Chapter 1:

Early morning at the Morisato residence. As the first rays of the sun broke out from behind the mountains, Keichii Morisato dreamed to himself. Sunday meant no work; at least his could get some shut- eye without having the thought of Chihiro kicking his arse for being late for work, even when things at Whirlwind were slow. In retrospect, nothing interesting or out of the ordinary had happened in a while. If you call ordinary living with three goddesses. He had time on his side for once. He could take Belldandy out or wash his bike or -

A sudden crash from down the hall forced Keichii's eyes to open. He bounded out of bed and towards the direction of the sound, wondering what had happened. As he rounded the corner into the kitchen he found the source of the disturbance, his eyes widening in shock.

Goddess Belldandy lay outstretched on the floor of the kitchen, a dishcloth held loosely in one hand, her eyes closed. Of course, it was no surprise that she rose earlier than Keichii to do the housework, but this had never happened before. What the - did she fall? He wondered as he approached her. He knew Belldandy had to sleep to recharge her power, but she hadn't been using her powers at all in the last few days.

"Belldandy?" he asked as he held her head in his lap "Belldandy!?" After what seemed an age, Belldandy slowly opened her eyes.

"Thank goddess!" he murmured as her eyes fell upon his own. With a little effort, she lifted herself up and sat cross-legged on the floor next to Keichii, a little disorientated. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Belldandy groaned a little as she felt the injuries of her fall and looked around at the remains of a porcelain cup that she had been washing. "Keichii, I'm sorry - I broke the cup"

Keichii smiled. Always thinking about others. "It's okay Belldandy, it's you I'm worried about". Sure, it was a real cliché at the time, but he really meant it.

Belldandy's face returned it's normal, happy expression and she gave him a hug of appreciation. This took Keichii by surprise, and it took him a few seconds to put his arms around her. All those books on relationships never did help Keichii get any further with Belldandy.

They parted and rose from the floor, picking up the pieces of broken cup from off of the floor. As Belldandy duly put the kettle on, Keichii sat down in a chair. He was shortly joined by Belldandy, who sat on the opposite side of the table, her eyes absentmindedly staring into space, as if she was thinking of something else.

"So, Bell, are you okay now?"

She flinched and looked up at him, wondering inwardly whether to tell him or not.

"A few days ago, we got a phone call from Head Office." She began. Keichii's heart sank. Had the time finally come, for them to leave? He looked expectantly on.

"Skuld and Urd have to return momentarily to do a routine systems analysis in Yggdrasil. They'll be gone a few days, I thought I'd tell you."

Keichii gave a sigh of relief. At least he wouldn't lose them. They were the like a family to him. But why did she fall over?

"But that's not what made you fall?"

Belldandy hesitated before she continued.

"I didn't want to trouble you. Keichii, this morning I felt something. Something evil, like a shadow that suddenly swept across the system for one second. I was afraid. Something's coming, Keichii, and I don't know whether we can stop it."

That's what they said about The Master Of Terror, and look what happened there. What could be worse than Urd getting her evil side on? Well.lots of things...like Belldandy finding those magazines.or -

"Don't worry about it Belldandy. There's nothing we can do about it now. If something happens, I'm sure it'll be okay. I've got a sixth sense about these things" he grinned, as if that would help a Goddess, whose problems are like that of a human multiplied by several million.

Belldandy would have gone and kissed him for his reassurance, but Urd had stumbled into the room, a half empty bottle of Bud held in her left hand, and startled the pair. Sleep and alcohol were just the trick after a night out for the perma-tanned goddess of the Past.

"Jeez, guys, don't you ever sleep in the morning?"

"Morning Urd, did you sleep well?" Belldandy's face lit up, almost as if nothing had happened in the last few minutes, the idea of World Destruction was a mere annoyance in the Grand Scheme of The Lord.

The kettle began to whistle, the tone rising to a shrill peep. Belldandy turned away from her sister momentarily as she prepared the morning tea, whilst Urd flopped into a chair. She laid the drinks on the table and joined her sister and Keichii, taking the chance to momentarily forget the prophesy of doom and gloom whilst Keichii turned on the TV, looking for the local news stories.

"Yeah, same as usual, I guess" Urd replied, after slugging the last of the Budweiser and starting in the tea.

"You haven't forgotten, Urd?"

Urd looked up from above the rim of the teacup as she tried to comprehend the question over the static of the TV.

"Huh?" Her blank expression denoted the need for more prompts.

"You know, the System Debugging?"

Urd's expression dropped as she reluctantly accepted that for one day out of 365 she would have to work. Funny how organisations exile their workers but still call on them when there's work to be done.

