Author's Note: Oh look I've arisen from the abyss, finally shoving this chapter out here. I meant to have this done earlier but real life butted in and so I had to work on some stuff first before getting around to this story. And hey, look at that, it's an actual chapter story and not a super long one-shot this time! This looks to be a decently long fic at the moment, filled with long conversations, copious amounts of wacky pranks, some foreshadowing of an overarching plot (wait you mean there's an actual plot?) and a great deal of the Amazing Pair.
This is the first major chapter story I've written that isn't a full-on AU, so this is a new experience writing from the canon universe, but we'll make it work. There will of course be elements I add in, but for the most part it's canon. Huzzah! The chapters will probably get longer than this one, too, just warning you.
Also, I would like to make you all aware of the fact that I am an incredibly shameless shipper of Peorth and Lind. That will be happening further down the road in this fic (like…fifteen-twenty chapters down the road, something like that) and if that bothers you then simply click that little back button on your browser window and forget you ever found this fic. I won't be putting in their pairing until they actually reach that point, but rest assured it will be changing when we get there.
Disclaimer—I don't own Ah! My Goddess, Kosuke Fujishima does, I am just playing in his sandbox. I DID draw the cover image, that is my horrible art thank you very much, so please don't steal it! The picture can/will be found on my DeviantART page (to which there is a link in my profile. If you'd like to see more of my terrible art and lame manga colorings, by all means go right ahead) This disclaimer goes for the entire story, as I'd hate to have to come up with increasingly inventive ways of saying I am not in any way, shape, or form Fujishima.
The Tangled Threads We Weave
Part One: Eira
Peorth gazed up into the sky, seeing the last remnants of shooting stars tracing their way across a steadily-lightening sky. The night was soon to be over, the waking world none the wiser for what magical event had occurred in the last few hours. She hadn't thought it would happen, for Keiichi and Belldandy to do something like surpass the Judgment Gate, for the goddess and the human to finally get married. Of course, she hadn't anticipated that they would end up triggering the test for the Judgment Gate while they were in Hell, either, as they had only been taking the trip to return Hild to power.
It seemed like she and Lind missed out on a lot, having been left behind to clean up the messes left by the rampant wish-granting. At least they'd had something to do, even if it took a while. Six hours running after various strange things like a large Chinese dragon, a few walking lanterns, some gigantic robots—it hadn't necessarily been boring by any means, but it did start to wear on you after the first few hours. Lind hadn't seemed overly bothered by the amount of ridiculous things they were chasing down, but then again the Valkyrie was probably more used to these sorts of tasks than Peorth was.
Even though it did seem like she was spending a lot of time with Lind recently—she had contacted the Valkyrie for observing Chrono's mission with the rhythm orb, and Lind had watched without complaint, though she had never mentioned whether or not she had been doing anything particularly important when Peorth had called her—and then there was this time, where she'd fought beside the blue-haired goddess for six hours straight. She had known that Lind was incredibly skilled in combat, her reputation alone could attest to that, but it had been enlightening nonetheless to see her take on multiple opponents at once, when previously she had only seen Lind fight the Angel Eater, and that was one combatant alone.
Her eyes found a last shooting star blazing a wavering trail across the dawn, and she sighed; at least everything was over and done with. The circle for the wedding ceremony had descended from the sky shortly after its completion, as sunrise was soon to come, and with everything repaired and no evidence of the wish-granting, the humans of Nekomi would write it off as hallucinations or wild dreams or even a massively-scaled prank orchestrated by the students of Nekomi Tech. Such things had happened before, after all, and perhaps the students were getting bold in their endeavors.
The dark-haired goddess glanced back across the temple courtyard; Keiichi and Belldandy had changed out of their wedding attire and were speaking with Lind, and Skuld was performing maintenance on her robots now that they had been properly restored. At least Hild had followed through on that promise, though Peorth wasn't certain exactly when she had accomplished returning the temple to normal, probably when Peorth, Lind, and her subordinates had been contending with the various creatures brought about by the humans' wishes. The avatar of the Daimakaicho had left early with Mara, muttering something about repairing her Gate—to which Peorth and Lind exchanged a long glance and raised eyebrows; Lind had looked as if she had wanted to apologize and Peorth had shaken her head at her, it wouldn't do any good at this point—and Welsper had slunk off into the temple, having come to the unfortunate-for-him realization that Belldandy was now married to Keiichi, and thus even further out of his league than before.
