Destiny with Death

Dark all around. Lt. Uchida Katsuya slowly awoke to nothing. He looked around for a bit. “Huh?” the soldier thought. “Where am I?” It suddenly donned on him he died moments before. Lt. Uchida had been executed by hanging for treason. The soldier chuckled to himself coldly. “Payment for my loyalty all these years, huh?” he thought. “What a joke!” Katsuya sat up some. Nothing all around still. He began to remember what brought him to his execution.

Ten years ago, Ume-Judas came to power in Japan. He made it his mission to destroy religion in the whole country. Jade City became the first to fall. Pretty soon, seventy-five priests, priestesses, and countless numbers of monks and nuns were killed. The rest went into hiding. The followers suffered the worst. No one could walk the streets safely at night. Cameras watched the people’s every move. George Orwell’s 1984 had come to life.

Katsuya had just turned eighteen at the time. He still had his innocence of the world. But then, the army came along. All of able-bodied young boys ended up drafted. Katsuya joined the army to support his ailing mother. That’s where his fall began.

The boy developed a taste for blood. Katsuya shared the same views as his boss, Ume-Judas. Those were the glory days there. Katsuya rose through the ranks quickly and became a lieutenant. He and his boys spread terror through the streets. Good old days. But that all came to a grinding halt after one mission in particular.

On October 24th, Katsuya and his boys killed a fourteen-year-old boy for secretly preaching to people. They all raided his bunker. So far, the soldiers found nothing. Katsuya went into the boy’s room and looked under the bed. He discovered a silver box. The lt. pulled it out and opened it up. He found prayer books inside. Usually, Katsuya would destroy them on the spot. But this time, something inside of him wouldn’t let him do so. He wanted to keep them by his side closely. The lt. started to touch them at first.

“Lt.!” someone yelled to him in the bunker hallway. Katsuya looked around quickly. Two of his subordinates hurried over to him. Katsuya quickly shut the box and his it back away. The men made it back to him.

“Found anything yet?” Katsuya asked.

“No sir!” they said. “You?” The lt. shook his head.

“No,” he lied. “This kid’s got nothing!” The soldiers all looked disappointed.

“Shall we go, sir?” one of them asked.

“Yeah,” Katsuya replied. The men all headed out of the bunker house. Katsuya hid the books under his jacket. From there, his transformation began. Katsuya read the prayer books every day in secret. His views changed drastically. The lt. tried his best to keep it a secret from the army. Religious practices equaled treason. The price led to death. Katsuya tried to be extra careful.

But two years later, some of his comrades ratted him out. The trial didn’t last long. Katsuya got slapped with the death penalty right away. And just days ago, they hanged the former lt. So now, here he was in the middle of nowhere. The lt. smirked to himself. “Humph!” he thought. “So this is my judgment day, huh? That’s laugh!” He looked up and noticed a desk up ahead. The soldier raced up to it. He looked over the edge. No one was there at the moment. Katsuya looked around for a moment. He noticed a bell on the counter. He rand it right away. The lt. sat down the ground and waited.

On Heaven, Kami and the angels all sat in the boardroom planning how to sentence Lt. Uchida Katsuya. They had a hung jury indeed.

“That man is evil!” Gabriel declared. “Send him to Hell!”

“But he did repent for the last three years,” Bayu pointed out.

“Plus, he did use the eleventh hour rule before they hanged him!” Mi-chan added on. Gabriel sat back pouting.

“True,” he mumbled to himself. They all thought about this again. The angels turned to Kami.

“What do you think, my lord?” Raphael asked. Kami thought about that for a moment. Then, an idea came to him.

“Let’s allow him in!” Kami spoke up. Everyone looked up at him shocked.

“WHAT?!?” all of the angels asked aloud. Kami held up his hand to quiet them.

“Easy now,” he said. “He may be the man we need to take out Ume-Judas.” They all saw the plan slowly unfolding before them.

“Makes sense,” Bayu replied. The other angels slowly agreed. Gabriel snorted at the idea.

“Can we even trust Katsuya?” he questioned. “He was Ume-Judas’ dog!” The other angels looked at him shocked. Kami smiled at that remark. He knew he would say that.

“Fine then,” the boss replied. “You will supervise him! Is that a problem?” Gabriel sat back quiet and hung his head.

“No sir,” he mumbled. Kami smiled again.

“It’s settled,” he replied. “Katsuya will be allowed into Heaven if he helps us overthrow Ume-Judas with Gabriel’s supervision.” He hammered the gavel down on the table. Gabriel shook his head to himself. “Why do I always open my big mouth?” he thought.

Over the course of the wait, Katsuya fell asleep. When he woke up moments later, he found a note on his chest. “Hm?” he thought. “What’s this?” Katsuya picked up the note and read it to himself in silence. His eyes grew wide in shock. Here’s what the note read:

Lt. Uchida Katsuya, you have been accepted into Heaven.

Knocking On Heaven’s Door