{Chapter 21 : Fortune smiled on you}
"He has his goodness now, God forbid I take it from him."
- Elizabeth Proctor, The Crucible by Arthur Miller

    "She's refused to eat for days." Urd told Belldandy as she walked out of the room with the plate in hand. It was a plate from the previous day, untouched and cold. Belldandy looked into the room and saw that Uruz was sitting at a corner, legs tucked up and curled into a ball. A plate of warm food was sitting there, gathering dust like it predecessors, but Uruz kept staring at the feather she held in her hand. It glinted like silver, but didn't tarnish like any metal. Peorth joined Belldandy in looking through the doorway. Peorth shook her head at Belldandy.
    "Uruz is just too.... upset, Belldandy. Nothing's going to bring her out of that depression. Come on." Peorth pulled the concerned, and rightly so, Belldandy away from the door, Urd going to the kitchen to dump the waste into a bottle, so see what organisms she could grow as medicine.
    It was Wednesday, and Nekomi Tech was open for its next semester. Keiichi had refused to go without that Voicebox, some hair dye, flesh tone makeup and some bandages, so for the moment, Keiichi wouldn't be found out yet. It was only a matter of time, but that could come later.
    The important thing now was to get Uruz to cheer up again. So far, the Almighty had called to tell them that the last stage of metamorphosis was being held back remarkably well, which would leave them time to think of a solution. He didn't appear to know about Uruz's plight, or He didn't care.
    And both were impossible, but at least one of them was impossibly true.

    Peorth brought Belldandy to the table and the two sat down. Belldandy poured herself a cup of darjeeling which Megumi had thought to brew just before leaving with Keiichi for lessons. Their timetables more or less coincided with each other in terms of timeslots, so the two had left with their goodbyes. Belldandy's own timetable had almost nothing on today for the first half of the day, which left her free to worry about Uruz. Then she noticed Peorth looking out into the garden, and poured her a cup. Peorth absently drank it, eyes never leaving the garden. Belldandy joined Peorth in looking out at the beautiful gardens, but for all purposes and intents it didn't help.
    "You know, Belldandy..." Peorth suddenly spoke, after a few minutes of idle observation. Belldandy raised her eyebrows and looked at Peorth who was still nursing the cup of tea in her hands.
    "Yes, Peorth?" Belldandy asked. A car passed by the temple, its engine humming.
    "It's really hurting me to see Uruz like this. I mean, she's just so... cold."
    Belldandy sighed. Peorth put the words right into her mouth. A bird chirped.
    "But... Uruz lost her Angel. That would have been enough to make any of us cold."
    Peorth nodded, barely. Something landed on the roof with a thud.
    "And she survived it. The Almighty have mercy on her, but Uruz survived a seperation. I'm surprised she isn't raving mad now."
    Belldandy looked at Peorth. A plane passed overhead.
    "She's too tired to be anything, Peorth. You saw it."
    Peorth nodded. The roar of the plane caught up with it, and drowned everything out.
    "CAN WE HAVE SOME PEACE HERE!?" Peorth screamed to the air. Everything went silent. "Thank you!" Peorth said to the air.
    Belldandy looked at her, smiling nervously with a big sweat drop rolling down her head.
    Both of them felt a throb in their bodies at the same time. Their Angels were calling. Both Goddesses decided to summon them to see what they had to 'say'. Angels didn't normally call.

*     *     *

    "So, Morisato-kun." Sayoko said, patting Keiichi on the shoulder. "Where's Belldandy today?" She asked, winking. Keiichi looked at her disgustedly.
    "Come on, Sayoko." Keiichi said irritatedly. "She doesn't have lessons until third period."
    "Oh, is that so?" Sayoko said as they passed by the door to the lab. Keiichi turned to open the door. She watched him. Keiichi was a little strange today, but Sayoko didn't know why. Anyway...
    "But you're welcome to share my lunch table with me, Keiichi." Sayoko said, flirtingly. Keiichi looked over her shoulder with a resigned scowl, and went into the lab.
    Sayoko suddenly remembered that Keiichi didn't have blue eyes.