Peorth frowned faintly, seeing no sign of Urd, something of a wary thought, and only relaxed just slightly when she heard from above, "So…whatever did you and Lind get up to while we were gone?"
The dark-haired goddess raised her eyebrows, looking up to meet the oldest Norn's purple eyes; Urd was hovering a short distance above her with arms crossed and an expectant look on her face. "You do realize it was only six hours here, right?" Peorth questioned, tilting her head. "It took us nearly that entire time just to contain all the frivolous wishes these humans were making. And then we had to help you get back out, and help with the wedding, and that took up all the time we had left." She paused, blinking. "Did it honestly take you that long to return Hild to power or was more of it the Judgment Gate?"
"The demons had this game thing going on," Urd replied, shrugging absently. "So that took a little while, find the keys, defeat the demon guarding it, that sort of game. But the Judgment Gate did take a little longer than I thought it would. Ansuz was the one to officiate it."
"Oh." Peorth blinked. She had only personally met Belldandy and Skuld's mother a few times, and never for very long. She had known that it was Belldandy who had essentially raised Skuld, and with their father being the Daitenkaicho she couldn't imagine either of their parents had been very involved with their lives. She herself hadn't talked to her family in a little while, but her parents had been better about knowing what was going on in her life even if she didn't see them. And her brother had seen her sometimes, but he had a job too. She had a more pressing question to ask, though, considering all things. "Did Ansuz and Hild fight then?"
"Not really, unless you count card games," the silver-haired goddess answered. "You'd think she'd have more to do, but once she sent Bell and Keiichi through the Gate she just sat around and played games and talked. The Gate probably did all the real work."
"Mm," Peorth bobbed her head in a nod. "Well—" She was momentarily stalled in her train of thought by the distant ringing of the telephone; Belldandy went to answer it, and Urd drawled, "You don't suppose that's for one of us, do you?"
"It probably is," Peorth agreed with a sigh. She was honestly expecting the call to have been for her, but even so she wasn't entirely surprised when it was Lind they wanted; the Valkyrie probably had another mission waiting for her and now that the crisis concerning Hell had been resolved she was being asked to return. Peorth meandered over to Keiichi and Belldandy, Urd floating along after her, as Lind finished speaking and returned the phone to its cradle, turning back to them.
"I am sorry that I can't stay," the blue-haired goddess murmured, "but it seems I have been given a new assignment, so I'm afraid I will have to return to Heaven now that the Gate is in working order again. Ah, congratulations, Belldandy, Keiichi, on what you've accomplished." She hesitated. "Perhaps we will meet again soon."
"You're always welcome, Lind," Belldandy reassured her, smiling warmly. "Thank you for helping us."
Lind bowed her head slightly in acknowledgement, blue eyes shifting to Peorth. "Did you ever consider getting a Valkyrie certification, Peorth? You kept up with me well enough, and you wouldn't have to switch your specialization. Belldandy has one too," she added, ever-so-helpfully.
"…I'll…think about it," Peorth managed, smiling shakily, because while she had certainly never intended on having anything to do with the combat division it was rude to downright dismiss her friend's offer. And the fact that the Valkyrie had brought up the point that Belldandy had a certification did irk her competitive side, just a little, but she ignored it for the moment.
Lind didn't take offense to this, though, and merely nodded in acquiescence before waving goodbye to all of them, vanishing into the sky a moment later, disappearing into the Gate.
"It's a shame she can never stay very long," Belldandy said softly, shaking her head. "But she has duties to fulfill, and we can't ask her to neglect them for our sake."
