Plague of Skulds Part 3 of 8 An Oh! My Goddess Fanfic By Jim Nutley jnutley@lvnexus.net Please send me comments! Good or Bad. All characters created by Kosuke Fujishima were used without permission, as were characters from products by Studio CLAMP and Bandai. This story may not be sold. Many thanks to Brett Handy for allowing me to use his character Brett, God of Destiny. Many thanks to Lloyd Goodbar for allowing me to use his character Riana, a Goddess of Relief Goddess Office. Please do not repost this fanfic, since I will be modifying it in response to comments from the ML. I will make a repostable version available when I have had a chance to respond to comments. ************** Later that afternoon, Belldandy and Keiichi staked out lounge chairs and a table with an umbrella near the 'landing' pool, while Skuld and Terai went on every waterslide. Keiichi only had one swimsuit, which was rarely used anyway. Belldandy had her first swimsuit on, a pink and white one piece. The implied reference to their first trip to the beach was not wasted on Keiichi. While the girls were away though, Belldandy was giving Keiichi a somewhat censored account of the morning's activities. "... and then a shoe store and a Kimono/Bridal shop and then finally the Ice Cream parlor, where Skuld ate her own and more than half of Terai's bowl, seven scoop bowls at that." "No wonder she had such a small helping of noodles for lunch," commented Keiichi. "Do you think Terai's having a good time?" "Oh yes, everything is interesting to her. I think we're making a very good impression." replied Belldandy. Groups of squealing children were climbing out of the water and running back to the entrance lines for the various waterslides, dispight signs and adults imploring them not to run. It was noisy and a little crowded. "Not quite as nice as that first trip is it?" said Keiichi. "Well, we're not free and on our own, and its not as beautiful for scenery" said Belldandy, "but there are lots of smiling faces." "Not including yours." Keiichi noticed, "What's wrong Belldandy?" "I was remembering our first trip to the beach, and how frightened I was for you, ..." Belldandy put her hand to her face. "After Sayokosan slapped me and said I was troublesome to you I began to wonder if ..." "SHE WHAT!?!", Keiichi was on his feet, really looking ready to attempt some kind of violence, quite unusual for him, and everyone for fifty meters around turned to look at them. Belldandy turned her blue eyes on Keiichi. "Please sit down Keiichisan, let's continue quietly." "You never said ...", Keiichi found his way back to his chair with one hand, he calmed down quickly as his mind connected the next scene in the story. "And then I ...,Belldandy how could you forgive me?" Keiichi slumped in his chair and looked at the ground. The people around them resumed their own activities. "There's nothing you did to forgive, Keiichisan." Belldandy had that beautific, pure aura palatably about her, so that it was almost impossible to do anything but smile at her and nod agreement, Keiichi however was looking at his feet. "No Belldandy, I was careless and reckless. I didn't tell you or Urd that I couldn't swim because I was afraid to embarrass myself in front of you." Keiichi drew himself up like he was marching to an unpleasant fate. "I shouldn't have trusted Urd so completely on just her word she was your sister. Even accepting the sunscreen oil from her was too much. I ..." "Keiichisan!" Belldandy had lost her supernatural calm. "The sunscreen oil was Urd's?" Startled by her change in attitude, Keiichi lost track of the speech he was trying to recite, "Um ... Yeah, she gave it to me just before you joined me under the umbrella." "Keiichisan did you know what would have happened, ... How I would have acted if, ..." "She said it would make you all 'Mellow Mellow'." Keiichi said sheepishly. Moments before he had been resigned to sacrificing his pride for her happiness, he now found himself actually in trouble with her, although somewhat different trouble than expected. He studied her carefully to see what would happen next. Even then though, he was surprised by her reaction, since Belldandy almost never in his memory had blushed. "Oh Keiichisan, do you have any idea what would have happened to me if you actually had rubbed me all over with that oil?" "No." "I know what would have happened to me." injected an unwelcome voice. As if called by the mention of her name, Urd swept up to the table, wearing a French cut two piece bikini that could only be called skimpy, and over that a transparent wrap that concealed nothing, in fact it was damp in just the right places to cling in a fashion that ..., well you know ..., oh never mind. Urd breezed into the conversation without an invitation. "I would have gathered my 'fan club' around me in one of those shady nooks we use for breaks among the roots of the Yggdrasil facility, where the water flows out of the wells to make pretty little waterfalls, and described your public deflowering in minute detail. I can hear me now, '...but really ladies I was so shocked when she immolated both their swimsuits with White Flame. He was as surprised not to be hurt as he was to find himself naked, poor little thing. And no, that's not a reference to his manhood, not by this time anyway. Then she sort of slithered all over him, she's my