From FALLEN - "The Bell"

I wrote this short piece as a submission for my science fiction and fantasy class. This is a scene from a fantasy novel I have been thinking of writing for quite some time. The idea is that after a great battle with the forces of hell, a team of people from a religious university that trains people with special powers find what seems to them to be a baby demon. A nun named Magdalena speaks up for his life, names him Gabriel, and raises him at the university to fight on their side. Still, he is regarded as a monster by many and struggles a great deal with the question of whether or not he really is one, particularly when he is confronted by how holy objects have the power to hurt him.

This part is inspired in large part by the Night on Bald Mountain segment of Fantasia. I do so love my Catholic ceremony, imagery, philosophy, and issues of guilt. ;-)

( La Voix was a bell of the church... )