Peorth nodded in agreement; it was somewhat disappointing to see Lind go after they'd spent a surprising amount of time together, but it was also true that the Valkyrie had more important things to get to, even if she didn't necessarily want to leave.
Urd rested an elbow on Peorth's head, and when the dark-haired goddess lifted a hand to bat her away the oldest Norn floated down to her eye level, smirking widely, and proclaimed, "And isn't it such a shame that the Amazing Pair had to break up, hmm?"
Peorth's eyebrow twitched slightly. "What did you just call us?" she said sharply, her eyes narrowing.
"Funny how you knew exactly who I was talking about," the goddess of the past murmured nonchalantly, raising one silver eyebrow pointedly. "But if you must know, it was Belldandy who gave the two of you that nickname, not me."
"Right," Peorth replied dryly, and would have said more if not for Belldandy suddenly speaking up.
"Oh, Peorth, I meant to tell you, Keiichi and I decided to have a wedding here for his family and all of our human friends. You're invited, if you wish to come, and if you happen to see Lind before we do, can you tell her that she's invited as well?"
"I'll give her the message," Peorth responded, having a good feeling that she would have to return to Heaven sooner rather than later and that meant she had a much higher probability of running into the Valkyrie than any of the Norns did, as they were unlikely to leave Earth at this point. "We'll try and come by if we can." She felt justified in using 'we' as she thought Lind would want to go if she was available.
"That's all we can ask," Belldandy smiled. "Will you be staying, or would you prefer to return to Heaven now that we've assisted in Hild's request?"
The dark-haired goddess looked back up at the sky. "If they need me, they'll call for me," she said, crossing her arms. "And Ere, Ex, and Chrono should be able to handle things for now. They're not incompetent, not usually." She had made the effort to train her subordinates well, and even if it seemed like they didn't always listen to the words she said, they were capable operators of Yggdrasil and if they could work through the problems that arose when the coup had begun, they could certainly deal with whatever showed up now that Hild was returned to power and the balance of shares between Heaven and Hell wasn't nearly so skewed.
"You're always welcome," Belldandy repeated the words she'd spoken to Lind, cheerful as ever, and Peorth could only nod. The dark-haired goddess rather thought it was that Belldandy was assuming now that she and Keiichi were married there would be no more shenanigans involving their relationship. And that was true, on Peorth's part anyways, as she figured they could sort things out themselves now. She had no ideas on whether or not Urd would continue to interfere, but Belldandy was adept at handling her sisters' personalities so surely there would be no more trouble involving love in the near future.
She had no idea how wrong she was.
It was already nearing dawn, and so most of the residents of the temple dispersed to sleep off their adventure; Peorth decided instead to sit atop the roof, watching the sun rise. She didn't really need to sleep, and it was nice to take in the quiet for a moment, after everything that had happened. She watched the sun slowly make its way up over the horizon, only momentarily startled by the sudden voice resounding within her mind.
Are you missing something?
"Missing?" she said aloud, as her angel manifested behind her; Gorgeous Rose tilted her head, curly golden-blonde hair floating about her shoulders as she leaned forwards contemplatively.
Yes. The vine-covered angel nodded slightly, crossing her arms, green eyes serious.
"…I suppose," Peorth said slowly, choosing her words carefully. "It won't be as entertaining as it used to be, I think, now that they're married. The only shenanigans will be when Urd and Skuld fight over the television."
You fought over it too, Gorgeous Rose pointed out with an arched eyebrow. Or did you forget that already?
"Yes, well—" Peorth huffed, giving the green-eyed angel a long narrow-eyed look, "that was the past. And that's not important anyways, I'm probably going to be called back any day now."