sister after all. I guess it had just been building up inside of her all this time, ...' he he he he." Urd looked from her sister to Keiichi and back, gratified to see that they were both blushing as red as the Rising Sun. "Keiichisan," Belldandy whispered after a long moment, "If you'll go buy us some drinks, I have money in my purse,..." "No No, I have money with me." Keiichi stood up, grateful for the chance to put his mind on calmer thoughts. "Two soda pops and a Kirin, Yes?", too which Belldandy nodded and Urd gave the OK hand sign. Keiichi hurried away. "Oh Urd," Belldandy began, "I can just hear Freyja, and Idunn and Fulla laughing their heads off while you highlight every embarrassing detail. How could you even contemplate doing..." "How did he take it?" interrupted Urd. "What do you mean?" "Our visitor, how did Keiichi react to your explanation?" "Well, the right moment hasn't presented itself." "Oh No? Well this will be a better story than the last. There they all are, billions of human souls milling about while they wait their turn to be escorted through The Door, to their eternal rewards. And there in the crowd is the Goddess Belldandy, begging the pardon of the virgin spirit of her would be lover. 'I meant to tell you your world was in imminent danger Keiichisan, but the right moment didn't come...'" Belldandy frowned. "Urd, that's unfair to Terai, and even my patience with you is running thin." Urd's expression and tone hardened in turn. "You've been with her all morning, and she hasn't slipped once?" "She did, but it was nothing, some clothes knocked on the floor. I put them back and no one noticed." "I noticed the gravity anomaly all the way back at the temple, which makes me wonder if Malher or someone else may come looking to see what's going on. And you say you put it back?" Urd snapped her fingers, and a reddish globe of light appeared between them, it hovered there while Urd muttered something under her breath, then she snuffed it like a candle flame. "Between that and making the Temple glow, which you renew every morning when you get up, you've used more than half you're daily energy budget. And tonight you'll renew the protection wards with the rest and probably some of your reserve, then collapse and sleep like the dead. Does this sound like any class one Goddesses you know?" "I'll be fine Urd" "No. You've got some kind of variation on the theme of Anorexia. You've been stretching yourself to the limit of your magical energy but doing nothing to increase what you have. There's at least ten ways you could draw power from your surroundings which you never use. If you have to be a straight arrow about it, you could appeal to have your Seal modified to allow a larger power flow, but you'd rather go on falling down every time you have to extend yourself." "Urd stop this! I'm not..." "Not going to be ordered about by your half-breed half-sister?" "Urd!" "Well even half-breeds have their sources of information. You're reluctant to tell him who's visiting, when do you plan to tell him why Kamisama lets you stay?" Minutes before, Belldandy had been blushing red, now she quickly went pale. "Urd you wouldn't, ... you wont tell him." "Doesn't he deserve to know?" "He thinks he did this of his own free will!" "He did. That's obvious." "If you tell ... I mean if he learns, he'll think he's a pawn." "He IS a pawn, what mortal hasn't been a pawn, from the beginning of the universe?" "THAT'S not fair to Kamisama!" "I'm talking about what's fair to you. You have a higher purpose down here, higher than granting a shy boy a wish, or letting your childhood crush bloom." Urd's face softened a little, and her expression took on a hint of irony. "Higher even than keeping your wicked, older stepsister from Falling. So when are you going to give yourself enough power to do your job?" Seeing her sister back off a little, Belldandy relaxed, and found her smile, though it was soft and a little sad. "I've always loved you Urd, you're my own dear sister." Urd's expression of irony deepened. "With Fenrir the Wolf beside me and Keiichi in a bottle in my cape, you still loved me? Damned if I can figure out why." Even Belldandy could tease on occasion. With a much bigger smile and a shrug she said, "I'm just silly that way." That comment brought a smile back to Urd's face, but just for a moment. "I'm serious about you getting more power. I promise not to tell Keiichi anything, but now I want your promise to appeal for more energy. You'll send the complete request in before the end of the week." "It will take longer than that to fill out the forms." "Not if Hollybell helps. You can give her the basic idea and she can draft it while you sleep." "I shouldn't misuse her that way." "If you don't," Urd made her eyes really big and spoke in a parody of a little girl's voice, "I'll go everywhere looking very very pitiful and tell people, 'Wahh, my sister is abusing herself'." "All right Urd, You win. You can look over the draft request tomorrow morning." Belldandy smiled a happy if resigned smile and 'pitiful' Urd was replaced with the usual one. Urd still went for the last word though. "I ought to make you break your Seal, so you could contain her if she looses it, but I'll settle for no more 'BellWimpy'; and tonight, since you don't trust me to do it for you, you'll draw some of my power for yourself before