Ah! Can a broken heart still beat?

Chapter 1

"Permanent Reassignment! What the hell for?" Urd shrieked across the table as the announcement was made. Belldandy was suddenly told that under the orders of the Almighty that he wanted her to return to heaven for a hearing. The Hearing would decide whether or not Belldandy would be permanently reassignment; everyone was shocked by this turn of events.

"The Almighty gave no reason for this, he ordered me to deliver the letter and bring Belldandy back to heaven." Njord announced.

"When does she need to go back?" Peorth asked Njord stunned.

"He wants her back within the hour." Njord announced, this added to the shock and everyone took their own turns looking at Belldandy and Keiichi as Njord retreated to the doorway and then looked at Belldandy and then Keiichi and said, "I'm sorry."

Keiichi sat alone on the porch as he looked out over the grounds and the forest. His thoughts conveyed to the happier times that he had; he sat in stunned silence as the sound of argumentation filled the rest of the grounds. Urd was on the phone tying to get in contact with the Almighty, but her complaints appeared to fall on deaf ears. As Keiichi heard the arguing he suddenly felt loving arms wrap around him, and fill his body with joy. Belldandy had come out to see him after changing into her Goddess Attire; she wrapped her arms around Keiichi; as he held on to them tightly.

"Keiichi-san?" Belldandy sensing the sadness the swelled inside him.

"In the back of my heart I knew this day would come; but I didn't think it would come this soon." Keiichi said softly as he stared into the grounds, unable to look at Belldandy.

"I know," Belldandy said holding on to him tightly. "This is just a hearing, and as long as you want me to be near you, I will never leave you."

Keiichi's hand slid down to meet her hands and then he turned and looking directly into her eyes and holding her hands tighter he said, "If he decides to separate us and sends you to the other side of the universe. I don't care how long I have to wait or search; I will find you!"

"I will be waiting for you!" Belldandy said as she hugged him and whispered in his ear, "I love you, my dear Keiichi!" Keiichi held her tighter and then opened to mouth and was about to say something, but.

"Belldandy!" it was Njord. Both Belldandy and Keiichi turned to him and found him standing in the middle of a circle of runes. He looked at her and said, "It's time!"

Belldandy turned back to Keiichi and looked into his eyes for a long time and then turned away form him. Her warm hand slid out of his, and the tips of his fingers were left cold in the mid-autumn afternoon. She walked out to where Njord was standing and took his place as he left the circle and stood on the rim. Everyone came out and stood near the door as Keiichi stood on the porch looking at Belldandy; his mouth hanged open and he was unable to speak.

"Open the Gate!" Njord said looking into heaven. In a second a violet light shot down from heaven and surrounded Belldandy; who still was looking at Keiichi. Her eyes swelled up with tears as neither one of them took their eyes off the other. Belldandy's feet slowly began to rise off the ground when Keiichi's tongue finally became loose and he cried out, "I LOVE YOU!"

Njord, Urd, Megumi and Skuld, along with Peorth, Sigel, Banpei-kun and Velsper watched as Keiichi came running off the porch and ran to the shaft of light that had encompassed Belldandy. He reached his arm into it in a last attempt to at least touch her, but the light and distance made his attempts futile as she slid upward out of reach. Belldandy even tried to reach him as she rose upward as her speed of accent increased.

"I LOVE YOU!" Keiichi cried as he reached into the light trying to touch her as she reached for him too

"KEIICHI-SAN!" Belldandy cried out as she rose higher and out of the range of his hand.

"BELLDANDY!" Keiichi again cried out, 'I NEED YOU! PLEASE DON'T GO!"

"I LOVE YOU!" Belldandy cried out, her voice fading out.

"I LOVE YOU TOO!" Keiichi cried out again, as she disappeared into the clouds and the light with her. "NO! PLEASE-I need you." Keiichi collapsed on the ground and buried his face into his hands and began to cry. Keiichi wept so hard and bitterly that his tears fell through his fingers like rain that fell from the clouds.

