"URD! SKULD! GET IN HERE NOW!" Megumi screamed from inside
the bathroom. She sounded very, very angry.
And
disturbed. Megumi's voice wavered slightly, as if she wasn't sure calling them
was a good idea. Urd looked at Skuld.
The group was gathered outside the corridor into the
bathroom, with the four Goddesses and three other humans milling around in
concern. They had come scrambling like ants when they heard Keiichi scream from
the bathroom, but had stopped at the entrance to the changing room, at
Belldandy's request. But Megumi wouldn't listen, since she was Keiichi's sister
and demanded her right to go in to check on her brother.
That shouting sounded like she wished she hadn't done so. Peorth and Uruz looked
at Urd, then Skuld.
"Let's go in." Skuld said. Urd
nodded. And as Skuld went in, Urd turned to Chihiro. She didn't sound the least
bit humorous now. Urd was all business now. She looked straight into Chihiro's
eyes, and something in them glittered.
"Chihiro, go home
first. We'll take care of this. Come back tomorrow or something, ok?"
Chihiro looked at Urd. She considered protesting, but
ended up asking.
"Can't we stay and try to help?"
Urd shook her head.
"I mean it.
With all deadly seriousness. Go. Home. All of you."
The three of them nodded and trotted off at a brisk pace.
Ootaki was still nursing a few bruises, but he looked like he would be all
right. His shades weren't even scratched. They quietly disappeared around the
corner as the four Goddesses remaining looked. Peorth put a hand on Uruz's
shoulder.
"We'll wait in the living room." Uruz looked
up, curiously.
"One-sama?" She asked. Peorth shook her
head.
"We'd better leave them be first, Uruz. You'll
understand next time." She explained. She sounded... worried. She was speaking
several decibels lower than usual, and kept looking between Uruz and Urd.
"Oh, ok." A wide eyed Uruz said, trustingly. She was
worried, but she guessed she could find out later. She obediently followed
Peorth out as Urd and Skuld ran in at full speed.
* * *
The two came in to a scene worse than a tragic train
accident, all the scarier because there was no blood and no bodies, but the
feeling in the air was the same.
And the people in it
wore the same expressions.
Keiichi was wrapped in a towel
now, sitting on a wooden stool with her face in her hands. She just kept crying,
a sound that was a cross between a laugh and a sob. Belldandy and Megumi were
sitting on either side, looking deathly worried. Urd wasn't sure if it was the
steam in the room, but both of them looked ghastly pale. Belldandy was
constantly wringing her hands, looking left and right, but always down, not even
looking up when Urd and Skuld came in with pattering footsteps. Megumi dispensed
with most of the movement and just sat there, looking down at the wet floor,
hands held tightly together in front of her.
"What's
wrong?" Urd asked.
"......" Skuld was silent. She just
took in the scene before her, silently shocked. She had never seen anything like
this before, it was new to her. The expressions; mood - a palpable weight
that was pressing against her like a bulldozer; situation; everything.
Belldandy looked up, her face drawn tightly and haggard.
It was as if all her facial muscles had died, leaving her face a drooping,
sagging mess. She pointed to Megumi, then held back a choked sob and left the
room. She walked like a zombie, Skuld noted. One foot erratically in front, then
the other following in its own random fashion. Skuld watched as Belldandy walked
out of the room, silently. She caught the sound of multiple footsteps as soon as
Belldandy left the door. She was running.
Skuld looked
back to Urd, who was squatting besides Megumi.
"What
happened?" Urd asked Megumi quietly. She looked a lot more composed that
Keiichi.
Megumi pointed at her own face in three places
like a triangle. She wouldn't, nay, couldn't speak. Skuld thought back to her
basic expressions training. Shock, that was it. Paleness, shivering, inability
to talk among other things.
So Megumi was going through
it, and Belldandy probably was too. But Skuld thought shock mostly came to those
who were victims?
Megumi left the room in a somewhat more
lively gesture, compared to Belldandy. Skuld didn't hear the sound of running
this time though, but that was scarier. It was too quiet.
The bathroom was left with Keiichi and the two Goddesses. Urd looked at Keiichi.
She pulled up the stool Megumi was sitting in and sat in front of Keiichi.
"What's wrong?" Urd asked. She was remarkably calm for
being in such a tenuous event that even Belldandy couldn't speak. Keiichi
stopped sobbing for a while, then turned her back to Urd and dropped her hands.
