Credits:
Ah! My Goddess! copyright 1988, 1998 by Kousuke Fujishima.
This is a non-profit work of fan-fiction. As such, I'm getting no
compensation for writing this fiction other than my own enjoyment,
because the thought of getting sued is rather unpleasant.
Disclaimer: All characters *I* have created are purely a work of
fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is pure
coincidence. Anyone who thinks otherwise is probably just itching for
a fight. Also, please do not try and distribute this story in a lame
attempt to make a buck; it would be bad karma to say the least.
Special thanks to my pre-reader, Athena N Sournian.
C&C appreciated!
Send them to Michael McAvoy
mmcavoy@acm.vt.edu
http://www.acm.vt.edu/~mmcavoy/
Ah, My Goddess!
"In Search of a Wish"
A Fan-fiction by Michael McAvoy
Hey, your glass is empty
It's a hell of a long way home.
Why don't you let me take you
It's no good to go alone.
I never would have opened up
But you seemed so real to me.
After all the bullshit I've heard
It's refreshing not to see.
I don't have to pretend.
She doesn't expect it from me.
-- Sarah McLachlan
-* Chapter 3 *-
[Six Centuries Ago.]
There were definitely better things to be doing than sitting in
a hovel of a broken down church in terrible heat, swatting flies away
from a sweat dripped nose.
Irritation growing past his endurance, the Cardinal Francis de
Massone wiped at his face with the sleeve of his fine robe. It was
ungodly hot for this time of the year, even for summer. The cardinal,
sighing in exasperation, watched unhappily as the shooed flies quickly
made their return. Wrinkling his nose in distaste, he wished nothing
more than to complete his business and return to the Pope's palace,
which was several day's ride away in Avignon. It had been almost
seventy years now since the seat of the Catholic Church's power had
been moved from Rome to southern France, and the cardinal wondered
distractedly if God made the weather in Italy any cooler.
No matter. His business would soon be finished in this little
hole of a village. The place simply stank with sweat and other odors,
its people not very well off under their vassal's care, starving and
covered in grime and disease. That morning's burning had done little
to improve the situation; the cardinal sent a quick prayer to God for a
breeze to help alleviate the summer heat and stench.
"Bring in the heretic," the cardinal commanded in a loud and
tired voice.
A commotion began just outside the awful little church.
Moments later, under the rough handling of several knights templar, a
another knight was hauled before the cardinal. Covered in mud, the
man was groggy from an apparent beating. A nicely flowing stream of
blood worked its way down his face from a gash on his temple.
Cardinal Massone did not even bother to look up from his rapid
scribbling on a piece of parchment.
"Templar Jean de Cornette," he intoned, brushing another
drop of sweat that threatened to leave the tip of his nose, "you are
found guilty of heresy. Admit your crime before being put to your death
and you will be forgiven by our most loving Lord Jesus Christ and his
holiness, Pope Gregory."
The man called Jean de Cornette peered through swollen eyes
and attempted to gather himself. His armored feet shuffled on the dirt
floor of the church as he steadied himself against the tight holds of his
one time compadres.
"I-I," he began, "I am not guilty of heresy, your grace."
Cardinal Massone continued to write. "Did you not attempt
to defend the heretic woman and prevent our Lord's most divine
justice from being carried out?"
"S-she was... not a heretic," he tried to argue wearily, "just a
peasant woman who thought she could t-talk... to angels-"
"What she *was*," countered the cardinal angrily, "was a
heretic tempted by Satan! Her soul, may God have mercy upon it,
could only be cleansed by the purifying flames of the fire. Obviously,
the heretic woman with her false claims infected your soul as well."
The man let his grimy and bloody head fall, shaking it side to
side and muttering the woman's innocence. The cardinal observed the
knight for a few brief moments before returning to his parchment.
"Heretic Jean de Cornette," he continued, "you are found
guilty on this day, August 12 in the year of our Lord 1371, and shall
be put to death immediately by beheading. May God have mercy on
your soul."
Cardinal Massone then crossed himself and began to wearily
ramble in Latin, waving at the knights to drag the man outside and be
done with the sentence. Not even bothering to watch the weakly
struggling Jean de Cornette leave, the cardinal proceeded to finish
writing on the parchment, frowning irritably at the sweat stains that
dotted the paper. From outside, there were some muffled grunts and
cries from the doomed man as he was held down. There was a brief
sound of drawn steel, and then the commotion abruptly ended in
silence.