*     *     *

    Skuld was furiously punching numbers into her computer. Urd watched over her shoulder.
    "What are you calculating, Skuld?" Urd asked. She was curious whenever Skuld did something like this, so rarely, because it normally meant that something was afoot. Urd was dying of boredom and anything was better than nothing.
    "Judging by the rate at which Keiichi metaimorufi-" Skuld said. Urd tsked.
    "Metamorphosises." Urd corrected. Skuld looked at her irritatedly.
    "Whatever! Judging by the rate Keiichi is changing, he should be almost completing his metamorphosis.... soon." Skuld said. A bead of cold sweat rolled down her cheek. Some more information scrolled up her screen.
    "Soon? How soon?" Urd asked. That was what she hated about Skuld's unreliable computers, they never gave precise answers. Urd preferred to use divination tactics.
    "Don't know, but soon. And to my knowledge, once it's complete, it's only a matter of one or two days before the signal given off by Keiichi's Goddess markings is strong enough to draw energy to him because even then Yggdrasil can't ignore it anymore. And the only way to stop it would be to revoke Belldandy's license, which we can't."
    Urd thought back to the call just after Uruz's.... loss. The Almighty had told them that even though metamorphosis was being held back well, It appeared that a week was 'long' to Him. Thanks be to Him for even that little bit of Grace though, a week was long enough. But now, it was already two days and counting down.
    Belldandy had once asked Urd about the feasibility of her medicines working on Keiichi to delay the metamorphosis, but Urd had shook her head. Once the Goddess markings appeared, nothing could change that short of revoking the contract, whatever it was, or having the Almighty interfere directly. And the latter was not a pleasant option, it would involve both party's discomfort.
    But the only comfort now was that Belldandy would remain, by virtue of her powers and markings, a Goddess. But once metamorphosis on Belldandy was complete, and Yggdrasil allocated the Goddess powers to Keiichi, Keiichi would either be destroyed, Belldandy would... well, change, or both. It was most likely to be both.
    Urd didn't like that option. She was hoping Skuld could provide a second opinion. Right now, she was working on the codes that the Almighty had sent her a copy of. His prediction was right, the passwords contained a worm program that would destroy the passwords themselves without hope of breaking the contract if they were entered incorrectly three times. Skuld was hot onto programming something that would run through all possible combinations while recopying the original backup once the first set was destroyed, and so on and so forth.
    "How long will this program take, Skuld?" Urd asked as Skuld worked some programming language that was so much junk to Urd's own eyes. Skuld shrugged.
    "Programming it's easy. But breaking the code... well..." Skuld trailed off, hesitatingly.
    "Well what?" Urd asked, impatiently. Skuld turned in her chair with a sweatdrop on her head, grinning apologetically at Urd.
    "That could take years. Passwords can come in anything from one to six characters... and with so many to choose from..." Skuld said, grinning nervously. "But if we're lucky, we might come across something...."
    Urd felt her veins bulge and pop. Years!?
    "Years!?" Urd yelled. Skuld covered her ears.
    "You didn't have to scream, Urd." Skuld said. "That's only for one program working alone. We could link this up to the Hac-Decoders Up There and we could run this through at six times, seven times the speed?" Urd nodded. Things were looking up.
    "And how long will that take?" Urd asked.
    "Erm, years?" Skuld said, sweating profusely. Urd growled. She leaned over to Skuld, their noses touching, and grabbed her by the collar. Skuld swallowed. Urd reeked of alcohol.
    "How many years are we talking about here, Skuld?" Urd whispered to Skuld, threatening plenty of pain for a wrong answer. Skuld nearly gagged from the horrid breath Urd's alcohol habit gave her.
    "Erm, ten?" Skuld said, too hopefully. "For all three passwords?"
    Urd groaned. She let go of Skuld, who plopped back into her seat gratefully and took a deep breath of fresh air, looked skywards and slapper her forehead with her hand.
    "We don't have ten years, Skuld."
    Skuld sighed and terminated the program, without saving.
    "You're right, Urd. But what can we do?"
    Urd looked around. She shrugged.
    "I don't know... I really... don't know."

*     *     *

    "You all miss Silver Sapphire too, huh?" Peorth said. Both Angels nodded sadly.
    "And we all feel sad for Uruz." Belldandy whispered. Everyone nodded sadly.
    Holy Bell closed her eyes and paused for a while, then opened her mouth. A soft, sonorous tune floated into the air. Belldandy followed, adding an angelic choir voice to the chorus. Peorth and Gorgeous Rose listened, and the sounds of a woodwind and another choir voice, soft but strong, joined in.

*     *     *

    Urd heard a song floating into Skuld's room. She felt her heart beat faster, and the beat of another being within her. World of Elegance wished to join the song, as did Urd. Skuld listened, and watched unquestioning as Urd floated out quietly.
    Moments later, a deep, cello-like tune and a louder, deeper voice joined the chorus.

*     *     *

    Uruz stared listlessly at her feather. It glinted in the light. When Urd came in, Uruz didn't notice her, didn't hear the sounds of plates being moved, Urd telling her to 'eat up', nor did she notice she smell of fresh food and the voices talking outside. All she had was the feather, and her reflection in it. Her left arm ached numbly, and Uruz didn't bother with that. She had lost track of Time, but she didn't care about that too. All she wanted was to remember Silver Sapphire until she vegetated or all of existence ended, whichever came first.

    An indeterminate time later, Uruz heard something. It started softly, but it had her immediate attention.
    It was the voice of an Angel. Uruz listened intently as it grew in volume, then joined by another, and another, and so on. It was slow, then fast, and slow again. Sad sounds, it ran the entire range of keys and still it went on, treble and bass mixing in chords and chorus. Uruz found herself suddenly wanting to join in, but she had no one to accompany her in her song. She suddenly started to weep, holding the glowing feather in her trembling hands.
    "S..stop singing..." Uruz begged the voices outside, shaking uncontrollably. "Stop singing... please!"

