It had been unusually quiet at the temple. Skuld had
finally figured out what was wrong with "Kewl-Aid kun" and Urd had watched
television from morning till night while drinking like a fish. Banpei was just
doing his rounds, and missing Belldandy a lot. But other than that, all was
quiet.
"I sure miss one-sama," Skuld quipped as she
walked into the living room where Urd was. "It sure is quiet around here."
Urd ignored her, more focused on the TV. Although in that
drunken state, Skuld never knew. Skuld shrugged. Urd never paid attention to
almost anyone when she was like this. Just then, she noticed a strange light in
one of the rooms. She went to check it out. But first, she'd need to make a
detour. She had this strange feeling she'd be needing it.
* * *
Peorth arrived in a flourish, scattering rose petals all
over the place while posing for whatever cameras might've been around to take
her pictures. Of course, it was all for show, but still, Peorth loved showing
off.
"Keiichi-san! Iiiii'm here!" Peorth announced,
loudly, proudly.
*click*
The
lights came on.
*whooosh*
Peorth
had about a second to take defensive measures before a rocket-propelled baseball
bat buried itself in her face. She wasn't fast enough, and she winced, expecting
her face to be smashed in. Seconds passed, nothing happened. Opening her eyes,
she noticed Skuld staring at her, disbelievingly. Skuld's bat had dropped to the
floor with a loud clattering and lay there, still.
"YOU!"
They both exclaimed at the same time.
"Whaaaaaaaat's all
this noise about, Skuld? I just thought I heard Peorth." Urd yawned sleepily as
she floated through the doorway to Keiichi's workroom. She stopped being sleepy
and sobered up when she saw Peorth, and nearly stopped floating as well.
"YOU!?" Urd exclaimed, every little bit as surprised as
Skuld and Peorth.
* * *
Somewhere else in Keiichi's workroom, Ganchan was snickering as he saw the Goddess's shocked and disbelieving expressions. He finally got the joke Skuld and Urd had made about him. At least Belldandy was kind enough to forgive him and let it go at that when he'd confessed about his petty thievery and repented.
* * *
"Peorth, what are you doing here?" Urd asked, crossing her
arms. Peorth was looking rather indignant, arms crossed, floating an inch above
the floor, looking at the both of them.
"Where's my
Keiichi darling?" Peorth asked.
"Hey, I asked first." Urd
said, her voice growing a little louder.
"I want my manga
collection back!" whined Skuld, who was ignominously being ignored.
Urd and Peorth started a staring match, and as lightning
bolts flew between the two of them, Skuld decided to back off and see what would
happen.
"I asked you first, as such, you should answer
first." Urd growled, between clenched teeth.
"I'm a first
class Goddess, and it's not your place to order me around." Peorth growled,
equally fiercely.
That did it. Urd hated, probably more
than anything else, to be reminded of her rank and station. She took a finger
and poked Peorth in the chest insultingly.
"Don't you
mock my rank, Peorth! I've got a lot more power than you'll ever have!"
Peorth pushed away the finger and mocked her with a
haughty look. She then mimed a thoughtful look, her eyes pointing heavenwards.
"Well, it's not like you could ever gain access to most
of it for, say... oh, I don't know. Forever?"
Urd's veins began to bulge in indignation. She held a fist up, and lightning
crackled in it like a javelin.
"Well, we'll see about
that! Urd-Lightning-"
Peorth was game. She raised her
arms and began summoning a whirlwind of roses, thorns and all.
"Rose-thorn-swarm-"
Both of them never finished it.
Instead, a third voice cut in. A very irritated voice. A voice who had been
ignored for quite a while.
"NEO-SKULD BOMB!"
* * *
*KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
The explosion rocked most of the neighbourhood, but nobody
cared. The temple had always been a lively place, with all sorts of weird things
going on in it. Nobody bothered when that blast came unexpectedly. Even the
babies slept soundly. Only one person commented, as he calmly flipped to the
next page of his newspaper.
"They're at it again. Honey,
get the accounts book ready, we've got business."
