you saw stab your brother? That's our main enemy. We call him Angel."

[Raven]

Kenny had already made a decision. "You get obliterated?"

[Gifted]

"Yeah. You just vanish from existence, I guess. No one really knows It happens if you don't fight. There're all these people around who act all normal and go to class and such, but they don't have souls and we call them NPC's. You'll see them around. But if you try that, if you go to classes and clubs and be a normal student, you'll be obliterated. Only those of us who've chosen to fight ever stick around."

[Raven]

Kenny nodded. "How're you going to keep me and my brother straight?"

[Gifted]

"No idea." Rakel laughed. "But I'll figure it out. You going to join us?"

[Raven]

"Of course. I'm not going to get obliterated, and I'm not going to leave you to handle my brother alone," Kenny said, though he was mostly joking about the last bit.

[Gifted]

Rakel laughed. "He's been here about a month or so. He's a bit of a pest, sure, but he pulls through when it counts." She put out a hand for him to shake. "My name's Rakel. Nice to meet you."

[Raven]

"Kenny, but I already told you. It's nice to meet you as well." He shook her hand. "And, er, sorry for hitting you."

[Gifted]

"It's fine. Sorry for being such a jerk. I swear I'm usually a lot nicer to newbies." She laughed. "Come on, let's head back and I'll show you HQ. Most of the others'll be hanging around there anyway."

[Raven]

"Alright. After that I'd like to wait for my brother to wake up."