*     *     *

    As they sang, they thought of everything that had happened. They put their memories and emotions into the song, letting it grow on its own accord. It did, the chords coming of their own accord into the voices of those who sang. The song was sad, the mourning of a loved one, but glad, the redemption of a soul. The Angels in particular, put their hearts into it, for it was one of them that they sang for and remembered.
    The world paused to listen to their song, sharing in its grief, shared its grief with it. But it also promised happiness, for the good things that can be accomplished. Hope was in that song, and the world was moved. It was heavenly.
    Still, the song lacked something. It had the depth of sorrow, the height of joy, beauty and darkness, but it still lacked something. Nobody could tell what, but they sang on.
    Then, they heard someone crying. It shattered the song as it made its way through the temple, a lost wailing. Everyone slowly stopped singing, their voices dying away into nothingness.
    "Uruz." Belldandy said. Everyone looked in the guest room's direction.
    "At least that's a better response than anything we've seen for the past few days." Urd said, getting up. That song had been beautiful. Urd had seen so many things in her mind's eye while she sang. "Shall we check in on her?"
    Peorth looked at Belldandy. Belldandy nodded.
    "I think you're the best one to go, Peorth." Belldandy said. "She'll listen to you." Peorth looked slightly skeptical.
    "She will, but will she understand?" Peorth muttered as she got up and went to the check in on Uruz.

*     *     *

    Skuld listened dumbstruck to the beautiful tune, wishing she were with them. But she didn't share their grief, nor could she ever comprehend Uruz's. Skuld knew very little about the ways of the world, but she learned fast. Watching her friend devastated had hurt her as much as the others, and while Skuld knew the value of her Angel, she never fully understood it. She did soon, hearing their song. Skuld wiped a tear away from her eye when the last note died away, and realized that someone was crying. It was Uruz. Skuld felt her own lower lip tightening as she listened to the new sound, all grief and no hope, eating at her heart, pulling at its strings. This was new to her, but it was familiarly new. Grief always was.
    Skuld suddenly remembered what she was working on. She had taken Kewl Aid kun apart and extracted the chemical processor (which converted the raw materials it was fed into the chemical coolant), she had a new idea in mind. It wouldn't be pleasant for those involved, but it would save them.
    "Now... lemme see if I remember... my cryogenics." Skuld muttered to herself as she pulled out a sheet of planning paper and a pencil from somewhere.
    "Pipe here, valve there...."

*     *     *

    Inside the dark and dusty guest room, Uruz sat quietly, sniffing once in a while, staring at her feather. Someone opened the door and light poured in. Uruz squinted, but ignored the figure in the doorway.
    "Uruz?" It was Peorth. Peorth hadn't spoken to her for a while. Not like Uruz cared anymore. Peorth came in and shut the door behind her. She walked up to Uruz and squatted besides her.
    "Uruz? You all right?" Peorth asked, softly. Uruz's eyes flickered, but never left the feather. She nodded. Peorth frowned.
    "Can you please come out now and start living your life again?" Peorth asked. Uruz didn't respond. Peorth stretched her lips and tried again. Uruz had all the reason in the world to want to stay in here and vegetate, but Peorth didn't want that. Uruz had a life to live and a job to do.
    "Please? As your sister, I'm asking you : Please."
    Peorth suddenly felt encouraged as Uruz slowly turned her head to face Peorth. Her eyes were sunken, and red from crying. But at least she was moving. She looked horrible, but Peorth knew Uruz was still alright.
    "Why?" Uruz asked. Peorth was taken aback.
    Good question, why? Peorth told herself. She thought for a second, then nodded.
    "Because you're a Goddess, and Goddesses all have a job to do, Uruz."
    Uruz chuckled once, sardonically. Peorth saw a flash of red as she realized Uruz was mocking her.
    "Let them get another abandoned child from Hell to take over me then, Peorth. I shouldn't even be alive, let alone a Goddess."
    Not mocking Peorth, herself. Peorth cursed Uruz's stubborness. She could be as stubborn as a bull sometimes. Uruz took a deep breath and looked back at her feather.
    "Besides.... I don't have anything left but a lousy title and job which I've lost my interest in. Nothing's fun anymore, Peorth." Uruz sighed. Peorth shook her head sadly. Somehow, she had the feeling Gorgeous Rose could've sympathized better with Uruz than she herself could, but Gorgeous Rose couldn't talk. Peorth considered.
    "Remember that promise you made a long time ago, Uruz? You wanted everyone to love you and you wanted to love everyone? So why can't you do that anymore?" Peorth asked, in good humour. Uruz turned her head so suddenly Peorth fell backwards in surprise, gasping.
    "Who'll love me for killing my own Angel, Peorth? Who!?" Uruz asked, her voice rising in volume. It shuddered a little and was vehement, but had no strength behind it, it sounded like Uruz was wheezing it out.
    Peorth dusted herself and looked at Uruz, whose attention was back at her feather. Peorth sighed and stood up.
    "Fine. If you don't want to leave this room, then don't." Peorth said as she left. Uruz flashed her a look, which Peorth caught as she looked behind upon reaching the door. Hope came back to Peorth.
    "I won't." Uruz said. Peorth's veins popped. She resisted the urge to scream at Uruz though, it would only make things worse.
    "But I hope you change your mind, Uruz. Please." Peorth said as she closed the door behind her. Uruz said nothing.

