gcordova@uanl.mx
gcordova@ccr.dsi.uanl.mx

	Thanks to all those who read the first part, and to
those who didn't read it also. Thanks for the avocado who
kept me company all night, and also to Pepsi (all 10 liters)
for the real sugar and the caffeine; and also thanks to the 4
or so liters of tea that cleansed my kidneys ;)

	REMEMBER: All the interesting people here
(the Goddesses, Keiichi, et al) were created by
Fujishima Kosuke sama.

===========================================================

Oh!! My Goddess! / Eternal Wanderer.
Part 2.

	"Ah!" Urd said and she suddenly sat up. She was in here
room, it was still dark outside. Belldandy and Skuld also
woke up.
	"What is it Urd? Nightmares again?" Belldandy asked;
Skuld just crawled towards here older sister to make sure
she was OK.
	"No, not a nightmare... something strange, but... Isn't
it supposed I can't feel things, specially without my powers?"
she said, somewhat perplexed.
	"Humans see things once in a while also. How do you
think Keiichi-san and I met in the first place?" she said
with a smile. Meanwhile Skuld reached Urd with a sleep-
walker's gait, and not being able to resist the assaults of
a 'shutdown -h NOW' requested by her brain, she laid down on
Urd's lap and went to sleep, surely thinking that since they
were together there wouldn't be any bad dreams anymore.
Maybe they could sleep a whole night, for a change.
	Lowering her voice, Urd said "I don't know, it was
kinda weird... like somebody arrived, or... I really don't
know how to explain it, but that's what I felt."
	"What did you see?"
	Belldandy moved closer and started caressing her
younger sister's hair, feeling it's silky texture; Skuld's
arrival provoked an unusual change in Urd, instead of
pushing her off her lap she was studying her, closely
watching her serene features, the way her eyelids trembled
when here eyes moved, like envying the serenity of her
sleep, and the most curious thing, Belldandy thought, she
seemed protective of her, which she never was before; she
was actually showing her love for her youngest sister, even
if she was asleep and couldn't see.
	"I really don't know what I saw... somebody entering,
yeah, I think that's it. Entering this plane..." she was
whispering to Belldandy while feeling Skuld's long and shiny
black tresses.
	"But coming from where"
	"I really don't know..." she responded, and closed her
eyes, trying to capture the last traces of a dream, but it was
like trying to read words written on a fragment of smoke which
slips through your fingers; "from far away, something like
that, it's the only thing I can remember, a feeling of
traveling from very far away. Hmph. I could remember dreams
perfectly before." she said with a little frustration. And
then she yawned deeply.
	"I think it's better that we go to sleep" Belldandy
said, "tomorrow we'll talk about this. Need help moving
her?"
	"No, don't. She's sleeping so pleasantly, I'd really
hate to wake her. Like this..." she said, and gently moved
her from her lap onto the futon; after that, she lay down
next to her.
	"Good night, Bell-chan" she said, put her arm lightly
over Skuld and closed her eyes.
	She felt a little surprised to feel an arm creeping
around her, and the she felt Belldandy laying next to her,
opposite to Skuld, and she hear in her ear, very quietly,
"Good night, oneechan", before falling in a relaxing sleep,
without bad memories, strange images, or extraplanar travelers.
She felt safe, sleeping with a pair of sisters that she new
loved her; and she felt free now, knowing that she loved them
just the same.

[A few night later, somewhere else...]

