"Now, Urd!"

By now, the area around the temple was overwhelmed with light and sound. The portal to heaven had opened, and Belldandy was helplessly being drawn up. Keiichi desperately plunged his arm into the column of light, trying to reach Belldandy one last time, trying to give her the gift he had promised so long ago.

Urd quickly returned her attention to the Ultimate Magic Circle. Skuld had just finished drawing the final segments, laying the groundwork for the spell which would absorb the energy of an unfulfilled goddess contract. The energy, once drawn out of the cherry tree in the yard where it had been sealed, would be nullified, and Keiichi and Belldandy could stay together forever--but she had to hurry. Urd raised her hands high, and began the final incantation--

A brilliant arc of white light blinded Urd and Skuld. The sound as it struck the ground was so loud as to be a physical force, knocking them both off their feet. Even as she fell, Urd realized what had happened -- Kami-sama had seen what she and Skuld were trying to do, and put a stop to it. All at once, the frustration that had been building in her since Kami-sama had ordered Belldandy to return to the heavens boiled over, as Urd screamed out to the heavens, "FATHER!"

Obeying Destiny

An "Oh My Goddess!" Fanfic Written by Robaato

"Oh My Goddess!" was created by and is the property of Kosuke Fujishima.
All characters are used with the greatest respect and the best of intentions, but without thought of profit.

*CHAPTER 1*

Urd was taking down the wash, grumbling to herself, when the phone rang. She ran back into the house by the temple, momentarily tangling herself in the clothesline in her haste. "Hello?"

"Urd, is that you?"

Urd's face lit up as she recognized the voice of her little sister. However, she managed to mostly keep her smile from her voice as she replied, "Well, of course, Skuld. Who else would be answering the phone here?"

The voice on the other end of the line went from happy to angry in an instant. "Well, excuse me for calling you! I mean, I'd think you'd be happy to hear from me, during our --" Skuld stopped short. Urd knew why.

"Our punishment?" she replied, softly. A muted sob was Skuld's only response. *Wish I could change gears that quickly,* Urd thought to herself. *If I could...*

But it was to no avail. Urd began to replay, in her mind, the events that led up to her current exile. She remembered, in painful detail, what her father had said.

**********

"YOU HAVE DEFIED MY WILL."

Urd and Skuld slowly rose to their feet amid the broken earth of the temple. Time seemed to have stopped. Darkness had fallen across the land, but for the ground around the two goddesses.

"YOU HAVE TRIED TO USE A FORBIDDEN CONSTRUCT, AND RISKED THE BALANCE OF THE ULTIMATE FORCE."

Skuld sank back to her knees, shaking. Urd could only stand there, frozen in shock.

"YOU MUST BE PUNISHED FOR YOUR TRANSGRESSIONS."

Skuld covered her eyes in fear. Urd, amazingly, stepped forward. "But, Father," she began, hesitantly.

Silence.

Surprised that she was allowed to speak, Urd continued. "Our plan would have worked!" She paused for a moment, glancing at Skuld. "My plan. If we released that energy from that tree, and dispersed it into the Magic Circle --"

"THAT MUCH ENERGY INTRODUCED AT ONCE INTO THE SYSTEM COULD HAVE CAUSED SERIOUS PROBLEMS."

"We covered that in the basic program --"

"THE RISK IS UNACCEPTABLE."

"But Belldandy and Keiichi belong together!"

"WOULD YOU SACRIFICE THE UNIVERSE FOR ONE MORTAL?"

"Father?" Skuld said. "If I might ask..."

Silence.

"Umm...Belldandy...had a lot of friends here. I mean, if we have to..." Skuld trailed off, uncertainly.

Urd picked up from there. "Yes! Changing the memory of everyone who has had contact with Bell, and undoing all of her actions, must certainly take up a lot of power!"

"THIS IS TRUE. HERE IS HOW WE WILL DEAL WITH IT."

Urd and Skuld gulped, involuntarily.

**********

"Urd? Are you still there?"