The cardinal did not even notice. His thoughts were already
far ahead to getting out of the filthy village and back to Avignon and
the pope's court.
* * *
[Present Day.]
What do you call a hundred lawyers sent on their way to Hell?
A good start.
Seeing as how it is the destiny of the majority of lawyers out
there to go to Hell, it would stand to reason that the Underworld would
be quite full of them. Prosecution and defense attorneys, business and
liability types, and the ambulance chasers. *Especially* the
ambulance chasers... with the notable exception of the 1993 Anomaly,
as it was officially referred to in Heaven, or as it was referred to in
Hell, Syn's Screwup. It seemed that Syn, Norse Goddess of Trial
Defendants, those unfortunates usually in the greatest need of
protection from ambulance chasers, inadvertently entered the wrong
data into Yggdrasil which allowed approximately four thousand of
those sorry lawyers into Paradise. Three actions then resulted from the
mistake:
1. Syn received a stern lecture from the Almighty.
2. Four thousand creeps discovered that profiting off of
other's misery not only paid the bills on Earth, but was a
ticket straight to Heaven.
3. Syn's hellish counterparts in the Demon Barrister
Barbecue Department did not stop laughing for six months
straight.
But that is neither here nor there. At any rate, it would be
accurate to assume that Hell was *full* of lawyers. While some might
sniff in distaste at the thought of a lot of lawyers in one place, even
if they *were* Damned, those same people would be hard pressed to
identify another source of legal knowledge so concentrated. And to be
certain, there was at least one person in Hell who really knew how to
make use of all of his available resources.
Sitting in a plush blood-red office chair, the chief executive of
Hell, Lucifer, eyed a document on his massive desk with distaste.
Flicking his eyes from the document, a directive from none other than
the Dark Lord, the devil stared impatiently at a rather nervous and
tormented looking lawyer.
"Weeell?" questioned Lucifer, tapping his long and bony
fingers with deceptive patience.
The lawyer adjusted his scorched suit collar and wiped his
sweating forehead, gulping slightly.
"And yes," drawled the devil with a raised eyebrow, "it *is*
hot in here. Unless you wish to see it get a great deal hotter, you'd
do well to answer quickly."
Running a pasty colored hand over his balding head, the
lawyer nodded and pointed to the document in question.
"W-well, your most, uh excellence, uh, sir," the lawyer
rambled, "based on the translation of the document, if it is literal,
uh, it specifically states that you are forbidden to take action against
Demon First Class Unlimited, Mara."
Lucifer continued to tap his fingers. "Is this what I torture
you and your colleagues for? Information that I *already* know?"
"Y-yes sir! I mean, no sir!" back-peddled the Damned
lawyer, "What I mean is, you are forbidden by this contract to in any
way impede, or by command have others impede, the Demon Mara.
In that sense, there is no way around the contract for y-you... sir."
Lucifer continued to stare at the tormented lawyer, his
distaste growing.
"Loopholes," said the devil.
The lawyer swallowed. He was amazed, quite frankly, that he
had not been blasted into one of the darker circles of Hell by this point.
He cursed his colleagues who were not having to endure this audience. Why
had *he* had to pick the shortest straw to come up here, anyway?
"For you, your excellence, there are no direct ones," the
lawyer continued, trying to sound somewhat professional. "However,
the contract does not forbid anyone else from doing Mara harm of
their own free will. The only catch is you can't order, uh, anyone to
do anything to her."
"Is that it?" frowned Lucifer.
"Sir," the lawyer offered, "you can't so much as suggest
anything along those lines. If you do, you will most certainly be in
violation of this, uh, contract."
Lucifer sighed in annoyance. "I figured as much," he
admitted, "but I *do* appreciate the effort of you and your esteemed
colleagues in reviewing the problem, taking time out of your busy
schedules of being tormented."
"Oh," the lawyer admitted a little forlornly, adjusting his
tattered tie, "it was no effort, really. In fact, it was nice to get to
do a little work..."
Lucifer smiled. It was ghastly.
"Still and yet," the devil mentioned, "you and your colleagues
should receive something of a favor for this service. Say! How about
I send you someplace a little cooler than your current torment! Would
you find that agreeable?"
The lawyer looked wary.
"I'll even cease the torture sessions by the demons," smiled
Lucifer. "What do you say?"
"Well," the lawyer hedged, "a cooler atmosphere would be
nice..."
"Say no more," grinned the devil. "You and your colleagues
will be spending the next five hundred years completely free of torture
by demons..."