Skuld looked on, wonderingly. Urd looked at Keiichi's back for a while, then put
a hand on her shoulder. Urd nearly recoiled, it was freezing cold. But she kept
herself steady.
"Can I look?" Urd asked. She had the
worst feeling Megumi had told her something she didn't want to believe. Keiichi
didn't bother to respond.
Urd came over to the other side
and looked up into Keiichi's downcast face.
Urd didn't
want to believe it all right. Even if she did, it was a little hard.
They say seeing is believing, but Urd wanted nothing more
than to be blinded.
* * *
Outside, Peorth had a blanket tossed over Belldandy and
was offering her a steaming hot cup of green tea to soothe her nerves.
Belldandy was shuddering like a wet person tossed in front of an air conditioner
at full blast, and she looked like it too. Her lips were pale, colourless, and
her already pale skin was white. Belldandy looked like a living dead, Uruz
thought.
Then Uruz saw Megumi coming out. She immediately
came over.
"Is everything all right?" She asked,
concerned. Megumi shook her head. She looked a little like Belldandy, pale and
shocked, but she wasn't in such a bad state. Uruz got a cup as Megumi sat down
at the table and ran a hair through her head with a huge groan and sigh, head
slumped weakly downwards. She kept her hand in her hair and ignored the tea left
there for her.
Uruz and Peorth looked at each other. What
was going on?
* * *
Urd put a hand over Keiichi's face and a small glow
appeared, purple and blue. Urd closed her eyes in concentration as she mumbled
something. Then she opened her eyes and looked at Keiichi's face. Nothing yet.
Urd heaved a massive sigh of relief which echoed in the bathroom. Skuld was
dying of curiosity now, but Urd had made Skuld stay there and not look.
"Thank Providence and every other miracle that it isn't
functional. Yet." Urd said at last. Keiichi stopped sobbing, at least, after
hearing that. Urd stood up. Skuld looked at her.
"What's
not functional yet? Urd? Keiichi?" Skuld asked. She was more curious now than
concerned, and it was making her bratty.
Keiichi stood up
and turned around. Skuld sucked in her breath in the reverse of a scream. Skuld
had, for a moment, almost thought she was looking at Belldandy.
Goddess markings and all.
* * *
"S...o...." Belldandy forced out of her mouth. The tea
wasn't doing anything to warm her up, it felt like ice in her mouth even though
it would've burned the tongue off Megumi. It moved sluggishly, it felt cold, it
tasted horrid. Peorth was hanging on every word Belldandy could strain out.
Megumi looked up. She was distraught, and that wasn't the
proper word for her. She finally took a sip of her hot tea, savoured it, then
downed the whole thing. The pain of the heat was welcome to Megumi, it burned
her mouth, seared her throat, warmed her stomach. It sent prickling tendrils of
fiery pain to every part of her body on its way down. It was a hell of a lot
better than the numbness she had felt before.
"Keiichi's
becoming Belldandy." Megumi said. That was fact. She had seen it for herself,
there was nothing to explain it away. Keiichi couldn't and wouldn't do this as a
practical joke, even if he'd dared. Peorth and Uruz looked at each other.
"Huh?" They asked, simultaneously.
"What Megumi means-" Urd said from the corridor, leading a shivering cold
Keiichi out between her and Skuld. "-Is that the Metamorphosis spell is finally
making its purpose known. To both parties involved."
Uruz
felt the memory she wanted to remember slap her across the face like Belldandy's
slap the other time, only with a heavy lead gauntlet added.
"DAMN!" Uruz spat. Everyone looked at her. Uruz was up
and pacing back and forth now. Profanities were best whispered when a God/dess
was involved, and to spit such a damnable word was blasphemy. Everyone expected
a phone call from the Almighty at that moment.
But Uruz
didn't give a bug's ass about that. She thought back to the corrupted wish and
was reciting something. She remembered everything about the wish. Its entire
specifics. Imagine.... what if it was just change a little?
"Megumi, get Keiichi out of here. Now." Uruz spoke,
quickly, sharply. Megumo nodded and helped Keiichi out of the room, hugging her
tightly and whispering things into Keiichi's ear. All the Goddesses came to
attention around the table. Uruz sat back down.