Urd came out of her reverie with a start. "Yes, Skuld, I'm still here." *Where else would I be,* she thought, bitterly. She sighed. "I'm not cut out for this role I've been forced into," Urd complained.

"Well, I couldn't have gotten away with it! I'm too young to be going to Nekomi Tech!"

"Yes, Skuld, we've been over this. You're up there, babysitting the system and making sure that our changes don't cause conflicts, and I'm down here, playing den mother to Keiichi and all of his friends."

"Urrrd!"

"All right, all right. How are things going up there? Any conflicts with existing programming?"

"No...at least, I don't think so. Everything seems to be fine--all of the basic code is up and running. There are still some minor glitches showing up on the main systems monitor, but that's to be expected, I guess..."

"Yes, that's true. We did have to make quite a lot of changes in the programming," Urd replied, in that condescending tone that Skuld knew so well. "But you should have had those problems fixed ages ago."

"Oh yeah? I'd like to see YOU come up here and try to do better!" Skuld shouted back. Urd smirked to herself, pleased to hear that she could still get to her sister. She let Skuld's rant continue for a moment before she apologized.

"Calm down, Skuld. It's all right. I'm sure you're doing a wonderful job." Urd's smile faded a bit, and she took a deep breath before continuing. "How's Bell?"
Skuld also hesitated before responding. "Bell...Belldandy is still taking this really hard. Kami-sama has released her from active duty for a while."

"All right, but you know, it's been almost a month..." Urd reconsidered for a moment. After all, Belldandy's heart had been broken, painfully. Urd sighed again. "Oh, never mind... let's give her as much time as she needs."

"Urd? Bell asked me to ask you..."

"Yes?"

"...to ask you to...take care of Keiichi. For her, I mean."

Urd smiled sadly. "Tell her...tell her of course I will." *If I can...*

Urd had barely replaced the handset when the sound of a motorcycle announced Keiichi's arrival. She looked up as Kei slid open the door. "Hello, Keiichi. You're home early."

Keiichi shuffled in, closing the door behind him. "Hey, Urd. You didn't go in to school today?"

Urd grimaced to herself. "No, my classes got called off today. Got some housework done here." *Classes...housework...I can NOT do this!* Urd said to herself.

When time had begun its flow, and the bright sunlight resumed once again, Urd and Skuld had found...that everything had changed. No longer was Keiichi Morisato sharing residence with three goddesses. Now, Keiichi and his sister Megumi were both tenants in the house which now belonged to Urd....who was now posing as a graduate student in chemistry at Nekomi Tech.

As part of their punishment, Urd and Skuld had to implement and monitor the changes that Kami-sama deemed necessary. One of them had to keep an eye on the main computer system in Heaven, while the other had to stay on Earth to make any spot corrections needed.

*I suppose I should be thankful,* thought Urd. *After all, Kami-sama could have taken away my license completely.* There was a crashing noise from Keiichi's room. Urd looked up to the heavens, wondering if she really deserved all this.

Urd stuck her head into Keiichi's room. Some of her irritation was replaced by concern, as she saw Keiichi curled up on the floor, head cradled in his hands. "Another migraine?" Kei nodded, mutely. "I'll get you something for it. Hold on..."

Urd went into her room and began going through her medicines, trying to find something that she hadn't tried yet. No remedy Urd had tried so far had even made a dent in Keiichi's headaches, and she couldn't use her powers as indiscriminately as she once had.

So intent was Urd on finding a new remedy, that she totally missed the aura of power that had begun to grow from a tree beside the yard.

**********

Skuld was in a floating monitor chair in one of the control rooms of the great world computer, Yggdrasil. She was not happy. At that particular moment, Skuld had set the screens hovering around her to display status reports on the many parts of the system that she and her sister, Urd, had been required to modify, as per Kami-sama's commands. Strangely, many of the displays were showing problems; system slowdowns, error messages, broken subroutines, system force imbalances, the occasional unexplainable glitch. Skuld frowned, puzzled. Yes, they had had to do a lot of reprogramming on the fly, and they didn't have time to troubleshoot everything right away, but Skuld had been working almost nonstop since their new subroutines had kicked in. By all rights, she should have reduced the number of problems to zero. But it seemed that for every system glitch solved, several more appeared.

