Disclaimer: AMG isn't mine, I don't own any of it. The lullaby Peorth sings is "Dodo, l'enfant do." The identity verification between Lind and Wynn is inspired by a very similar exchange in the movie, "By Dawn's Early Light."
Amants
Chapter 3
Love Your Family
Any other time, Peorth would have been listening to Belldandy's explanation with rapt curiosity. Right now, however, she couldn't even harness enough attention to make out Belldandy's words. She was staring down at Wynn, wondering what had happened, what he had gone through.
"What did they do to you?" she whispered in sorrow, studying his eyepatch and the scars around it.
"Well, that's a pretty stupid thing to do," Urd's voice momentarily cut through her musings. A moment later it was gone again and she was alone with him.
Would he even want to see her when he woke up? Or would he turn his gaze from her the way she had turned hers? Would he forgive her?
"How is this not my fault, Neesan?" Belldandy was asking incredulously. Peorth tuned it out and squeezed his hand harder.
Please, that's all I ask, Almighty, she thought. He doesn't have to still love me. He doesn't have to take me back, just please let him forgive me...
She thought of the day they first met. Divinity and Oracles, the first class of the afternoon, when he had brazenly walked up to her as if they had known each other all their lives.
"Excuse me, I'm sorry to have to do this, but I've run the divining calculations, and it looks like you are destined to have lunch with me."
Peorth arched an eyebrow and took the lightpad from his hands. She made a few corrections to his calculations and handed it back.
He looked over the new numbers and nodded. "Ah, I see," he admitted. "I should have carried the two. So, you're destined to slap me and walk off... Yes, I see now..."
She smiled and tried not to laugh. Luckily, he was persistent...
The house shook on its foundations for a moment.
"No, Neesan, you kissing Keiichi is not the solution to this problem," Belldandy was saying in deadly earnest.
"Then you're going to have to just tell him," Urd replied. "Personally, I think you're making too much out of this, then again, you're good at that."
"I am not making too much out of it!" Belldandy shot back. "It's my shame, and I had hoped I'd never have to speak of it again. Moder being here only makes it worse..."
Urd snapped her fingers. "That's the ticket! We'll ask Frigga to tell him! I bet she tells that story great!"
Belldandy went white as a sheet. "No!" she cried, all but falling to her knees before Urd. "No! Under no circumstances whatsoever should she even know what's going on!"
Urd arched an eyebrow. "She's a seer," she said deadpan. "Odds are, Belldandy, not only does she already know, but she's probably known for weeks. And you have nothing to be ashamed about!"
Belldandy took a deep breath, her face set and determined. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Neesan," she said quietly. "If you breathe a word of this to Moder or Keiichi... I will tell Moder about the time you left the door open during the rains, and the Fensalir marshes flooded the hall."
Urd stamped her foot. "That's below the belt! You know she's still looking for the person who did that! Of course, it doesn't help that the damn mortals made it part of their myths about her..."
Belldandy was unmoved. "Well?" she asked.
The elder Norn huffed. "Fine."
Her old smile graced Belldandy's face again. "Excellent! In that case, I'm off to bed. Good night, Neesan."
888
Frigga awoke feeling better than she had in days. Sitting up in her futon, she looked down at the burned patch of dress and found a perfectly healed shoulder beneath it, without even a scar to show that anything had touched her skin. Looking to her left, she found Belldandy asleep nearby. Smiling, she rose to her feet and quietly made her way into the hall.
Passing the bathroom, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and frowned. The battle with the demons, first in The Hedge and then in Hell, had certainly done a number on her clothing. Closing her eyes, she willed herself something new and more Earth-appropriate. Light encompassed her body, and when it faded, she was standing in a blue, ankle-length dress.
Yes, much better, she thought.
She entered the kitchen and found Wynn asleep on the table with a young goddess draped over him, fast asleep. The queenly goddess wondered if they were related. Careful not to disturb either of them, she checked Wynn's wound and, satisfied at what she saw, proceeded to the refrigerator.
After all, nothing gets one over a stay in the darkest of realms like pancakes...
888
Peorth stood in a familiar place. It should be, after all, she'd spent a good portion of her younger years in the same apartment overlooking Charity Square. Looking out the window, she pressed her hand against the glass and dropped it a moment later when she saw what was reflected there.
Turning, she saw herself, her younger self. Her ponytail wasn't as long and she wore a modest maroon dress she had liked before her sense of fashion had "matured."
"I don't want to be here," she whimpered softly.
The other her gave no sign of hearing her, she was rushing to the door, opening it and hugging the young god who stood on the other side.
She hadn't had this dream in a very long time.
"How did you get leave again so soon?" her younger self was asking him.
The younger Wynn looked troubled, nervous, something she had not noticed at the time.
"There's something important I have to tell you," he came out and said more bluntly than he had probably meant to. She was sure he had rehearsed what he wanted to say, but faced with her the words had fled him.
Her younger self smiled and sat down in the chair before him. Peorth remembered this part, of course. The cocky young goddess had assumed, with the war ending, that he was about to get down on one knee and she wanted to be in the perfect spot to accept.
"Oui?" she asked, batting her eyes at him.
But he didn't get down on one knee. He bit his lip and braced himself as Peorth watched, trying to soak up every moment of him that she had missed before.
"I've been reassigned," he told her. "To the regular forces."
Her younger self blinked in confusion. "What?"