	<<Damn, two days and no food>> he thought, <<and the
worse part is that there's nothing close by, damn government.>>
	Since the police had surrounded the area nobody passed
even close to this alley, so there wasn't anything to be
had here. But, the sleeping conditions did change for the
better, because the wasn't any noise at night, nobody waking
him up to see who he was, or "could he have a little swig".
	Who knew what the police was up to. At first they said
that there were going to be some "repairs", but it seemed
kinda strange that police officers were guarding the area in
the first place. The day after, a special squad came with a
trailer, and started digging around a weird hole in the
ground, actually took the hole and later repaired the
pavement, leaving nary a trace.
	<<But, at least it's quiet at night, and I have a whole
squad of police officers guarding my sleep!>> and he
chuckled at his own joke.
	He started moving his things to lay down, when he heard
a noise not too far away from his place; it was weak, but
after paying attention for a while he heard it again. Se
kept quiet, waiting for someone to come out of the darkness
around, thinking maybe somebody had known of his invasion or
another derelict had found this place, but no one emerged.
	He kept paying attention and started walking closed to
the source, trying to keep as quiet as possible. After
covering a few yards he recognized the sound, breathing! and
also, it came from a litter of cardboard boxes and refuse
he'd seen before, it was here when he came in the first
night, kind of strange he didn't pay any attention to it the
first time.
	He crept closer, until he was just in front of them; he
could hear a hollow rattling, like the breathing of a very
sick person.
	<<Who could it be?>> he thought. <<That I know of, nobody
has come into this alley>>.
	Carefully, he tried to get a look into the boxes but
quickly decided against it, since it was quite obvious that
he couldn't even fit his head in there. He sat back, and
tried to analyze what he could see. He seemed tall, because
he was sleeping in a large box, seems like a refrigerator
box, and his feet came out of the bottom. He wouldn't have
seen them though, 'cause he pulled close another box and
stuck them in there; and there was a lot of paper and refuse
around him, he was well hidden.
	<<Do I wake him? Maybe he won't like the idea, and
besides, it isn't my business... maybe the police are
looking for him.>> but those thought didn't make much sense
to him. Most probably, he was just another vagrant that had
found a nice place to sleep here.

	That same night, very late, he felt a movement. He woke
up suddenly, but didn't move. He heard a sound, a moan or
something like that, someone in a lot of pain... and then,
a stranger pulling himself out of the boxes. Distinctly,
almost as if it was daytime, he saw in his minds eye how he
crawled out out the boxes, moved a yard or two, tried to
climb to his feet and failed miserable falling back to his
knees, and threw up, right there, violent and painfully,
until it seemed that his guts were going to come out next. A
few minutes later he was still there, heaving even though he
didn't have anything left to throw out. Just watching, he
could almost feel the waves of pain coming to him.
	After what seemed an eternity, he returned to his
boxes, lay down in them and fell asleep. He didn't hear
anything else, so he rolled up in a ball, "relaxed and
thought pleasant thoughts".

[just for you Ren & Stimpy fans :) -elf]

[Morisato residence]

	"So, what was the dream about, Urd?" Belldandy asked...
and everybody looked at Urd, in anticipation. Keiichi looked
over his bowl, Skuld stopped her calculations, arching her
eyebrows.
	"Oh, nothing much. It was just a dream after all" she
said with a smile, "don't worry about it." and she continued
her breakfast. Everyone else returned to what they were
doing.
	Urd crept slowly towards Skuld, who was occupied over
some new design. Suddenly she snatched it from her and ran
away.
	"Hey! Give that back!" Skuld yelled.
	"Catch me if you can!" Urd retorted, and when Skuld was
close enough, she did a little jump, expecting to become
five or six mini-Urds... and nothing happened. She was
standing very still in the hallway, not making a single
noise. Even Skuld remained quiet, fully knowing what
happened, or more correctly, what didn't happen.
	Belldandy peeped out of the kitchen, fully expecting to
see her sisters in a ruckus, and instead she saw something
totally different. Urd was in the hallway, standing stone-
still, she had a paper in her hands with Goddess-knows what
written on it, and an expression of shock on her face.
	"This was bound to happen sooner or later" Urd said
softly. Her expression softened a bit and tears came to her
eyes. She quietly turned around and saw Skuld.
	"Here, Skuld-chan. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have taken
it." Urd said, returning the plans.
	"Oneesan," Skuld began.
	"No, don't" Urd said, putting her fingers on Skuld's
lips, "I just need a while alone to think this over. Please?"
	Skuld saw the pain in her face, and let her go. Urd
turned towards the garden and walked out, her head low from
the sadness. Maybe some wind elemental felt her pain and wanted
to cry with her, because the wind started to pick up slowly,
until it was stirring around the leaves in the garden.
	"What happened?" Belldandy asked, walking up to Skuld.
	"She tried to discorporate into smaller selves, and it
just didn't work. Nothing. Not even a power request." Skuld
said, mopping a tear that had crept out of her eye.
	They watched as Urd walked to the large cherry tree and
sat down on the ground, her back to the tree.
	"What's with the weather?" Keiichi was asking when he
saw the girls on the doorstep, looking into the garden,
"What happened?"
	"Urd tried a spell" Belldandy said, knowing fully that
he'd understand.
	"Oh... There's nothing we can do?"
	Belldandy looked at him, into his eyes. "You're such a
nice guy, you know that? But no, we can't do anything about it.
What time is it?"
	"Ah! I brought your books, we better get going or we're
going to be late. Is she going to be alright?"
	"Yes, I think so." turning towards Skuld, "Take care
of her, please? Although I think she needs a while to think
this over. See you in the afternoon, OK?"
	"See you later, oneechan."


