First of all, thanks to all of you who submitted C&C. 
I've made lots of little changes to each chapter, but
nothing that requires a re-read.  However, Gentleman
Caller made the observation that Troubadour would have
never given up Urd that easily, and I had to agree. 
Hence, a new Epilogue to C&C!

Brian

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

"Born Again"

Part 1 
Chapter 4 
"Ender's Game"

By Brian Welch 
bwelchz7@yahoo.com

Based on the manga Aa! Megami-sama 
(Ah! My Goddess!/Oh My Goddess!)

The wonderful world of Aa! Megami-sama was created by
Fujishima Kosuke.  Aa! Megami-sama/Oh My Goddess!
characters are copyright Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo, Studio
Proteus, and Dark Horse Comics, Inc.

-----

EPILOGUE to Part 1:

Urd heard the music before she saw him.  Fortunately,
he wasn't singing.  For a moment, the simple beauty of
the piece almost made her reconsider this.

"Urd!" Troubadour cried, setting aside his instrument
as she landed beside him.

"Hi, Troub, nice tune."

"Thank you.  Why do you look so serious, Urd my love?"

"We need to talk.  No, it's more like I need to talk."

"Oh?  What about?"

"About us.  I've been doing a lot of thinking about
our
old relationship and, well, it's time we formally
called it off."

"Why, Urd?  I'm here, now.  I can give you all the
attention you deserve!"

"It isn't you, it's me, Troub.  I can't get over the
fact that you ever put anything ahead of me.  There
was a time when I wondered if after you had your
license and we had more time together, if I could put
aside my anger.  But I can't."

"Urd..."

"If we were together, I'd always be remembering the
past.  Every time you had to renew your license or
somebody mentioned it, it would remind me, and I'd
hate
you for it.  You don't deserve that.  It's like you
said the first time you left.  Pursuing your license
is
what plum tree spirits do.  Just like all the gods and
goddesses, they're expected to get their licenses."

"I would support you in getting your first class 
license any way I could, Urd.  You wouldn't have to do

it alone."

"I'm not talking about my license here, Troubadour,
I'm
talking about our places in the grand scheme of
things.  You play by the rules, do what's expected of
a plum tree spirit.  I can't be like that.  If I have
to spend the rest of eternity as a Goddess Second
Class then so be it, but I will never be a regular
goddess."  Even the Almighty couldn't seal away my
demonic heritage.  "You need to find yourself a
regular goddess, one who can do regular goddess things
with you.  I'll never be that goddess, and if we're
together I'll hate both of us every day because I'm
not."

"No, you're wrong." Troubadour said.  "You're the only

goddess for me.  You're unique, Urd.  There isn't 
another goddess in Heaven like you.  I know in the
past I haven't been as attentive as you wanted, but
things are different, now.  We'll work this out,
you'll see!"  

"You're too hard on yourself, Troub.  Other than that 
jealousy thing you've always been a nice guy.  You'll 
find someone else."

"No, I won't!  There is no one else but you, Urd.  
Give me a chance to prove myself!"

"It won't work, Troub.  Why can't you see that?  I 
can't go back to being that young goddess who sat 
underneath a tree and exchanged gifts with you.  I 
don't know why, I just can't."  Have I been spoiled by

Belldandy and Keiichi?  Are my expectations too high? 

Troubadour stared past Urd, out to the horizon.  After

a while, he turned his eyes back to her.  "Is it 
another god, then?  I don't care.  I'll never give you

up, Urd."

"What?  Of course there isn't another god!  This is 
about me, not you or any other god.  It's my problem."

Troubadour rose to his feet.  "Something else, then,
is causing you to turn your heart from me.  What is
it, Urd?  Tell me."

"Haven't you listened to a word I've said?  This is 
about ME!"  Urd sighed and shook her head.  "Even now,

you aren't concerned about what I want, are you?  
You're still doing what _you_ want to do.  Nothing has

changed."

"Urd, I only want what's best for us."

"There is no 'us', Troubadour."  Urd blinked back a 
tear.  "Not any more."

"Urd..." Troubadour reached out and began to pull her 
into an embrace.

Urd pulled away.  The movement dislodged tears which 
ran down her cheeks.  She wiped the tears with the
back of a hand.  Damn, I swore I wasn't going to cry. 
 

"Urd, I can understand you're upset.  We can talk
about this later.

"No, there isn't going to be a later.  Goodbye,
Troub."  Urd turned and, springing into the air, raced
away.

Finally within the comfort of the home she shared with

her sisters and walked to her room.  "Well, whether 
that idiot realizes it or not, it's time for me to
move on."  She stopped in front of the single table in
the room and opened an ornate box.  Removing a
bracelet, she looked one last time at the inscription
inside the band, 'To Urd from Troubadour'.  She placed
the bracelet gently inside the box and closed the lid.
 "I only wish I knew how or where to."  

-----

THE END of Part I

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

OK, OMG fans, I know this ended sadly.  Don't worry, 
though, this is about as low as it's going to get, I 
promise.  Belldandy will be cheery and Urd will be 
irrepressible again before you know it.

The biggest surprise for me in Part 1 was how much fun
I had writing Peorth.  She makes a wonderful foil for
both Belldandy and Urd, since she combines the
carefree
nature of Urd with some of the insightfulness of
Belldandy and isn't afraid to use both to the
consternation of those around her.  I've never been
much of a Peorth fan, but she's definitely grown on
me.

When did Skuld save Keiichi from Peorth?  Well,
Skuld's
memory of events may be a little colored, here.
Actually she once tried to Skuld bomb both Peorth and
Keiichi when she discovered Peorth waking Keiichi up
in
her usual manner.  However, the end result was that
Keiichi was able to escape.

For those who have read the Dark Horse translation,
Troubadour was incorrectly described as a cherry tree
spirit when he first appeared in the manga.  The
second time he appeared in DH he was correctly
described as a plum tree spirit, giving the impression
it was 2 different guys when actually it was
Troubadour both times.


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