You could use some of your vacation days, Gorgeous Rose said, eyebrows furrowing, her hands twitching at her sides as she did a mental count of just how many vacation days they had left. Or…well…if I'm remembering correctly, you only have three left at the moment, and there's still the rest of the year…
"…I knew I shouldn't have used those other ones on that spontaneous trip to that hot spring…" the dark-haired goddess groused, frowning deeply. How was she supposed to stretch out three vacation days for the rest of the year? There were still several months to go! Her eyes narrowed. "I don't suppose Lind would be willing to part with a few…or a week…or maybe a few weeks…?" As far as she was aware, the Valkyrie hadn't used barely any of her vacation days at all, and so she had to have months, maybe even years of vacation days just waiting to be used…and since it was highly unlikely that Lind was going to use them all…
There's no need to be grinning like a maniac, Gorgeous Rose interrupted her train of thought. You could always ask her, but isn't it a lot of work to transfer vacation days?
"…Don't remind me of that," Peorth grumbled, lips twitching towards a grimace. "I don't even want to think about what I'll be stuck with when I get back."
Surely your subordinates will have finished all the work pertaining to the demon coup by then? her angel wondered. Or…you don't suppose they got distracted, do you?
"…That is a possibility…Ere and Ex probably got Chrono to recount her adventures on Earth, and who knows what kind of tangents they could have gone off of from there…"
Maybe we should return soon, Gorgeous Rose suggested, though it was more a half-hearted gesture than anything. Peorth gave an absent shrug, so as not to commit to anything, and gazed upwards, the sky having lightened to a bright blue. The sun was rising steadily, and she could hear the sounds of the residents of Nekomi waking on a normal morning—people scurrying about, talking to each other, cars and motorcycles moving up and down the streets, children on bicycles playing and laughing—no one seemed perturbed by the fact that such crazy stunts had been pulled the other day. Indeed, it seemed as if the event would fade quickly from the mortals' minds, no doubt with a little assistance from Heaven. They couldn't have too many humans knowing about the presence of immortals in their mundane lives.
And so too were the denizens of Tarikihongan Temple up and moving about; Peorth could hear Keiichi and Belldandy talking over breakfast, and Urd and Skuld were playing a game of cards to decide who would get to watch the morning television shows. The dark-haired goddess stood carefully, looking to her angel. "I suppose it's time we headed in, hmm?"
I suppose, Gorgeous Rose agreed teasingly, and returned to her body as she jumped lightly back to the ground. Peorth had just made it in the door when the telephone started to ring. She gazed at it for a ring or two, having a good feeling that it was Heaven calling about something or other, and thus reluctant to answer, but she was standing right there and had no excuse not to pick up the phone. So, sighing heavily, she picked up the receiver and put it to her ear, saying, "Morisato residence, this is Peorth speaking, how may I help you?"
"Peorth?"
It took her a moment to recognize that yes, that was indeed Lind's voice on the other end of the line, and another moment more to actually say anything. "Ah, yes, did you want to talk to Keiichi or Belldandy—?"
She could almost see the Valkyrie shaking her head when the answer came. "No, actually, I was calling to speak with you."
"With me?" the dark-haired goddess parroted, having no idea why her friend would be calling her, especially considering she had just been called back on an assignment. Surely she couldn't have completed her mission already? Just what was she doing up there anyhow?
"Yes." There was a long pause, as if Lind was gathering her words. "Ah, well, you and I have been given an assignment, and the High Council has asked that you return imm—"
"Wait just a minute," Peorth interrupted hastily. "Repeat that first part again?"
"You and I have been given an assignment," the Valkyrie dutifully repeated, and Peorth just stood there, staring a hole in the wall, ears ever-so-slowly processing that unfortunate information, until Lind was forced to say, "Peorth, are you still there…?"
"You…and I…have been given an assignment," the dark-haired goddess said cautiously. "You and I. Together. Both of us." She ran a hand through her hair, trying to understand. Their specializations didn't match at all, how could she and Lind have been assigned the same task? For menial things, like the demon coup, they had worked together for that, but that hadn't been an assigned task, or at least, not assigned by Heaven anyways. It had been at Hild's request! What did the High Council think they were doing—what kind of assignment could possibly require a first class wish-granter and a first class Valkyrie?
"Yes," Lind's answer was somewhat hesitant, as if she'd figured out that Peorth was incredibly confused by this sudden turn of events. "And it is suggested that you come back—ack, please stop that—"
"Stop what?" Peorth questioned, nonplussed.