He took a breath and continued. "I've been asked to go on an important mission," he said. Peorth felt a fresh pang of sympathy, knowing that he must have known how stupid it sounded even to him. "So... It's going to be awhile before I can come back."
"How long?"
"Years," he said quietly. "Maybe centuries."
Her younger self didn't get it. "What are you talking about?" she asked incredulously. "Haven't you seen the info-dates? The demons are in retreat. The only thing left is to find out how much Hild is going to give up. Two more weeks and the war will be over..."
"Not for some of us," he said.
The younger Peorth's face darkened. "What is this?" she asked. "Why are you doing this?" She couldn't believe it. After enduring three years apart on the promise he would return for good, he was leaving for centuries?
Peorth tried to get between them, but neither of them could see her. "Don't you say it!" she warned her younger self.
"It's something I have to do," he told her, fighting his own hurt.
"Non!" her younger self said. "You tell them you can't!"
"There's only a handful of gods in Heaven who can even do this mission," he told her. "I happen to be one of them."
"Well, isn't that convenient?" the goddess replied. "And by chance, would Zuriel be another?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean!" the younger Peorth cried, too angry to care if she made sense or not. "I know how she looks at you, what the others have been saying!"
Peorth tried to take her past self by the shoulders and shake her. "Don't! Don't you dare!"
Instead, the younger goddess crossed her arms over her chest as she fought back tears and collected herself. "Everything you said, everything you promised... It was all just a lie, wasn't it?"
"You know it wasn't," he whispered in shock.
"You never meant any of it," her younger self accused him.
"Stop it! Please!" Peorth cried.
"You milked the whole 'soldier off to war' thing to the hilt," the young woman went on. "And it worked, didn't it? Got you into my bed fast enough, didn't it? And now that the war is over and it's time to make good on your promises, and you'd rather go off with that tart..."
"SHUT UP, YOU STUPID, SPOILED COW!" Peorth screamed at her.
Wynn said nothing. He stood there, bleeding from the wound in his soul as her past self continued to tear into it.
"You can't even tell me the truth. You coward."
"Peorth..."
"Get out," her younger self whispered. "I'll not love a man who would go back on his word."
She turned away from him.
Peorth shook her head. "No..."
Wynn turned to go.
"Look at him!" she hissed at her younger self. "Dammit, look at him!"
Her younger self wouldn't turn back.
Peorth heard the door open and turned just in time to see it close again. "Wynn! Don't go! Ma cheri, don't go!" She pounded on the door, but it wouldn't open again. "Don't go! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Don't go!"
Something growled behind her.
She blinked. This part of the dream wasn't familiar. She turned slowly, expecting to see her past self still sitting there.
It stood next to the chair where her other self had been, but there was no sign of the young goddess. It was at least eight feet tall, covered in pitch-black fur. Bat-like wings were folded behind it. Its eyes locked onto her, and its lips curled up in a sneer, but it made no sound.
Until it hissed at her and leapt forward!
She shrieked in fright and flinched away.
And shook awake a second later. She took several deep breaths and blinked. Wynn's unconscious form still lay below her. She had fallen asleep resting on his chest.
She raised her head and watched curiously as Urd practically skipped past her like a schoolgirl.
"Frigga's making PANCAKES!" the elder Norn squealed giddily.
"Don't hog them, Urd!" Skuld cried from the kitchen.
She looked up as Belldandy stopped at the table and checked Wynn's wound. She offered Peorth a happy smile. "Good as new," she said. "He should wake up soon."
"How do you feel, Peorth san?" Keiichi asked from his spot at Belldandy's side.
"I'm fine, thank you. Soon, you said?" she asked. At Belldandy's happy nod, she bit her lip. "Belldandy, I... I need a favor."
The request threw Belldandy for a moment, but her smile returned a moment later. "Of course!"
"I... I need to borrow a dress," she continued. At their amazed expressions, Peorth rallied. "After all, he hasn't seen me since my sense of fashion fully matured, and given his weakened state, he might not be ready for... er... the full Peorth experience..."
"Of course you can borrow something," Belldandy told her. "What did you have in mind?"
Peorth's eyes cast downward nervously. "Preferably one of your, 'I'm so innocent, I must be hot' numbers."
She means the blue one, Keiichi thought to Belldandy. At her questioning look he nodded. Definitely the blue one.
"Er... My blue one would look good on you," she offered. "It's in my closet. Please, help yourself."
Keiichi snorted in mild disbelief as Peorth walked off. Peorth in Belldandy's outfits? What next? Belldandy in hers? The thought conjured an image of Belldandy in Peorth's get up, Keiichi realizing too late that with Belldandy standing so close he might as well be shouting it through a bullhorn.
He froze and waited in dread as Belldandy turned to him. She smiled and clapped her hands together. "I would look so adorable!"
The college student breathed a sigh of relief as Belldandy went back to the kitchen.
888
Peorth looked at herself in the mirror and tried to smile. The dress, while comfortable and cute, was still far too much clothing in her estimation. Still, she wanted this to be perfect.
Her thoughts went to the dream. She knew what she saw had been the "abridged version," of their last fight. There had been some doozies in their time together. That's what happened when you put two passionate people together. No matter how much love they had for one another, they were guaranteed to fight like cornered wolves from time to time. That's what it was like sometimes. They would zero in on the most trivial matter for seemingly no reason and before they knew it, she was swearing in French and he was comparing her to her mother.
Something was missing.