*     *     *

    In the Heavens, Urd was pacing back and forth near Peorth's chair, wondering if this was such a good idea. Urd looked around her. She was in the Earth Otasuke Centre, and everything here reminded her of... pink. There were red roses everywhere, the sky was purplish pink, the stone was a similar shade, only whiter, and the only thing to break the monotony were the trees of the Heavens, which deviated only slightly the colour of the place, since they were also bathed in pinkish light. Urd shuddered. At least the people here were still normally coloured, but Urd wondered what they thought of Peorth's interior decoration designs. Probably not a whole lot, or else everyone here was as nutty as she was. Urd shuddered again at that horrid thought.
    She had left a message with Belldandy to tell Peorth that she had something important to discuss with her, up in the Earth Otasuke Centre. Since they weren't strictly on duty at the moment, they weren't exactly rivals.
    But 'weren't exactly' and 'weren't' meant two different things. Urd still didn't like Peorth's way of getting wishes granted, and Peorth didn't like the records of the Relief Goddess Office, so they were even.
    Urd looked up as she felt a slight disturbance in the air. Peorth was teleporting in, and Urd watched as several flickers of browns, blacks and flesh tones appeared, then grew and divided and finally sorted themselves out into a recognizable Goddess.
    "About time you got here." Urd said as Peorth brushed her hair. "Did Uruz change her mind?"
    Peorth shrugged.
    "I doubt so. She's still insistent on staring at that feather all day long."
    Urd looked at Peorth disapprovingly, wondering if Peorth really cared about Uruz or not.
    "You would too, if you were her."
    Peorth sighed sadly and threw up her hands, exasperated.
    "We're not talking about that now! What is it you wanted to talk to me about so urgently anyway, Urd!?" Peorth asked impatiently. Urd nodded.
    "You remember those passwords the Almighty told us about?" Urd asked. Peorth looked thoughtful. She nodded.
    "Two divine and one demonic, why?" Peorth asked.
    "You do know that if Mara wasn't the one involved in these passwords..." Urd said, hoping Peorth would catch on. Urd really didn't want to disappoint herself by proving that Peorth was all looks and no brains. It would have been great at another time, but Urd needed Peorth's co-operation now.
    "Uruz was, of course." Peorth said, with confidence. "We all remember... that." Peorth said, tentatively, as if saying the even itself out would repeat history. Urd nodded, her theory about Peorth's brains settled.
    "So now, the only person who knows those passwords are Uruz herself, but she doesn't seem to know that." Urd said.
    "Interesting dilemma." Peorth nodded, agreeing. "So what do you intend to do?" This seemed pretty small fry for Urd to be talking with Peorth in the relative privacy of her office. They could be talking about this in the temple with Uruz in earshot and she wouldn't care. Urd looked around. Nobody was looking.
    "I think we should crash Yggdrasil." Urd whispered conspiratorially to Peorth's ear. Well, the ear heard it, but Peorth didn't. Her brain was trying its best not to register Urd's outrageous plans.
    "What? Urd? Did you just say what I thought was 'crash Yggdrasil'?" Peorth asked, quietly, leaning forwards. Urd nodded.
    "Uruz can't remember them, she doesn't even know that they existed until we told her. How else can we stop this... thing... from coming through?" Urd reasoned. Peorth stared at her with an open jaw. Thank goodness the insects in the Heavens weren't interested in flying into open spaces, or Peorth would be chomping bugs (insect bugs, not bug bugs!) in a hurry.
    "You're kidding me. Y... y... y... y... y... you're not going to revoke a thousand other contracts just to stop one?!" Peorth stammered. Urd looked around and 'shhsed' her.
    "Don't let anyone hear us! Anyway, we'll just disable the Ultimate Force and the metamorphosis spell to buy us some time, maybe another few weeks." Urd whispered. Peorth looked suspicious.
    "And what is my role in all this?" Peorth asked, hands on her hips, looking crudely at Urd. Urd grinned.
    "You're going to help me disable it."
    "NO WAY!" Peorth screamed. Everyone looked at them. Urd shrank as she covered Peorth's mouth, which made Peorth spit and scream, to no avail.
    "Peorth!" Urd hissed as everyone went back to their work. Peorth was always got a touch melodramatic, especially with rival Goddesses. Urd wasn't from around here, they knew. She was infamous in the Heavens.
    Peorth calmed down, and Urd released her mouth. Peorth took a deep breath and stared down Urd.
    "Why can't we just try to recall Uruz's memory, huh!?" Peorth asked. Urd looked at her as if Peorth were the greatest fool in the universe and all Creation.
    "In case you didn't know, Uruz suffered Feedback during that time. You really don't want to do that." Urd said, simply. Every Goddess knew what Feedback was. They knew it was scary, and they didn't want to try it. Peorth didn't know that about Uruz though... Peorth sucked in her breath. She wasn't told about it when it had happened.
    "Sweet Father to Jesus, the Almighty!" Peorth exclaimed in surprised shock. "That poor kid...no idea..." Peorth whispered. Urd nodded sadly.
    "That's why I'm doing this. No more to hurt Uruz anymore. I'll take the rap for everything if we're caught. I can survive, been through it before." Urd said. The Almighty was pretty forgiving, maybe He'd forgive Urd after a few zaps and about another fifty years with her license revoked. Peorth bit her lip.
    "You couldn't get Belldandy or Skuld involved now, could you?" Peorth asked. Urd shook her head.
    "Nope. Belldandy's gotta stay with Keiichi, and Skuld's a rat-brat, I mean." Urd corrected quickly. Peorth got the gist anyhow. Kids.
    But Uruz was one too, and she had gone through more than Peorth could imagine taking. And Uruz's mind was in a fragile state. It was in one piece, but it was spiderwebbed with cracks.
    Peorth nodded.
    "You really aren't such a bad person for a Second Class Goddess, Urd." Peorth said, smiling. "You've got enough brains and guts to think of something like this."
    Urd was grinning at Peorth, her right eye twitching and a vein bulging visibly. Anyone could've seen the grin was forced. Very forced.
    "And. I. Suppose. You. Thought. Of. Something.Yourself?" Urd asked, grinding each word to a pulp as it passed between her teeth. She would let Peorth live for now, she needed an accomplice. Peorth looked thoughtful. She shook her head.
    "You're right, Urd. Right, for Uruz then. We can share the punishment, twenty five years each isn't too bad."
    Urd looked surprised in spite of herself. Peorth wasn't such a bad Goddess after all. Of course, 'wasn't such' didn't mean 'wasn't at all'. Urd extended a hand.
    "Partners?"
    Peorth nodded, taking Urd's hand and shaking it. "Where shall we start?"
    Urd grinned.
    "My workplace, of course."