"I'll
tell you what I think is happening...." Uruz said. She was all severity and
sounded nothing like a barely maturing teenager now.
She
sounded much, much older.
* * *
The Almighty slammed a fist onto His chair's armrest. He
had recieved a call not too long ago. It was from His Licensing division. He
knew it was coming, He had expected it a long time ago.
Only thing was, He didn't expect it so soon. Things were proceeding much too
quickly to handle by Himself. The call had told Him that there was a duplicate
signal coming from the Morisato household, that was Belldandy's signal.
The Almighty knew that these signals were impossible to
reproduce, God, Demon or Human. Which meant the Metamorphosis spell was doing
its job remarkably well, for all that nobody wanted it to. The Almighty had
vetoed the request to grant power to the signal, but it was only a temporary
measure. The Ultimate Force would make sure of that little detail, which even
the Almighty couldn't do anything about. There were times when making an all
mighty, uncrackable, existence-wide system was a hassle, because that meant not
even its creator would be able to stop it.
The Almighty
only hoped that His children could solve the problem soon. Everything was
beginning to fall into Plan, but when it came to Morisato Keiichi, everything
was never too right.
That was because he was the one who
could change the Fates, and not know it.
* * *
"And that's it. I believe... the metamorphosis spell was
inacted to fulfil this part of the wish which was, unfortunately, corrupted."
Uruz finished. She was drained of all strength now, after having lost it in the
middle of her discussion. She herself began to realize that this was a lot more
problematic than her initial impression let up on.
Belldandy stared, and then Peorth followed a second later. Urd groaned, and
Skuld looked confused.
"What's going on?" Skuld asked.
"So what about Keiichi switching places with Belldandy? We can change it, can't
we? I mean, it's only physical."
Skuld understood enough
to know that insofar, the changes were only physical. Urd had proven that
Keiichi's Goddess markings were so far mostly cosmetic, but that didn't mean the
situation wasn't likely to change. Belldandy looked at Skuld sadly.
"Skuld, we are the Norns of Fate. You understand that we
know things mortals might never comprehend?" Skuld thought for a moment. Megumi
was doing a good job of matching her there, but she still had a lifetime to go
to catch up with Skuld.
And added to that, Skuld
chillingly realized, they were the Fates.
She
nodded. Belldandy went on.
"And you understand that only
we Goddesses have access to such powers granted by the Almighty Himself?"
Skuld knew this one. She nodded. Belldandy drew a deep
breath, heaving noticeably under the blanket.
"If Keiichi
was to become me, you understand that even if he doesn't go mad with the things
I know..." Belldandy paused for a moment. She drew another shuddering breath.
Urd patted her, trying to comfort her. If Belldandy broke down now...
"He will be destroyed by the energy those Goddess
markings will bring down to him." Belldandy said, shudderingly, but held her
head high still. She continued. "You understand we Goddesses... do not exist
solely on this plane, Skuld. One way or another, Keiichi-san won't make the
transition." Belldandy continued in a remarkable show of strength. "And being
mortal, Keiichi-san....." Belldandy sobbed once. Her voice buckled under its own
strain, her strength disappeared in a cleansing, but filthy, flood. "Will be
gone."
Belldandy started crying. Skuld didn't
completely get it.
"But..." She whispered to no one in
particular. "Isn't the metamorphosis going to help Keiichi cope with the power?"
Uruz patted her on the back. Skuld looked. The two were
becoming friends of a sort for all their differences, and it was going to be
needed now.
"Skuld." Uruz started. "Keiichi's only
mortal."
Skuld thought about it. She looked at herself.
Then she thought back, trying to remember some nagging memory that kept
reminding her of her status.
Deja vu.
That day, when Mara had bungled up Uruz's wish granting.
Skuld, for one so young, understood.
She was, after all, a Goddess.
* * *
In her room, Keiichi was lying on the futon, staring at
the ceiling. She kept feeling her forehead, rubbing and pinching it as if that
would rid her of the blue sliver that ran down it. Megumi was sitting by the
desk with her legs tucked up and her hands clapsed over them. Her head rested on
her knees, but she wasn't sleeping.Both were still much shaken, although calmer
now.
"Tell me something." Keiichi croaked, her voice
hoarse from a night of crying. Megumi's head snapped up.
"Yeah, Keiichan?" Megumi said. She knew as well as Keiichi what was happening.