It was something she had struggled with when dealing with Keiichi and Belldandy. Both were such docile, balanced people. She sometimes thought what they really needed was a good fight, something to get their passions up, their juices flowing. A good fight would reveal more about themselves to one another than this perpetual dance they were in. Because as bad as fighting was, making up was simply incredible when done correctly... And if there was one thing she and Wynn had thoroughly enjoyed, it was making up...
She knew what it was... Looking around, she found a ribbon that matched the dress and tied it into her hair.
That last fight, though... She hadn't just gone over the line, she had danced on it and set it on fire. Their fights had gotten more serious during the war. Mostly it was because she was so frightened for him, so frightened of losing him that she almost wanted to drive him away. It would have been easier if he had been having an affair. After every fight, however, her blood would cool and she would realize that losing him to another woman or losing her to a demon's blade made little difference. Both would take him from her.
She had comforted herself with the fact that she would simply make it up to him when he returned, but he hadn't, and Peorth had lived with the horrifying realization that the man she had loved most had likely gone to his death thinking she thought him a liar and a cheat.
Well, it was time to make good on her promise. She would make it up to him. She would make this right.
And she would start now.
888
"URD! I said stop hogging them!" Skuld cried.
He walked into the kitchen proper where the older goddess promptly offered him a plate of pancakes topped with whipped cream. Nearby, Urd, Skuld and Belldandy were digging in.
"We actually haven't been introduced," Keiichi said, giving Frigga a bow. "I'm K..."
"Keiichi Morisato, Case Number one-one-two-seven-six-three-three-five-dash-R," Frigga told him, cutting him off. "I was hoping to meet you one day."
"Oh yeah?" Keiichi asked, scratching the back of his head.
"Indeed. Given the unique nature of thine wish, some feedback would be helpful."
"Moder actually runs the Goddess Help Line," Belldandy supplied, hearing the confused questions in his mind.
"Well, sure," he said. "I guess that's okay."
"Glorious!" Frigga replied. "Now eat up!"
Keiichi wasn't much of a pancake guy. He pushed the cakes around on his plate for a moment. "So what makes these so good?" he asked.
His head snapped up as the sound of silverware angrily striking a plate ripped through the kitchen. Skuld was glaring at him. He actually took a step back.
"'What makes them so good?'" she repeated. "'What makes them so GOOD?' Each individual buttermilk cake is cooked to perfection with a clockwise swirl of your favorite fruit and an exact equal but opposite, counter-clockwise swirl of chocolate syrup, interspersed with just the right amount of blueberries and chocolate chips, but the secret ingredient is LOVE... dammit!"
There was an awkward silence.
"You should probably just eat the pancake," Urd advised him.
Keiichi started chowing down.
Frigga smiled happily. "I am so looking forward to getting to know you better," she told Keiichi. "I've studied your record very closely."
Keiichi smiled, but for some reason felt panic well up in him. "Is that so?" he asked.
"Indeed! After all, I wouldn't trust my own daughters with just anyone!"
He felt on the verge of running from the room like a spooked rabbit. It didn't make sense. Frigga seemed like a very nice woman, so why was she making him feel this way?
His gaze broke from Frigga's, looking to Belldandy for some kind of comfort, and that's when he realized it.
Belldandy had stopped eating. She was looking at Frigga wide-eyed.
He wasn't panicking. She was!
Belldandy? he thought to her. Are you okay?
Her eyes found his, and she smiled. He felt a flash of warmth from her. Hai.
He felt the panicked feelings begin to recede. Turning back, he found Frigga still smiling at him.
"Shall we say two o'clock?" she asked.
"Sure," he said with a grin. "Anything I can do to help."
"Splendid," she said. "Wynn should be up and around by then." As she said this, she watched Peorth re-enter the room in a blue, knee-length dress with a white top.
Keiichi blinked. The only other time he had seen Peorth dressed so conservatively was during their "date," when she was trying to convince him to let her grant his "true wish."
"Peorth is really taking this hard," he whispered.
"Hai," Belldandy agreed. "Given the circumstances, it's natural."
"What do you mean?"
Urd answered for her. "The downside of being the divine representation of feminine attributes is that you're often bound by them," she explained. "That's part of who Peorth is. Under all the bluster and arrogance, she's a representative of feminine love. When confronted with the thought that she has somehow violated that representation, she runs back to it and embraces it all the harder."
"I don't think that's it at all," Belldandy told her. "It's obvious that she loves Wynn san very much."
"I didn't say she didn't. I just mean that what we're seeing right now is Peorth being as true to herself as we're probably ever going to see."
She turned to Frigga. "And speaking of which, when are we going to hear exactly who this guy is?"
"Ah, yes, of course," Frigga replied apologetically. "I suppose I should explain."
She hopped up onto the counter and crossed her legs, preparing for a long story. The others stood around her and waited for her to begin.
"Wynn is one of The Seven," she finally said.
"The Seven are a myth," Urd told her flat out.
"The Seven are certainly not a myth," Frigga replied firmly. "Your father doesn't tell me everything, but he does let me sit in the big chair, and I saw them set out on their mission."
"I'm sorry, but who are The Seven?" Keiichi asked, raising a hand as if he was back in class.
"When the last war between the gods and demons occurred, it began with a sneak attack from Hild," Belldandy told him. "We eventually won that war, but there were rumors that seven spies were sent into Hell to make sure that such an attack could never happen again."