*     *     *

    The Almighty saw Urd pacing Peorth's office, heard the exchange, witnessed the agreement. He smiled at Urd and Peorth's willingness to get punished for Uruz's sake. He had brought them up well after all, although Peorth's attitude left something to be desired. He pressed a fast dial button floating in the air besides Him and waited for the person to pick up the line.
    *click*
    "Raphael, my Son. Urd and Peorth are on their way to tamper with the Ultimate Force. Be there."
    *click*
    They would have to solve this another way. It was all part of the Plan.

*     *     *

    Urd and Peorth snuck around a rounded corner. Urd muttered to herself how undignified it was to crawl around like a snake in her own office, but it was for Uruz's good. Urd had grown somewhat attached to Uruz's youthful energy and mature childishness, it was a waste to see them go. Moreover, Belldandy and Keiichi's lives were on the line.
    Urd turned the corner and bumped into a pair of black booted feet. The boots reflected Urd's image flawlessly. She looked up. The person glowered back down at her. Urd grinned nervously and waved.
    "Erm, hi. Raphael? Aren't you supposed to be thinking of some new program to help the mortals?"
    Rapahel stared back down at her with a slight scowl.
    "Urd, this section of the office is closed temporarily, on the Almighty's word. You're not allowed in, and it's my job not to let you in."
    Urd stared. Peorth looked around the corner, trying to stay hidden.
    "But this is my office!" Urd protested. "You can't lock me out of my office!"
    Raphael shook his head.
    "Sorry, Urd. Orders are Orders. If you've left anything inside, we'll get them for you. Except maybe your medicines."
    Urd ground her teeth audibly and uttered a few choice curses beneath her breath. Urd was becoming rather vulgar of late, but that was due to her heavily frayed temper. She hadn't had a drink in a week, just to stay sober and think of something to help Belldandy and Keiichi, and this was what she got in return!? She clenched her hand into a fist and lightning crawled all over her arm. Raphael took out his sword.
    "Urd, I don't want to have to hurt you. Spilling blood in Heaven is a bad way to go." Raphael warned. His four wings fluttered nervously. He was dressed in a smart security uniform, pips, rank and all, but it looked somewhat ridiculous with the wings on because Raphael wanted to show off his status as Arch-Angel. Peorth came out from the corner and dragged Urd away, quickly, smiling nervously at Raphael all the while.
    "Ah heh heh, erm, sorry, sir." Peorth said apologetically as she covered Urd's mouth and dragged her off. "Thank you for your concern!" Peorth said as they disappeared around the corner. Peorth heaved a sigh of relief when the Arch Angel was out of sight. Urd grabbed Peorth and shook her.
    "Do you know what you just did, Peorth!?" Urd screamed at her. Everyone walking down the corridors stared at them. Peorth had a hard time concentrating on Urd as she was shaken back and forth.
    "Y-y-yeah, U-wu-wu-rd! I-yai-yai s-av-ed y-our-wour butt-ta-ta-ta!" Peorth said as Urd kept shaking her. Then Urd let her go, and Peorth had to hold her head to stop it from bobbing back and forth like a ball on a spring. Urd leaned against the wall and sighed, tiredly.
    "There goes Plan A." Urd said, depressed. "If I know them, they've got every nook and cranny crawling with guards. Even a germ couldn't get in without proper authorisation." Urd grumbled. She obviously knew that, because being incarcerated by them once was more than enough for Urd. Peorth nodded.
    "And you know you couldn't have taken them on, even with my help." Peorth said. Urd nodded. Then the two looked at each other and pointed.
    "Do you have a Plan B?" They asked each other.

