Slices of Life: Ah! My Goddess.
Chapter One: Sigel; Helping Hands.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Ah! My Goddess characters.
Author's note: This is the first of a series of one shot stories from the various points of view of the characters from Ah! My Goddess. The stories take place anywhere along the timeline of the series and are mainly set in the manga storyline. First up, we have, appropriately, the character whose very name means life, Sigel. This story is set a short time after the Angel Eater arc.
I'm not sure how this is supposed to work but here goes. My name is Sigel and this is my computer diary. I hope that's okay.
Anyway, I'm writing this because Miss Belldandy has been encouraging me to put my thoughts down on paper. I suppose the computer will work just as well and she told me it was fine. Essentially I'm supposed to write down everything that I've seen and done for prosperity.
My daily routine is fairly simple; activate at 0900, walk around the grounds and check for any intruders, get chased by that big dummy Banpei (what a creep!), help Mistress Skuld with her inventions, avoid Miss Urd (if possible), spy on Miss Belldandy and Mr. Keiichi and make sure that Mr. Keiichi doesn't lay a hand on Miss Belldandy (sorry Miss Belldandy, it's part of my basic programming by Mistress Skuld), another patrol, more running away from Banpei, having the hammer or pipe wrench taken from me by Mistress Skuld followed by a lecture from her or Miss Belldandy, rest period at 2100.
Lately though I've been trying to vary my routine. Miss Belldandy and Mr. Keiichi have been encouraging me to help out around the house a bit more and go out with them or Mistress Skuld whenever they go somewhere. In fact once a week now I've been going grocery shopping with Miss Belldandy and occasionally Mistress Skuld.
"Because we want you to see, feel, and experience the world outside of the temple a bit more." Miss Belldandy replied when I asked her why one day. She was right. There is so much more to see and do in the real world than what I can learn from downloading information from the internet. My only problem though is that every time we go shopping, I get fussed and fawned over by various people, older women mostly, who think I'm 'just so adorable' or 'the cutest thing'. I usually end up being embarrassed and coming home with pockets weighed down with candy and such that they give me.
Today being a Sunday though, everyone was at home doing various things and I decided to try and help them out with whatever they were doing. As I walked around the grounds I found Mr. Keiichi working on a motorcycle like he always is. Except that this time it wasn't his motorcycle, his old university upperclassmen Mr. Tamiya and Mr. Otaki came by and dropped off this beat up old bike and intimidated, sorry, asked him to 'make it go again' to quote Mr. Tamiya. I'm pretty sure that's what he said anyway, I was busy hiding in Mistress Skuld's workshop at that moment. Those two are scary.
Mr. Keiichi was hunched over the bike, a very battered and abused dirt bike, muttering things like 'why do I let myself get talked into these messes?' and generally cursing his upperclassmen, the bike, the bike's manufacturer, and himself for being such a wimp. I quietly walked up behind him and announced myself. "Can I help?"
He jumped a bit, emitting a startled 'Gah!' as he dropped his socket wrench. I smiled as I picked it up and handed it back to him. "Sigel! Wha-what do you want?" I sighed, Mistress Skuld was right, he really is dense.
"I said, can I help, please?" He stared at me in surprise for a few moments then he smiled.
"Okay, but let's find you a smock or apron so you don't get your dress too dirty all right?" I nodded and he went and found an old blue smock that belonged to Miss Belldandy which was far too big for me. Mr. Keiichi just smiled and rolled up the sleeves for me until they were just below my elbows and then he taped them in place so they wouldn't fall. I couldn't walk very quickly otherwise I'd trip but I was ready.
"Do you know much about bikes?" he asked as we got started.
"No, but I downloaded the specs for this particular model the other day after your friends dropped it off." He looked down at me and then he smiled again as we got to work. "Okay let's see what you can do."
A few hours and two sets of greasy hands later we had traced the problem to the fuel line and fixed it (we hoped) and after cleaning the carburetor and checking the spark plugs we were about to try to start it up.
"Are you ready?" Mr. Keiichi asked as he prepared to kick start the bike.
"Ready!" I shouted back as I stood a safe distance away with my fingers crossed. He grinned and tried to start the bike. Nothing. Undaunted he tried again. The bike made a few noises but it wouldn't start. He made a few adjustments and tried a third time. The bike coughed, sputtered and finally roared into life. I clapped and cheered as Mr. Keiichi took the bike for a quick spin around the yard before coming to a stop and turning off the engine. Miss Belldandy had come out of the house with a camera while he rode around and took several pictures.