"Damn it. Can't Peorth keep everything under control?"

"Ah shuddup.you don't have to do the main debugging, sis"

Skuld had joined the household at the table and began to eat some cereal, dressed in her goddess uniform. After a quick good morning to Belldandy, the youngest of the three goddesses busily tucked into a tub of Ben and Jerry's and debugged Banpei simultaneously.

At the sight of what could be mistaken as a vat of ice cream disappearing in a matter of minutes, Keiichi went strongly off food for a few seconds as the TV static cleared and the news began to flash. Murder, rape, tax rise, less funding.the usual stuff. Terrible as though each separate story was, at least it wasn't anything on the scale of an Armageddon-esque scenario. Maybe Belldandy was wrong? He flipped off the TV as Urd finished her breakfast and headed off to her room, preparing herself for the trials ahead.

"Hey Keichii, wanna see my new hammer?" asked Skuld, brandishing a shiny bejewelled Hammer. Skuld fuelled on ice cream with a hammer wasn't a safe combination, and if the slightly agitated look in her eyes didn't give away her enthusiasm for her job, it was the ease with which she twirled the hammer like a baton. Just the thing for sorting out bugs. Or for putting a dent in someone's head.

"Err.nice hammer, Skuld" he stammered, backing away slowly. If it wasn't for Belldandy's intervention at that point, his day might've ended in the hospital.

"Skuld, why don't you put your hammer down and get ready to go? I'll go make some lunch for you before you go. It'll be ready in a few minutes."

"'Kay! Make sure you put in some ice cream, Bell!"

As Skuld made herself scarce from the Kitchen, Belldandy carried out her word, as Keichii leant up against the Kitchen unit and watched her work, making and packing sandwiches and crisps. His instincts kicked in within moments and he began to help her out. He couldn't just let her do all the work, goddess or no goddess.

"Do you wish you were going with them?" he asked her, as he carefully placed a bunch of grapes beside a bottle of beer in a cool bag.

"Perhaps.I haven't been to Heaven in a while" she began, her eyes facing Keichii "But I'm sure that there's a good reason for why I wasn't told to return. Even if something does happen, I want to be by your side."

Keichii always felt insecure when she spoke as if he couldn't live without someone else's help. It wasn't a normal relationship, that was obvious, but he still couldn't help feeling that he should be the one that would protect Belldandy. Even if he didn't have the power of Heaven on his side.

"Yeah, well, maybe it was meant to be, so that we could do something together?" suggested Keichii. A cheap shot at getting some time alone with Belldandy.

Her eyes shone intensely with anticipation. "You think so? But where would we go?"

"I don't know, how about the - "

"COMING THROUGH!"

Skuld's voice rattled through the old timber of the temple as she carried her equipment in her backpack, various band names written all over it in Japanese. The hammer poked out of one end, easily positioned if it was needed for a speedy deployment. Just in case Keichii tried to get a little more "friendly" with her sister while she was still around to stop them.

She eyed the pair suspiciously as they put the food in the backpack and looked at her, expecting a response.

"There's some stuff in their for both of you, and plenty of Ice- cream" reported Keichii, as Skuld's mouth turned upward into a smile. "Thanks, Belldandy!"

Happily she bounded out of the room and into the bathroom, ignoring Keichii's grumbling about him helping out as well and that he should get some credit.... Belldandy followed her sister as she started the teleportation program, the water whirling around the full bath in a spiral. As she stepped into the portal, she turned to see Belldandy for the last time.

"And don't annoy Peorth too much, Skuld!" Belldandy called after her.

"I won't!" echoed the younger Goddess' voice as she disappeared, after a flash of light and a slight sound of whirling water. She had gone. One down, one to go.

Meanwhile, Urd locked up her room after dressing in her goddess outfit and passed into the living room where Keichii was watching the TV. She knelt down to his height to speak to him before she left, her robes draped over the floor.. He jumped a bit when she put her hand on his shoulder and she spoke in a whisper, into his ear as she sat behind him.

"Don't miss this chance, kiddo. Don't let a good thing go, you'll be fine."

Keichii looked embarrassed and then defiant at the femme-fatale's suggestion. "What do you mean, don't miss this chance?"

Urd straightened up and headed for the television, her voice carried over the announcer's report.

"You know what I mean, Morisato. Just have fun and be yourself. I will be disappointed if you don't act soon. See you in a few days."

As she disappeared into the portal in the TV, Keichii leant back into the chair and sighed. A typical thing for Urd to say, but he couldn't deny it, he had been waiting for weeks for a chance like this. More time alone with his beloved Belldandy.

If he could find something for them to do in the next 72 hours..