*     *     *

    Belldandy looked at the clock. It was nearing her lesson time in Nekomi Tech, and it was a class with Keiichi. That meant she could check in on him. She went to find Skuld to leave some last minute instructions before leaving. Gathering her books and bag, she went to Skuld's room, where she could hear someone hammering away.
    "Hit! Flatten! Smack!" Skuld's voice came from the other side of the door. Belldandy opened it, and saw Skuld standing there, hammering away on an anvil Belldandy never knew Skuld had.
    "Skuld?" Belldandy called. Skuld had her hammer raised over her head when she did.
    "Erk!?" Skuld choked on her next word, and turned around, nervously. Belldandy was standing there, looking at Skuld. Skuld didn't notice she was still holding her hammer over her head.
    "Yes, Belldandy?" Skuld asked. Belldandy looked at Skuld's hammer, then back at her.
    "Skuld, I'm leaving for university now, so I want you to check in on Uruz every half hour or so, and if anything happens, you come look for me, is that alright, dear?"
    Skuld listened and thought about it. She turned and looked at the metal plate on the anvil, then back at Belldandy. She smiled, and nodded.
    "Ok!"
    Belldandy smiled.
    "Thank you, Skuld."
    Skuld nodded, and took one hand off her hammer to wipe her sweaty forehead, then put it on her hip.
    "Take care now, one-sama."
    "I will."
    Skuld watched as Belldandy walked off. She scratched her head with her other hand. The hammer fell, and it knocked Skuld on the head.
    *toink*
    Skuld was out cold with little ice creams on bikes cycling around her head, muttering something.
    "I-i-i-i-iceeeee.....creaaaaaaam!"

*     *     *

    Belldandy walked to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. There she was, black haired, brown eyed, beautiful Belldandy. Belldandy had forgotten that she had changed, since it had had no side effects to speak of so far. She closed her eyes and cast a spell, and looked in the mirror again. She looked like her old self again. She smiled. Simple illusions were so practical.
    "Keiichi should be waiting for me at the parking lot about now..." Belldandy said, and put her hand into the mirror. Or at least, tried to.

    Her hand connects with solid glass. Belldandy looks worried, then tries again.
    Nothing. She just leaves a handprint on the mirror.
    Belldandy backs away from the mirror and covers her mouth in shock, gasping a name.

*     *     *

    Looking at his wristwatch, Keiichi checks back at the corner mirror, waiting. He's expecting Belldandy any moment. Keiichi keeps waiting. It's another ten minutes until the next lecture, and Belldandy hasn't shown up yet. Three minutes later, Keiichi looks at the mirror. Still no Belldandy.

    "What's going on?" Keiichi asked himself. "She should've been here at least a minute ago." Keiichi looked around. There were only a few people in the parking lot, since it was at least two more periods before the earliest leavers left. Keiichi wondered if something horrible had happened to Belldandy. Belldandy was never late, and if she was going to be, at least she'd tell him beforehand. Keiichi paced impatiently back and forth.
    Two more minutes went by.
    Keiichi looked at the mirror, and ignored the weird stares of those who passed. He suddenly started wishing that he could go back to the temple and find out what was taking Belldandy so long. He stared into the mirror, and suddenly felt something pulling him....
    Keiichi looked into the mirror, and instead of a reflection, he saw a blurry scene, mostly brown, but something caught his attention. He couldn't be sure, but it looked like Belldandy. She was on the floor, but what she was doing, Keiichi wasn't sure. Keiichi rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming, then reached a hand out to see if it was real.
    His hand passed right into the mirror. His eyes widened in shock.
    "Huh?"
    Keiichi found himself being pulled the rest of the way in, rather forcefully.
    "Whoaaaaaaa-!"
    Sayoko passed by a second later, and looked at the mirror. She ended up looking at herself, and saw that her clothes weren't too neat.
    "Tsk. I really must remember to neaten up once in a while." Sayoko chided herself as she straightened her clothes in the mirror. Then she looked around.
    "Strange, I thought I saw Morisato-kun around here somewhere."

*     *     *

    "Whoaaaaaa-oof!" Keiichi yelled as he came flying through the mirror. He flew a small distance away from it, then hit the floor jaw first, hard. He heard a crack, but felt no pain. It was probably bruised, but little else. Keiichi opened his eyes and looked ahead. He was staring right up a skirt.
    He was up in a second, covering his eyes and yelling.
    "I didn't do it on purpose! Honest! I just... came through the mirror!" Keiichi yelled, wondering where he was.
    "Keii....chi-san?" Someone called his name, hestitatingly. Keiichi blinked under his hands. He opened them, and saw Belldandy, back to normal, staring at him. Keiichi blinked again, rubbed his eyes and pinched himself to make sure he wasn't seeing things, then looked. He smiled happily, despite the fact that Belldandy was looking at him incredulously, and she looked absolutely terrified.
    "Belldandy!" Keiichi exclaimed, happily. He grabbed her by the shoulders. "You're all right! I mean, you're back to normal!"
    Belldandy blinked a few times, not responding. Keiichi's sudden reverie was gone as quickly as it came. He looked around. There was the familiar smell of soap. He was in the bathroom. Then Keiichi thought back.
    "Belldandy?" Keiichi asked. "Did I just come through that mirror?"
    Belldandy nodded, dumbstruck. She had both fists up to her mouth, looking like she could chew on her knuckles at any moment. Her eyes were wide with... Keiichi couldn't tell. Shock? Surprise? Fear? Probably all three. Her breath was coming quickly.
    Keiichi looked back at the mirror. It was normal, it reflected everything in front of it perfectly well. Then Keiichi looked back to Belldandy.
    "I just... came in through the mirror." Keiichi reiterated. Belldandy nodded again.
    "Keiichi-san..." Belldandy uttered. Then Keiichi looked at his watch. His eyes bulged.
    "Aaah! Next lesson's in one minute!" Keiichi exclaimed. His voice echoed in the bathroom eerily, then stopped. The two looked at each other. They blinked.
    "Belldandy! We can solve this problem later! The lecturer-almost-from-hell is coming in right now, and I gotta, no, we gotta be there! How does this teleporting thing work??" Keiichi said, anxiously.
    "T-t-think of the p-place or person you wish t-to go to... then... j-just go." Belldandy stuttered, still to shocked to do anything else. Keiichi held Belldandy's hand as they stood.
    "This works for people holding hands?" Keiichi asked.
    Belldandy nodded.
    Keiichi grinned. Well, here was a blessing. Keiichi got to hold Belldandy's hand! Then he turned to the mirror.
    "Here goes..." Keiichi said. He thought about the lecture hall, and a scene blurred into view on the mirror. He put his hand on it, and was pulled in again. He wondered how Belldandy could just enter and leave at her leisure?
    A mirror always tells more than what you see in it.