Frigga nodded. "The Seven, as they were dubbed, were supposed to sneak into Hell during the confusion of the last retreat and embed themselves into the demons' society. If Hild were to ever mobilize for another strike against Heaven, it was thought that at least one of them would be able to escape and warn us."
"So is that attack going to happen?" Keiichi asked.
"No," Frigga explained. "Over the centuries, all contact with The Seven was lost, and it was assumed that Hild had discovered and sealed them all. Two days ago, I was conducting business in The Hedge and..."
"Business?" Urd asked with an arched eyebrow. "In The Hedge? This business wouldn't happen to include Vili or Ve, would it?"
Keiichi felt a swell of annoyed anger and turned just in time to see Belldandy staring her sister down.
"Urd," the middle Norn said in warning.
Frigga looked at her sadly. "If thou must know, I was visiting Baldr's grave, something I've noticed thou has not done in many a year."
Suitably cowed, Urd cleared her throat. "Please go on."
"As I was saying," Frigga continued. "Hild's Elite Guard ambushed me there and captured me, dragging me into the demon realm for Hild's enjoyment."
"Are you all right? It must have been awful!" Skuld cried.
Frigga patted her hand comfortingly. "Thankfully, I was not there long. Young Wynn was there during my... audience... with Hild, posing as a demon named Metheus..."
"That's Metheus?!" Urd suddenly cried.
Every eye went to her.
"Yes, why?" Frigga asked.
Urd looked very uncomfortable. It was obvious she wanted to say something, but instead cleared her throat and shook her head. "I've just heard the name, that's all."
The older goddess took this explanation at face value. "Anyhow, he convinced Hild not to seal me right away. Then, after she left, he helped me escape. The end."
"So what do we do now, Moder?" Belldandy asked.
"Well, we should contact Heaven as quickly as possible and let Lind know that one of The Seven has been recovered. I imagine she'll want to speak with him as soon as possible."
888
I'm dead.
The thought echoed in his head even as the light overcame him. He wondered briefly who would meet him on the other side. Gods who came before or gods who came after? Did it really matter?
The last goddess he expected to see looked down at him as his eyes opened.
For a moment, a relieved thrill ran through him. It had all been a dream. All of it. The war, The Seven, living as a demon, the hideous things he had been forced to do, none of it had happened. He was waking up in their bed with his Petite Fleur looking down at him, probably pissed that he had stolen the blankets in their sleep.
Then, the other side of that coin flipped into view. She couldn't be real.
"You're a dream," he whispered weakly.
"Non, mon cheri," she told him, holding back tears.
It wasn't a dream, and neither was she. It had all happened just the way he remembered it.
He swallowed at this realization. "Forgive me," he whispered to her.
Peorth sobbed and held him to her chest, shushing him like she would a squalling baby.
He struggled to stay awake through his fatigue, to wallow in her presence for a few moments longer. The god breathed deep, taking in the smell of roses. He could hear her crying softly as she held him.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean the things I said. I swear I didn't."
She could feel him weakening in her arms. He wouldn't be conscious much longer. "You need to rest," she told him softly. "Sleep now."
"I won't," he told her groggily. "I won't leave you again. Never again."
The goddess shushed him again. "It's all right. I'll be right here. I promise." His head was lolling against her chest as she held him. She held him close and began to softly sing to him.
"Tout le monde est sage,
Dans le voisinage,
Il est l'heure d'aller dormir,
Le sommeil va bientôt venir."
From the doorway, Urd watched as Peorth sang to Wynn, knowing that she was intruding and yet unable to break away from the scene.
"Neesan."
She turned to the sound of the whisper and found Belldandy there. As quietly as she could, Urd stepped away from the door, following her younger sister until they were out of earshot.
"Neesan," Belldandy whispered. "What's troubling you? You've been wary ever since Moder's story."
Urd glanced back down the hall to make sure they were alone. "I don't like this," she whispered. "It doesn't fit."
"What doesn't?"
The elder Norn bit her lip and tried to find a good way to explain it. "Hild is many things, but she's no idiot. I'm having a very hard time believing that this god was one of her aides for an entire age without her smelling it. There's more going on here."
"You think it's some kind of plot?"
"I don't know," Urd confessed. "But I'm telling you, it doesn't add up. Frigga said this guy's cover was a demon named Metheus."
"Yes, but I've never heard of him."
"I have," Urd whispered. "I was very young when I left the demon realm to live in Heaven, but even I had heard of Metheus. He was a 'defender of the faith,' a high inquisitor." She paused, and seeing confusion in her sister's eyes she went on. "Kami sama, Belldandy, he hunts traitors, demons who've lost their stomach for 'increasing shares' and start to think about going back. The Seven are the exact reason he existed at all."
"What are you saying, Neesan?" Belldandy asked. "That he's gone rampant?"
This last word was whispered so softly that Urd barely heard it. It was not a word you casually threw around, its implications too severe and long-lasting.
"I'm saying... that maybe we shouldn't be giving this guy the benefit of the doubt so fast."
"Moder trusts him," Belldandy said assuredly. "And Peorth vouches for him."
"Frigga just escaped from Hell by the skin of her teeth, and Peorth isn't exactly in a rational state of mind right now," Urd countered. "Look, I want to believe this guy is exactly who Frigga and Peorth say he is. I really do. But I know Hild. And I have an easier time believing Sayoko will marry a hobo or that Keiichi will sprout wings and fly than I do believing any god flew under Hild's radar for this long. Any other cover, maybe. But as a high inquisitor, he would have dealt face to face with her on a daily basis."