She was smart, and intuitive. She could easily guess what was going to happen.
Keiichi was probably going to take over Belldandy, or
something. But Keiichi wasn't going to be Keiichi any longer, Megumi was sure.
"You now, I'm not so much worried about losing my
identity." Keiichi said to the ceiling, but directing the words at Megumi. "I'm
worried about Belldandy."
Megumi nodded.
"She'd be devastated at losing you."
Keiichi chuckled once, and sounded like frozen sandpaper
being crushed.
"I was thinking more along the lines that
I'm not as important as her job, Megumi. She's a Goddess, and if I inherit it,
who knows what happens then? If she still has her powers, then I don't mind.
But...." Keiichi trailed off, knowing Megumi could finish it on her own.
"She's a Norn of Fate, right?" Megumi asked. Keiichi
nodded, the pillow rustled. Megumi had been told as much.
"Then where does the Present go?" Megumi finished.
"Maybe
we make our own fates, maybe they help us change it." Keiichi continued. "But
everyone is important, Belldandy taught me that. No one more so than, I believe,
those who belong to the Heavens, which I obviously don't belong to. Whatever it
is she does, it is for everyone's good. In that I believe. But can I believe in
myself?" Keiichi was too calm for Megumi's comfort. But then again, who said
Keiichi was calm? Megumi looked at the wall in front of her.
"Keiichi, you never thought of her as a Goddess much,
right?" Megumi said. "I mean, she's so natural and charming, she could do things
even without her marvels."
Keiichi chuckled again. More
sandpaper and some coughing.
"We don't know what she
does."
"True."
Silence.
"Megumi, could you do me a favour?" Keiichi asked. Megumi
nodded.
"Anything. Anything at all."
"If I do... disappear from everyone's lives and
everything, I want you to tell Mom and Dad I love them, and that Belldandy had
nothing to do with it. Tell them I died of an accident or something."
Megumi smacked the wooden leg on Keiichi's desk. The desk
rattled with Megumi's somewhat vehement slap. A cut welled up on Megumi's hand,
but she cared nothing for it.
"Touch wood, Keiichan! You
aren't going to croak on me! You sound like you're on your bloody death bed
already!" Megumi spat. She didn't like the idea, and never hoped to pass that
message on. This was too morbid, Megumi thought. Morbid and scary.
"I may be in a way, Megumi." Keiichi said. Megumi got up,
went over to the futon and grabbed Keiichi by the shirt.
"Wake up, Keiichan!" Megumi said, shaking Keiichi. "Nobody said
you're going to die! For all we know, this is just a nasty little fantasy! Pinch
yourself or something!"
Keiichi shook her head.
"No, Megumi. You wake up. You saw Belldandy's reaction to
it. And you know she's never acted that way before. She looked like she saw a
dead man walking. I'm that dead man. Or woman. Whichever."
Megumi dropped Keiichi. She stalked over to the door. Her
back to Keiichi, Megumi threw a few words her way.
"I
don't care. What happened to the Keiichan who always protected me? Hm? The one
who said never say die? The one who said he'd die before letting me get hurt?"
Keiichi shook her head again, knowing full well Megumi
would know what she was doing.
"Sorry, Megumi-chan. I
failed you there."
Megumi slammed the door behind her.
Keiichi sighed and looked up again. She reached into a pocket and pulled out a
small, soft blue piece of knitted cloth. The very same one Keiichi had knitted
so many days ago. Keiichi squeezed it, then held it close to her.
And what happens now, then? Keiichi thought.
* * *
Megumi dropped to the floor as soon as she shut the door,
and cried. She pounded the floor, used a long handkerchief to muffle her sobs,
and just sat there, heaving.
Keiichan... Megumi
thought. Over and over again.
* * *
The night passed by, uncaring, unfeeling, knowing only
that it would live for a few hours more before moving on or be destroyed.
As if it would care to sympathize with the inhabitants of
a lonely temple on the outskirts of town. If only it knew its own fate was in
their hands.
Inside, everyone sat in silence. Nobody had anything to
say, and nobody wanted to move. Something was supposed to happen, but nobody
knew.