Keiichi's tears soaked into the grounds and turned the dirt into mud as his tears continued to fall through his fingers. As he continued to weep; Urd made her way slowly to him and knelt along side him and put one of her arms around his shoulder and said, "I'm sorry kid!" Keiichi then fell sideways into her arm and landed on her shoulder and continued to cry. Urd did not push him away, but instead continued to hold on to him; Skuld and Megumi walked over to him. Megumi looked at her brother and could not remember the last time she had seen him cry like this. Skuld just looked at Keiichi with her hands held firmly behind her; looking at Keiichi strangely. Peorth and the rest just stood in the doorway and watched as Keiichi continued to weep in Urd's arms. Finally, the shadow of Njord walked over and looked at Keiichi and then Skuld, Urd and Peorth; he said, "The order was for her alone!"

Njord then clasped his hands across his chest as he began to disintegrate and rise into the air; keeping his eyes on Keiichi until he at last vanished.

For the next few days everyone began to worry about Keiichi; he was not having nightmares about his run in with Loki. For the first two days he was sitting in his room and not doing anything but sit at his desk. He had not eaten or slept in those two days and as day three came along he still had not changed. Urd called Megumi and asked her to talk to him; she had talked to him for almost three hours, but got barely anything out of him. Chihiro and some of the Motor Club came over to try and cheer him up, but Urd turned them away except for Chihiro; who talked to him for a while.

As the week came to an end, Keiichi started to move around a little bit and ate a few things. On the first Saturday since Belldandy had left; Urd got up early and went to start fixing some of Breakfast. She pasted by Keiichi's room and peeping into his room, she saw that his bed was occupied, and heard some snoring. She smiled as Keiichi slept and went down to the kitchen and began to make breakfast.

As the morning sun continued to rise in the East and the day progressed; Skuld was sitting at the table working on a component for a new invention. Urd finished the breakfast almost two hours ago, and left a plate for Keiichi; all three Goddesses decided to leave Keiichi alone and let him sleep. But a few more hours continued to past and the clock read eleven o'clock, Skuld decided that was enough. She walked down to his room and popping her head in said, "Ok, Lazy get up!" but she got no response.

Skuld walked over and grabbing a handful of his blanket she ripped it off of Keiichi, but there was no Keiichi. The only thing underneath were some small part boxes and some towels and clothes that were placed strategically all over. Underneath the blanket was a small CD player that was set on repeat and small speakers the snoring noise. Skuld found a small note that was on top of the pile and was address to her, Urd and Peorth; she opened it up and read it. Skuld read over the note quickly and her eyes widened at first and then narrowed as she crumbled the letter and yelled, "URD, PEORTH!"

Keiichi leaned into a turn as he traveled up the highway that ran along the coastline cliffs that dotted Hokkaido. As he traveled up the road a cold misty rain fell on his goggles and he had to wipe them off with his sleeve. He was getting tired as he made his way through the windy turns; Keiichi had been driving for almost twelve hours straight. His whole body was tired, and the last few miles he knew would be the most difficult for him, but inside his mind it just told him to keep going.

Finally he drove through the city of Kushiro, the rain finally let up and the sun was finally was able to peak through the gray clouds. Keiichi navigated through the city and made his way to the other highway he would need to take him to his destination. Keiichi was heading for his parents home, but he was still not sure why he needed to go there. Keiichi mind raced as fast as his bike was taking him, he still wondered if this was the right thing he should do. Finally he saw the road he needed to take; he made the turn and saw two small columns of smoke that rose into the air.

He pulled his bike under the garage and turned off the bike and looked over the yard and the house. He could see one column of smoke rising from a small shop; and another from inside the house. Keiichi grabbed his bag that sat in the side car and walked thought he puddles and mud to the front door. With some pain that came from his sore arms and hands; he knocked on the door; in less than a minute the door was answered by Takano, his mother.

"Golly, if it isn't our bouncing Keiichi!" Takano greeted her son with her smile.

"Hello Takano." Keiichi said weakly as he was about to fall asleep right were he stood. Takano moved aside and let her son in and watched as he removed his muddy shoes and put them in a corner.

"She dumped you huh?" Takano said with the last of his emotion left, Keiichi jumped and looked at his mother for a moment with a surprised look on his face. Then the truth hit him and cut him to the heart and he turned away form her.

