"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}