*     *     *

    In the lecture hall, Sayoko was unusually early, so she took a seat besides Keiichi's favorite spot, rummaged through her bag, and pulled out a cosmetic kit. Her spare mirror clattered to the floor as she did so, but she didn't notice it as she checked herself in the kit's own mirror.
    "Eh? That was fast." Someone said from besides her.
    "EAARGH!" Sayoko shrieked as she threw everything into the air in surprise, eyes flinging wide open and grimacing in shock. Her heart skipped three beats, and started pounding like a jackhammer to make up for it. Immediately, she turned and looked to see who it was.
    Keiichi, and Belldandy, holding hands. Oh. Sayoko slowed her racing heart so she could catch her breath.
    "H...hello, Morisato-kun..." Sayoko gasped, sweating. Keiichi and Belldandy smiled at her nervously.
    "Sorry if we gave you a shock, Sayoko... we were just looking for something in here... we didn't expect you in here so early. Sorry if we scared you." Keiichi said, half lying. Belldandy just laughed nervously. Sayoko took a deep breath and let it out in relief.
    "Oh... oh. I..it's ok, Morisato-kun." Sayoko said, laughing nervously. "Would you mind helping me find my makeup? I'm afraid I lost it in that moment of excitement..."
    Keiichi nodded, then Sayoko bent over and looked for her other things. She saw her mirror and picked it up, along with her makeup brush. Then she looked around. Where was the kit? Sayoko looked around the floor. It was such a good brand too... cost her over ten thousand yen.
    "Sayoko?" Keiichi asked. Sayoko sat up and looked at Keiichi. Keiichi pointed to his head. Or to be more precise, on top of it.
    "I'd thank you for the kind gesture, but... I don't really need it." Keiichi said, taking the kit off his head. His head was stained red, purple and black from the rogues that spilled out when it landed. Except for the black, which was obviously invisible, he looked pretty much like a punk with a bad hair day. Sayoko stifled a laugh as she took the kit back from him.
    "Oh... you look good, Morisato-kun!" Sayoko joked. Belldandy looked at Keiichi's head. Two streaks of colour stained Keiichi's hair.
    "Keiichi-san, I think you'd better wash that off... coloured hair like that isn't allowed here."Belldandy said, concerned. Keiichi brought a hand up to his head and felt, then looked at his fingers. He nodded, and some powder drifted off his head.
    "Erm, would you mind helping me tell the Sir that I'm washing off...?" Keiichi said. Nobody dared call him by name, they were afraid they'd summon him somehow. Everyone called him 'the Sir', and that was that.
    Belldandy nodded. She had long ago put to rest Keiichi's fear that this lecturer really was from Hell, but Keiichi still found it hard to believe that the Sir was human.
    "I'll tell him. I'll mark your attendance for you too, Keiichi-san." Belldandy said. Keiichi smiled.
    "Thanks, Belldandy." Then he looked at Sayoko.
    "Sorry about that, Sayoko."
    Sayoko waved her hand at him.
    "No, no. It's nothing, really!" She could easily afford another kit... all she had to do was ask. Keiichi nodded, and ran for the toilet just as the first of the students were busy scrambling to get into class before the Sir came in and locked the door. He did that sometimes, when his mood was worse than foul. (It was, by default, foul.)
    But Sayoko looked out after him as he ran out the door. She was sure Keiichi's eyes were blue, and not brown. Was he wearing coloured contacts? They were all the rage now, but still, that shade....

*     *     *

    Keiichi narrowly missed running into the Sir as he weaved and dodged through the crowd of students to get to the toilet just nearby. He managed to get in just as the sir looked around for any stragglers. He walked over to the mirror and looked at himself in it. So far, his disguise had been perfect. Well, except for those eyes. He would have to ask Belldandy if she could do anything about them, or else get some coloured contacts. Those weren't hard to get, everyone had them nowadays. He considered his hair.
    "Argh... what a mess." Keiichi said. Apparently, that powder wasn't as willing to stay in its casing as the others were. There was a neat pair of lines running down his head in two different shades. He dipped his head under the tap and let the water run, scrubbing his hair out.
    "I hope this stuff doesn't run in water." Keiichi said. He'd be in really deep trouble if it did, because then, he would have a lot of trouble explaining why he had dyed hair like that.
    *ssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhshsh*
    After a few more seconds of vigorous scrubbing, Keiichi grabbed a whole roll of toilet tissues from a nearby cubicle and scrubbed his hair dry. At least paper fragments were a lot easier to remove. Then he looked at himself in the mirror to make sure the last colours were gone.
    "Ooooooooh bother." Keiichi said, looking at himself in the mirror.
    He had not only washed the makeup off his hair, he'd washed most of it off his face too. The blue sliver on his forehead showed. But there was no time to bother about that! The lecture was already underway. Keiichi quickly bowed his head and ran out the toilet towards the lecture hall.