[Back at the alley, that same day]

	The next morning he crept close to the boxes. Walking
close to the place where the sleeper did his dirty deed last
night, he saw turned his face away, having seen that there
was blood splattered on the pavement.
	It was late. He didn't leave the alley, hoping to get a
glimpse of the guy, but it never happened, he didn't wake up
all morning; noon was getting closer and there hadn't been
any signs from him. <<Is he dead? Only one way to find out.>>
He walked over to where the boxes were passing by the place
where he was sick last night. When he looked there, he
turned around, disgusted: there was blood there and chunks of
*something*. Whoever this guy was, he's really down.
	"Hey! You alive?" he said, shaking the box a little
with his hand.
	Nothing. Not a sound, not even a 'leave me alone'. He
shook the box again, and same as the first time, nobody
answered.
	<<Hell, maybe he's dead or something>> he thought,
<<after all, what happened last night didn't seem normal.>>
He pulled out an old rusty knife and started cutting a piece
of the box' top off, at least to see who he was.
	Inside, he found a man in a fetal position, with his
clothes stained in blood. He was big, barely fitting inside
the box; long hair, almost to his waist now that his braid
was undone. He had hiking clothes on, like he was prepared
to travel on foot or something like that.
	<<Where are you from, pal? It seems they threw you into
a cement mixer, like Ishikawa-kun!>> he chuckled to himself.
	The stranger's face was covered by a piece of his
shirt, so he leaned over and uncovered it and pulled his
hand back quickly: his face was covered by black and blue
blotches, full of cuts, a burn mark on his left cheek, his
eyes were shut from the inflammation, from his mouth dribbled
out saliva with a red tinge.
	<<Damn! Poor guy!>> "Who the hell did you mess with,
pal?" he murmured to himself. <<Well, seems to me you won't
be using this for a while>> he thought, and grabbed a
longish pack he had in his hands. And he pulled. And pulled.
And it didn't budge even an inch.
	"What the hell? Aren't you supposed to be dead?" he
said, and pulled harder.
	Nothing.
	<<Well, second plan.>> he thought, and tried to pry the
stranger's fingers off the pack, both the right hand's and
the left's, but it was like trying to bend railroad track
nails, he had an incredible grip on the pack.
	<<Now I know why you're still alive>>
	Then, he heard a voice that seemed to ooze out of a
well of blood:
	[Give...me...a...good...reason...not...to...kill...you]
	"Yaaa!!!" he screamed, and ran backwards until he came
up to the other side wall, where he fell down on his
backside. He saw how the stranger tried to sit up, but he
was too weak so he fell back on his side.
	[Come...closer]
	He couldn't understand a single word the stranger
was saying. He didn't get a chance to get a closer look, but
he did see that he didn't look Japanese, in the least.
	"I don't understand what you're saying!" he shouted
from the other side of the alley.
	<<Japan?? I came all the way to Japan??>> the stranger
thought while he ordered his thoughts. He still hurt all
over. Last night he felt the need to purge his body of all
the garbage it had, produced by internal bleeding and
whatnot; the pain today was a little different from what it
was last time, today it was benign, it was an indication
that he was healing, that there were parts that still didn't
work right, but his body was working on it.
<<So, let's speak Japanese>>
	"Come closer, I won't hurt you" he said in perfectly
fluent Japanese, although somewhat strained.
	<<So, he speaks like a civilized person>> the vagrant
thought. "What do you want?"
	<<Better make this quick>> he thought. "I need water,
and something sweet, the sweeter the better."
	<<Money!...real food...a bottle of sake...something to
sleep with>> he was thinking. "You'll pay me to bring you
some water and... candy??"; he still didn't trust him enough to
get closer.
	"Yes, I need them. Wait..." and slowly, he moved a hand
to a backpack he used as a pillow; painfully, he pulled it
until it was in front of him where he opened a flap.
	The vagrant started to turn away, not knowing what he
was going to pull out, a gun or something; although, how he
was going to use it in the condition he was in was anybody's
guess.
	When it was wide enough he stuck both hands inside; it
was obvious he was doing it all by touch alone. After
searching for something inside, he made a huge effort, like
he was trying to break something.
	When he took out his hands his breathing was quite
labored. After waiting a moment to get his breath back he
asked:
	"What's your name?"
	"Yamada desu" the tramp responded.
	"OK. Yamada-san, take this" he said, and he threw
something at him, something bright and metallic, "and sell
it somewhere, I don't care, in a pawn shop or someone you
might know; take half the money for you, and half is for me.
Fair?"
	Yamada looked closer at what he had in his hand. It was
a chain link, quite heavy, golden... and it seemed quite
soft, after all, he broke it with his hands... <<Gold!! And
half for me?!?>> he thought.
	"What's the catch?"
	"There's no catch, Yamada... >>TRUST ME<<" he said with a
strange and powerful voice.
	Yamada felt the voice enter his head, make echo in his
head, a feeling in his chest not unlike a powerful bass
booster, shaking him all the way to his bones... and then a
great feeling of trust towards this stranger.
	<<Of course he's telling the truth>> he thought. He's
an honorable person that wouldn't do anything wrong. He
started walking away, wondering.
	"Ah! Yamada-san" the stranger said from his "bed", "My
name is German, and it would be a lot better if nobody knew
I was here. And thank you." and went promptly to sleep again.


