This is a sequel/alternative universe story of Haibane Renmei. Before starting with the prologue, I need to make a few points:

For a start, Haibane Renmei is the creation of ABe Yoshitoshi. I'm not sure who owns the copyright, but it certainly ain't me. This story is a fan-fiction work. Anyone can read it, free of charge. Any part of what I write can be used by other fan-fiction authors. However if you want to use this story in any other way, and in particular if you want to use this story for any commercial purposes, don't ask me, ask ABe Yoshitoshi and/or the copyright holders.

I have also taken ideas from other fan fiction works, in particular from "Mado of Stone Mill" by Majic and "Good Luck Haibane" by gkscotty, and have been influenced by a lot of the other fan fiction.

All characters in this story are either derived from Haibane Renmei, or are a product of my imagination. They do not represent any real persons in any way. I would also point out that I know nothing about being a member of the police force, so if any actual real life police officers read this story, please forgive my portrayal of the main character. I know perfectly well he is nothing like a real police officer. For a start, he has wings and a halo.

I have tried to not break too many elements of the original story. In particular the things that I believe should remain unknown (what happens after a Day of Flight, what is outside the Walls, who are the Renmei and the Toga, who arranges the whole thing) I have left (almost) unknown. On the other hand, without adding something new to the mix, it is very difficult to create a new story. Hopefully my additions are not too outlandish as to spoil the original concept. In effect, I have dropped a small spanner into some of the gear wheels of Haibane Renmei, and written a story around the resulting repercussions. I just hope Kana never finds out who did the damage.

Finally, it is best to watch the original anime before reading this story. Otherwise you will be without some background information to the story that I just assume you will know. Also this story contains spoilers for the movie.

Let's move on to the story itself. Being a Haibane Renmei story, the first part is a bit depressing, so let's get it out of the way.

Step by painful step, he was coming to the bitter realisation - they weren't going to make it. And the day had started so well...

Police officer Sam packed up his suitcase, made sure the case files were there, and took a taxi to the airport. Officer Harrison greeted him.
"Hello Sam. I shall enjoy being in your office giving the orders for the next few days!"
"Well, just make sure there's a job left for me when I return!" said Sam. Harrison was the closest thing Sam had to a friend.
"I've arranged your flight for you, this way." said Harrison.
They went around the corner and then straight out across the tarmac to something that appeared to Sam to be a ridiculously small aircraft.
"I'm going in that tiny thing?" said Sam.
"I know you're nervous about flying in small aircraft. But this should be fine. This is a Cessna 172, one of the most popular small aircraft ever made. They don't get to be that popular if they had a habit of crashing. And don't be fooled by how young the pilot is, either. He's been flying since he was ten, and has all of the qualifications."
"Just how old is he?"
Harrison ignored the question.
"And by the way, you have a last minute passenger, a little girl on her way home from hospital."
"Just what I need, now I have to pretend to be relaxed about flying in this out-sized model aircraft." said Sam, but only to himself.

The aircraft's door was already open. As Sam clambered inside the pilot briefly turned and waved at him, before returning to his check list. All that Sam noticed was a broad brimmed hat, sunglasses and a wide sash of zinc cream across his nose. Apparently Sam was not to sit in the seat next to the pilot, since there was already a parcel secured there. Which was fine by Sam, the idea of being close to all of those dials and levers and goodness-knows-what-they-did switches made him nervous.
As promised, there was a girl in one of the back seats. About eleven years old, she clutched a princess purse in one hand, and had a cast covering one of her legs. Already looking nervous, she visibly shrank into her seat when she saw Sam. After thirty years as an adult Sam was totally used to this sort of reaction at the first sight of him. It still affected him, and it made him feel vaguely guilty about spoiling someone's day, but he was used to it. Not only was he a big man, he was, shall we say, not the handsome type. Not exactly ugly, but if you didn't know him you would be extremely concerned if he loomed out of a dark alleyway unexpectedly.
"Yep, I'm certainly big and ugly, ain't I." said Sam, smiling his best smile and doing his best to act as nonthreatening as possible.
Before he could continue the pilot started the engine. Sam hurriedly strapped himself in, and gave a brief glance at the girl to make sure she was also strapped in correctly. With the noise of the engine, the girl appeared to have one more thing to worry about.
"It's feels scary, doesn't it?" said Sam. "Guess what, I'm also nervous about flying in small airplanes. I find the best thing is to sit back in my seat, close my eyes and just concentrate on breathing in nice deep breaths"
Which the girl promptly did. Sam wasn't sure if she was trying to control her fear of flying, or her fear of him. But whatever, it seemed to calm her. Sam followed his own advice, and when he next opened his eyes they were in the air.