* * *
Two blackened and charred Goddesses and one fairly
unscathed Goddess stood in the center of what was formerly Keiichi's valuable
workspace, and room. The first one to move was Skuld, unaffected by her own
bomb. (Nobody knew why.) She dusted herself off, looked around, and became
worried. Keiichi had his room bombed before, and he was never nice when it
happened. This time, she'd done it. His entire room was in shambles. Her
neo-Skuld bomb worked a little too well.
Meanwhile, the other two Goddesses had their own problem. First of all, they had
been bombed, which wasn't nice. Secondly, that bomb came from a little girl,
which was even worse. Thirdly, that bomb wasn't very good for them, and they
didn't like that. Urd recovered first, being the most used to bombings such as
these. She dusted what was left of her clothes off, used a little magic, and had
a new set immediately. Peorth, however, wasn't so fortunate. She'd never
encountered a Skuld bomb, let alone a neo-Skuld one, and this hurt. A lot. But
at least she knew she wouldn't be arguing with Skuld anymore, Skuld was likely
to have a lot more of these, and she could chuck 'em faster than Peorth could
extinguish them. She was glad she'd extinguished the one Skuld had threatened
her with the last time. One less bomb wouldn't hurt at all. Nobody noticed poor
little Ganchan though, lying in a corner, his beautiful rat fur burned off.
Eventually, everyone was in some shape to move. Skuld was
the first to say something.
"Look what you made me do! I
bombed Keiichi's room!"
Urd and Peorth stared at her.
Skuld felt herself shrink under their eyes as stares turned to glares.
"Then again....."
Urd and Peorth
turned to each other. Their staring match resumed. Skuld sighed. Some grown-ups
never learned.
"This is our house and you came in,
uninvited, looking for Keiichi." Urd growled.
"This is
Keiichi's house and I can come anytime I like. I'm a Goddess." Peorth
retorted.
Finally, Skuld decided on the peaceful way to
break this up. She shoved them aside and walked between them, looking at both of
them in turn.
"Come on, you two. We're Goddesses. We
don't fight amongst ourselves."
Urd and Peorth stared at
Skuld again. What was it with these people?! Skuld wondered. Urd nearly
laughed, Peorth did. But they calmed down quickly, and looked around them.
"Sure is a mess here." Urd commented. "Keiichi won't be
happy."
"Yeah." Peorth agreed. "But I can fix that!
Keiichi will owe me so much for this...."
Peorth snapped
and the room suddenly changed. It looked like something Urd would've thought of,
but with a lot more frescoes and roses.
Both Urd and
Skuld looked at Peorth, bigsweating. (You know, that large sweatdrop that
appears on their heads everytime something like this happens?) Peorth was
laughing to herself.
"Aaah haa haa haa haa! I am
such a great interior decorator!" Peorth had done this once to Keiichi's
room before, when she had wanted to help him make up his mind about his wish.
She obviously slept in rooms like this, since she didn't seem to notice that it
wasn't supposed to be her bedroom she was restoring, it was Keiichi's.
"Ahrm, excuse me, Peorth?" Skuld asked, raising a hand.
"Yes?"
"This isn't Keiichi's
bedroom. And it's... well, supposed to be?"
"I know,"
Peorth clapped her hands together and got that dreamy look. "But when he gets
back, that won't matter!"
Skuld and Urd looked at each
other as Peorth went waltzing around the room, daydreaming about how wonderful
their night together will be. Urd cleared her throat.
"Peorth," It was Urd's turn. "Keiichi won't be back tonight."
That got her attention. She spun to face Urd.
"Say what? I could've sworn you said Keiichi-dear won't
be back tonight?"
"I did," Urd cleared her throat again.
"Not for a week."
Peorth stares at Urd. Urd shrugs.
"Sorry, things like these happen."
Peorth grabs Urd's
shoulders and shakes her.
"WHERE IS MY DARLING KEIICHI!?
WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!?"
"Iwaiwai weeweel tewelwel yu-u-u wewen yu-u-u le-et
gowowowo!" Urd sputtered as Peorth shook her violently. Skuld was enjoying the
show between Urd and Peorth. She'd never seen anything as hilarious yet, not
even on TV.