Her chair swung around as Skuld adjusted a control. One of the screens switched over to a view of the Earth, floating in space. Several spots were faintly glowing a dull red, to show areas being affected by the system stress. *Nothing too serious,* thought Skuld. Still... She sighed, and switched back to the main display. She cleared the screen and brought up the command line. Skuld eyed the blinking cursor with wariness. "Okay, this is it," she said under her breath. "It's either you or me this time!!!"

For a timeless interval, Skuld focused on the display in front of her to the exclusion of all else. Her hands flew across the controls, entering line after line of new code. Finally, with a flourish, she typed the last line of her new program and saved it. Skuld spared herself a moment to marvel at the glistening perfection of her new program. "Yes!" she shouted to no one in particular. "This program will once and for all fix all of the problems with the system forever! I am such a genius!" Skuld clasped her hands in sheer techno bliss.

Almost reverently, Skuld tapped in the run command and hit execute. She quickly moved back to the worldview screen, to see the results of her handiwork.
Skuld watched with mounting glee as one by one, the dull red spots began to fade away. "Yess! It worked!" She jumped up onto her seat and did a little victory dance, causing her chair to dip and sway in mid air. This went on for a few moments, until Skuld noticed that something was moving on the screen. Immediately, she sat back down and moved her chair up close to the display.

*That's not supposed to happen!* thought Skuld. Although the red areas were shrinking, they were also moving, slowly drifting across the globe. Where are they going? As Skuld continued to watch, the crimson spots began to converge, once again brightening. Somehow, Skuld wasn't too surprised to see that the red areas looked to be settling in and around Japan. "No, no, no, NO!" she shouted, banging her fists onto the screen.

**********

What a beautiful day, thought Sayoko Mishima as she came out of her last class. She calmly walked past the usual bunch of guys trying (and failing) to act nonchalant. *Losers,* Sayoko smirked to herself. She immediately dismissed them from her mind.

By some stroke of chance, Sayoko found herself walking past the headquarters of the Nekomi Motor Club. She recalled that Keiichi hadn't shown up for his last class, and decided to just pop in for a moment to see if he was there. *Just making sure that he's not sick or something...*

Sayoko looked through the door and saw something she had never expected to ever see in her life: Tamiya and Otaki, the leaders of the Motor Club, actually working on a motor. After she picked herself up from the ground, Sayoko knocked loudly to get their attention.

"Yeah, whudda ya want?" the big one -- Tamiya -- asked.

Suppressing a shudder, Sayoko replied, "Uh, just wondering if Keiichi was here. He wasn't in his last class."

"Nah, he ain't here. I think he got sick or somethin'," said Tamiya, getting up and wiping his hands on his pants. "Probably went home."

"Oh. Thank you," Sayoko nodded politely, if a bit too quickly, and stepped back through the door --

-- just in time to avoid being hit with engine parts, as the motor that Tamiya and Otaki were working on flew apart.

"Whoa, dude!" exclaimed Otaki. "What happened?" He stood up from where he had fallen. Sayoko was amazed to see that Otaki was unhurt,
without even a scorch mark on him. She then realized that there wasn't any burns, or even any smoke.

Tamiya and Otaki were looking at the scattered parts, confused. Sayoko returned their puzzled glances, shrugged, turned, and left. As she walked off, Sayoko failed to notice the small white furry object that hopped away behind her.

**********

Megumi Morisato walked up the steps and through the gate leading to the house. Her mind was a bit preoccupied with concern for her brother. *I hope he's feeling better,* she thought. *He's been so depressed lately. I wonder why?* Megumi sighed as she stopped in the courtyard to adjust her back pack. Just as she was about to continue into the house, she came to a halt. Something didn't feel quite right... Megumi looked around, trying to figure out the source of her unease. As her eyes fell upon the dead tree beside the courtyard, she had a brief glimpse of something fuzzy flying at her before the world went white.