"Oh, thank you, sir!" the lawyer smiled, relieved.
"... in the most frigid section of Hell," finished Lucifer.
"With all the shivering, endless frostbite, and stinging ice, what need
will there be for demons to give you torment?"
The lawyer's jaw dropped.
"Begone," Lucifer smiled, dismissing the astonished man in a
puff of smoke with the wave of his hand.
Rocking back in his executive chair, Lucifer became pensive.
Chewing on his lower lip with his sharp teeth in distraction, the devil
did not even notice as a trail of searing hot blood worked its way down
his chin. The devil sat, wondering what he was going to do to get
around this silly contract. He could not directly tell any of his demons
to go out and interfere or kill Mara, nor could he even mention to anyone
how much seeing her dead would please him. He needed
someone to think up the idea on their own, someone willing to go after
Mara on their own initiative. except, everyone in Hell probably knew
about the contract sitting on Lucifer's desk by now.
No, Lucifer was in need of someone either completely
ambitious or totally stupid in his ranks of hell. And for the life of
himself, the devil could not... think of... anyone...
That stupid?
A bloody grin spreading from ear to ear, the sleazy looking
devil reached out and touched his office pager. After a few attempts, a
bored voice answered.
"Yes?"
"Daeva Nagle," smiled the devil, "would you be so kind as to
join me?"
There was a stunned silence.
"Nagle?" asked Lucifer innocently. "Are you still there?"
"Y-yes sir!" an excited and nervous response came. "Be right
there, sir!"
Lucifer laughed and removed his finger from the intercom
system. His mind working rapidly, he began to formulate a way of
complaining about Mara that might encourage Nagle to take a little
leave of absence on his own initiative.
Daeva Nagle... ambitious and stupid.
It might just work.
* * *
It was late evening across the islands of Japan. Shrouded in
low and heavy clouds, a series of fitful snow showers made their way
across the islands, moving slowly and serenely over the cities and
countryside. It was a peaceful front that past over Japan, bringing a
gentle snow despite the frigid temperatures. All over the more urban
areas of the country, people moved about finishing up an evening of
shopping, preparing for the holiday season. Since the snows were
rather light, people were not having a hard time moving about. Still,
the streets were beginning to empty as time wore on, folks eager to get
back to their warmer residences and families.
Through it all, however, in one area of Tokyo a solitary figure
moved without much urgency. Staggering slightly on the snowy
sidewalks, the person was dressed in expensive finery, long skirts and
a beautiful vest. As people walked by the woman, though, they all
noticed her strange lack of shoes... Her stalkings were not very thick,
they would notice, so how could she be enduring the coldness of the
ground?
Regardless, the passersby simply decided to ignore the
woman, since she seemed uninjured and under her own power. Under
the glow of festive and seasonal lights strung along merchant shops on
the busy street level, the woman continued her trek, oblivious to the
cold and all those around her. With a kind of hopeless satisfaction,
the woman smiled to herself in a drunken haze.
Her torment would be over soon, she thought.
* * *
Adjusting to new situations was something Bonnie MacMaster never
had a hard time with. In fact, she tended to quietly pride herself on
her own internal resilience when it came to difficulty or radically
changing conditions. Preparation, her father had often told her as a
child, creates success out of opportunity. As a result, despite personal
tragedies in recent years, Bonnie had turned bad situations into
successes by simply never failing to continually prepare
herself academically and personally. As her friends were also fond of
noting, there was no one else you wanted to be stuck out on a deserted
highway with other than Bonnie, because even though it was unlikely
to happen, she would have everything necessary to get through it
already neatly stowed away in her trunk. That perception her friends
had similarly extended into most other areas of Bonnie's life.
Quite simply, Bonnie was dependable.
Sitting on a matted floor of a beautiful temple, however,
Bonnie was finding herself hard pressed to adjust to her new situation.
As far as she could tell, she was now in not only another residence, but
another country with a cup of steaming tea on a table in front of her.
Looking up from the cup, Bonnie's gaze traveled to a woman who
appeared to be about her own age. Stunningly beautiful like Urd,
except without the overtly sexual tone, the young woman had perfect
skin and a mane of flowing brown hair that cascaded in splendid
torrents down her back. Added to that, she was dressed in simple
house clothes that nonetheless looked marvelous on her.
Her fingers moving on their own accord, Bonnie irrationally
picked at her own shoulder length brown hair as she felt completely
shabby sitting across from the other woman. Moving to try
and straighten her clothes self-consciously, Bonnie winced in pain a
little from her sore arm.