Belldandy sat wrapped in blankets, eyes closed,
dozing softly. She had overextended her threshold for weariness in a day and
couldn't stay awake any longer. Urd sat there, brooding. Peorth looked over
Belldandy, her mind constantly being divided for her concern for Keiichi and
Belldandy. They were all good friends, and even a good natured romance rivalry
wouldn't stop them from staying friends. Skuld was outside, citing the need to
think in silence. Uruz sat there, racking her brains for some way to change
things.
Uruz suddenly sat up. Everyone looked. Even
Belldandy, in all her weariness, felt the movement. She woke up, sluggishly.
Uruz looked at Peorth.
"It's time I explained my
designation." Uruz announced. Urd laughed once through clenched teeth,
mockingly.
"What's the time? And what's the use?" Urd
asked, sardonically, sarcastically. She didn't want to waste time listening to
people's occupations!
Belldandy put a weak hand up. Urd
wondered if she had any of that brown potion left. Belldandy was wheezing like a
faulty whistling kettle, and she still looked pale and drawn.
"Listen... to her. We may... think of something."
"Fair enough." Peorth said. And maybe, finally, she would
find out what Uruz's domain had to do with her position. She called for Skuld to
come in. Skuld did. Uruz took a deep breath and began.
"I
am Always."
"What's that?" Belldandy asked. Peorth looked
thoughtful. Time to lay her old suspicions to rest.
"I
think it's something to do with time?"
"......" Urd and
Skuld just listened. Uruz shrugged.
"Something like that.
But I am not a Goddess of Time and Fates as you four are." Belldandy looked
wonderingly, for all her haggedness. But everyone could see the life was coming
back into her, she was playing a more active role now.
"Something like time, yet nothing to do with it?"
Peorth
got frustrated. She hated it when people played word games like that with her.
She took the direct approach. "What is your designation, then?"
Uruz looked confused as to how to continued. She
scratched her temple, looking to one side. "You would find it hard to
understand, I would find it hard to explain."
"Try us."
Skuld said.
"I am Always."
"Got us
there." Urd replied.
Belldandy looked like she had an
idea. "You are Always?"
Peorth got the idea. She
played along. "Always, as in...?"
"Things change, things
stay. I maintain these things. As long as I live, I maintain them." Uruz said,
shrugging nonchalantly. Urd rubbed her chin, considering this. She repeated it
to herself.
"Things that change and things that stay...."
Urd muttered. Uruz shook her head and waved a hand.
"No,
things that stay as they change. Things that change as they stay. And sometimes,
just only, what you said. Always."
Skuld pondered.
Everyone did. Skuld closed her eyes and thought for a moment, but she couldn't
think of anything.
"Got me there." Uruz sighed.
"I knew you would not understand." Skuld shot her a
sudden look full of venom, and with the teeth poised to strike.
"Hey! Was that meant-" Belldandy raised a hand, her weak
and quiet voice growing slightly stronger.
"Hush, Skuld."
"That is it." Uruz concluded. Peorth looked baffled.
Eyebrows raised and rubbing her chin, Peorth switched actions constantly,
scratching her neck, rubbing her temple, shaking her head. She was a lot more
confused now than when she hadn't known Uruz's designation. Sometimes, it was
better to live with what you believed was true and leave the truth to others.
"I don't get it."
Maybe not.
Curiosity gnawed at her, ate at her mind, fed her lust to know. The beauty of
truth was knowing, and for Peorth, she needed to know everything.
"We don't either." The Sisters of Fate said. This was too
weird for them. Uruz smiled at them coyly and shrugged, again.
"I do not truly understand it myself. It is not a clue,
but a riddle given to me."
Everyone sat and thought it over. Uruz herself was given
this riddle to her job by Freya, to which she herself knew not what it meant.
Nobody had bothered to ask the Almighty, because He wouldn't answer and nothing
would change that. After all, why would He give the answer for the world when He
owned everything anyway?
Truly puzzling. Or maybe not...
Peorth sighed and threw her hands up in half defeat.
"I don't know. I don't get this stupid puzzle. I'm not
gonna give up, but this is waay too weird for a tired Goddess like me."
Urd and Skuld nodded.
"We don't
know what's going to happen now." They both said. Belldandy sighed.
"We should get some rest. Maybe we can think of something
then."
Everyone nodded.