The next thing Megumi knew, someone was shaking her by the shoulders. She groggily sat up. "Whuh...what hit me?" Megumi mumbled to herself.

"Hey, are you all right?" Megumi's eyes finally focused enough to see that it was Sayoko talking to her. "You just fell over here on the front step."

"I'm okay, I think," Megumi replied, getting up. She felt a bit dizzy, but only for a moment. "I must've tripped or something. What brings you out here, Sayoko?"

"Oh! Uh...Keiichi missed some important info in our last class, so I thought I'd, umm...loan him my notes."

Megumi thought it prudent not to mention that Sayoko didn't seem to be carrying anything with her. "He missed his last class today, huh? Well, let's go in and see what's up."

Urd was listlessly pushing dishes around a sink full of water when she heard the door slide open again. Before she could say anything, she heard Megumi call out, "Hey, anybody home?" A groan was the response from Keiichi's room.

"Oops," said Megumi in a quieter voice. Urd stepped into the hallway, a cup still in her hands. "Another migraine?" Urd nodded.

"Maybe I should check--er, give Kei my notes later," whispered Sayoko. "I'll see you later."

As Sayoko left, Megumi carefully put down her bookbag, trying not to make any noise. "Well, I hope this headache doesn't last too long. He missed two days of class with that one last week."

"Well," replied Urd, "I've given him some new medication. We'll see what happens." She turned back to the sink, picking up another cup to rinse off.

"Right," said Megumi, absently. She opened her bag and began taking out some books. "By the way, where's Bell?"

The cup hit the floor with a crash.

**********

Skuld frantically tried as many programming tricks and shortcuts as she could remember, but nothing seemed to work. She would look up after each attempt, only to see the same image on the map screen above her--Japan was still highlighted in flashing red, indicating trouble.

Skuld placed her head in her hands, tired and frustrated. *Why should I have to do this,* she thought, angrily. *This is all Urd's fault anyway.*

All around her, various indicators and alarms began calling for attention. Skuld looked up to see the crimson marks begin to grow brighter. *Uh oh...* Frowning, Skuld let her hands hover over the controls for a moment while she decided upon a course of action. Finally, reluctantly, she reached down and activated her telephone.

"C'mon, c'mon, pick up..." After a second or two, Skuld heard Urd pick up the other end of the line. "Urd...I think we've got some problems."

**********

"No kidding," Urd replied, gripping the phone with her free hand. She had a protesting Megumi in a headlock with her other arm, hand clamped firmly around her mouth. "Look, Skuld, I've got something I have to deal with immediately. I'll call you right back."

"But, Urd--!" Before Skuld could say another word, Urd dropped the handset back onto the phone and hustled Megumi outside. She didn't let go of her until they had reached the steps of the temple.

"Urd, what are you doing?!" said Megumi, more confused than angry.

"I didn't want Keiichi to hear you," Urd replied, sitting down upon the steps.

"What?" Megumi planted her fists on her hips. "Why shouldn't he hear me? I mean after all, Bell IS his girlfriend, y'know!" Urd was making urgent shushing motions, but Megumi went on regardless. "In fact, where is she, anyways? I mean, you'd think that Bell would be over here helping Kei--" She stopped, puzzled. "Oh, wait, I remember now. Bell had to go home, or something..." Megumi raised a hand to her forehead, trying to think. "No, that's not right...Kei and I moved in with you to save on dorm fees, right? But...but Bell lived here, though...I, uh..." Megumi had sat down next to Urd, head in her hands, now really confused. "I, uh...Urd...what's going on? What's wrong with me?"

Urd sighed inwardly. She could just erase Megumi's memory again. That's what she should do. Had it been a few weeks ago, Urd would have done so without a second thought. But, for some reason, it just didn't seem fair to just delete the confusion and go on as if nothing happened.

And...Urd had to admit to herself, she really felt the need to share her burden with someone else, even if she then had to make her forget about it right away.