[Time passes by quickly. We see various shots, scattered across several
days, add nice quiet but soulful background music, like the theme played
while Keiichi & Belldandy can't get close together during the anime.]

First sequence:

- Yamada-san is rapt, listening to German speak about many
of his adventures. Sometimes he's laughing, sometimes he's
scared, others he's sad.

- Urd is lying back on the temple's roof, deep in thought,
watching the stars wink on and off in the dark blue evening
sky; a slight breeze swishes her platinum locks this way and
that; next to her there's an untouched bottle of sake and a
shot glass.

- German, alone in the alley, is trying to stand up helping
himself with his walking stick. He struggles mightily, sweat
breaks on his forehead, he shakes violently but his legs
still can't support him. His face still has some bruises,
and where his arms and legs show we see that they're still
covered with deep purple ones, he still hasn't finished
healing. After a while he gives up and stays seated, a
resigned expression on his face.

- Urd is looking into her wardrobe, moving clothes this way
and that, looking for something. She sees hanging the little top
with miniskirt she usually wears but she pushes it aside,
pulling out instead a nice cream-colored sun dress that
reaches down to her calves. After donning it, she leaves
with Belldandy, Skuld and Megumi, maybe out shopping.

- German tries to stand up again, he holds on to his walking
stick like his life depended on it, he sweats visibly,
grimacing with pain while he pulls himself to his feet.
Slowly he makes it, only to double over again and fall to
the ground, convulsing, clutching his abdomen, curling into
a fetal position.

- Urd is at Nekomi Tech, at the auto club, with Belldandy
and Keiichi. She seems to be observing only, watching
quietly "from the sidelines", while Belldandy and Keiichi
discuss something with the rest of the club. Belldandy turns
toward Urd and says something, asking her a question, Urd
simply motions with her hands like saying "It's OK, you go
ahead, I'll watch" with a quiet smile on her lips.

- German and Yamada-san are talking at night by a small
fire, German seems to be explaining something to Yamada, who
simply nods. After they eat quietly, Yamada helps German
stand up and walk to his makeshift bed; his face seems to be
free of bruises, as are his hands.