Belldandy sighed, disturbed by the logic in her sister's words. "So what would you have us do?"
Urd took a breath. "Call Lind. Now."
888
"Just give me a minute to log into HIM," Belldandy told her, sitting down at Keiichi's computer and entering her password into Heaven's Instant Messenger.
One-Wing-Flapping is online.
"Ah! Good! She's on!" She started typing.
Jeze-Bell: Good morning, Lind. We need you to come down here.
One-Wing-Flapping: I'm afraid I can't at the moment. There's a situation. I didn't want to tell you over email, but your mother is missing. You may want to come up here.
Jeze-Bell: No, she's here. Along with a god you need to speak to.
One-Wing-Flapping: Who?
Belldandy wasn't sure how to reply. If anyone was monitoring, she didn't want them to know one of The Seven was here. She started typing again.
Jeze-Bell: Let me just say that I can think of Seven good reasons for you to speak to him.
One-Wing-Flapping: -
One-Wing-Flapping: Very well. I'll be down later today. TTYL.
One-Wing-Flapping has signed out.
She signed out and turned back to Urd. "She'll be down later today. In the meantime, we should speak to Moder."
Urd bit her lip. "Not yet. Let's see what Lind has to say first."
Belldandy looked down at the floor. "I do hope you're wrong about him."
"Me too," Urd said softly. "For Peorth's sake if no one else's."
888
"Here, deary. Eat."
Peorth looked up as Frigga pushed a plate of pancakes at her.
"Non, merci, but I'm not hungry."
"Of course you are, hon. Eat," Frigga insisted.
Rather than defy what some would argue was the most powerful goddess in Heaven, Peorth took the plate.
Frigga looked at her with smiling eyes. "He's your mate, yes? Your husband?"
Peorth smiled wanly. "Non. I was hoping he'd apply for the job, though."
"It must have been hard," Peorth sympathized. "Waiting so long for him to come home."
The young woman swallowed. "Yes," she said simply. "It was."
Frigga led her into the next room so they could speak without waking him and sat down. "May I ask you something work-related without you getting into trouble with Freya?"
Peorth came up short. It was true that she worked for a rival organization, but she couldn't imagine Freya becoming cross with her... depending on what Frigga asked, of course.
"I suppose so," Peorth told her, taking a seat across from the older goddess and taking a bite of pancake.
Frigga rested her chin in her hands and smiled devilishly. "Has Belldandy granted his wish yet?"
Peorth put the plate down and folded her arms over her chest, smiling smugly. "How would I know? Why not ask her? Or him?"
"Oh, I intend to ask Mr. Morisato all about it, but you're an outside observer as close to impartial as I'm going to get."
The younger goddess thought on it for a moment. "Very well. I'll go as far as to say this: Belldandy is never aware that she is or isn't granting his wish. And by being that way, she is indeed granting it."
Frigga smiled.
"Do you understand?" Peorth asked her.
"Not at all."
The younger woman's eyebrow twitched. "You really are her mother," she bit out quietly. She stood up. "Thank you for the pancakes."
As she walked back toward the kitchen, her steps faltered. Frigga turned to face her.
"What is it?"
"He's gone!" Peorth gasped.
888
The sound of his boots on the wood of the back deck seemed to fit with the rest of what he was seeing. The sun was shining on the plants and trees... a sun... a real sun, not the orange glow from magma flows or torches, but bright white light. He had seen other realms, of course, but almost always at night to... to make it easier to do the things that had to be done.
He heard movement to his right and turned. A young goddess was sitting on the porch, fully involved in working on a hand-held computer while her legs dangled an inch above the ground.
Her fingers stopped moving as she sensed him there. Skuld looked up and saw him standing over her.
"Is this Heaven?" he asked her. "Are we home?"
"Um... No," she told him gently as she stood up. His scarred face intimidated her a little, but she stood her ground. "This is Earth."
He seemed to think about this for several moments. Skuld watched him skeptically. "Um... Are you okay?" she asked.
"Wynn?!"
He turned and found Peorth and Frigga standing in the doorway. "So it wasn't a dream," he said. "You're really here."
Peorth adjusted her stance, not sure whether to run to him or keep her distance. "Oui," she said softly. "Wynn..."
His eye tracked her cautiously, but his face betrayed no emotion.
Frigga and Skuld stood off to the side and watched with rapt interest.
"You... You look good," he told her.
"You look..." She caught herself smiling. "You look awful," she admitted.
Wynn cleared his throat and self-consciously fingered his eyepatch. "Comes from living in a rough part of town."
"I... I don't suppose it's fake..." she asked.
"No... It's a long story..."
"Wynn... I..."
Frigga couldn't stand it anymore. "KISS HIM, YOU WHINNYING NINNY OF A WOMAN!"
In two steps she was there, with barely enough time to breathe the word, "Cheri," before wrapping her arms around him and kissing him fiercely.
The godly queen clapped excitedly. "I do love happy endings!"
888
"Well, it looks like Peorth and what's-his-name are going to be okay," Keiichi said as he and Belldandy watched the scene from the other side of the courtyard.
"Hai!" she replied happily.
He felt her joy wash over him. It was one thing to be glad things worked out, but it amazed him just how much happiness she took from the happiness of others. It was no wonder she worked a job granting wishes to people. She seemed so right for it.
She glanced down at the ground. "Hai, I do take great pleasure from granting wishes," she told him, reading his thoughts. "I like making people happy."