"That was amazing Keiichi!" Miss Belldandy exclaimed as she ran up to Mr. Keiichi and hugged him, causing him to blush profusely.
"Well I couldn't have done it without Sigel's help." Mr. Keiichi replied. Now it was my turn to blush a bit as Miss Belldandy smiled and hugged me.
"I was just trying to be helpful like you asked me to Miss Belldandy." I said. She smiled and asked the two of us to pose by the bike while she took several more pictures until she ran out of film.
"If you want to Sigel, you can help me in the kitchen after you clean up a bit okay?" Miss Belldandy asked.
"Sure, if that's all right with you Mr. Keiichi?"
"That's fine. I just need to do some fine tuning before I call Tamiya. Thanks for all your help Sigel." Mr. Keiichi ruffled my hair a bit as he took the tape off so I could take the smock off. I was feeling pretty good as I headed off to wash up a bit.
After I finished washing up I headed back to Mistress Skuld's room to change my blouse before heading to the kitchen. Mistress Skuld was there, tinkering away like she usually was, and her angel, Noble Scarlet, was there as well. Noble Scarlet saw me enter the room and she smiled as she came over and hugged me. I smiled and returned the gesture.
Mistress Skuld had only recently gotten Noble Scarlet back after Hild and Mara had attacked us with this creature called an 'Angel Eater'. Banpei and I had been incapacitated by Hild early in the battle after we helped subdue Mara so I was told about what had happened later on. In fact Noble Scarlet was the first person I saw after I came back online after Mistress Skuld finished repairing me. I don't know which one of us was startled more when I opened my eyes. She looked at me, surprised, and then she smiled and I found myself smiling back. Mistress Skuld introduced us then and we quickly became friends.
"Hi Mistress Skuld!" I called out cheerfully as I walked up to her. She merely grunted in reply as she kept working on some strange device or other. It looked like she had cannibalized the parts from several microwave ovens and was attempting to build a super microwave oven. She'd seen it on an American TV show called Mythbusters and they couldn't make it work. She figured that she could and set out to prove it.
"Did you hear? Mr. Keiichi and I got the bike working." I told her as I changed.
"That's nice." Mistress Skuld replied distractedly as she worked away. I looked over at Noble Scarlet who just shrugged. Mistress Skuld always got this way when she was building something.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked hopefully. She grunted again and kept working. She had been in a rather melancholy mood recently since her friend Sentaro had been on vacation with his parents and she missed him terribly. She just needed to cheer up a bit.
A part suddenly slipped out and fell to the floor. Mistress Skuld grunted in annoyance as she reached down to grab it. "Here, let me…" I began but she snatched the part up before I could grab it.
"Don't touch that!" She growled harshly. I backed up a bit as did Noble Scarlet. "If you want to help me, just go away, all right?" She demanded as she turned her back on me.
I was stunned to say the least, not to mention hurt. "Fine." I whispered as I turned and left the room. As I was shutting the door I noticed Noble Scarlet's sad expression turn to anger as she picked up a heavy-looking book.
As I walked down the hallway feeling dejected I passed by Miss Urd's room where I could hear her mixing up one of her potions. I tried to go past her room as quickly and as quietly as possible to no avail as he door suddenly slammed open.
"Well, well. Thought you could sneak past me again eh?" She grinned as she towered over me. If I could sweat, I'd need to go change my blouse again.
"Um, no I was just heading towards the kitchen and…" I began lamely before she cut me off.
"I noticed that you came out of the brat's room in a hurry. Is anything the matter?" She asked as she took my hand and pulled me into her room. I looked around at the various beakers, test tubes, and such in a mixture of awe and worry as she sat me down on a stool facing her lab bench.
"No, not really, she's just missing her friend Sentaro. And her name is Mistress Skuld, not brat!" That's what I wanted to say, but all I managed to get out was 'no, not really' before she interrupted me again.
"That's what I figured! Now maybe I can help out here with something. Now let's see…" Her voice trailed off as she began looking for some chemicals and other drugs from her well-stocked shelf. She has them arranged and coded in such a way that only she knows what's in the bottles. This is a good thing because I really don't want to know what she has in there.
Meanwhile I was wrestling with a problem of my own; my emotion circuits were at war with my logic circuits. In other words my desire to be helpful was trying to override my common sense and so far my emotions were winning. If Mistress Skuld ever speaks to me again, I'll ask her to fix my emotion circuits. With a hammer. A big hammer.