Peorth stopped shaking Urd. Urd couldn't stop
shaking. But finally, she did. Giving Peorth a smug look, she hoped what she
said would give Peorth a little incentive to leave them alone. Crossing her
arms, Urd prepared to stick the knife in Peorth's guts.
"Keiichi went with Belldandy, alone, on a little vacation.
Privately. We couldn't come along even if we wanted to." Urd
obviously loved what she was saying, stressing every word she thought would
twist the proverbial knife in Peorth's gut. It worked. Too well.
Peorth looked absolutely distraught at the thought of
what Keiichi might be doing with Belldandy now. A dozen images flashed through
her mind, most of them erotic. She claspsed her head between her palms and shook
it, trying to get them out of her head.
"Nonononono!
Keiichi wouldn't do that! He wouldn't! You're lying, Urd! You always do! My
darling Keiichi wouldn't dare to do that!"
Urd
shrugged. She hadn't lied about anything yet, Peorth's imagination was doing
everything she didn't need to. Just as well. Maybe Peorth would give up hope on
Keiichi now.
Suddenly, Peorth stood up. Fierce
determination burned in her eyes, and showed in her clenched fist, that tight
lipped look of determination etched on her face.
"I
cannot allow that to happen! I will stop Keiichi before he does something
foolish with Belldandy!" And with a spin, the room went back to normal. Along
with it went Peorth.
Urd and Skuld watched as Peorth flew
out.
"There goes Keiichi's peaceful vacation." Urd
sighed, face in her hand, shaking it sadly.
"What about
my manga collection!?" whined Skuld. Nobody had paid her the slightest attention
so far.
* * *
It had been quite a quiet and wonderful night. Keiichi had
gone star gazing with Belldandy out in the park, amidst the other couples
already in the garden, doing the same or whispering sweet nothings into each
others' ears. Keiichi and Belldandy were lying on a large grass slope within the
Lodge's grounds, staring up into the sky. Belldandy was pointing out and
identifying, flawlessly, each star's name and constellation. Keiichi was just
soaking it in, the atmosphere, the beauty, Belldandy's voice, everything.
"And there's Orionis. Orion was rather flattered, the
human's image of him had been a lot greater than he dared take credit for."
Belldandy mused. Keiichi absently nodded.
After a while
longer, Belldandy stopped naming stars. She was out here, alone (more or less)
with Keiichi, and it was a perfect night. Nothing could get better. This was
what she had hoped for a long time ago, it had been her secret hope and dream,
and it had finally come true. The fact that Keiichi had thought the same thing
too was pretty conincidental. But nobody was complaining. Belldandy just wanted
to stay close to Keiichi.
"I wish I could always be
with you, Keiichi...." Belldandy said in her mind. She had always wanted to
say that, but she never had the nerve to. She had always thought Keiichi strong
and strong willed, and that was true. But she saw herself as a smaller being
beside him, always modest and humble, always quietly supporting him. Keiichi
knew that and had tried to bring her into the spotlight as often as he could,
but she had pointedly refused, too shy, too humbled, to be sharing Keiichi's
glory. But now, there was nothing to stop her from being shy but shyness itself.
She could just blurt it out to Keiichi and hope she hadn't messed things up, she
was just so scared. Imagine that, a Goddess, scared.
But
Goddesses were only so much, after all.
Keiichi noticed
Belldandy shifting besides him. He turned his head and ended up staring right
into her eyes. They were wide open and surprised.
And
they soaked up and radiated the moonlight brilliantly, blue and silver in
perfect conjunction with each other. Keiichi was mesmerized by them, as he had
been so often.
"Keiichi-san?" Belldandy swallowed. She
had to build up her courage for him.
She had to. She'd
probably never get another chance at this. They'd been through a lot, but this
was her hardest test yet.
And one had to remember all that they'd been through
before. Back then, when Keiichi had lost all hope, Belldandy had been there for
him, and vice versa They'd worked together to bring happiness to others, they'd
counted on each other when trouble arose. Even during the Lord of Terror's time,
Belldandy had stuck by her principles and saw it through to the end herself.