*     *     *

    "You should be glad Belldandy helped answer for your absence, Mr. Morisato." The Sir said angrily as Keiichi came in, bowing deeply and apologising. "Now get to your seat and listen up! There'll be a surprise test soon, so you'all be prepared, you hear me?"
    "Yes, sir." Everyone said, in the most reluctant manner. They dragged it out, lolled it out, whispered it, yawned it out, or else just barked it out. Keiichi ran back to his seat with his head still down, incidentally happening to be between Belldandy and Sayoko, the school's two most beautiful women. All the guys glared at Keiichi as he passed. Why did he get all the luck??
    "Hey, Morisato-kun." Sayoko whispered to him as he sat. "You don't normally bow that deeply to the Sir, do you?"
    "No." Keiichi said, as he wrote a message to Belldandy. Sayoko was taking a big risk talking in the Sir's lecture, and as far as everyone else was concerned, entire conversations were carried out on pen and paper. Belldandy read it.
    "You have anything to cover my forehead up? Washed away cover." Belldandy looked at Keiichi's forehead, who had his head looking down, ostensibly at his notes. Keiichi looked to his side and pointed to the blue sliver. Belldandy looked around, and Sayoko noticed their weird behaviour. She pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote on it. She slid it under Keiichi's face.
    "Now what're you two doing? Not going to pull some magic trick, are you? Although I hope you can make Sir disappear." Keiichi had to grin though. Sayoko was taking the idea of Belldandy's use of magic pretty well. They would have to work on her belief in Goddesses some day, but for now, it was ok! Then Keiichi got an idea. He wrote back on the paper and slowly passed it back. Nobody noticed that they weren't taking notes, unlike most of the others after hearing about the test. Belldandy could recite the lecture word for word even if she wasn't paying full attention, Sayoko could buy a copy from anyone, and Keiichi, well, he had the choice of either asking Belldandy or Sayoko.
    "Do you have any flesh tone face powders in your bag, Sayoko?"
    Sayoko raised her eyebrow questioningly. She wrote something back and started looking through her purse.
    "What are you doing with it, Morisato-kun?" Keiichi noticed she put a small heart besides the 'kun'. He 'che'd'.
    "A friend of Belldandy's was trying some new spell out and I got caught in it." He wrote. Sayoko passed him the kit and she read the paper. She nearly laughed out loud. She settled for hissing between her teeth.
    "What, there're more of them?" Sayoko asked, on paper. She double underlined the 'them', and drew an arrow pointing at it. Keiichi looked around before applying the makeup to his forehead, then wrote a reply message to go with the kit.
    "They're called Goddesses, Sayoko."
    Sayoko winked at Keiichi with that 'Sure, sure. Try to pull that one on me again, will you?' look. Keiichi sighed and groaned.
    The rest of the lecture went fairly well.

*     *     *

    In the Heavens, the Almighty recieved another call from the Licensing division. He picked it up.
    "It is I. What is it?"
    "Sir!" The harried voice came over the phone. "A bug just caused our system to transfer teleportation powers from Belldandy, Goddess First Class, Second Category, Unlimited license, to a mortal named Morisato Keiichi! And that's only one of hundreds!"
    The Almighty considered. The person on the other side waited, nervously. They were told to expect this, and to slow everything as much as possible, but Bugs....
    "Alert, all available debugging personnel. This is the Almighty." He said. "Report to the Licensing division at once."
    "Thank you, Sir!" The voice on the other side said, thankfully.
    *click*
    The Almighty got off His chair and decided to take a stroll. It was a pleasantly cool day up here.

*     *     *

    The day ended on an unrecognizable note for Keiichi, since during the first Auto Club meeting for the semester, the two sempais couldn't stop laughing everytime they saw Keiichi. Even though they did manage to finish what it was they wanted to cover, it took twice as long, having been punctuated by fits of laughter. However, Keiichi had gotten used to it, and the rest of the day wasn't so bad.
    Keiichi and Belldandy were standing by the bike, helmets in hand. Keiichi was looking at the mirror.
    "Now I know what it's like to travel by mirror." Keiichi said. Belldandy looked worriedly at Keiichi.
    "Keiichi-san, you know what that means." Keiichi nodded.
    "Time's running out for me." He said, holding a hand out to the mirror and willing it to bring him to the other mirror. But nothing happened, when his hand touched the mirror. He left a few smears on the side mirror, but his hand didn't go through. Both their eyes widened.
    "Did you see that, Belldandy?" Keiichi asked, looking at his hand, then at the mirror. Belldandy nodded. She looked to the mirror on her own side and held out a hand. Keiichi looked around to make sure nobody was looking, then back at Belldandy. Her hand was halfway through the mirror before she pulled it out.
    "We're back to normal," Belldandy said. "Keiichi-san!"
    They highfived and went home in a much better mood.

{End of Chapter 21}
{Chapter 22 : Namida no imi - The importance of tears}