Subject: [FFML] Mortal Fates Epilogue
From: dtai@ix.netcom.com
Date: 9/15/1998, 5:36 PM
To: ffml@fanfic.com

"That which is dreamed
 Can never be lost, can never be un-dreamed."

	-Master Li, 
	 "The Sandman: The Wake"


                           -*-

                   David Tai & Rod M.
                       present...


                      Mortal Fates
                            A
                      The Dreaming
                    Ah!  My Goddess!
                        Crossover

                        Epilogue

                  "Dream Within A Dream"


                           -*-


It was a spectacular view of the ocean, with the sun setting
into the horizon and the waves gently rolling in. 

"This place looks familiar," said Keiichi. 

"It should be," replied Belldandy.  "Remember the first time
you took me to the beach?" 

"Oh!  Oh yeah, that's right."  Keiichi grimaced as he
remembered that day.  "Actually, a lot of things went wrong
that day, didn't it?" 

"Yes, but I know you were trying," replied Belldandy
happily. 

"Well, it's nice now." 

"Yes, it is." 

Belldandy leaned on Keiichi's side, happy and content. 

"Too bad this is just a dream," sighed Belldandy. 

Keiichi frowned.  "It is?" 

"Yes, it is, but it's the only way I can be with you at the
moment." 

Bits of memory nagged at him.  Belldandy.  The hospital. 
The doctors.  Him, at her bedside. 

Oh no. 

"Belldandy... are you..." 

She smiled and shook her head.  "No, I'm not." 

"Then what do you mean, this is the only way you can be with
me?" 

"Things... have been a little turbulent in Heaven recently. 
All essential personnel are to remain stationed in heaven
until it is certain the situation has been stablized."  She
cast her eyes away from him, looking a bit guilty.
"There's... something I have done recently that... has made
my peers wonder about my ability to fulfill my duties. 
Until I calm their fears, I must remain here." 

Keiichi looked saddened, but understanding.  "I... see." 

The two watched the setting sun, cuddling next to each
other, just savoring the moment. 

"Belldandy?" 

"Hm?" 

"The sun seems to be going up." 

A pumpkin-headed man dashed past them quickly, giving the
sun a solid thwap with his baseball bat.  The sun began to
sink.  Keiichi stared in disbelief. 

"Aheh, sorry'bout dat." 

As the man ran off into the distance, Belldandy waved. 

"Um, who was that?" asked Keiichi. 

"Him?  Mervyn.  He helps build dreams." 

"Oh, I see." 

"He's rather nice, once you get to know him." 

The sun slowly set, giving way to night.  The stars shone
brightly in the endless sky, and the couple looked up to
admire them. 

Belldandy gave Keiichi a quick kiss on the cheek.  "I'll
miss you.  I miss you already.  Hopefully, I'll return to
you soon." 

Keiichi smiled.  "I'm happy here with you now, if only in my
dreams." 


                           -*-


Meanwhile, in a certain London pub... 

"Hey Mara." 

The demoness didn't bother to look up, acknowledging Urd's
arrival with a grunt.  Her attention was, at the moment,
focused on a mug of some infernal beverage. 

Urd raised an eyebrow, noting Mara's current mode, which was
a bit of an irritated sulk. 

"Well, aren't we moody today." 

"Just one of those 'blah' days," grumbled Mara. 

Urd shrugged and took a seat at the bar next to her.  "If I
didn't know better, I'd have thought you actually helped out
in the whole Belldandy/Verthandi mess." 

"Good thing I didn't, hm?" replied Mara.  "My track record
with the boss downstairs isn't exactly stellar at the
moment.  If I did, I'd really be in deep trouble, hm?" 

"Yeah, deep trouble." 

Urd ordered her drink while Mara absently stared at hers and
swirled it around a bit. 

"I mean, it's not like I have any sentimental attachments
with any of you," said Mara.

Urd shook her head.  "No, of course not." 

"I mean, I did try to get Belldandy over to our side," said
Mara. 

"Mm-hm." 

"Dunno how you found out about her wandering 'round the
Dreaming, but it wasn't from me." 

"Anonymous tip," said Urd. 

