The Future

The young teen perched herself upon the branches of the large weeping willow near the river. Leaning upon the sturdy trunk of the tree, she held her knees close to her body and closed her eyes. But then, the scenes came rushing into her head

Red all around her...unbearable heat...the cries...screams...pain...

Pushing herself from the position, she slowly fell toward the ground. She felt the smoldering heat upon her skin, the cries echoing through her mind. She grabbed her head in her trembling hands and tried to force her mind to stop spinning. She tried to seek peace within her mind. But all she could hear were those screams. All she could feel was the heat of the future revealed into her mind.

She then tried to force herself to forget the moment. She went home with a forced smile, seeking the comfort of her room. When her sister, Belldandy, attempted to ask what had happened that had changed her attitude, she had just ran. And the next day, a cigarette burned down that tree.

And that was how the manifestation began.

For soon, everything she touched would show her the future...It wasn't always as painful as the burning tree. Sometimes the scenes were joyous such as moments of the sunset or a soft breeze. But the moments of the future were too much for her to handle at time.

( )

The headaches had become an almost common occurrence for the goddess with ebony hair. Her vision had become blurry and she couldn't seem to rid herself of them. Even healing spells or healing potions from her sisters had just been useless. She tried to open the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, resorting to human medicine. Desperation causes one to do unusual things.

She had seem Keiichi and Megumi use these "pain killers" when having a headache. If they worked for a human, maybe they would work for a goddess. Well, that was her logic. She reached up to what seemed to be one of the 4 medicine cabinets in the bathroom, but found that it was just an illusion. Then, hitting her head on one of those 4 sinks, she cursed her luck and found the room become extremely dark.

( )

Belldandy had found her sister, sprawled out on the ground and unconscious. Saying a slight prayer, she looked up to the heavens, knowing that she was helpless in the situation. Lifting her sister up with magic, she carried her toward the couch, since it was closer, and gently covered her body with a fleece blanket.

Then, she made her way toward the phone to contact the heavens for she was scared.

This had been the 2nd time that this had happened, and goddess' rarely had these symptoms twice in a row.

( )

And thus, Skuld had found herself recalled to the heavens until further notice. But this young goddess had found any contact with any other beings, painful.

Isolation.

Fear.

Pain.

Manifestations were different for each celestial. But being the beholder of the future made Skuld's manifestation much different.

So, they placed Skuld in a isolated house in Yggsdrail.

( )

The platinum blonde looked annoyed at the phone. For three days, nobody had contacted her about the status of her youngest sister. Not that she really cared. It was just that...well...if anything would happen to her youngest sister, it could send Yggsdrail into Ragnarok or whatever you called it.

Urd angrily kicked the leg of the desk and walked toward the television set, she needed to complete the mission that she had been given. It was only a wish granting mission.

The name of the receiver was in another universe, which frustrated Urd more because she would hear of the status of her sister...or ahem...Yggsdrail for another week.

She looked down at the file and muttered, "This name seems very familiar."

Then, humming toward to herself she added, "Better go find the dimension gate guardians."

( )

Sentarou Kawanishi had finally returned home from his family trip to Hong Kong. He had some family that lived there so it was only fit that during this summer they visit them. But now he was home and could go give Skuld the gift that he had bought her there.

Looking up the hill, he prepared himself to ride up the hill to reach the temple. He had always found it unusual that Skuld's family lived in a temple, but never really made an issue about it.

Peddling steadily, he quickly reached the temple and left his bike next to the gate. He then carefully took the bag with Skuld's gift that he wrapped with him and walked down the pathway toward the door. He found it unusual that there were no bickering nor weird explosions especially with the two argumentative sisters.

Knocking at the door, Sentarou waited patiently for someone to answer. A calm, friendly voice called, "Hold on." He knew that voice. He wondered why Skuld still hadn't come to greet him. Nor had that unusual machine come to beep at him.

Belldandy opened the door and her eyes widened a bit before she regained her composure. She put down her box of papers that she was going to file and said, "Hello, Sentarou. You are already back from the trip?"

It was extremely unusual that Urd had not come out to tease him and Skuld had not come out yet. Sentarou answered, "Yes, it was a really fun trip. Is Skuld home?"

Belldandy frowned a bit and answered, "I'm afraid that Skuld isn't home right now. She had to go home for a while."

Sentarou frowned, "Is she okay?"

Belldandy couldn't lie and just evaded the question, "Why would you think she wasn't?"

Sentarou sheepishly scratched his head, "I just thought she would have told me."

Belldandy cocked her head and say, "Well, it was a bit of surprise and last minute."

Sentarou asked, "Do you know when she'll be back?"

Belldandy shook her head and said, "I'll be sure and call you when I know."

Sentarou nodded and added, "C..can you also give me her address, I would like to write her too?"

Belldandy said, "You could probably email her."

Sentarou nodded, and said, "Thanks. I'll be going now." He turned to leave but then remembered, "Belldandy, could you give this to Skuld?"

Belldandy softly smiled and nodded, "I will. Be safe."

Author's note: I shall see how I shall continue this fanfic...all characters belong to their rightful owners!!!