"Can I help?" I blurted. I covered my mouth quickly and hoped that Miss Urd hadn't heard me, but when she turned to me with a big smile on her face I knew that she had. My logic circuits gave up at that moment. That's it you're on your own. They said.
"See, I knew you agreed with me!" She exclaimed. I was doomed. "Now let's see what we can make here shall we?" We started to work on something anyway, I wasn't sure what. Most likely it was one of her 'love potions' that she is always trying to use on poor Mr. Keiichi and Miss Belldandy. Mistress Skuld had warned me about a few of them, especially the one that turned Miss Belldandy into a 'sex bomb'. I shuddered, I hope that wasn't what she was going to use on Mistress Skuld and Sentaro. I don't think they were ready for that yet.
Another thought occurred to me, how was a potion supposed to help me help Mistress Skuld get over her problems so she would at least talk to me again? I put that question to Miss Urd and was rewarded with a blank stare for my efforts. "I beg your pardon?"
"How is making a potion supposed to get Mistress Skuld to talk to me again? I don't want her to be mad at me anymore that's all." I said to her. Her face darkened a bit.
"Look kid, do you want my help or not?" She demanded angrily.
"Well yes, but this isn't what I need." I replied. She got even madder.
"Fine, be that way then. Get out!" She growled as she stomped over to her door and threw it open. I opened my mouth to protest but shut it again after seeing the look in her eyes. I shuffled out of her room and she slammed the door shut muttering about 'ungrateful brats' as she did so. Totally dejected now, I went down to the kitchen.
"Sigel, what's wrong?" Miss Belldandy asked in concern as I walked in. She indicated a stool by the counter and I sat on it after putting on an apron she handed me.
"It's nothing, really." I tried to brush it off but I could tell she wasn't buying it.
"Was it my sisters? Did they say something to upset you?" She probed. I fidgeted for a few seconds, sighed, and nodded. "Help me mix this batch of cookie dough and tell me all about it okay?" She smiled in that way that she does that breaks down all of your defenses and pointed to a large mixing bowl with what looked like chocolate chip cookie dough. I smiled at her in return.
"Okay 'Just Belldandy'. I replied, grinning. She laughed and hugged me before we got to work. The name 'Just Belldandy' was a private joke between us. A short time after I was first activated, I wandered into the kitchen to find Miss Belldandy preparing that evening's meal and I asked if I could help calling her 'Mistress Belldandy'. She stopped me at that moment and insisted that I not call her 'Mistress' and that I wasn't her servant but her friend and a member of the family. I was shocked by this to say the least but she insisted on being called just Belldandy when we talked.
"Okay Just Belldandy." I replied innocently. She stared at me blinking her eyes for several seconds then she laughed and kissed me on the cheek before we got to work. A short time later she gave me my name, Sigel. I never actually did thank her for that, but I am grateful. It sounds way better than 'Robo-chan' which is what everyone called me at first.
I told her about what happened between me and her sisters, and how I wanted to make it up to them somehow. She assured me that everything would work out and that they both loved me even though they never expressed it themselves. "But there is something else that has been bothering you hasn't it?" She asked.
"No there isn't." I lied. I knew what she was talking about but I didn't want to admit it, even to myself. It was something that had been bothering me ever since the battle with Hild and her Angel Eater.
"Are you sure? If you want to…No Sigel! Don't add too much sugar!" Miss Belldandy exclaimed as I poured a large cup of sugar into the cookie dough mix in my haste. The mix hardened like cement, ruining it.
I threw the wooden spoon across the room in frustration and slumped onto the stool. "I give up! I'm useless! You'd be better off if you deactivated me!"
Miss Belldandy moved over and grabbed me by the shoulders so quickly that I nearly fell of the stool. If it wasn't for her gripping my shoulders like she was, I probably would have. I thought she was going to hit me for a second but instead of anger on her face I only saw sadness and confusion.
"You are not useless Sigel! Why? Why would you think that you were?"
I stared into her face until I couldn't look anymore. "Because I failed you." I whispered, looking at the ground in shame.
"What? What do you mean?" She asked softly.
"I failed you and everyone else when you needed me the most. When the Angel Eater attacked us, I failed to protect everyone." I replied. I had tried to fight Hild after her monster had attacked Miss Belldandy and the others, but she just laughed and nearly fried my brain with an electromagnetic pulse. I wasn't reactivated until nearly three days later and I haven't felt any better since then.