The woman sitting across from her spoke up. "Are you sure
you are okay, Bonnie?"
Even her voice was beautiful. Bonnie wanted to cry.
"No," she answered, shaking her head. "I'm fine, really,
Belldandy... my arm is just a little sore from where Urd, uh, kicked
me, that's all."
As if summoned by mention of her name, the Goddess Second
Class Limited Urd walked into the room from the hallway. No longer
dressed in her official uniform, she had changed into something more
comfortable, but no less sensual. Plopping down onto a cushion beside
the table, the tanned goddess waved a hand in Bonnie's direction.
"Maybe next time," she said loftily, "you won't be keen on
pushing me from behind so roughly."
Bonnie turned her head away a little guiltily. "You didn't tell
me we were going to be going *through* my television," she accused.
"So sue me for being a little panicky."
"You didn't ask," countered Urd with a haughty frown.
Belldandy brought her hands together and took control of the
situation before it got out of hand. She knew her sister's habits well,
and Urd was not one to let go of an argument without getting the last
word in. Problem was, Bonnie, despite being a little off balance by her
trip through the televisions to Japan, looked like she was not one to let
go of an argument either.
"Regardless, Bonnie," Belldandy smiled, "I am very much
pleased to have you here in our home. It is an honor to meet you, and
I am sorry that Keiichi can not come out to greet you as well."
Urd looked around puzzled. "Oh, yeah," she muttered.
"Where is the shortround, anyway?"
"I *wish* you would not call him that, Urd," replied
Belldandy with a frustrated voice. "He's sick with the flu and in bed
right now, if you must know."
"Uh," Bonnie spoke up, "is he, uh, you know... a god, too?"
Urd took one look at Bonnie and promptly fell over laughing
hysterically. Gasping for breath, she rolled around on the floor
slapping her fist on the carpet.
"Did I say something funny?" Bonnie asked, puzzled.
"Pay her no mind," Belldandy answered with a sigh. "No,
Keiichi is not a god. He is a mortal like yourself who was granted a
wish by the Almighty."
Bonnie's ears perked up. Brushing her hair back, she leaned
forward with interest.
"No kidding," she said. "What did he wish for?"
Belldandy blushed a little. "Well... me, actually."
Bonnie looked confused as Urd managed to pick herself up
off the floor.
"Uh, come again?" Bonnie asked.
"Basically," Urd answered before her sister could say
anything, "my sister gives Keiichi a wish for anything he desires, so
the shortround points at her and wishes for her to stay with him
forever! Can you imagine?"
A look of annoyance crossed Belldandy's face. "Well, it did
not happen *exactly* like that," she complained.
"So what?" Bonnie inquired, frowning. "This Keiichi made
you into a servant, right? Urd told me that my wish binds her to me
until it's fulfilled, but you're bound... forever? That doesn't seem
fair."
Smiling a little, Belldandy picked up her teacup and shrugged
happily. "Oh," she said, "it's really not so bad at all."
Urd added, "What my dear sister is failing to mention is that
she and Keiichi both met when they were just children, and she has
been smitten with him, in a repressed sort of fashion I might add-"
"Urd!" protested Belldandy loudly.
"- ever since," concluded Urd. "She was only too happy to
throw herself into his waiting arms when the chance came!"
Belldandy simply crossed her arms and stared at her sister.
Urd reached for a cup of sake and prepared to take a pull.
"What?" she asked innocently.
"Um, excuse me," Bonnie interjected, sensing a building
storm between the two sisters. "Not to get off the subject of your love
life or anything, but I *do* have this little problem here..."
Belldandy gave her sister one last chilly look. Uncrossing her
arms, her face melted of its annoyance and took on a calmer
appearance.
"Yes," the goddess nodded, "Urd tells me you wished for your
heart's desire."
"I'm afraid so," Bonnie admitted, nodding.
"And you have no idea what that could be?" probed
Belldandy.
Bonnie shrugged her shoulders, thinking hard for a few
moments. Finally, she expelled a lot of air in a sigh and shook her
head in the negative.
"Really, Belldandy" she said, "if I knew what that was I'd
wish for it in a second. Hanging out with your sister isn't exactly my
idea of a good time."
"I should have kicked you harder," Urd muttered through her
drink.
"Urd!" chastised Belldandy angrily. "It's not her fault she
can't figure out her heart's desire!"