Just as
everyone was leaving for their rooms, Belldandy felt something snuggle up to
her. She looked down. It was Velsper, wanting to share the warmth of the blanket
and her. He meowed once, affectionately, and rubbed against her again. Belldandy
smiled weakly. Velsper was always there to comfort her. She had this strange
feeling that Velsper was someone she'd met before, but forgot about it as she
picked him up and held him up to her face.
"Well, I guess
another warm body won't hurt tonight." Belldandy said. Velsper licked her face.
His rough tongue tickled her. She laughed.
"Ok, ok! I
won't use you as a bed warmer, promise?" Velsper meowed and nodded. Belldandy
stood up, unsteadily, and walked back to her room with Velsper in one hand and
the blanket slung over her frame.
In a dark corner of her
mind Belldandy was conscious of, she envied the cat. Velsper had nothing to
worry about, cats never did. She sometimes wished she could be as carefree as
him.
Maybe she would get it someday.
* * *
Urd found Megumi asleep as she passed by Keiichi's room,
and saw Megumi curled up on the floor outside of it. Urd tsked.
"Whatever compelled her to sleep out here?" Urd asked.
She knelt besides Megumi and noted the reddish swell marks around Megumi's eyes.
She had been crying. Urd muttered crudely under her breath.
"Damned wish is making everyone's a friggin' tearbag.
Damned thing's making everyone miserable. Damned thing's because of a damned
daughter of a dog who couldn't learn to do her business outside. Mara." Urd
hissed. She was royally pissed off now. She didn't mind the practical joke now
and then, even if it was Mara, and most of her attempts at trouble were
blessings in disguise.
But Urd saw nothing in disguise
here. She was going to get even with Mara.
She brought
Megumi to her room first, set her down gently, and went out.
They all knew about the passwords locking the wish, an
unprecedented move nobody had heard of, and Urd could guess Mara had
circumvented telling them about the demonic password used in the system.
Urd was going lynching.
* * *
Mara yawned sleepily, stretching her arms out as she sat
atop the Tokyo Tower admiring the chaotic lightning storm which had been
gathering for some time now. She was in the middle of the great town, and had
had a grand time meeting up with her other worthy colleagues. She wouldn't call
them friends, no demon in its right mind called another friend without some
verification. That came hard, harder than the trust that was needed.
Mara didn't know that, or care. The wind whipped around
her, threw up her cloak, and roared in her ears. She laughed.
"Oh, this is so fun!" Mara yelled into the wind. She knew
the wind would drown it out anyway, so she could scream as much as she liked and
nobody would hear.
Oh, and she was going to scream loudly
soon.
A lightning bolt came down and, with pinpoint
accuracy, struck Mara. Several others converged in on it a nanosecond later.
Mara screamed.
The wind killed most of it. But Urd heard
enough to know Mara was definitely up there. She went up at a safe distance, and
saw Mara leaning against a metal beam, a blackened mess. Obviously alive,
because her cursing could be heard even against the wind, and that waving fist
was more than alive. Urd yelled into the wind, her voice being carried by the
co-operative wind.
"MARA!" Urd yelled. "MARA!"
Mara looked up and saw Urd, standing in the wind, her
hair flailing all around her like some Goddess come to visit.
Then again, Urd was a Goddess. But her visit
wasn't too social.
"Whaddisit, Urd!?" Mara screamed
against the wind. She wasn't going to use mind to mind here, if Urd got zapped
by the lightning...
Hold on, Urd used lightning like her
hands. Mara cursed under her breath, that bitch zapped her! But Urd didn't look
like she wanted to be messed around with today. And if Mara was any judge of
character, she'd say Urd was mightily pissed.
"You got
some nerve locking up the wish with a password, Mara!" Urd yelled back.
Lightning flashed and thunder boomed. If Urd wasn't interested in him, Thor
might've found a good wife in Urd.
Mara scratched her
chin. Password? Nobody told her about the password!
"What
password!?" Mara yelled, genuinely ignorant. She'd forgotten about the ruse she
used on Uruz. Urd raised her chin and looked at Mara hauntingly. More lightning,
and the wind changed directions.
"You know what I'm
talking about!" Urd screamed. Her voice was tinny now, the wind blowing against
her. But Mara heard the threat behind it. She didn't take well to them.
"Go kiss someone else's ass, Urd!" Mara taunted. "I don't
know what pee word you're talking about!"
Urd slammed her
fist against her palm, and lightning crashed.