- Urd is walking down the sidewalk, it's a downcast and wet
day, not quite raining, but almost there. She seems to be
thinking of something, not paying attention to where she's
going. Suddenly, she seems to perk up, she cocks her head,
like searching for a slight sound, and follows it to the
street's edge. She hunkers down and picks something up, the
camera doesn't pick it up since she turned around to pick it
up. When Urd returns home she walks into the kitchen finding
there the rest of the troop and pulls out of her sweater a
mewling kitten, it's eyes wide open. She holds it with
great care, as if it were made of the finest china.
Everybody's surprised with Urd's show of compassion and
they crowd her, trying to get a better look and the gray-
with-white-socks infant.

- It's a sunny day, the camera pans from the blue sky slowly
towards an alley. German is slowly walking around, helping
himself with his walking stick. He's still a little
unsteady, but he doesn't tremble like before.

- Belldandy and Keiichi leave for school on the motorcycle
and Urd and Skuld are still sleeping. Suddenly, Urd sits up
quite startled and grabs something off the screen in the
general direction of her feet; when she returns she has a
gray kitten in her hands, swatting playfully at her. She
lays back again and curls around the cat, who promptly
falls asleep with her.

- German is hunched down, doing something. When the camera
turns around, we see he's writing on a scrap of paper,
beautiful stylized kanji and kana. He's writing his farewell
notice for Yamada, who's become quite fond of him and his
stories. "It's time for me to go" it says, "I've healed
enough to walk, and I must not impose on your kindness
anymore. I owe you my life. If you should ever need my help,
wish for me using this amulet, I'll come to you as fast as I
can. Thank you for everything, my friend. Sayonara."
He takes a small bundle from his backpack and places it on
the note. After putting everything in Yamada's sleeping
area, he slowly walks away from the alley.

- Urd walks into the bathroom, sleepy eyed and (beautifully)
disheveled. The camera concentrates on the mirror. Urd
passes between the camera and the mirror, heading somewhere
else; after a moment she returns, peeks at the mirror before
splashing water on her face; suddenly she straightens,
looking carefully at her reflection, there's *something* amiss...
and she touches her forehead, and then under her eyes, the marks
are almost gone, they're so faint that they can't be easily seen.
She remains in shock for a moment, and then she sighs deeply,
grabs a towel to dry her hands and face and walks out.

[In some corporate office]

	"So, have you found anything about that incident
downtown?"
	"Well, the investigators determined that the
'crater' had to be created by some superheated object, over
fifty thousand degrees centigrade. We don't know who, how or
why though."
	"I'd appreciate it if you people would work quicker
on that, I want to know who is involved in this, who had the
equipment to make it without detonating some kind of bomb in
the vecinity."
	"Yes sir."

[Outside]

	It's a sunny day, blue sky, a light breeze blowing,
the birds are singing. German has been walking around,
enjoying the feeling of being on his feet again. He looks
out of place here, a character with a long braid down his
back, dusty looking travel clothes a little torn here and
there, a backpack on his back and a walking stick in his right
hand. He seems more of a medieval wanderer than a modern traveler.
	It's a wonderful feeling, being free again, not
having to worry about those damn people searching for him,
destroying his personal life. Right now, he doesn't have a
care in the world, like those ancient days back then,
*those* were days of adventure. He doesn't have a
destination in mind yet, maybe the sento in a while, but
right now, just drinking in the sunlight is more that
enough, hearing the birds, watching people run around doing
whatever it is they have to do.
	<<Life is good, maybe painful sometimes, but good>>
he thinks while he walks towards a quite section of town.

	Urd feels restless. It was quite a shock seeing that
the Goddess-marks were gone. Skuld got up and went into the
kitchen, where they both talked over breakfast.
	"So, what do we do now?" Skuld asked.
	"I don't know. Keiichi and Belldandy are at school,
they won't be back until later. Lets go out for a walk, what
do you say?"
	"OK, there's nothing better to do. Just let me
change and I'll come right out." Skuld said and jumped up,
trotting off to her room.
	Urd looked towards the TV, wondering if she should
have a look... <<Naa, besides, only the soaps are on at this
hour.>>

[I don't know if there are soap operas in Japan, but over
here (Mexico) and in the US there are, so, if there aren't
any, flame me :) -elf]

	Skuld returned, looking as cute as ever. "So, where
are we going?"
	"I don't know, to the park maybe, I just want to
feel the sun on me for a while. Besides," and here she gets
down and picks up the playful kitten, "I want to take out
Mii-chan for a while."
	"OK, let's go."