Urd sat up straight and put her drink down. "Well, why do
you think I brought her here?" she asked. "I know you have a more
sensitive touch than I do, so just scope her out and find out what she
really wants, then I can get her wish fulfilled."
Belldandy narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You didn't even
bother to read the file beforehand, did you?"
Urd reached for her drink guiltily. "I glanced at it," she
evaded.
"I have a file?" Bonnie asked, paling slightly. "In Heaven?
Uh, what's on it?"
Urd shrugged. "Everything important to deciding where you
go in the afterlife," she answered.
Bonnie looked a little woozy. "There's an afterlife," she
echoed, "for real?"
"Yup," the platinum goddess nodded.
"I need a drink."
"That's usually my line."
Belldandy shook her head impatiently and stood up. Walking
around the table, she sat down on the floor next to Bonnie gracefully.
With practiced ease, Belldandy's features smoothed into a gentle
landscape of happiness and compassion. Again, the desire within
Bonnie to attain even a piece of the goddess's beauty stabbed upward
with a little envy.
"You don't need to be envious," smiled Belldandy with
understanding. "There is plenty within you that is just as special as,
say, the beauty of a goddess."
Bonnie blinked. "How... you didn't just... read my mind did
you."
A slightly apologetic shrug of Belldandy's shoulders was
enough of an answer.
"B-but," stammered Bonnie, drawing back from Belldandy,
"Urd said she couldn't read my mind."
Suddenly, the engineer was terrified of her innermost secrets
being privy to a complete stranger. A stranger who just happened to
be a goddess. Bonnie cringed stiffly as Urd waved a hand negligently
from where she was laying down on her side, contemplating her empty
sake cup.
"I can't; she can," reproached the tanned goddess.
"Remember, I told you my sister has a more sensitive touch than I do."
Without warning, Belldandy leaned forward and touched
Bonnie's cheek with a delicate hand. Bringing her fingertips around
the contour of her face, Belldandy let her hand come to rest at
Bonnie's chin, cupping it gently. Staring into the goddess's luminous
eyes, Bonnie froze. Her expression resembled a deer caught in the
headlights of a car.
"What are wishes, Bonnie?" asked Belldandy.
Bonnie's confusion did not evaporate, but the engineer still
found herself captive under the goddess's gaze. Struggling to process
her question, Bonnie's mouth worked slowly with no sound coming
out of it.
"Wishes," Belldandy, "are desires that reside deep in the
hearts of humans and immortals alike. The secrets that motivate us to
remarkable highs and terrible tragedies. Such is our fate."
Bonnie sat in silence, her mouth hung slightly open. Without
realizing it, however, her shoulders had relaxed noticeably.
"My sister's and I," she continued, "we are part of the
Almighty's system of granting wishes, but only a very few ever get
granted compared to the tide we receive every day. Do you know why
that is, Bonnie?"
Managing to shake her head, Bonnie mumbled a sound that
Belldandy understood easily. Looking bored, Urd sat herself up and
reached for the sake bottle on the table. She was glad the mortal was
out of her hands for a while. Maybe her sister would be able to take
care of all this messy wish business after all.
"Because almost all wishes are denials," answered Belldandy.
"They are denials of the power all people carry within themselves to
make their desires come true on their very own. Mortals can achieve
great things by their own motivation, but so often they simply hope for
their wish to come true without being willing to put in any effort."
"Is... is that true?" whispered Bonnie. "Wishes are denials?"
"Or fancies," the goddess murmured. "How many people
have you known who have wished for fame, money, love... divine
intervention to give themselves an advantage over a situation? The
Almighty rarely answers those kinds of wishes, Bonnie."
"R-really?" asked Bonnie in a slow and dazed voice. She felt
as if someone were gently smoothing out her emotions and thoughts on
purpose. Somehow, she sensed it was tied into the goddess's voice,
but she was not alarmed by this. Bonnie did not want Belldandy to
stop.
Belldandy nodded with a soft smile, her lips flushed with
color.
"We do not always understand the reasoning behind the
Almighty's decision to grant certain wishes while leaving other's
unanswered," she acknowledged, "but each candidate is always a
special person. You too are a special person, Bonnie. I can sense
that. And I want you to trust that I can help you find your heart's
desire."
Bonnie sagged forward a bit, lulled by the serenity of
Belldandy's words.
"Somehow... I believe you," Bonnie whispered again. "I
need to trust you... and I don't even know why... something inside me
just tells me I need to."
