A day on the Beach
Skuld stared in a daze at the sun in the distance as it slipped past the horizon.
"What's wrong Skuld?" Keiichi asked cheerfully.
"Nothing..." she answered sluggishly. Keiichi put his hand to his head and smiled broadly.
"Okay... Well I thought I'd let you know, Belldandy and I are going out for a walk-"
"WHAT!?" she yelped, racing for his throat. "And what do you plan on doing with Big-sis?"
Keiichi held his hands out defensively and slightly scared.
"Eh...Um...Uh... We're j-just gonna walk and talk..." Keiichi opened his eyes slowly, only to see Skuld's blazing with rage.
"Skuld calm down!" Urd called, grabbing her younger sister by the ear.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!"
"Oh relax! We're going too! There are a few ingredients that I'd like to get from there myself." Urd smiled fiendishly and mumbled to herself, "and maybe I can draw Skuld away long enough for Keiichi to make his move...heh heh..."
The four set out on their walk along the beach. Keiichi and Belldandy walked ahead of Skuld and Urd, laughing and purely enjoying one another's company as they basked in the afternoon glow and listened to the calming wind run over the beach. Skuld's devilish stare was fixed on Keiichi for most of the evening, but there was nothing she could do as Urd was keeping a close eye on her.
"Hey Skuld, could you help me look for a green snake-like thing under these rocks." Urd pointed toward a large immoveable pile of boulders. The moment Skuld glanced at them, her heart sank. It'd be impossible for her to move them without magic, or her digging invention. She sighed deeply and made her way toward the boulders.
For most of that evening, Keiichi and Belldandy sat beside the sea listening to the soothing wind as it flew to shore. Urd gleefully watched her collection of snake-like beings in a steel bucket and began thinking of her next move with the ingredients. Skuld was curled up on top of a separate pile of boulders watching her sister socialize with Keiichi.
"What's wrong with you?" asked Urd.
"Nothing." replied Skuld.
"Well if you're gonna sulk you should probably take one of those, 'thought-motivating' walks to clear your head."
"No thanks... I think I'm just gonna go home..." Skuld began walking calmly back toward the temple. Her mind was constantly focused on her older sister with Keiichi. It wasn't fair! How come he got to be with her all the time? It was all because of his stupid with anyway...
"Hi Skuld!" cried Keiichi as he darted toward her. "Where are you going?"
"Home..." answered Skuld sadly.
"Oh..."
"Where are you going?! You can't leave Big-sis on her own!?" Skuld argued.
"There's something I wanted to give Belldandy, but I left it in my bike."
Skuld stopped in her tracks and gaped at the iridescent blue floating insect ahead. When Keiichi finally noticed it, he almost instantly jumped behind Skuld's back in fear. "W-w-what is t-t-that...?"
"A bug...?"
"T-t-that's not like any bug I've ever seen..." Keiichi's face turned white as the insect creature moved all 13 of its legs toward the two. Skuld held out her hand to the large insect. Its silvery glow in the afternoon sun made it almost threatening, but the butterfly wings and pincers beneath its exo-skeletal body made it seem somewhat friendly.
"Er...Skuld... What are you-"
"It's so...pretty..." Skuld extended her arm to touch one of the many shining furry legs.
"Um...Skuld... What're you doing?!"
As Skuld's fingertips made contact with the insect, a bright beam of light blinded the two. The beach seemed to disappear and a shroud of black light entered both their minds.
Skuld was sat glaring at the sunset in the distance. The sun seemed unusually high as they had spent at least half of the evening at the beach and the sun had almost disappeared. Keiichi was stood behind Skuld confused and with his hand on his head.
"What just happened....?"
"I have no idea..."
Urd slipped into the room and grabbed Skuld by the ear. "Come on you two, it's time to go to the beach!"
Although she was being dragged away, Skuld was still able to make out Keiichi's confused and dazed face. He got to his feet and began walking slowly toward the front door, completely unsure of what had just happened.