On the other hand, that would make that much more for Megumi to forget afterwards. No, better to take care of it now, when Megumi's confusion was still fresh in her mind...and an easier target. Urd grinned ruefully to herself. *With all this practice I've been getting on my accuracy, I should be a goddess first class in no time,* she thought. Urd turned a bit away from Megumi -- who was too lost in her own confusion to notice -- and began to gather the energy she needed into a glowing sphere in her hands.

**********

"Well, of all the nerve...!" shouted Skuld, slamming the "disconnect" button with excess force. "Where does she get off, hanging up on me like that! I ought'a just let her deal with it on her own --"

Skuld took a deep breath, leaning her head against the console. "It's not fair," she whispered to herself. "You're down there, I'm up here, we're both trying to do these huge jobs by ourselves...."

The screen image shifted beneath her head. "Huh?" As Skuld looked up, a spark traced a glowing path across the screen. "What was that?"

Manipulating controls, she rewound and watched again. Before her eyes, a bright spot suddenly appeared in the center of the red area. After a moment, it changed into a streak, launching its way westward. Skuld rewound again and froze the display. The short-lived streak was now a glowing line, stretching from the red area across the ocean. She could barely make out the object causing the glowing trail. Frowning, Skuld magnified the image, until she could see it more clearly. It was small and roundish, with what appeared to be several arms or legs protruding from it -

Skuld's eyes widened. "Oh no! It couldn't be!!"

**********

Megumi looked up suddenly. "What's that?"

Urd followed Megumi's gaze and saw what looked like a rabbit crossing the courtyard...but rabbits don't normally have six legs. Even as Urd's mouth dropped open in surprise, she launched the energy she had gathered at the creature. Megumi gasped as the ball of power soundlessly detonated, causing the creature to disappear. In it's place was a meter-wide hole scorched into the ground.

"What was that?" Megumi said again, eyes wide with surprise.

"It was a bug, a system bug...it's a long story." Urd stood, and began to rush back to the house.

"No, I mean, what did you just do? Hey, Urd...wait up!" Megumi scrambled to her feet, chasing after Urd. She burst into the house to find Urd dialing what appeared to be way too many numbers on the phone.

"Skuld, we've got bugs down here!" Urd shouted into the phone. Megumi heard a pained groan from Keiichi's room.

"Way ahead of you, sis," answered Skuld, hurriedly. Urd could hear much activity in the background.

"So what are we doing about it?"

"I'm trying to isolate the bug port on the surface world, but I can't seem to pin it down -- I think I'm going to have to get Bell to help -- you're gonna have to keep a lid on things down there."

"What! How am I supposed to do that by myself?"

"I DON'T KNOW! I'M DOING THE BEST I CAN!"

Skuld's voice rode the edge of barely controlled hysteria. Urd heard this and took a deep breath. *If I push too hard, she'll be no use for anything.* "Skuld...Skuld, I'm sorry. I know you're doing your best." She rubbed her head with her free hand. "Give me the details."

"Umm...okay. It looks like the bugs are appearing in the Tokyo area...and from there after a little while they can launch anywhere in the world. There aren't many of them, but I think that the rate that they are popping up is increasing."

Urd waited a moment. "That's IT?"

"Well, what do you expect? This all only just started a few minutes ago..."

Urd mentally reined in her irritation. "Okay. Okay, how are they getting the energy to appear here? A bug exhaust port doesn't just appear out of nowhere, you know."

"Hold on, let me see..." Urd heard more computer activity in the background. "They seem to be tapping into the system force, somehow. There's a leak in the system...."

"Okay, Skuld. I'll nail the bugs that are already here, and you tie up the power drain, right?"

"Yeah. But Urd, one of them might have already left the area!"

**********

Late evening, San Francisco. Although rush hour was supposedly over, traffic in the Bay Area was still slowed to a crawl. The holdup seemed to be around the bay area, as cars on the bridges crossing the bay screeched to a halt. What apparently had been a tremendous underwater explosion had caused waves that rattled the deck of the Golden Gate Bridge. At that same moment, the lights illuminating both the Golden Gate and the Bay Bridge went out, some of them explosively.

Beneath the water, a bug crouched close to the bottom, slowly regaining its strength, wondering what mischief to do next. It liked this game!