Belldandy brought her other hand up to Bonnie's face,
positioning both on her temples with a light touch. Gathering her
powers around her, Belldandy enticed the engineer to close her eyes with
a thought. Urd finally showed some signs of interest, curious about her
sister's technique.
"Listen to that voice, Bonnie," encouraged Belldandy in a
sweet hush. "Listen to that voice within you that knows what your
heart's desire truly is. Let that voice speak so that I may follow it
to the hidden places inside."
A worried tightness came over Bonnie's eyes for a moment.
"You'll... you'll be able to see other things.... about me..."
Belldandy smiled and weaved patterns of comfort around
Bonnie, making the woman feel further at ease.
"I'll only look for your heart's desire, Bonnie," she assured.
"All your other secrets will be yours alone to hold. I promise you."
And then Belldandy was within Bonnie's heart. Like a gate
opened without warning, the goddess dove into the engineer's soul
with a freedom and ease that came from total trust on Bonnie's part.
Concentrating deeply, Belldandy closed her eyes and followed a voice
that rose up from the many dozens of inner voices that made up
Bonnie MacMaster. Sliding past the other voices through a vivid
mixture of color and sound, Belldandy honed in on the one that echoed
Bonnie's greatest desire. It was a voice that all mortals had within
them to some degree or another. Finding her way down to that secret
place deep in Bonnie's soul, Belldandy finally reached her destination
and reached out to bring the young woman's secret desire out into the
light.
But then, much to Belldandy's surprise, she was forced to
stop.
It was there, right in front of her. It was so close, Belldandy
could feel the very texture of Bonnie's heart's desire. Try as she
might, though, the goddess could not dive that last distance into
Bonnie's soul. There was something preventing her from reaching it,
something blocking her path with a gentle insistence. Almost as if
there was another.
Another spirit there?
Belldandy could not help emitting a soft gasp of amazement
as she moved about the other spirit at the center of Bonnie's existence.
All beings, mortals and immortals alike, had one spirit that made up
their life. For someone to have two spirits, however, it could mean
only on thing.
"Urd," Belldandy called out softly. "Please come here. I
think you need to see this."
"Wha?" mumbled Urd, getting up. "Is there something
wrong with her?"
Belldandy, her eyes still closed, shook her head softly. "No,
not at all," she disagreed. "It's something very special. Come see for
yourself."
Urd moved around the small table and sat down beside her
sister and Bonnie. Looking at the two of them, she scratched her head
self-consciously.
"You know I can't see these kinds of things very well," Urd
hedged.
"Mmmm, that's okay," assured Belldandy. "Just follow me
in, sister. I will guide you."
Shrugging her shoulders, Urd gathered her own power.
Reaching out, she covered Belldandy's hands with her own and closed
her eyes. Concentrating on her sister, Urd had no problem following
Belldandy down within Bonnie's spirit. Urd had so rarely had the
opportunity to experience this sort of thing that she could not help but
listen to all the many different voices that made up the human's
consciousness.
"Respect her privacy, Urd," came Belldandy's gentle
admonishment.
"Uh, right," mumbled the tanned goddess a little guiltily.
Immediately, Urd's attention was swept away as Belldandy
led her to the very center of Bonnie's being. Urd looked around in
confusion for a moment, but then managed to focus in on the one voice
that sang above all the rest in Bonnie's soul. Urd could not help but
gasp.
"It's... it's..." said Urd in amazement. "There's *two* of
them!"
Her sister nodded in astonishment as well. "Yes," agreed
Belldandy. "Bonnie has two spirits residing within her... a second life
from sometime before. And I can not see into it. This other spirit
won't let me see its secret."
"Won't let you?" gaped Urd in shock. "Sis, you can see into
anyone's spirit! That's part of your gift."
"I know, Urd," nodded Belldandy, drawing away from the
second spirit and moving out of Bonnie's heart. Urd followed along
with her sister, using her lead to also leave Bonnie's soul.
Reaching the surface, the two sisters opened their eyes
simultaneously and looked at each other in simple amazement.
Looking back towards Bonnie, they watched as she sighed peacefully
and gently slumped to the floor fast asleep. Urd watched her charge
begin to snore softly, a contented little smile on the engineer's face
through her tousled hair.
"Belldandy," Urd said, still in shock. "What was that?
That's not supposed to happen in mortals!"
Belldandy watched the sleeping Bonnie and pursed her lips in
thought. Drawing her skirts up, the goddess rose up and silently
wandered out of the room and into the kitchen. Leaning up against
the kitchen sink, Belldandy looked pensively out into the temple yards.