When Yggdrasil had broken down, Keiichi had been their source of hope and
strength. In fact, Keiichi had done a lot of things the Goddesses couldn't do,
and wouldn't admit to themselves. Keiichi had risked his life for her and others
once too often too, and why was that so? (To some of those in the Heavens,
Keiichi trying Urd's medicines without knowing what they'd do to him for
Belldandy's sake was feat enough. They were still talking about that.)
She had to admit, she was a little obsessed with Keiichi.
And making Belldandy obsessed wasn't easy at all. Keiichi had done a lot for
her. She'd felt she'd done nothing for him. None of the housework would matter,
all the things she made for him wouldn't make up for Keiichi's actions. Keiichi
had given her his love, his world, his life, and she'd given him nothing but
sweaters and lots of love. She felt useless at the moment.
"Nonsense, Belldandy. You're a Goddess, you have
responsibilities." Keiichi had once said, when Belldandy tried to tell him
that she wasn't good enough for him. What she didn't tell him was that there
were a lot of Gods and Goddesses up there doing the work for her, and her own
workload was minimal considering her rank. Keiichi knew Belldandy wasn't working
in the Heavens now, too. But he'd tried to make her feel better. She owed him
everything she had for that alone. She didn't know was that all that was needed
to pay Keiichi back was her continued existence and love for Keiichi.
Even Keiichi didn't know that himself.
"Yes, Belldandy?" Keiichi snapped out of his
mesmerization. He wished he could've stayed there forever and looked.
"Keiichi... I... I...." Belldandy still couldn't get it
out. But she wasn't sure if this would affect their relationship. They had been
together for years now, and their relation might have grown deep beyond simple,
petty words, but still, words held a lot of power.
Power
Belldandy couldn't find yet.
This is so frustrating!
Belldandy thought. I'm a First Class Goddess with enough power to destroy
and create a world, and I can't bring myself to tell Keiichi how much I
want him! I'm so useless!
She hadn't noticed
she had shut her eyes and was crying softly.
Keiichi
definitely did, and he wondered what he did wrong.
Men
were so dense sometimes.
But he stroked her face, and
hair softly. She opened her eyes. He was smiling. He had guessed though. The
same face he wore was on her own.
"Belldandy?" Keiichi's
voice held hope. Belldandy's hope that he would say it for her.
"Yes, Keiichi-san?" Belldandy's own voice held hope that
she could find the strength to say it too.
"Did you want
to say.... something?" Keiichi was a little nervous himself.
No, his own voice held his own hope that he wanted to
voice too. Belldandy knew it, but, nothing would come of it unless someone said
it.
"Yes." Her response was simple.
Belldandy decided to be a little daring. Or at least,
something to help her make her daring. She wouldn't need words anymore, actions
would speak louder than anything, and these actions would deafen Keiichi.
She kissed Keiichi. Just to be brave.
* * *
Somewhere in the Heavens, Uruz was busy checking the
programs, administrations and runnings of Yggdrasil as well as the relations
spreadsheet she had. Her job kept her busy, and she loved being busy. Something
on her spreadsheet caught her attention though. She examined it. It was actually
two things, something to do with her job.
Those two were
most interesting, Uruz mused. But at the moment, Uruz heard the confirmation
that Keiichi was staying at someplace called the "Couple's Lodge", and she could
go and grant his wish now. Uruz was overwhelmed. Expecting to meet this Keiichi
person and actually going to meet him were completely different. It was like
going up on stage for the first time in your life with a thousand eyes upon you,
waiting. Dropping everything, Uruz leapt to her feet and opened her gateway to
Earth.
Her primary mode of teleporation-transportation
was simple : Doorways, arches, anything that formed an enclosed space that led
from one place to another which she could pass through.
How simple, and elegant.
* * *
Mara was snoring in her futon, exhausted from her
exertions the past weeks. Senbee was finally beginning to warm up to the place,
and was enjoying himself as he randomly caused trouble for the other couples. He
knew Belldandy was here, and as a constant source of Happiness, he'd not cause
any long-term damage. At least his "Happy" level was high now.
And then the door to the room glowed.
Senbee stared as someone stepped through it. It was
female, as he had come to expect a long time ago, and this one resembled a
fashion model from some lingerine show.