Arriving at the beach, once again, Keiichi began his cheerful walk with Belldandy, again, with the addition of confused glares at the sun every so often. Skuld glanced back and forth at Keiichi and Belldandy, with the thought of what had just happened running constantly through her mind.
After helping Urd look for ingredients, again, Skuld decided to make the trip back home, again, only to be caught by Keiichi, again, who was heading to get Belldandy's gift from his bike, again.
As he caught up with Skuld, he sighed deeply and cowered behind her, again. There it was; the large insect that was definitely not from earth.
"Please don't touch it this time Skuld..."
"But it's so... so...pretty..."
The two found themselves back at home watching the sun at a higher distance in the sky and the orange glow over the land in a less concentrated manor. "What? Again!"
Keiichi stormed out of the room, only to bump into Urd's large chest extensions.
"I didn't know you were that kind of man Keiichi!" Urd cried. Keiichi scuttled back to Skuld's side.
"Urd!" Skuld began. "Before you grab me, something's wrong."
"Oh really?"
"Keiichi and I keep travelling back to this point in time, and repeating everything until we see this... this... this really pretty bug..." Urd glared at her younger sister's deluded trance as she reminisced about the bug.
"Well, let's head down to the beach, do everything the same way, and then call me when you see the bug."
So after creating such a brilliant plan, they went out, again. Everything happened in the same way. Just as Skuld started making her way home, she was approached by not only Keiichi, but Urd too. And there in front of them was the giant glowing bug. Keiichi hid behind Skuld, who was tempted to touch the being once, again and repeat the evening, again.
"I don't believe it!" Urd cried with delight. "This is the ingredient I was searching for all along!"
She clicked her fingers and and the large bug was instantly down-sized and safely contained in a small glass jar. Urd laughed triumphantly at her success. Keiichi stood up and cleared his throat in a manly way.
"I wasn't scared, just...unsure...of...what it was..." Ignoring his comment, Skuld begged her sister for an answer to their problem.
"How did you know what to do, and why have I been helping to look for those green things all day if that wasn't the ingredient you were after!?"
"Ah... well, to lure out this little fellow, I needed those snake-like things' scent. You must've been covered in the scent, and attracted the bug!"
"But..." Keiichi started. "That doesn't explain why Skuld wants to touch it..." He stared wide eyed at the girl now tapping away at the glass jar. Urd held it above her head, away from Skuld's reach.
"Hey!"
"The glow that this bug gives off is like a hypnosis drug to most goddesses who have weak minds, like Skuld. I myself have such a strong mind, it's impossible for it to work on me. The bug itself, just teleports people back to the last place they think about. It doesn't matter the time. It's just a coincidence it happened to be the same time when you two were teleported."
"Oh..." Keiichi stared blankly at the jar in Urd's hand.
Urd smiled smugly as the jar was so far out of Skuld's reach. "So what're you going to use it for, now you have it?" Keiichi asked.
"A potion, of course." replied Urd. She looked back to her hand, only to realise, the jar was gone.
"Aha...Pretty..." Skuld was sat on the ground opening the jar. Beside her, an invention designed to reach things in high places. "Pretty, pretty bug..."
A bright white beaming light blinded all three of them. They found themselves walking along the beach, in the opposite direction.
"What a lovely stroll on the beach..." Belldandy said.
"What!" roared Urd. The moon was now high in the sky, and it was clear they were heading home, without Urd's special bug. "SKULD!" she cried.
"Eh...eh...yeah..." Skuld started racing toward the other end of the beach away from her manic older sister who was now chasing her through the air.
Keiichi sat on his bike and handed Belldandy her gift.
"Oh. Thank you Keiichi."
Okay, it probably isnt the best story, but it was based on a dream I had after watching the anime at 4 in the morning...To be honest, I cant remember how the dream actually went, but this oneshot is close enough... ^^