Urd followed her into the darkened kitchen and leaned up against the
refrigerator.
"Sis?" she asked in the semi-darkness. "What's going on?
I've never seen anything like that before."
"I think..." began Belldandy, "I think it's another life."
Urd narrowed her eyes. "Reincarnation, Bell?" she said
dubiously. "Hey, even *I* know that a reincarnated mortal still has
just one soul, just one spirit. It's just a spirit brought over from
another life into a new one. not two spirits sitting in the same
sleeping engineer on our floor! It just doesn't work like that!"
"No, not reincarnation," murmured the Goddess of the
Present thoughtfully. "A second soul, hanging on to this life so tightly
that it can't move on into the next world. with a purpose or desire so
great, that even death can not make it leave."
Urd uncrossed her arms and moved beside her sister.
"Belldandy," she said seriously, "we both know that Yggdrasil is
designed specifically not to let things like this happen. One mortal,
one spirit, that's the way it works. Do you think this is a Bug?"
Belldandy shook her head slowly. "Nooo," she said. "If this
was a Bug, we would have sensed it in the system and in Bonnie...
this is something totally different."
Getting impatient, Urd re-crossed her arms and pouted. "Well if
it isn't a Bug, just what the heck would cause a second spirit
to be in her body? What else besides Yggdrasil has the power to do
that?"
Belldandy turned in the darkness towards Urd, her face half
illuminated from the living room lights. She had a serious expression.
"Only a wish," she said simply. "Only a wish granted by the
Almighty."
Urd laughed loudly in disbelief for a moment before finding
very little funny. She stuck her hands on her hips and gave Belldandy
and incredulous look.
"Oh, come on, sis," she scoffed. "If this was due to a wish,
we'd know about it, right? Aren't we *in* the wish granting
business?"
"Would we?" whispered Belldandy. "Think about it, Urd.
We are nothing more that conduits for the Almighty's power, are we
not? And there have been other's in the God and Goddess Relief
Office besides you, me, and Skuld. Maybe it is something we aren't
supposed to know about... oh, I don't know."
Urd turned and looked back through the kitchen into the
living room. Bonnie was still sprawled on the floor, snoozing away
the evening.
"Well, anyway," the sensual goddess replied, "if you can't see
into her other spirit, there's nothing we can do, right? If her heart's
desire is locked away in that second one... Oh maaaaan, I'm never
gonna get this wish fulfilled!"
Belldandy blinked.
"Michael," she said.
"Huh?"
"Michael may be able to see into her second soul," Belldandy
pondered, her voice growing more confident as the idea took hold.
"He has always been the only immortal who had a more sensitive
touch into mortals than I do. I think he needs to see this."
"Him?" Urd asked suspiciously. "Are you serious,
Belldandy? I can't imagine him having any time to make room for
our little problems. He and that bunch of angels he hangs out with are
such *stiffs*."
Belldandy shook her head and walked back into the living
room. Stopping beside Bonnie, she bent down and gently stroked the
woman's forehead. Bonnie murmured softly in her sleep.
"Michael isn't like the rest of them," Belldandy disagreed.
"Almost everyone has your perception of him, I think, but that's just
because he has to work with the other angels who's attitudes are..."
"Stuck up?" Urd inquired archly.
"Elevated," replied Belldandy diplomatically. "At any rate,
we both know for a fact all the angels Michael associates with are not
all... self-impressed."
"I guess," grumbled Urd. "That still doesn't make your idea
any better, though. We both know Michael is forbidden to come to
Midgard until the day of Ragnarok, and it is also forbidden
for mortals to enter the immortal planes unless they have died first."
Belldandy could only nod her head.
"True," she said. "But what else can we-"
Belldandy halted in mid-sentence as both she and Urd sensed
a great power building from another plane of existence. Before either
of them could move or speak, there was a blinding light outside and a
clap of thunder. Shaken a bit from the discharge of energy, the two
sisters immediately recognized the source of the power, and they
quickly ran outside to see the results.
Above, though the swirling snow, the dark clouds above were
settling from the release of energy that had split them momentarily.
Below, still smoldering on the frozen ground, was a message.
A message written in the Almighty's language.
Both sister's leaned forward with a mixture of excitement and
trepidation. Pulling her long platinum blonde hair out of her face, Urd
looked at the message and began to read out loud.
