| Somewhere in the realms of Faith... "Him?" the Power asked, exasperated. "Yes, him. He'll do nicely," Destiny decided, skimming through his profile one more time. "Oh c'mon. He has zero faith, and he sins like crazy," the Power complained, gesturing to various points in his profile. "He has faith. He's just private about it. And his sins are all minor...you know how He feels about the minor stuff," Destiny said, a hint of annoyance creeping into her tone. "He's too old. I thought it was decided that we would do this early on in the chosen ones. Look what happened to Joan," the Power argued, slowly realizing that this argument was not going well for him. "Everything went according to plan with Joan. We really have no more time for this. It's going to be him, and that's that." Destiny eased closer to the Power. "This isn't like you. What's going on?" The Power looked upon her, quite aware that she already knew very well what was going on. She just wanted to hear him say it. "I...I feel bad I guess. If we do this, then this changes his life forever," the Power explained. "He's just a kid." Destiny smiled, immediately brightening up the whole world. "They're all just kids, Seraphiel." She kissed his forehead, and gently stroked his hair. "All of them are in it together. They're going to go through something that is hardly imaginable. They're going to change the world." The Power Seraphiel nodded, admitting defeat. "It sucks." "Yes it does. It sucks more than anything. But I have confidence in him...in all of them." Destiny parted with him, and the two straightened up. "Are you ready?" The Power sighed, and shrugged. "As I'll ever be." Destiny nodded, and waved farewell to her friend. Roanoke Memorial Hospital December 17, 1982 11:58 PM "OH MY GOD!!" the auburn-haired woman cried, feeling the slash of agony cut her in half. She grabbed the burly hand beside her, easily cracking the knuckles beneath her grip. "You're doing good honey...I love you so much," her husband whispered, wincing slightly, his glasses slipping off his nose. The doctor peered up from between her legs. "Here we go, Mrs. Sloane. We're gonna give it one good push, alright?" The woman screamed something incoherent, which the doctor took as an affirmation. She screamed again, calling upon every ounce of strength she could muster. White heat suddenly flashed through her brain, sailing down through her body. She sighed, her head crumpling to the pillow behind her. "Congratulations, Mister and Mrs. Sloane. You have a beautiful baby boy." The couple sobbed in unison. After examining him thoroughly, a chubby black nurse placed a small white bundle in the woman's arms. Her husband put his arm around her aching shoulders, and the two looked down at the product of their love. A small pink face peered up at them with tiny gray eyes. "I thought we were gonna have a girl?" her husband said, not a trace of regret in his tone. "I guess not," the woman laughed a bit, lifting the small flap of blanket over the baby's forehead. "He looks like a little Casper the Ghost, all wrapped up," the husband joked softly. His wife looked at him with a wide smile. "He does..." she looked down at her son once again, and nodded. "That's not a bad name, actually." "Casper?" "Yeah. Casper Sloane," she declared, the baby yawning slightly as if to agree. Her husband murmured in happy agreement, and the two watched as the child drifted off to sleep. Somewhere deep inside of Casper, a voice spoke. "Welcome to the world, little one." |