**********

"Right. Let me know if that one causes too many problems."

"Okay..." Skuld's voice sounded tired and scared. Urd sensed that she was on the verge of shutting down.

"Come on, Skuld. You and me against the forces of Chaos, right? No problem. At least," Urd said in her best arrogant voice, "I'll hold up my end. I'd better make some plans just in case I can't count on you, right?"

"What?!" Urd smiled as she heard Skuld's voice perk up with anger and injured pride. "I bet I'll have this cleaned up before you make it out of the house!"

"I hope you do, little sister. I hope you do." Urd decided to relent. "Look. Let the automatic systems try to track the exhaust port for a while. Get yourself some rest."

"But Urd, it looks like there's at least four or five bugs down there. How are you going to catch them by yourself?"

"Who said I was going to do it by myself?

"It's not like I can go down there! Do you want me to get Bell to help you?"

"No, you need her more up there with you." Urd looked up at the door, where a still-confused Megumi was standing. "I'm going to draft a deputy."

"WHAT?! You CAN'T! Urd--"

Urd slammed her fist down. "Do you have a better idea?" Now Urd felt herself skating close to the breaking point. She paused for a moment to calm down. "We can discuss it with Father later," she continued. "In fact, why don't you mention it to him right now? You can see him on your way to your chambers."

"Thanks a lot," muttered Skuld under her breath.

"What was that?"

"I said..." Skuld sighed. "Good luck, Urd. I think you're gonna need it."

"Thanks, Skuld." Urd heard a click as Skuld disconnected. "Good luck to you too."

As Urd put the phone down, the sound of a door sliding open made her look up. Keiichi stood there, cold pack against his head. "Keiichi! How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling...better, thanks. What's all the shouting about?"

Urd privately decided that Kei didn't look much better. "Uhh...I need to go shopping in town for a bit. Is it okay if Megumi and I borrow your motorcycle for a while?"

Keiichi looked from Urd to Megumi. "Well, sure, I guess." He fumbled in his pockets, then handed his keys to Urd.

"Thanks!" Urd ran into her room, ran out again with a backpack, and grabbed Megumi's arm. "See you later!" She hustled Megumi out into the courtyard.

The haze in Megumi's mind had finally begun to clear a bit, and she found her voice again. "Urd, hold it," she said, shaking her off. "Tell me what's going on!"

Urd handed Megumi her helmet. "Here. It's a long story. You're driving. I'll try to explain on the way."

"Where are we going?" Megumi asked, as Urd climbed into the sidecar.

"I'm not sure yet," she replied, taking several objects from her pack. "Just drive. Oh, and you might need this."

Megumi looked at the object Urd handed her with some interest. *A hammer?* She shrugged to herself as she got onto the bike. *This explanation had better be good...* Aloud, she said, "Are you ready?" Megumi looked over her shoulder to see Urd frowning at something on a device she was holding. "Hey, when did you start wearing glasses?"

Urd looked up, adjusting the scanners that Skuld had built into the frames of her glasses. "They're just for...technical work." The display in the left lens flashed, causing Urd to look back across the courtyard...where a certain tree was highlighted with an unhealthy glow. As data began to scroll across Urd's vision, she murmured, "Oh, that's not good."

Puzzled, Megumi followed Urd's gaze. "What's up? I don't--" Megumi stopped for a moment, and shuddered, as if a chill had come over her.

"Megumi? What is it?"

"I...I don't know.... Something...." She could feel the confusion rising again in her mind. "Something from...over there...that tree...something came from there, and hit me...."

Urd placed her hand on Megumi's shoulder and concentrated. Megumi's shivering eased off. "Don't worry. Whatever was there seems to be gone now." Urd looked back at the tree, and at the information her instruments told her. It seemed that, although a bug exhaust port had formed by the tree, it had...moved? *This is NOT good,* she repeated to herself. To Megumi, she said, "Let's go."