Only fashion
models didn't walk through doors, have Goddess markings, and wear that sort of
stuff out of their jobs. Senbee eeped once, and dived back into his bottle. Mara
snored on.
* * *
Uruz looked around the room she had entered. It was large,
spacy, very cozy, and partitioned. She heard someone snoring, and assumed
Keiichi was asleep. She quietly floated over to the partition and peeked into
the left side, where she saw someone sleeping. But this someone had
silver-blonde hair. Not Keiichi then. Then the figure turned in its sleep, and
Uruz caught sight of the distinctive Demoness markings.
Keiichi!? With a demoness!? Where's Belldandy!? Uruz
thought, panicked. She was sure she had entered the correct room, and here was,
in all her snoring glory, a demoness. Uruz sincerely hoped Keiichi hadn't gone
into leagues with this one, it'd be the end of his wonderful legends in the
Heavens.
"Psst! Yo, here!" A small voice called.
Uruz looked around and saw a tiny man calling to her from
a bottle. Interesting, a genie! An evil kind, but nonetheless, a genie. Well,
maybe he was the demoness's companion. That would explain a lot, but why would
Keiichi share rooms with someone he knew was a demoness? Uruz had a distinct and
unreasonable hatred for demons and demonesses alike, and this one in particular
seemed to invoke her very rage upon sight.
"What is a
Goddess doing here?" Inquired Senbee.
"I'm here to take a
wish." Uruz replied, coldly. She had this nasty impression of demons, having
heard all about them. She hadn't met one before in her life though. This was a
new experience.
Senbee chuckled. "Eh, Goddess taking
wishes? Senbee guess that means Goddess here for Keiichi?"
Uruz was surprised. This one knew Keiichi too! This was
worrying.
"What do you have to do with Keiichi!?" Uruz
was beginning to get worried. This wasn't working out the way she had hoped.
Demons in Keiichi's room, she was talking to one's companion, and she was
scared. She knew the demoness was a First Class demoness, and she didn't know
how demonesses fought. Where was big sister when she needed her? Peorth would
know what to do.....
* * *
Near to the beach, Peorth sneezed in mid-flight. She had
read up on the Couple's Lodge on her way here, and she knew it was an old temple
converted into an unusual type of holiday resort. That probably meant no demons
or demonesses there, which was good. What was bad was what Peorth would expect
to find when she found Keiichi with Belldandy.
Of course,
Peorth always was one for melodramatics and hyperbole when it came to things
like relations. She hadn't chosen the Rose for no reason. Peorth was mumbling to
herself something about making the best use of her time with Keiichi during her
week long break when she finally came up to the Lodge. She knew she'd find them
somehow now that she knew where they were. She used her magic and sensed around,
and hoped nobody was using a concealment spell.
Keiichi,
Belldandy, Uruz, a demoness named Mara and a demon named Senbee were in the
approximate area.
Hold on, Uruz, Mara and Senbee. And
they were in close proximity.
They weren't supposed to be
there. Uruz was out on a wish granting job.
Unless.... NO
WAY! Peorth had thought of the most absurd things to ever happen in her entire
life, but nothing had prepared her for this.
Uruz was
granting wishes to The Enemy?! Peorth did not like this one bit.
The Almighty was going to hear about this, once she got
this matter cleared up. Ooh yes, He would hear of this.
* * *
Uruz suddenly sensed the approach of someone. Someone
familiar. She had been hoping for this, but this was absolutely unexpected.
It was Peorth.
Uruz quickly left
Senbee behind, talking to thin air, while she went outdoors and looked for
Peorth. She sent Peorth a mental message.
"One-sama!" She thought excitedly. "You're actually here!"
The response was not good. Uruz felt a lot of suspicion
dripping in it.
"Don't one-sama me, Uruz. What
are you doing?"
"Talking to some demon named
Senbee. He scares me."
"Not granting his wish, are
you?"
"Come again?"
"I
said, you're not going to grant his wish now, are you!?"
Uruz jumped. Peorth was right beside her. Uruz shook her head vigorously, hoping
that Peorth's impression of Uruz wasn't going to be tarnished.
"One-sama! I was only asking Senbee where Keiichi was!"
Peorth blinked at Uruz once.