setting the wards. Ah, what's this?" Urd turned away from her younger sister to face the approach of her youngest sister. Skuld, dripping wet, came up to the table looking a little bit green and at least as pitiful as Urd had pretended to be a moment before. "Oneesama, I been taking Terai down all the slides backwards and spinning and nothing I'm doing is making her the least bit nauseous!" "Why would you want her nauseous Skuld?" asked Belldandy? "She doesn't understand what the word means and I can't explain it to her." "Even I'm not that stupid!", Urd butted in, "You can't possibly make her motion sick. She masses Billions of Tons! All you've got here is her personality projection, if we squeezed it into a pachinko ball and ran her through a machine at Mach 1 all she'd do is squeal and say 'Do it again!'." Skuld slumped , "That's exactly what she's saying now." >From the line to the Super Double Twister slide, Terai called out to Skuld. "Come On Skuld!" Skuld groaned and headed off in that direction, turning just a little greener. "I never thought I'd say 'I had too much Ice Cream!'." As Skuld left, Keiichi came back, looking much more composed. He served the Goddesses their drinks and opened his own can. Both Belldandy and her sister seemed very calm and relaxed. Was that a good sign or a bad sign for him? Finally, he broke the seeming silence. "Are you still mad, Belldandy?" "Mad?" "At me?" he asked. "About what?" said Urd, deadpan, and for emphasis, she raised her eyebrows and leaned in his direction. "Umm, Ahh, ..", Keiichi looked at Belldandy, who looked serene but confused by his remark. He looked at Urd, who might herself be mad or might just be trying to get him to shut up. "Nothing, I hope", was all he could think of to say. ************* Yamano Satoko had spent all day in the Electronics Lab on Nekomi Tech campus, she was working on a research project for one of the professors. As the day went by she came out of the lab only to use the restroom and to eat her lunch in the break room. It was strange that each time she stepped out of the lab, she saw one of her male classmates, Kagata-san. She didn't know his given name. She wasn't aware that he had been hired by any of the professors or had any other business in the Electrical Engineering building during summer break, but that didn't mean he hadn't. Satoko never spoke to Kagata-san, and had made a point of avoiding him or silently discouraging him from speaking to her. Which might not be fair, she reflected, except that every time she'd seen him since the beginning of the school year he seemed to be looking at her, and his expression when looking at her made her skin crawl. She tried hard to focus on her work, but as the afternoon wore on she began watching the clock, looking forward to meeting Ootaki this evening even more than usual. *************** The sun was setting when the three Goddesses, Keiichi, and Terai came back on Nekomi campus. Keiichi and Belldandy would ride back to the Temple in the sidecar motorcycle, while Urd, Skuld and Terai caught the train. Belldandy had promised them an excellent dinner by the time they got home. Terai was still finding a thousand things to ask questions about, but at least, thought Skuld, she's asking everyone, not just me. As the group crossed the street from the city into the campus, A voice called out, "Morisato, you've added another girl to your collection again." "Wha...?" Keiichi spun around, "Ah! Ootaki-sempai." "Has Tamiya got you working on another club project?" asked Ootaki. "Yes, but I took the afternoon off to help show our guest around. This is Terai, Skuld's friend. Terai, this is Ootaki, one of my sempai." "How do you do." said Terai, bowing. "Quite pleased to meet you", said Ootaki, returning the bow yet. "Morisato's house is a very good one to visit, no girl who's come to visit him has ever left, except for his own little sister." "Those are spark plugs, on the rings through your ears?" asked Terai. "That's right." "Spark plugs are an important part of internal combustion engines, Yes?", Terai continued. "I can't stand it.", muttered Skuld into her hand. The evening was pierced by a woman's scream. "Where did that come from?", said Keiichi as he snapped his head around. "Satoko!", gasped Ootaki, "I'm supposed to meet her in front of the Electrical Engineering building!" The men took off in a run, with the Goddesses and Terai right at their heels. They came around the corner to the entrance of the nearby building, and sprinted up to the entryway steps. Nothing was to be seen, but then the noises of a struggle became apparent behind one of the shrubs to one side of the stairs. Ootaki dived into the bush, with Keiichi just behind him. As the Goddesses angled for a better look, four figures, arms and legs flailing, came crashing out into the open, with Ootaki shouting the word 'Bastard' at the top of his lungs. Satoko managed to separate herself from the fight a moment later, and took a gasping breath as she peeled the thin rope from around her neck, where it had left a bloody gouge. Belldandy and Urd were immediately at her side. Then a wave of heat struck everyone, like a solid burning wall. "He hurt her," Terai's voice was quietly, terribly calm. "... on purpose." An eyeblink later, there was a hole in the air where Terai had been, and out of the hole burst unimaginable fire.