"You're
asking for it." Urd muttered under her breath. Mara caught Urd's killing look,
and 'eeped' once.
"Mama." Was all Mara could say before
Urd charged at her.
And Tokyo experienced the worst
lightning storm in history. People would talk about it for ages, how the Tokyo
Tower was electrified over and over until the thing nearly became the world's
biggest electromagnet.
* * *
That night, it didn't rain, instead, the Heavens opened
and stormed upon the Earth. The heaviest rains reported in years and years raged
over Tokyo in an unprecedented and totally unexpected deluge. The rain drowned
out all other noise save the thunder, obscured everything save the lightning.
Winds screamed and howled as they slammed everything in their way with merciless
anger. Everything was gloomy, dark and dingy. People were murky blurs, and those
denizens fortunate enough to be home mucked around with nothing to do.
The rain slammed against the roof of the temple
mercilessly, like a giant knocking on a door. The only thing good to come out of
this was that it was blessedly cool in the temple. Peorth looked out the window
as lighting streaked across the sky and thunder followed it a second later. The
brief illumination made the room eerily bright, and Peorth looked to her side.
They were in the guestroom, and the two Goddesses were staying in it until they
could get this sorted out. Peorth knew she'd be reprimanded by the Almighty for
not reporting her undue stay here, but He could chew her out when she got back.
She had to see this through to the end.
For whose sake,
she didn't know, nor care.
Uruz was wide awake, Peorth
could see. She was staring at the window, huddling under her blankets, and
trying to keep warm in her pyjamas.
"Hey." Peorth said.
Uruz looked at her. Her eyes glinted white as lightning flung itself across the
skies again.
"Yes, one-sama?"
"It's not your fault." Peorth said. Uruz would know what that meant.
"No, but I still feel responsible!" Uruz choked. After so
long in the belief that she had done it, it stuck. Everyone knew that, and they
hated themselves for keeping the belief, but nothing could be done. It just was.
"Ah...." Peorth muttered. "If only we could turn back
time."
"You know how dangerous that is, one-sama." Uruz
said. Peorth chuckled.
"Yes, I do know that, Uruz
dearie." Peorth said. Uruz wondered how Peorth stayed warm in that two piece
on-duty Goddess outfit, without a blanket on.
"And pass
me a blanket over there, would you? It's beastly cold in this." Peorth said.
Uruz blinked once, surprised, and nodded. She used a spell and carried the said
blanket over. Peorth 'aahed' as she threw it over herself.
"Thanks, Uruz." Peorth said, approvingly. Uruz felt her
spirits soar for no reason at all. Thens he looked out the window.
"I wonder what's causing all this? This rain wasn't
scheduled for another fifty years." Peorth said. "Did something go wrong Up
Above?"
Uruz shrugged. "I don't know."
Of course you wouldn't. Peorth thought. You're
not First Class. But she held her tongue. Fancy her saying something as
insensitive as that! Uruz took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. The room
was dark again, and Peorth only had the sound of rustling cloth to go by, in
addition to that howling wind outside.
"I don't know,
Peorth. I'm going to cause the death of Keiichi, because I know that if I hadn't
done the things I've done, that demoness wouldn't have known it and this
wouldn't have happened. I feel so.... sick." Uruz said, tiredly. Peorth
sighed.
"We're not out of the woods yet, Uruz. Don't give
up." Peorth wondered if she believed in that herself. Uruz sighed.
"Belldandy is going to hate me, do you know that?" Uruz
said, believing her own words with a passion. "I've caused them so much pain,
made them grow so far apart despite what I tried to do.... and I've broken
client confidentiality by even telling you all about that part of the wish."
Uruz sighed. She hadn't told the whole wish, and even if she could remember it,
she wouldn't. But what she had told was enough for them.
"And I'm sure that I've ruined their perfect relationship." Uruz said. Peorth
fantasized for a moment about her and Keiichi. She smiled.
"Maybe so, and maybe not. And the Almighty forgive me for
this, but I really hope that I can be the one with Keiichi darling." Peorth
said, wistfully. Uruz looked at her, surprised.
"One-sama! That's selfish of you!" She exclaimed, shocked.
Peorth nodded, then sighed sadly.
"I know. I know... but what else is there to do now?"
A
pause.
"What else?"
{End of Chapter 19}
{Chapter
20 : Trial by Spirit}