After an hour or so he was getting used to it. Inside the cabin the roar of the engine was muffled to a level that was nearly, but not quite, comfortable. The wind made a continuous whistling sound as it went past the windows, and the aircraft made various clicks and clangs as the pilot made adjustments. Sam resolutely kept his eyes off the wall of instruments in front, looking outside instead. Looking down he could see the undercarriage wheel, and then a long long way down was the red sand of the desert, slowly wending past. In the distance on the horizon was yet another greenish grey smudge of a small area of trees, and above the glaring blue sky. The girl provided her own distraction by reading a book, so Sam had left her alone.

Sam took a long drink from his water bottle, then fumbled and came near to dropping it when the engine spluttered, then resumed.
"Oh sh-" he remembered the presence of the girl, and cut off the rest of the statement.
The pilot pointed to a red light on the dashboard.
"I'm getting a fire alarm from the engine!" yelled the pilot above the engine noise.
"It's probably nothing serious, but I do need to check it."
He throttled down the engine power and there was a sudden sinking sensation as the aircraft started descending.
The engine sputtered again.
"Just to be on the safe side, I think I'll land and do a manual inspection." yelled the pilot again.
Sam forced himself to be calm. He did some breathing exercises. He looked at the girl, and she looked terrified.
Sam made an effort of willpower and relaxed. He patted the girl's hand and said:
"No need to be scared. The pilot just needs to check things out and we will be on our way again. It'll be an adventure you can tell all of your friends."
She didn't look all that convinced, but she relaxed a bit.
Bzzzt - bzzzt - bzzzt
A buzzer was suddenly sounding. The pilot gave up on reassuring words and yelled
"When the aircraft stops moving, get out of the cabin. I shall pass you the girl and then you run towards the rear of the aircraft. I'll use the fire extinguisher to control the fire."
"I just knew there was a good reason I hated small aircraft." thought Sam to himself. He cast the water bottle aside and braced himself for a rough landing.
Which wasn't all that rough, although plenty of red sand and stones went flying. The engine slowed down to a modest rumble.
As soon as the Cessna had stopped moving he undid both of their harnesses. He opened the cabin door and climbed out, then stopped to receive the girl as the pilot lifted her out. He could hear the blades of the propeller making a swooshing sound as each one came around. He took the girl and ran past the tail of the aircraft, his feet raising a puff of sand and dust with each step.
"Right, this should be far enough" he said to the girl, "let's see what the pilot is -"
At this point there was a sudden roar from the engine and the air wash from the propeller pelted them with sand and dust. By the time he had turned around the aircraft was already accelerating and within seconds it was in the sky. In total disbelief Sam watched it climb and slowly disappear in the glare of the sky.

The noise of the engine faded away. Sam stood there, and then turned around a few times, trying to see if there was anything at all out here. Eventually, still cradling the girl in his arms, he came to a stop, his mind a complete blank. At last some survival instinct in the back of his mind switched on, and without conscious decision, he started walking. Every direction looked the same, red sand, the horizon, and the blue sky. Having turned around a few times he no longer even knew in which direction the Cessna had taken off.
"We must get shade. We don't have a hope without shade. We have to find something."
The girl said nothing, just clutched Sam's shirt.
"Don't worry" said Sam, bending forward and kissing her on the cheek, "I won't be the one to leave you."

Two hours later.

The girl no longer clutched Sam's shirt. She was unconscious. Sam wasn't much better. There was a band of fire across his shoulders and down his arms, from the effort of holding the girl. His throat felt like coarse sandpaper. His eyes were gritty and blurry, and his breathing was increasingly painful. The ferocious heat of the sun beat upon his back. At first he had spent the time racking his brain for any idea on why they had been deserted. The current case? Surely that was not high stakes enough. Some past case, but which one? He didn't have a clue. The only thing he knew for sure is that it didn't have anything to do with the girl. After all, what could an eleven year old girl do to invoke just a reaction? It could only be something that he had done, or that the pilot thought he had done. Someone's daughter would soon be dead because of something he had done to push the pilot into this action. The sun, beating upon his head and back, was in competition with Sam's own guilt, beating upon his mind. As the sun moved further across the sky he cursed the pilot and constructed elaborate revenge scenarios. It had given him some energy. Eventually he didn't do any thinking at all; it took all of his will power just to keep walking. The horizon was no closer, and there wasn't anything within sight to help them.

He was starting to stagger.

They weren't going to make it.