Tears spilled down Miss Belldandy's cheeks as she spoke. "And what could you have done? Hild is more powerful than my sisters, Peorth, and I combined. And her Angel Eater nearly destroyed them. If not for Lind, Skuld, Noble Scarlet, and of course Keiichi working together, the consequences would have been to terrible to contemplate." She paused and wiped some of her tears away. "And you and Banpei may have been killed and I know you wouldn't like to see him hurt." I nodded in agreement.
"But I want to help." I said quietly. Miss Belldandy smiled as she gently kissed me on the forehead before lifting my face up.
"I know you do Sigel. That is your gift and we all love you for it and I hope that you never stop trying to help others. But there is a time that you won't be able to handle something by yourself and that's when you should call upon us, your family, for help." She pointed behind me and I saw that Mistress Skuld, Noble Scarlet, Miss Urd, Mr. Keiichi, and even Banpei had come into the room while we were talking. I looked back at Miss Belldandy again and smiled.
"You are our precious little girl and every day has been a blessing watching you go through life and all its challenges. Never give up, never be afraid to face them, and never, ever, be afraid to ask any of us for help." Miss Belldandy kissed me again and then turned me around to face the rest of my family.
"She's right Sigel." Mr. Keiichi began as he came over and took my hands in his. "We appreciate everything that you do for us but you need to know when to ask for help when you need it. Believe me I had to learn that lesson myself the hard way. We're here to help you Sigel, all you need to do is ask." He smiled and stepped back again.
"Sigel, I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier." Mistress Skuld stated as she came up and put a hand on my shoulder. "I've been missing Sentaro like crazy for the last few days, but that is no excuse for how I treated you. A friend kind of pointed that out to me." Mistress Skuld winced as she rubbed a big lump on the back of her head. She glanced up at Noble Scarlet who hovered beside her looking innocent. I giggled and she flew down to hug me. She smiled as I kissed her on the cheek and she returned the favor. "I promise to make it up to you starting now. In fact there's this movie I wanted to go and see and you're welcome to come along if you're interested. I said yes and she grinned and hugged me before stepping back.
"Man I'm no good at this." Miss Urd began. "But I'm sorry for being a jerk earlier as well. Like Belldandy said; we're family. We stick together no matter what." She leaned in and spoke to me in a conspiratorial tone. "And if you ever want me to show you some really interesting stuff about life just call me okay?" I blushed a bit at that moment for whatever reason.
"Urd! She's just a child!" Miss Belldandy exclaimed.
"I meant that I was going to take her flying with me one day, that's all!" Miss Urd retorted quickly. I relaxed a bit and nodded. Miss Urd grinned as she patted me on the head before stepping back
Banpei came up next. I know he's a big goofball at times, but he really does care for me and I am grateful for that. He reached out and I placed my hand in his. "Banpei, I know I don't tell you this often, but I am really glad that you are there to look out for me. You were hurt by Hild as well, and I'm glad you're okay. I couldn't bear to lose you if you were killed." Banpei drew a big teardrop on his face along with a smile to indicate his feelings. I reached out and hugged him.
"Just quit being such a darned pest all the time!" I growled. Everyone laughed a bit and then I kissed Banpei on the cheek to let him know that I forgave him. He emitted a series of beeps and whistles in reply.
"Now then." Miss Belldandy announced after everyone had settled down. "Shall we go back to baking our cookies Sigel?"
"Okay, Just Belldandy." I replied with a grin. She just giggled, got her again. We shooed everyone else out of the kitchen and went back to work. I'm happy to say that I didn't make a mess of things this time and Miss Belldandy even let me make a batch by my self that turned out well and everybody enjoyed them.
In closing I just wanted to say thank you to my family, especially Miss Belldandy, for your faith and confidence in me. Miss Belldandy, I never understood until today why you treated me as you have until now and for that I will always be grateful. I'll continue to write this diary like you suggested, and one day I hope I will be able to repay you for your kindness. Thank you.
P.S. I love you.
Belldandy smiled as she reread Sigel's journal entry for the third time. Skuld had looked at it briefly before she asked her sister to come and look at it. Both of them looked over at Sigel who sat in her recharging chair looking peaceful and content. Belldandy thanked Skuld for sharing this with her as she tucked her into bed before turning her attention to Sigel.
"I love you too Sigel. And every day tat you continue to strive and learn and grow is all that I could ever hope for. Good night, pleasant dreams." Belldandy kissed the sleeping child on the cheek as she wrapped a blanket around her slender frame. Belldandy cast one last glance at Sigel and Skuld resting comfortably before turning the lights out and joining Urd and Keiichi who waited for her outside with smiles on their faces.