You've always made me happy, he thought before he could rein it back.
Belldandy smiled softly at him. And you me.
He caught himself blushing. "Well, I guess that means my meeting with your mom will be a piece of cake, huh?"
A flash of fear struck him.
"What is it?" he asked.
She didn't answer, and he could feel her pushing it out of her thoughts as quickly as possible. "We should go out today," she said instead.
"Huh?"
"Hai! It's a beautiful, warm day! We shouldn't stay cooped up in the house!"
"Belldandy..."
"We could go to the movies! Or... Or to the Auto Club!" She flailed for something to tempt him into leaving. "We could go swimming!"
The reaction was so intense, she could both see and feel it in her mind, an aching, freezing chill seized her bones, and she couldn't breathe, but it passed a moment later.
"Are you okay?!" he asked.
The goddess looked up at him. She must have looked worse than she felt, because his concerned look almost scared her by its intensity.
"Hai..."
He smiled and scratched the back of his head. "Belldandy, I'd like to go out today... but I already promised Frigga san I'd meet with her... and... I really don't want to get on her bad side..."
...in case she's my mother in law som...SHUT UP, KEIICHI!
They both turned red. "Um... So... I'm going to go inside now..."
"H...Hai..."
He turned and walked off. She could feel how mortified he was at the statement, but couldn't figure out why. After all, she just assumed that one day...
She didn't have time for this. Keiichi was going to meet with her mother in less than an hour.
"I may have to set fire to the house," she said to herself, only half meaning it. "Oh, if only it were so easy."
888
"So..." Skuld began conversationally. "When are they going to stop?"
Frigga checked her timepiece as Peorth and Wynn continued to kiss. "That, my dear, is a very good question."
They watched for another minute, the two giving no indication they were going to stop.
"We have a hose," Skuld informed Frigga helpfully.
"That seems unromantic somehow," her mother argued.
They continued watching.
"Maybe you should both give them some privacy," Urd suggested, taking mother and daughter by the ear and pulling them inside the house. "How would you feel to be watched like that?"
"Your sister is quite right!" Frigga told Skuld as she pulled away from her stepdaughter's fingers. "For shame."
"Urd, I notice you're holding a video camera," Skuld pointed out.
By now Urd was in the spot they had vacated, taping Peorth and Wynn. "Yes, it's good to notice things," Urd told her.
Before Skuld could protest, a kitchen knife sitting in its rack on the counter shook slightly. Then, slowly, it rose from the rack as if being pulled by an invisible hand and stood on the tip of its blade until the sunlight from the window reflected in it. From this reflected light, a form began to take shape, growing and reforming until a tall, lithe woman stood before them.
Turning, she gave a short bow to Frigga. "Milady, it's good to see you're safe."
"Why thank you, Lind! It's good to see you as well!"
Lind looked from side to side. "Have you seen my aide-de-camp?"
"Your what?" Skuld asked.
Before Lind could elaborate, a tall blonde woman walked in from the hallway, coughing. "When was the last time you used that radio?" she asked. "The speakers are filthy!"
"Milady, Urd, Skuld, this is my aide-de-camp, Gaeriel," Lind introduced them. "Gaeriel is in the final stage of her training and is shadowing me for this block of instruction."
"It's nice to meet you," Gaeriel said with a bow.
"Where is he?" Lind asked them directly. "And which one is it?"
"He's on the porch," Urd told her. "Guy named Wynn."
"And you're certain he's one of The Seven?" she asked.
Frigga nodded. "He gave the proper code stanza."
"And Peorth knows him," Skuld supplied.
"Take me to him, please," Lind requested.
888
She had to clear her throat three times before finally the two parted.
"I missed you too," Wynn told Peorth.
Lind cleared her throat a fourth time, and the two lovers turned to her. The Combat Division commander sized him up critically. She took a few steps around him, instinctively bracketing him between herself and Gaeriel.
"Day word," she demanded.
"Kingdom," he answered immediately.
"Command word?"
"Trinity."
"Action word?"
"Phoenix," he finished.
"Before you left Heaven you were given a card with several alpha-numeric sequences on it and told to memorize the entire thing," Lind told him.
"That's right," he told her.
"First line, upper right hand corner, please recite the last four."
Wynn paused for a moment.
"He's still not fully recovered," Peorth argued on his behalf, but she needn't have bothered.
"One, seven, oh, five," he told her.
"O for what?" she pressed.
"Omicron," he answered.
"Third line, second set, the first four, please."
"Seven, four, one, D," he recited.
"D for what?"
"Dammit!" Peorth answered for him, pushing herself between them. "He saved Madame Frigga's life! He's answered all your little code words! What else does he have to do? Do the Madison? Recite my measurements?"
"This is an issue of the highest security," Lind explained calmly. "To ensure that he is who he claims to be."
"He is who he claims to be," Peorth told her. "A lover knows!" she added proudly.
Lind arched an eyebrow. "Is that so?" She considered this for a moment and turned her attention back to Wynn. "Very well. I understand you're recovering from an injury, but it's important to debrief you immediately to make use of whatever information you can give us before Hild makes changes to her operations."
He nodded. "Yes, Ma'am."
Lind turned to Urd. "We need a room."
888
Keiichi and Belldandy entered the house just as Lind was leading Wynn and Gaeriel into another room, shutting the door tightly behind them.
"Well, while they're doing that, it's time for our little meeting, Mr. Morisato," Frigga announced. "Shall we adjourn to the kitchen?"