Megumi paused for a moment before she started up the motorcycle, her mind still confused by some of the things she was starting to remember. After all, how could she forget someone as nice as Keiichi's girlfriend, Bell...? Megumi shook her head, trying to clear it. Unable to fit her recollections together, she decided to just not think about it for a while.

Keiichi heard them go, the motorcycle roaring away. The sound made his head throb, but it seemed that his headache was receding. *Well, I can't let a headache put me behind in class, can I?* Keiichi thought to himself. He returned to his room, and sat down at his desk. As he got out his books for the class that he missed, Keiichi happened to glance at a picture sitting in it's frame on a shelf.

*That's funny...what an odd picture,* he observed. The photo was of Keiichi, but for some reason he was on the left side of the shot. The space to his right was empty. Keiichi paused, looking at the photo some more. *There should be someone...there....* In his mind's eye, a face began to appear, the face that was missing from the photo. It was a friendly face, with a gentle smile and eyes that were full of--

"AHHH!"

The stab of pain came suddenly, the shock of it driving Keiichi into unconsciousness.

Meanwhile, out in the courtyard, the scorchmark left by Urd's magic began to glow with residual magical energy. After a moment, the aura seemed to contract into itself, as if it were being absorbed...

With a faint *POP*, another bug, fueled by Urd's power bolt, jumped into existence. Followed by three more.

**********

"Umm...Father? We seem to have a problem.... Another bug exhaust port seems to have formed. We can't locate it precisely, and I can't seem to pin down what's powering it...."

Kami-sama spoke before Skuld could continue. "Yes. I have been monitoring the situation for some time now." Skuld noticed images from her work floating around the Heavenly Throne.

"Oh. Right. Um. Well...." Skuld placed a hand behind her head, nervously.

Her father held up his hand, interrupting her half-formed statement.

"Although I do not entirely approve of everything you and Urd have done," he began, "I understand why you have chosen this particular course of action. I will have others of the heavenly host exploring different options for dealing with the new exhaust port, but for now, you may continue your efforts."

"Ah.... Thank you, Father!"

"But remember: I WILL be watching."

**********

Skuld was walking down a vast hallway, absentmindedly scooping fudge ripple ice cream from a quart container carried under one arm. *Continue our efforts, huh? Great. But what should our next step be?* She stopped for a moment to ponder. *Maybe I can just let some of the others try to come up with a solution.* This seemed like a good course of action, but for her father's last words.... Skuld paused and shuddered at the memory.

She shoveled another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth to boost her energy a bit more, and kept going. *I know! I could ask Belldandy for advice!*

Skuld rounded a corner and approached the doors to Belldandy's chambers. Her sister had been in seclusion ever since the recall notice had taken effect, and Skuld hesitated to disturb her now, but...she needed her help.

Putting the spoon back into the ice cream and closing the container, Skuld gingerly knocked on her sister's door. "Um...Belldandy?"

There was no response. Skuld knocked a little harder. "Sister?"

Still nothing. Skuld came to a decision, and gently opened the door. She cautiously stuck her head in and looked around, her eyes slowly adjusting to the dim lighting. Bell sat in an overstuffed chair by the fireplace, knitting needles in one hand, the beginnings of a scarf in the other. *Oh, she's asleep!* Skuld noticed. *She's probably exhausted. It'd be a shame to wake her....* Skuld sighed. "Bell?" she said gently, so as not to startle her.

Belldandy slept on. Skuld tapped her on the shoulder. "Belldandy, it's Skuld. Wake up, please, big sister, I need your help..." Bell didn't respond. Frowning a little, Skuld tried again. "Belldandy...BELLDANDY! Please, wake up!"

By now, Skuld had begun to shout, but Bell didn't even twitch. She just sat there, deeply asleep.

*Geez!* thought Skuld. Belldandy seemed to be really out of it. She was so deep in sleep that it seemed nothing could rouse her. *Hmmm... Bell only sleeps this hard when she has to recharge her energy,* mused Skuld, as she looked at her sleeping sister. Just as Skuld used ice cream for emergency recharges, Belldandy had to sleep to regain her strength. *Like when she's totally drained herself.*

*Wait a minute.*

*Power... drain... Power? For the -- oh, no. No. Nononononono....* Skuld backed up to the door, then turned and ran out of the room. "FATHERRRRR!!!"