"You can say that?" Keiichi said slowly, Takano was about to say something again, but Keiichi was faster. "Mom, please don't; I really don't want to talk about it."

Keiichi picked up his bag and walked down the hallway and walked into his old room and he threw the bag on the floor. He collapsed against a corner of the wall and watched as a small spider formed a web in the corner. His eyes began to grow heavy and he struggled to keep them open, until sleep finally overcame him.

Keiichi woke up and found that he was staring into a deep blue sky that held no clouds. He raised himself up and looking around; found himself in the middle of a grassy plain that stretched for what looked like an eternity. He got to his feet and continued to look around and as he did he saw a small, but full tree in the distance. Keiichi looked at the tree for a minute and then the sound of a song reached his ears, it was a beautiful song that healed him of every pain he had ever felt; what more important to him was he knew who was singing it.

Keiichi ran through the grass towards the tree, his joy rose as did the grass blades, he knew it was Belldandy. He ran into taller and taller grass, at one point the grass was taller than him and he was only able to get his orientation with the sound of Belldandy singing. He finally broke through the grass and came into a clearing that was directly in front of the tree. The tree was massive to what it was when he first saw it, it towered over him; at the bottom was Belldandy dressed in her Goddess attire; but she had her back to Keiichi.

"Belldandy?" Keiichi mouthed as he took a step closer to her. She slowly began to turn around and as she did her face came into view and so did a smile of joy. Suddenly before Keiichi's eyes; Belldandy whole face and body changed, it morphed into Lord Loki. Keiichi stopped as Loki faced him; Loki looked at Keiichi and with an evil, triumphant smile, he raised his hand and fingers. With a snap, the tree and the clearing erupted into flames and rushed towards Keiichi as he said,

"I win!"

Keiichi eyes snapped shut in the clearing and suddenly snapped open again and found himself in his room. He felt the cold sweat running down his face, and the sudden pain he felt in his chest; the pain was excruciating but he did not scream. He felt a blanket that had been put over him, and saw a small plate of food that sat on a small desk for him. He looked around at the room and then his owns hands and then leaned back against the wall and breathed a depressed sigh.

"Everyone, by the time you get this letter I will be gone. We have been through a lot, but this time you can not help me. Please do not follow me, K1." Urd read the letter while holding the phone receiver to her ear and talking to Megumi. Urd held the crumbled letter tightly in her tight grip; Skuld and Peorth were listening next to her; Skuld was wearing a strange set of headphones.

"I guess he finally snapped." Megumi said over on the other line.

"No kidding, now we just need to find out where he went." Urd said over the phone.

"Well, the only place I can think of is his old room in our house in Hokkaido." Megumi stated.

"Why on Earth would he go there?" Urd asked, as Peorth and Skuld listened in.

"Whenever something's really bothering him he would lock himself away for hours." Megumi said.

Before Megumi even finished her sentence Skuld threw off her head phones and ran out of the house. Peorth followed her out but Skuld turned around and said, "Peorth I'm doing this alone."

"You're not the only one who cares about him, Skuld!" Peorth said trying to reason with him; Urd stood from the porch and watched as Skuld faced Peorth.

"I don't care about him! I only care about Onee-sama." Skuld said and before Peorth could respond she ran over to the pond in the corner of the grounds and jumping in a whirlpool she disappeared.

Keiichi was scrubbing some difficult mud off of his front rim of his BMW motorbike. When finished cleaning he put the brush back in the muddy, dirty bucket and picked it up and dumped the water in a small sink in the workshop. After cleaning out the last of the silts of the mud from the bottom; he added some soap and filled the bucket back up with warm water. He went outside to turn off the hose, and then came back in as the water and suds reached the top.

As he reached for the handle, the water began to glow with light that grew brighter and brighter. Then the water dropped into a whirlpool and then Skuld suddenly jumped out of the bucket. The suddenness of the event scared Keiichi for a second, and then seeing who it was he just got up.

"Eww! Gross!" Skuld screamed as she emerged out of the bucket.

"I didn't think you of all people would be the first one here." Keiichi said grabbing his bucket, carrying his bucket out of the shop.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I wanted to deal with you first." Skuld retorted as she followed him out of the shop. Keiichi just ignored her as he put the bucket down in the ground in the garage and picked up the rag and soaked it in the bucket of water.