"Sure," Keiichi agreed, following the older woman into the next room. As they sat down at the table, he turned and nearly jumped when he noticed Belldandy had followed them there.
"Belldandy dearest," Frigga said with a questioning tone. "You know the granting goddess isn't supposed to be in these sessions."
The goddess smiled uncomfortably. "Hai, but I felt there may be issues I might be able to explain more fully than Keiichi san."
Frigga took on a disapproving tone. "Belldandy, really," she began. "I can't bend the rules... even for my own daughter. You'll have to wait outside. Go on. Shoo!"
Belldandy, it'll be okay, he sent to her. Really.
She smiled at him but didn't reply as she rose and left the kitchen like a woman going to her own funeral.
As the door shut, Frigga smiled at him. "She's always been a perfectionist." She produced a clipboard and pen from seemingly nowhere. "Let's begin, shall we? Name?"
"Keiichi Morisato."
"Mo...ri...sa...to," she sounded out as she scribbled on the clipboard. "And, for the record, your exact wish?"
"That a goddess like Belldandy would always be by my side," he said warmly and confidently.
"That's so sweet," Frigga said as she scribbled. "And when you made that wish, what did you think it meant?"
This question caught Keiichi off-guard. "I... I don't understand."
"What I'm getting at is, are the way things are now what you envisioned when you made that particular wish?"
"Well... No," he said honestly. "I mean, I couldn't have imagined, for instance, Belldandy's sisters coming to live here or being attacked by the Lord of Terror or any of a hundred other things, but when I made that wish... I really was just speaking off the cuff. I wasn't even sure Belldandy was real at that point."
"I see," Frigga replied as she made notes. "So what role does the granting goddess... That's Belldandy... play in your household?"
"Role?"
"Is she your maid?" Frigga asked.
"No... But she does do more than her share of the housework..."
"Your cook?"
"Well, she does cook, but I don't think..."
"Nurse?"
"Um..."
Frigga just looked at him expectantly.
"Well... Look, I mean she does all of those things, but I don't think of her like that..."
"Ah," she said, looking down at her notes. "Lover?"
Keiichi choked just a bit and turned a deep crimson. "Huh?!"
Frigga gave him a serious look. "Is Belldandy your lover? Does she warm your bed at night? Provide for you the kind of care and comfort that only one who knows you intimately can? Are you sleeping with my daughter, good sir?"
He started to sweat. "N...no, Ma'am!"
"Hmmm." She scribbled some more notes while he continued to stew.
"But you want to," she noted, glancing up at him.
"EHHH?!"
"You're saying you do not?"
"I'm not saying anything!" he defended.
"That much is certain..." She took pity on him a moment later. "Please, relax, Mr. Morisato. I am not trying to hector you or intimidate you. I am simply trying to ascertain that you are receiving the most out of your wish. Unfortunately, the way you worded it leaves it very open to individual interpretation, so if there is anything you thought you would get out of this wish and haven't, now is the time to speak up."
There was enough innuendo in the statement to even clue in a guy as dense as him.
Keiichi swallowed. "Ms. Frigga, I don't know what kind of guy you think I am, but I have to say that if you think I'm the kind of person who would use a wish like that, something I know Belldandy takes very seriously, as a way to get her to take her clothes off... well... I find that very insulting."
"Mr. Morisato," she said gently. "A guy like that wouldn't have received a wish to begin with. And you make the assumption that Belldandy would not grant such a thing otherwise. She's obviously quite taken with you."
"If it happens because of the wish, I'd rather it not at all," he told her.
"Very good," she replied. "You really do love her, don't you?"
He swallowed again.
"You respect her," Frigga went on. "As a person. The fact that she's a goddess hardly even registers with you anymore, does it?" She sat back and smiled.
"This isn't about quality control, is it?" he asked.
Frigga smiled. "Quite the contrary, Mr. Morisato. It's very much about quality control. Just not the way you think. And as wonderfully carnal as most mortal men are, I have to say I still find you preferable to..." She trailed off and looked as if she had said too much. "Well... Preferable to some. Shall we continue?"
888
Just outside, Belldandy and Peorth paced past one another, each wearing anxious looks as they thought about what was being said behind closed doors.
"Imagine," Peorth huffed as she passed Belldandy again. "After everything he's been through, they're treating him more like an enemy than a hero."
"What is she telling him?" Belldandy muttered. "Moder has always had trouble keeping things to herself..."
"At least you can peek into his mind and find out," Peorth told her, not even raising her head to look at the other goddess.
"That would be wrong," Belldandy corrected her as they passed one another again. "Whether I like it or not, it's a private conversation."
Peorth muttered angrily as she shook her head and paced. "How long are they going to grill him?"
"I'm sure they're treating him with the utmost respect and deference," Belldandy assured her as they passed again. "Lind is a professional, and she is more than aware of the kind of hardships Wynn san had to endure."
"She'd better."
Belldandy didn't answer. She was trying to interpret the emotions roiling within her, only half of which were her own. She knew for a fact that Keiichi had, at alternating stages, felt embarrassed, insulted, mortified, and genuinely puzzled. What was her mother doing in there?
The kitchen door opened, and a sheepish-looking Keiichi walked in. "Hi," he said lamely.
"Keiichi san! Is everything all right?!"
Frigga entered a moment later. "Hell's bells, Belldandy, we just talked a little. I didn't rake him over hot coals."
"It went well," Keiichi told her.