"And it wasn't like I was trying to talk 'Verthandi' into
going back to Bell.  I was... just trying to give her a bit
of despair." 

"Right.  Despair." 

"Did my duties as a demoness, right? 

"Yep." 

"That's right.  I'm just about as evil as you are good,
Urd."

"Got that ri-... hey."  Urd looked questioningly at Mara,
who continued to just sulk. 

Mara downed the last of her drink in one shot, then leaned
forward, resting her chin on her hand. 

"Of course," said the demoness, "if I did have a hand in
helping out, I'd say you guys would owe me, hm?" 

"Yeah, I guess we would." 

Mara nodded.  "Good to know." 


                           -*-


Lucien pushed his chair back, stretching, only to be
startled by the Corinithian leaning up against the bookshelf
to his left, staring at the spot recently vacated. 

A spot formerly occupied by the book currently open on the
table. 

The Corinthian only watched Lucien silently, his dark
glasses hiding those ineffable teeth-eyes.  Above him,
Matthew perched, greeting Lucien with a caw. 

"So what're you reading, Lucien?" 

Lucien tilted his head, looking at them owlishly from behind
those horn-rimmed glasses, then turned back to the book. 

"It was a tale of a goddess who loved... and the mortal who
loved her back.  And now it has been written." 

Lucien slowly closed the book, watching the tome shimmer out
of sight. 

Matthew looked puzzled.  "What happened?" 

Surprisingly, it was the Corinthian who answered, his arms
folded across his check.  In a dark voice, he whispered, "We
were mere supporting players in their tale for a time." 

Lucien nodded. 

"And this chapter of their tale is done." 


             -= end of Mortal Fates =-


                      SCENE
    ( Keiichi and Verthandi are sitting at the beach
    in the Dreaming.  She is resting comfortably
    by his side and looking happy, while a crescent
    moon looms in the sky. )

                     BELLDANDY
                     (singing)

          Stars shining bright above you
     Night breezes seem to whisper I love you
        Birds singing in the sycamore tree
            Dream a little dream of me

            Say nighty-night and kiss me
   Just hold me tight and tell me you'll miss me
        While I'm alone and blue as can be
             Dream a little dream of me

               ----------*----------

                       PLOTS
                     David Tai
                       Rod M.

               ----------*----------

                     KEIICHI
    Nice song.  I didn't know you had such a nice
                  singing voice.

                    BELLDANDY
     (smiling) Why don't you sing a few lines?

                     KEIICHI
       (frowning)  Me?  I don't sing too well.

                    BELLDANDY
  It's a dream.  Just imagine yourself singing good.

                     KEIICHI
             (blinks)  Oh.... okay.

                    (singing)

         Stars fading but I linger on, dear
              Still craving your kiss
       I'm longing to linger til dawn, dear
                 Just saying this

         Sweet dreams til sunbeams find you
    Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you
         But in your dreams whatever they be
             Dream a little dream of me

               ----------*----------

                   EDITING STAFF
                     David Tai 
                      Rod M.
                  Christian Bremer
                 T.J. Griesenbrock
                   Chan Wei-Lik
                  Terry Johnson
                   Luba Kmetyk
                      queenB
                  Jeffrey Hosmer
                   Paul Corrigan
                      Foxtrot
                   The Keep Rats
               (you know who you are)
             The FFML Lads and Ladies

               ----------*----------

                    BELLDANDY
                 Nice, isn't it?

                     KEIICHI
            Wow... that was... strange.
            Didn't know I could do that.

                    BELLDANDY
       See?  All you have to do is believe.

                     KEIICHI
         Oh, never thought of it that way.

                    BELLDANDY
                    Shall we?

                     KEIICHI
                   I'd love to.

               ----------*----------

                SPECIAL THANKS TO:
  The Anime Web Turnpike: http://www.anipike.com
   CFAN: The Comic Fan-Fiction Authors Network:
     http://members.aol.com/kielle/cfan.htm

                  And of course:
 To Neil Gaiman and assorted writers, for The Dreaming
   and to Kosuke Fujishima for Ah My Goddess!