"Ah—not you, I mean—put that rock down—ah, Peorth, if you would return within the next hour, that would be—much appreciated—I will be at the Gate with—no, that is not for—"
A small click in Peorth's ear indicated that the call had been terminated. She pulled the receiver from her ear, staring at it for several heartbeats, trying to comprehend the fact that it had sounded rather as if Lind was attempting to watch a child at the time she had been talking to Peorth. But that didn't make any sense, since the Valkyrie had no children, no relatives with children, and all of her friends were currently on Earth, so she couldn't be watching a friend's child either.
Peorth was starting to like the idea of this so-called assignment, whatever it happened to be, a lot less than she had at the start of the call. Still, she couldn't keep Lind waiting, even when she didn't really know when the Valkyrie would be at the Gate, how long it would take her to get there; and so she trooped into the tea room, where Keiichi and Belldandy were sitting. In the background she could hear Urd and Skuld, playing a rapid-paced game of Uno. It appeared like Urd was winning, for now.
"Oh, good morning Peorth," Belldandy said brightly, offering her a smile. "Who was that on the phone?"
"That was Lind," the dark-haired goddess responded. "I've been called back to Heaven as well for an assignment with her, so I'll be leaving soon."
Belldandy's eyebrows scrunched together. "With Lind? Are you sure…?" She said it more as if she was confused about the matter rather than that she believed Peorth to be relaying incorrect information, which the dark-haired goddess more than agreed to, as the whole situation was rather puzzling.
"She seemed fairly certain of it," Peorth shrugged absently. "I'm just as confused as you are. Our specializations are completely different, but apparently the High Council found us something to do." And that something may or may not involve children, she added in her head, giving another shrug. "I'll find out when I get there what we're supposed to be doing, I imagine. She wasn't able to inform me over the phone."
"It's that classified?" the brown-haired goddess queried, her eyes widening.
"No, it wasn't that, it was…interference, I think," Peorth tried, a tad awkwardly. "I'm not really sure of what was going on myself, but she said she would be waiting at the Gate, so I shouldn't make her wait too long."
"Of course not," Belldandy agreed, nodding. "Thank you for helping with the ceremony yesterday."
Peorth flashed a smile. "Happy to help. And good for you, Keiichi, finally getting somewhere." As he gave her an indignant look she only waved and headed back out, ascending into the sky quickly from the main temple's grounds. She found the Gate easily enough and passed through it, returning to Heaven in only a few seconds. She was reminded wryly of the time she and Lind had had trying to get out during the demon coup, and was thankful they'd mended the Gate's systems quickly.
There were a few other deities standing about when she arrived, none of them Valkyries or even with blue hair for that matter, so Peorth simply stepped to the side and looked on with some trepidation. She still wasn't sure the exact terms of the assignment and she worried that it was going to be something incredibly ridiculous. Was this one of her superiors' revenge for how many vacation days she'd taken already? Was it someone's obscure form of payback for something she did that she couldn't recall? Why was Lind involved?
"…Peorth?"
Her head snapped up at the call of her name, and she looked over to the head of blue hair that had somehow managed to arrive in her line of sight without her recognizing…ah, that would be why. Lind wasn't wearing her Valkyrie's uniform, oddly enough, and was instead wearing one of the more standard goddess's outfits instead. It was more than a little odd, as Peorth had never seen her in anything other than the Valkyrie uniform.
It occurred to her then that Lind wasn't alone; clinging to—or perhaps being dragged by—her left hand was a young goddess, perhaps barely more than ten, with pale brown hair tied back into scruffy pigtails, floppy bangs nearly obscuring the teal swirls that were her goddess's markings. Her eyes were a light blue, lighter than Lind's deep blue eyes, and she had a rather unnerving scowl prominently displayed upon her face. She was wearing some mismatched clothes, perhaps by her own design—one of her shoes was a lighter brown than the other, and the colors of her shirt in no way matched the color of her shorts—and there was what looked like a rather large dust ball stuck firmly to her right shoulder. She looked, in short, nothing like the blue-haired Valkyrie and thus Peorth knew she couldn't be Lind's daughter, though she was starting to have a horrible, terrible thought that she knew who this child was.