	They both walk out the front door and slowly stroll
down to the main gate, enjoying the silence and the warm
spring day. They leave through the gate and turn towards the
park, thinking about taking some time off doing nothing.

	"Tadaima!!" Belldandy says upon entering the house,
about mid-afternoon.
	"Hmmm... It's awfully quiet Belldandy, I think
nobody's home." Keiichi says.
	"Yes, I wonder where they might be."
	"Don't worry, I'm sure they just went for a walk or
something like that." <<Besides, this gives me a little
while to be alone with Belldandy...>>

	"...it was kinda nice, wasn't it?" Urd asked,
walking with Skuld down the sidewalk.
	"Yes, it was. Who was that guy anyway?"
	"I don't know. Maybe some fellow from the auto club
at Nekomi tech."
	"Are you really going to call him back?"
	"Of course not silly! Besides, he's not my type,
too... chunky, yeah, that's it. I like'em lean and mean."
	"Ooh, you're mean."
	"Not really. You see, he doesn't expect me to call
him, so I won't."
	"How do you figure that?"
	"It's all in the body languaje Skuld, you really do
need a few years to perfect it, stick with me and you'll
learn quickly."
	"Uhhh... hey, look at the time, maybe Belldandy and
Keiichi returned. I hope there's something to eat..."
	"Don't worry, I'm sure she made something. Besides,
I'm sure Keiichi is hungry and we're almost home ... Skuld?"
	Suddenly Skuld wasn't waslking next to her. Urd
turned around and saw that she was lying on the ground,
unconscious.
	"Skuld! What's wrong!?" She knelt next to her,
checking her to see if anything was amiss, maybe she was
sick... <<no, scratch that, it takes more than a cold to drop
us. Damn! I can't sense a thing without my powers!>>
	Then, she felt herself flying, but not in the normal
sense of the word. Actually, it felt a lot more like being
lifted by the neck, by somebody much more powerful than her.
	"So, the mighty Urd brought low! What are you going
to do to me now? Not much I think, at least not without your
powers..." Marrlr said.
	"D..a..m..n..y..o..u.." Urd managed to say.
	"Oh, don't worry about your little sister, she's
just sleeping, better worry about yourself, you owe me big
time Urd..." and with that, she squeazed her neck just a
little more, cutting off any replies.

	Nearby, German was walking quietly enjoying the day
when he felt himself suffocate, he distinctly felt how his
air was being cut off, like someone squeazing his windpipe,
not letting him breath.
	At first he started to feel faint, he leaned against
a wall and put his hands to his neck, making sure that
nobody was actually trying to kill him. People started to
shoot alarmed looks at him, but after a moment he smiles
reassuringly to those who offered him help.
	<<Damn>> he thought, quite serious now, <<I can
still feel it, someone's fingers at mi neck squeazing, but
nobody's here...>>
	Suddenly, the certainty of it hit him with the force
of a freight train, it was undeniable, the feelings were
here, somebody was trying to kill him, but it wasn't him
they were killing it was...
	<<A soulmate? This soon??>>

===========================================================

	Well, this is the end of part 2. I'll be writing
part 3 quite soon (if school lets me) because I want to know
what happens as much as you :) I'll post it before November
is over.

	Like Ichinohei Hitomi san said:

	Please FLAME ME!! I request back up.. I mean, feedback :)
Anything! Surreal settings, grammar, too boring, my preference
of Pepsi over Coke, ANYTHING!!

	Anyway, my email address is:

	gcordova@ccr.dsi.uanl.mx

	and any and all mail is read, analized, threat-assesed,
archived, and (most probably) replied-to.

	Bye!

-gus
--
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a.k.a. RangerElf      | gcordova@uanl.mx	 | irc@cyberbrain.dsi.uanl.mx
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