**********

Sayoko Mishima believed herself to be a very down-to-earth person. She didn't usually go for a belief in luck or destiny or mystic powers or things like that, she would tell herself, unless of course said mystic happenings would be in her favor. So, she didn't really have an explanation for some of the odder things that seemed to be happening while she was around today.

It all started earlier, at the motor club, when the engine Tamiya and Otaki was working on flew apart. Next, she saw Megumi just fall over at the entryway to the house she and her brother shared. As Sayoko got out of her car and walked across the quad at Nekomi Tech, she was so preoccupied with the day's events that she forgot to snub the group of admirers that had hung around, hoping she would return to campus.

At that particular moment, Sayoko had noticed the campus clock had begun to spin backwards. As she walked past, the clock had frozen completely, just before the mechanism popped out and fell to the ground with a crash. Sayoko backed away from the wreck of the clock and leaned against a metal sculpture nearby. *Good thing I wasn't under that -- hey!* Behind her, the sculpture had suddenly collapsed under her weight, the steel framework bending as if it had turned to jello. *What the heck?*

Suddenly, Sayoko saw what looked like a small animal hopping around the base of the sculpture, trapped by the bent metal. "Ohh, how cute! Are you a bunny rabbit?" Sayoko said in reassuring tones. "Don't worry, we'll have you out of there in a jiffy." As she reached down to pick up the creature, she heard a shout.

"Sayoko! Look out!" Sayoko fell back in surprise, as something flew past her ear and hit the "rabbit" square on the head. She was outraged.

"Hey, what do you think you're --" Before Sayoko could finish the thought, the creature burst into white light, which bubbled and swirled out of sight. *Funny, I don't think I've been drinking today....*

"Nice shot, if I do say so myself," said Megumi, picking up her hammer from where it had fallen.

"I could have taken care of it, if you hadn't gotten in the way," replied Urd.

Megumi remembered the scorched ground in the temple courtyard. "Yeah, but you probably would've taken care of Sayoko, too!" Urd "hmphed" in annoyance. Megumi turned to Sayoko, only to see her in a faint, laying on the ground. Shrugging to herself, Megumi moved Sayoko into a more dignified position against a nearby tree.

Urd had put on her glasses again, and was scanning the quad. "So, do you believe me now?" she said.

Megumi looked up. "I don't know, Urd. You've got to admit, that story you told me was pretty bizarre." Urd rolled her eyes. Megumi went on, "So you say that you're a goddess? And that reality is a computer program?"

"No, I just wanted you to think of reality that way. It's a metaphor!"

"A metaphor for what?"

"Look. I'm a goddess, and my job is to troubleshoot any glitches that crop up in reality."

"Oh, and these glitches manifest themselves as six-legged rabbits?"

"Hey, it was the most harmless thing we could think of!"

"Harmless?" asked Megumi skeptically, looking at the wreckage of the clock and sculpture.

Urd smirked. "Okay, mostly harmless." The scanner in her hand pinged, then pinged again. Urd frowned a little.

Megumi shook her head in disbelief. Far too much was happening far too fast for her to really take it all in. She decided to herself that things like this couldn't really be happening, the evidence before her notwithstanding. *Surely there's some rational explanation for all this. Or maybe I'm just delusional.* Megumi sighed, as she decided to just go along with whatever Urd was playing at, until the right explanation came along.

Switching off the scanner, Urd grabbed Megumi by the arm and headed towards the nearest building. "We've got to go. It looks like a few of the bugs have teamed up downtown..."

"Hey, Urd," Megumi protested. "We parked over this way!"

"Not fast enough." Inside the building, Urd found a classroom that was currently vacant. She switched on the television monitor hanging in one corner.

"Urd, what are you do-- EEEE!!!" Megumi's words dissolved into a wordless shout, as Urd grabbed her arm and leapt into the screen. Megumi was helplessly drawn after.

**********

To Be Continued....