"Keiichi?"
Uruz nodded.
"It's his
wish."
Peorth knew the Almighty would hear of this one,
only it would be of the Human Who Got Three Wishes. And she thought this only
happened in fairy tales with Genies (who were always Arabic, which was false) in
the lamps. (Which were absurd. Genies lived in anything but lamps. Too easy to
get roasted. Peorth suddenly thought to bring this up to the Almighty as well,
wondering whether people had dealt with demons in the past.)
* * *
Keiichi was truly deafened by Belldandy's action.
Mentally, emotionally. The kissing part had happened before, but this was
something new. There was something behind this kiss.
And
besides that, Keiichi could almost envision a group of winged mini-Urds floating
around them blowing trumpets and throwing confetti and cheering them on. Urd had
her charming points once in a while.
And Belldandy broke
off. She hoped Keiichi couldn't feel the heat from her face radiating out. That
had been an eternity of bliss, for both of them. Keiichi blinked once.
"Belldandy?" Keiichi asked.
"Yes?"
Belldandy was snuggled right up to Keiichi now.
"I....
I've always wanted....." Keiichi could almost hear the group of Urds cheering
louder. He even thought some of them were wearing cheerleader outfits now. He
swallowed and prepared himself for the big speech.
"KIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
A piercing shriek filled the air.
Keiichi and Belldandy broke off, rather suddenly. They, and everyone else
around, turned their heads to look at who screamed.
Peorth.
* * *
Peorth could not believe this. Her entire life had
just shattered around her when she came over the hill and saw Keiichi and
Belldandy.
SO CLOSE!
Peorth
saw Belldandy cuddling up to Keiichi. They seemed to be saying something, and
she could guess what it was. Despite the fact that she tried to hide the fact
that was was pretty infatuated with him, yet she had no chance, she'd always
held that flame for him, ready and burning. She'd always tried preparing herself
for the time when Keiichi would do this with Belldandy and much more, but she'd
never really gotten used to the idea. She never did.
The
truth always hurt.
Besides her, Uruz looked on as Peorth
turned and flew off to places unknown. Uruz didn't know what Peorth was going
through now, but as she stood there, numbly and dumbly, wondering what to do.
Keiichi and Belldandy stood up and walked over to where Uruz was.
The two of them didn't feel so good anymore.
Uruz was just plain confused.
* * *
Senbee suddenly felt his Happy level go up very, VERY
high. He didn't know why, but he knew it was going to take Belldandy a long time
to fix this. And he knew someone else wouldn't be very happy either. He quickly
woke Mara up. She cursed him once, then sat up and listened to his story.
"Senbee say we leave this place, Mara! Some people
are not going to be happy when they come back!" Senbee knew it. He felt
it as surely as a human feels a baseball bat hitting them.
Mara wouldn't have taken Senbee's word for it if he
didn't sound so serious, since they were all on holiday and nothing was supposed
to happen.
Supposed. That word had implications.
Implications were a demon's game.
Mara left quickly.
* * *
Peorth was in a daze. She still couldn't get over what she had seen. Nothing could prepare her for it, and even though she knew she should've handled it like a professional, there was nothing to be professional about in relationships. Even Urd had admitted that, although not directly. She found a conveniently tall tree and flew to the top. She had a long week ahead of her to think things through as she sat at the top, looking at nothing in particular.
* * *
Back at the room with Keiichi and Belldandy, Uruz was introducing herself. It wasn't the best of times for anything, but it was all they had. Keiichi's dream vacation had turned into a nightmare, and for once, Mara had nothing to do with it. At least, he had hoped for that. Mara had left rather hastily, leaving a note.
"It wasn't our fault!" it had read.
Well, Keiichi believed that much, at least. First, they had found the Lodge a perfect hideaway for them both. That was good. Then Mara had come along. That wasn't all too good. But he and Belldandy still had time to share some romance. That was the best part. Things were going to go from bad to worst, as Keiichi would soon find out. He'd have a lot more on his hands that he would ever hope for in his lifetime. And he wasn't sure it was going to last through the week at the rate things were going.
{End of Chapter 5}
{Chapter
6 : Regrets and Reparations}