"Peorth," Lind started, a touch hesitantly, "this is Eira. We are to be her new caretakers."
"Eira," Peorth said, feeling the start of a headache forming. When she had wanted to not have to go back to work, this was not how she had planned on escaping it. She recognized the name, even if she had been unable to place the child's face; this little goddess was something of an infamous one, a wild trickster child who was notorious for never having the same caretaker for very long. Eira had the unfortunate moniker of 'Heaven's little terror', and while Peorth had never quite believed the various tall tales associated with the child she had also not anticipated having to deal with the girl herself.
What was the High Council even thinking?
"I've never heard of you," the child said, firmly establishing Peorth's annoyance—and there was a small degree of surprise, as that statement also appeared to include Lind, but Skuld too hadn't known of Lind either before first meeting the blue-haired goddess—and stared at her for a long moment, tilting her head.
"You're a first class goddess?" It sounded rather as if she found such a thought absurd, and Peorth's eyes narrowed.
"Both of us are." She delivered the words with as little annoyance as she could, though it was still evident by the tone of her voice. "My license is First Class, Category Two, Unlimited."
Eira didn't seem to find much interesting in that statement besides the fact that it confirmed her rank, and looked to Lind then, one eyebrow rising expectantly, as if she was asking And you?
Lind sighed, like she hadn't really decided to go about telling Eira her license to begin with whenever she had first introduced herself to the child, but said quietly, "First Class, Special Duty, Limited."
The little goddess looked for a heartbeat taken aback, and Peorth thought it was the Special Duty that she wasn't expecting. "You mean you're a Valkyrie?"
"…Yes…?" Lind frowned hesitantly, confusion surfacing in her eyes. Peorth could clearly see the question of Why does that matter? lurking in the depths of her gaze.
"Huh," the little goddess said, managing to achieve a tone similar to speculation. "I've never had a Valkyrie for a caretaker before. Or first class deities either." Before either of the older goddesses had the chance to say anything, a look of almost glee rapidly overtook Eira's features, glee and what could only be pride.
"I've gotten more important, haven't I?!" she wanted to know, her eyes alight. She jumped up, pulling on Lind's hand as she did so, and performing what had to be the strangest form of a happy dance Peorth had ever seen. Eira was bobbing her head, shaking a fist towards the sky, and bouncing in place, making a little skipping motion. Peorth honestly pitied Lind for having to hang on to her for the entire thing.
The dark-haired goddess looked to Lind, raising her eyebrows. "So we have to watch her, that's the assignment?" With everything she'd heard of the child, she worried their friendship might not remain intact by the end of the ordeal.
"Yes," the Valkyrie affirmed, nodding slightly. "And if at all possible, the High Council wishes us to teach her, if she will retain the knowledge."
Peorth's reply was interrupted by a sudden cackle from Eira, who had evidently completed her happy dance only to start snickering at both of them. Blue eyes looked up, a rather smug expression crossing the little goddess's face. "You do know how many other deities have come before you two, right?"
The dark-haired goddess made an attempt to recall exactly how many caretakers the child had had previously, but she had only ever heard of Eira in passing, usually through her subordinates gossiping about some horrible but usually inventive prank to befall one of her caretakers, and so she couldn't say she knew the true number. "…Twenty," she tried, and the child shook her head.
"Try again, you'll get there eventually! …Maybe," Eira tacked on at the end, somewhat doubtfully.
"Forty?" Peorth muttered, with a sense of dawning horror.
Eira's grin widened. Her eyes flicked to Lind, who could only shake her head mutely, and then the little goddess swiveled back to Peorth. Her broad grin didn't falter once as she pronounced all-too-happily, "The two of you together are my fifty-sixth caretaker!"
Heavens above, it was worse than Peorth had realized. She looked at Lind, and Lind looked back, and there was only one thought in their minds:
We are doomed.