"Urd, Goddess Second Class Limited License: due to the
important nature of your assignment, you will proceed to immediately
secure the mortal Bonnie's safe passage into Paradise through one of
the ancient Midgard gates still in existence."
Belldandy gasped.
"Furthermore," Urd continued to read, "you will acquire
another mortal before you leave Midgard. This mortal is essential to
your assignment being completed, and should you fail in this all will
be for naught. To facilitate seeing your charges safely through a
Midgard gate, you have been temporarily been promoted to Goddess
First Class Limited License. So it is written."
Urd fell silent in a composed manner. Belldandy looked up
from the message with wide eyes and gazed at her sister.
"Congratulations, dear sister," she said.
"Thanks, Belldandy," replied Urd in an unbelievably calm
voice. "So... I'm a Goddess First Class now, huh?"
Belldandy nodded and turned her haze back to the Almighty's
message. It was rapidly fading into the ground, snow covering where
the Almighty's language once was.
"I actually made it before Skuld did..." added the tanned
goddess. "Think she'll be pissed?"
Belldandy stopped and gave that some thought.
"Probably."
Turning away from the disappearing message, the two sisters
walked back inside of the temple and shut the sliding door with a soft
clack. All over the city, the snow continued to gently drift down,
blanketing the streets and buildings in a soft serenity.
* * *
A thunderous noise echoed across a featureless backdrop of gray
mists. Set to a rapid rhythmic timing, the sounds were low and deep.
Coming from seemingly everywhere in a world of no time and no space,
the echoes and vibrations were the only things that gave indication of
life not being completely frozen.
Rising from the swirling and unnatural mists, a pearl white
stallion crossed the otherworldly plains, its hooves in perfect timing
to the horribly loud echoes. A powerful beast, it strode in a mighty
gallop with a foamy froth at its nose and mouth from exertion. Muscled
sides rippling, the gigantic horse strained at a tattered and primitive
bit that was haltered in its mouth. With eyes that were at once wild
and disturbingly intelligent, the beast moved at an unnatural pace as
if it were spurned by some terribly fearsome force.
For indeed, it was.
Attached to the other end of the reins that ran up from the
halter, black and worn cloth whipped wildly at a pair of snow white
hands. Frightfully thin, the long delicate bones of the hand gripped
the reins so tightly it seemed the visible tendons might leap away on
their own accord. The rest of the phantom was covered entirely in its
black clothes, a terrible robe of darkness that contrasted starkly
with the color of the raging stallion. On a saddle no more modern
than the horse's halter, the figure spurned the beast on with some
intense purpose. Draped with a large and heavy hood, the face of the
phantom was shrouded in total blackness giving no clue to its identity,
age, or gender.
Suddenly, the phantom raised its head up slightly, turning to
one side as if straining to hear a voice in a noisy room. Pulling back
firmly on the reins, the black robed figure waited patiently as the
stallion gradually slowed and eventually came to a stop. Panting heavily,
the sides of the horse continued to heave as it took in the dark and
misted air of whatever strange existence they were in.
Its head still cocked to one side, the phantom stirred slightly,
causing the ancient leather of the saddle to creak and groan quietly.
Listening deeply to whatever siren call was reaching out to the figure,
it maintained its death grip on the reins as if letting go meant its
very demise.
And then the message was clear.
There was a soul in need of collection, and very soon at that. It
took only a moment for the figure to reach out to all of its other aspects
with a mental call to see if they had claimed the rights to collect this
soul of an unfortunate mortal about to meet its death. Finally satisfied
that the prize was free for the taking, the phantom reared back on the
reins and tapped the left side of the horse's flank with an ancient black
leather boot. The stallion obediently swung around to the left before
leaping to a full gallop with barely a suggestion from its master.
Riding in a fury, the son of the Greek night goddess Nyx flew
across the void, focusing on its destination. Heading for a series of
large and densely populated islands in the mortal plain, Thanatos focused
in on the human soul that called so clearly for an end to its own life.
The rider and the stallion disappeared into the swirling vapors
that made up a featureless world which had no name, heading for Midgard.
* * *
Coming up in Chapter 4:
Urd begins the dangerous trek to bring Bonnie into Asgard, and
a woman bent on self-destruction confronts Death.
Comments and Criticisms welcome.
Mike McAvoy
mmcavoy@acm.vt.edu
www.acm.vt.edu/~mmcavoy/
Lasted updated on May 13, 1999.
(
geocities.com/Tokyo/1427) (
geocities.com/Tokyo)