               ----------*----------

                KEIICHI & BELLDANDY
                    (singing)

         Stars fading but I linger on, dear
              Still craving your kiss
       I'm longing to linger til dawn, dear
                 Just saying this

         Sweet dreams til sunbeams find you
    Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you
         But in your dreams whatever they be
             Dream a little dream of me

                    - THE END -


               ----------*----------



Authors' Commentary

Closing remarks: Oh lord, this is FINALLY over! 
-djt

This is a major pain in the butt story. 

This was during the time we were just finishing part 2 of
Dire Fates.  It was as a result of a debate with Rod where I
thought we could pull off a Vertigo/Ah My Goddess trilogy. 
And naturally, the only continuing Vertigo series that
incorporated the DC universe at the time were: John
Constantine: Hellblazer, The Dreaming, and The Books of
Magic. 

Since Hellblazer and Skuld had been done, it seemed natural
to match the Dreaming with Belldandy and Books of Magic with
Urd. 

The hard part was coming up with a plot for Belldandy. 

Usually it was "No," from Rod for MOST ideas I came up with. 

Then I got pretty frustrated and said, "Why don't we just
split up Belldandy?" 

"Hmmmmmm." 

And then we sat down and hashed out a plot. 

A pretty nice plot. 

Too bad the end version ended up nothing like that. 

To put it mildly, the Ah My Goddess continuity nitpickers
came out en masse. And ah, the Dreaming got kinda
overwhelmed by the strong Ah My Goddess plot. Sorry 'bout
that. 

But it was a fun ride. 

Anyway, miscellaneous tidbits: 

The titles of each chapter are taken from the titles of
Edgar Allen Poe poems. 

Rod is STILL a horrible speller. 

Rod thinks this fanfic is incomplete, mostly because it
doesn't have John Constantine in it. 

Always blame Mike Loader. 

That's it. Aheh.

-David Tai (dtai@ix.netcom.com)



               ----------*----------

Author's Commentary

Closing remarks: Well, this was a bit rough, wasn't it?
-rod m

Oh, what to say on this little venture.

It was, to be honest, a somewhat daunting project.  With a
plot such as this, there would be expectations put upon us
to make a social statement of some sort about mankind, love,
and all that other nonsense.

I hate making statement like that.

There were several difficulties in writing this.

The first difficulty was in reader appeal.

I think David was a bit unrealistic, but I wasn't, about the
possible readership of this story.  In Dire Fates, we used
two characters with large fanbases: Skuld and John
Constantine.  Heck, we even had a few people get into
Hellblazer because of it.

But Belldandy?  Sure she's the main character of Ah My
Goddess, but she's.... just not as interesting as her
sisters.  And the Dreaming, while being an offspring of
DC/Vertigo's famous 'The Sandman' series, was 'The Sandman'
without the Sandman, and its popularity is not as strong as
Sandman's, not nearly as much.

To summarize, I had doubts about who'd want to read it.
Those who were hooked by Dire Fates might not be willing to
go through Mortal Fates, really.

Another difficulty?  The element of surprise.

A lot of our pre-readers thought, as they read through half
of the story, that the First of the Fallen was up to
something again, or perhaps it was a mean deed of the
archangels.  Quite a few thought it was a run-of-the-mill
Belldandy-loses-godhood-and-dies sort of story, which it
was, but wasn't at the same time.

As a consequence of hiding that surprise, the opportunities
to expand on the character of Verthandi were terribly
limited.  We only had part 3 to work with to really work on
her.  It wasn't a lot of room, and to be honest we came up a
little short, but we did the best we could.  And that'll
have to do.

The worst difficulty?  Keiichi.

Damn the man.

You don't have any idea how nauseating it is to write scenes
for such a powerless wishy-washy geek.  By the end of part
2, me and david were contemplating letting keiichi die
instead and have Bell live happily ever after with Megumi,
Keiichi's sister.

But, all in all, despite a tad bit much on the melodrama, I
think this story worked out okay.  Managed to keep the plot
twists, a fair degree of originality, and a little bit of
that warm and fuzzy feeling you get on 'chick films'.

So, where do we go from here?

I dunno.

We've one more cycle of the trilogy to go, we'll see how it
comes out.

Hope you enjoyed the story.

-rod m.