"I asked you three not to follow me so what do you want?" Keiichi asked bitterly as he started to clean his bike again.

"Why did you leave us?" Skuld asked as she walked around the bike to make sure that she would not leave his eyesight.

"Isn't that obvious?" Keiichi said looking up at her with an angry look on his face; he seemed more interested in cleaning his bike than talking to her.

"You had us worried sick, Keiichi! You just got on your bike took off and you just expected us to let you go?" Skuld retorted back at him; her anger rising.

"I didn't ask you to worry about me!' Keiichi said not even looking at her, just cleaning his bike.

"Well worrying about you was something that all three of us picked up from Onee-sama and believe me, sometimes you've needed it." Skuld responded to Keiichi comment.

This was a little too much for Keiichi, he stopped cleaning his bike and then looked at Skuld and said, "Why are you even here Skuld?"

"Why did you leave?" Skuld asked again, she looked directly into Keiichi's eyes showing him she would not back down.

"Why do you care?" Keiichi looked up at Skuld and then back at his rag that was on his cam cover.

"What do you mean by that?" Skuld looked at him with a shocked and angry look on her face.

"Nothing!" Keiichi looked away as he responded, he got up and dumped the dirty water out.

"You still have not answered my question, and I am not leaving until I get it!" Skuld said still looking at Keiichi.

"You're the self-proclaimed genius; surely you can build a machine that can tell you." Keiichi stated as his own anger grew inside him, as he filled up the bucket.

"JUST TELL ME KEIICHI!" Skuld screamed at Keiichi.

"WHY! WHY IN THE HELL SHOULD I TELL YOU ANYTHING?" Keiichi roared across the garage, his anger finally getting to him. "NOTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE THE PRESENT OR THE FUTURE, ALL I HAVE IS MY PAST! YOU'RE SUPPOSE TO BE A NORN YOU TELL ME!" Keiichi scream echoed through out the garage as the bucket was overflowed with water. "Why are even here, you wanted her to go back home, you wanted that ever since you came here. Every time you thought I got too close to her you either threw a bomb or you sicked Banpei-kun on me. Well you got your wish and mine has been ripped away from me!"

Skuld wanted to respond to this but she could not; her face flushed red with embarrassment and she looked away from Keiichi. She started to walk out of the garage, she turned around and looked back at Keiichi; his bucket was still overflowing with water.

"I won't deny the fact that the reason I first came was because I did want her to come back to heaven. I hated you for making your wish; I still do. But as time went on I saw something, she smiled more when she was with you more than I can remember then when she was in heaven." Skuld said softly almost with a whisper.

"Then you can understand why I ran away; she was everything to me, Skuld!" Keiichi said sounding calmer to Skuld.

"But why did you leave, Keiichi?" Skuld asked turning back to Keiichi.

"Before she came into my life, I felt I had no worth, I had nothing to offer to anyone. I won't deny either that when she came through my mirror all those years ago and told me that she would grant any one wish I had, I thought it was a joke. But as time went by she gave me a reason to try harder, she gave me a sense of worth. She became more then just a Goddess to me, Skuld; she became my best friend." Keiichi said looking at Skuld

"She felt the same way about you, and so do some of us." Skuld said to Keiichi; he was taken back a little by this comment.

"I guess we have an understanding." Keiichi said to Skuld.

"I guess we do, but I will ask, please come back." Skuld asked in a semi-pleading voice.

"Not now, just give me some time to clear my head, can you give me that?." Keiichi asked Skuld.

Skuld slowly nodded to Keiichi and then said to him. "Don't be surprised if we come to check on you."

"I'll keep a lookout." Keiichi said with a nodded and Skuld nodded back.

In the woods far beyond the garage Njord stood behind a tree and listened to the whole conversation that had taken place. He had also watched some of the conversation, he watched as Skuld and Keiichi argued in the garage, even though they had reached an understanding, something was bothering him. Keiichi's words were filled with pain that had affected Njord; he took a deep breath and began to vanish in the air, as he did he grabbed his right hand and held onto it.