Special Assignment by Bill Heineman

Aa! Megami-sama and the characters therein are the property of Fujishima
Kosuke (Japan) and Dark Horse Comics and Studio Proteus (USA)

I don't own these characters. I'm not making a dime on this.


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Belldandy sat on the couch staring off into space while being held in
Keiichi's arms. Her cheeks had trails of dried tears that she had lost
interest in cleaning off. She sighed with her head against her boyfriend's
chest as she waited for the phone to ring for her next assignment.

Skuld sat forlorn across from her sister with her hammer leaning against the
wall gathering dust. She had just returned from her assignment and refused
to speak to anyone on how it went. Urd was watching a blank TV screen,
having no interest to turn it on but still in the habit of keeping her eyes
glues to the tube.

The phone rang as it had done every twenty minutes or so. Urd spoke softly.
"It's your turn Bell."

Belldandy nodded and then picked up the receiver. She answered in her happy
voice as best as she could, considering the circumstances. "Hello?" She
cheered up at the voice on the other end but was still saddened by the news.

"Yes. I see." She dropped her eyes toward the ground and gave a hint of a
sad face. "Thank you Kami-sama. I love you too." She hung up the phone and
closed her eyes in despair.

Urd and Skuld knew what the assignment was since that was what all they've
been getting the past few days. Recent events had overburdened another
branch of Heaven and the three were temporarily assigned to help out until
things settled down. Belldandy took a deep breath then stood up straight
with Keiichi holding her shoulders for support. "I can't keep him waiting."
She walked up to the hall mirror and waved her hand to activate her method
of transport. She hesitated a moment before entering but she knew she had a
job to do. She stepped inside and vanished into the reflective void.

The three remaining people stood vigil at the mirror waiting for their
friend to return so they could comfort her as they comforted each other
during this trying time.


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


The room was covered with dust and broken plaster and the air was filled
with fine white powdered plaster from a recent explosion. Sounds of gunfire
could be heard outside in the street and people shouting as they tried to
find safety in a city gone mad. A giant hole was blasted in the apartment
from a rocket attack that shattered what once was a mother's bedroom.

On the floor, a middle-aged woman lay with her eight-year-old son cradling
her still body. Large chunks of concrete covered the smashed furniture and
some small pieces of wood still smoldered from the fire that had died out
half an hour ago. The little boy was gently pushing his mother trying to
wake her up and failing to get her to stir. A loud explosion was heard
coming from over the horizon interrupting the boy's focus on his mother for
a moment.

As the boy's back was turned, a broken mirror on the wall behind him began
to glow and the goddess of the present emerged and floated to the ground.
She took in the sight around her and wanted to weep.

The little boy heard Belldandy's footstep and turned around to see who made
the sound. He pushed himself into his dead mother's arms in a last ditch
effort to have his parent protect him from danger.

Belldandy smiled as she bent her knees to lower herself to the ground to
look at the small child. "Please don't be afraid."

The boy shivered and shook his mother again to wake her. "Mommy. Please get
up."

The goddess saw the mother had no life aura in her anymore and knew that she
was no longer on this plane of existence. She looked at the wounds and then
at the still smoking hole in the wall and knew exactly what had happened. It
didn't matter which side in this conflict fired the weapon, all that
mattered was that a little boy was denied the comfort of his mother for the
rest of his life. She clasped her hands together in prayer. "I'm sorry."

Outside a car drove by at high speed and hit a pothole in the street making
a loud cracking sound. The street went quiet again with the occasional small
arms fire popping from random directions in the distance. Belldandy spoke
again to the frightened boy. "Everything will be all right. I'm here to help
you."

"H-help me?" The boy stuttered then started to cry. "I want my mommy to wake
up."

She accessed Yggdrasil to check on the fate of his mother. "I'm sorry, but
your mother's gone to a better place." She smiled at the young man. "She's
safe now."

"I wish I could be safe too." The little boy trembled in fear as the sound
of a jet flew overhead reminding him of what was happening around him.

The goddess had mixed feelings about the wish since it was partly why she
was summoned to this room. She was not sent to bestow a wish as part of her
current duty. That wasn't what the department she was working for did.
"That's why I'm here. I'm here to keep you safe." She took the little boy's
hand and gently pulled him away from his mother. At first the boy resisted
but as the warmth of the goddess' hand permeated his skin, he lost his fear
and went into the woman's embrace.

"Don't be afraid little one. I'll take you somewhere where they won't hurt
you anymore." The boy curled up in her arms and she whispered a small spell
that would let the boy fall asleep.

Belldandy did what she knew she shouldn't be doing but she had to ask the
question. She queried the Yggdrasil database on what this child's future
could have been like had the war outside not started. She saw a beautiful
pavilion near the sea that this boy designed thirty years hence. He had
grown into a great architect and created homes and buildings that were
practical works of art. His pavilion by the sea would have been his crowning
achievement and enjoyed by millions of people for over a hundred years.

She stroked the boy's hair and thought of the sheer waste that was around
her. She thought of the boy's mother and checked on what her life would have
been like. The world tree responded and shown her two cute little girls that
would have been born three years from now. Those girls now would have to
wait another time to enter this world if ever because of a twist in fate and
the inability for certain people to live with others in peace.

Belldandy took a step backwards away from the two dead bodies on the floor.
She knew that someone soon would enter the building and take them away to be
burned with the countless others who had died today. Death was busy these
past few weeks and having to be a temporary goddess of death was something
she nor her sisters enjoyed doing but it was a task given to them by
Kami-sama and they did what they were told.

She looked again at the sleeping soul she held in her arms. "Don't worry
little one." She whispered to the little man. "You'll be with your mother
soon."

She gazed at the sky through the hole in the ceiling. "I hope you know what
you're doing Kami-sama."

She took a step into the mirror to take the boy to a place of peace.


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Author's Notes: I just felt like writing this. What a waste. Let's hope this
ends soon so the suffering can finally stop.

Bill Heineman
April 4th, 2003
========================================
burger@contrabandent.com
http://www.contrabandent.com/burgerbill
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