Instead of replying, Belldandy took his hand and pulled him outside. Frigga sighed.
"If those two loved each other any more..." she muttered.
"Well don't look at me," Peorth told her. "I've been working my ass off with those two." She tapped her foot nervously and, more to distract her than anything else, turned back to Frigga and asked, "So, did you find out anything useful?"
Frigga smiled knowingly. "He's desperately in love with her, respects her, and holds her in the highest regard."
"That's not exactly new information," Peorth told her.
"No, but the source is," Frigga replied. "It's one thing to hear from someone else, it's quite another to see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice when he says her name. That is what I was looking for."
"And?" Peorth pressed.
"And... It only confirms something I've known for quite some time."
"Which is?"
"That they will be last to know."
888
"Belldandy! What's wrong?!" Keiichi asked as the goddess all but dragged him into the courtyard.
Finally, she turned to him, her face a mask of frank concern. "What did she say to you?" she asked.
"What? She just asked a bunch of questions about... well..." He suddenly became very reluctant.
"I'm going to look," Belldandy declared, closing her eyes and entering his mind. To her surprise, she found an angry wall crashing down in front of her. Gasping, she opened her eyes again and saw Keiichi's annoyed face.
"Belldandy, I know our minds are moving closer and closer, but that doesn't mean we should just barge into them whenever we feel like. Your mother and I talked about a bunch of things, and maybe I just don't feel comfortable talking about them until I've had time to think about them."
He felt a wave of embarrassment smash into him, and Belldandy looked down at her feet. "You're right," she said quietly. "I'm sorry."
"Belldandy, what's bothering you?" he asked. He resisted the urge to be a hypocrite and look into her thoughts for the problem. "What is it you think your mother told me?"
He saw a sudden flash of a man's face in his mind. Belldandy looked at him, and he could feel the guilt practically dripping from her.
"Belldandy?"
She couldn't lie to him, so she didn't. Instead, she ran off.
"Belldandy!" he called after her.
She didn't turn back.
"What the hell is going on here?!" he cried at the sky.
888
There was no preamble, the door simply opened, and Lind and Gaeriel walked out.
"Well?" Peorth demanded as they approached.
Lind paid her no mind. "How did he strike you?" she asked Gaeriel.
Peorth simply stood there, amazed at how totally ignored she was.
"Urbane, sophisticated, attractive" Gaeriel told her. She hesitated a moment. "Reluctant... shrouded."
"Excuse me! What's going on?!" Peorth demanded again.
"Allow me, child," Frigga said, pushing her way between them. "Commander..."
Lind turned to them. "We're finished," she announced. "I'm returning to Heaven to put this information to use. Gaeriel will remain here."
"That seems a little unnecessary," Frigga told her. "We'll all be returning to Heaven shortly, after all."
The tiniest bit of discomfort passed through Lind's eyes. "You, of course, may return to Heaven at your convenience, Milady," she said simply.
Frigga wasn't stupid enough to miss what wasn't being said. "But..." she prompted.
Confused, Peorth looked from one goddess to the other. "What's going on?"
"Commander," Frigga prompted again.
Determined to stand firm, Lind rallied and made her pronouncement. "Lance Corporal Wynn will not be returning to Heaven."
"Quoi?!" Peorth cried.
Frigga raised a hand, silencing her and calmly turned her gaze back to Lind. "Commander, I must say, this is unexpected. His rather heroic exploits aside, you are aware that Hild's agents are undoubtedly hunting him even as we speak."
"I am aware of that," Lind told her. "That is one reason why Gaeriel will remain."
"You are going through a great deal of trouble to not say something," Frigga told her. "What is it?"
Lind nodded and made a decision. "Very well. I did not wish to speak of this in front of his loved ones, but so be it." She paused for a moment, unused to tact and finally deciding to just ignore it. "I don't want him in Heaven yet. He's spent more than a thousand years as a demon, and before I allow him back in, I need to be certain he hasn't gone rampant."
The word rocked Peorth on her heels. She gritted her teeth and lashed out, the palm of her hand striking the valkyrie's left cheek. Lind didn't seem to notice.
"How dare you?!" Peorth hissed. "You conscripted him! You made him fight! You put him on this assignment! You sent him to Hell! And now, that he's actually beaten the odds and come back mostly in one piece, you won't even let him go home?!"
Lind didn't reply. She knew there was no good way to answer.
Peorth shook in rage. "Rampancy?! Even implying it brands him as a traitor!"
"It's temporary," Lind told her calmly. "Gaeriel will observe him and look for the symptoms. If he's still... himself... I'll come back and escort him back to Heaven myself. But I have to be certain. Even one rampant god loose in Heaven could cause an infinite amount of mischief before a suitable force could be gathered to stop him."
Peorth, tears of rage pooling in her eyes, looked like she wanted to take another swing at the valkyrie, but Frigga took her by the shoulders and spoke softly but firmly to her.
"My dear, I think it would be best if you went to the ladies' room, dried your eyes, prettied yourself up a bit and went to your mate now."
The younger goddess looked about to argue, but Frigga stopped her with her next words.
"Right now he's going to need you more here than you need him in Heaven. Go on."
Peorth gave Lind one last acidic look and turned on her heel, heading toward the bathroom.
Frigga watched her go and turned back to Lind. "You understand," she said quietly. "I owe that god my life, and I will not sit still for this. That young man deserves better. He deserves much better."
"Milady, I want you to be right," she said, conceding without backing down. "I really do. He was reluctant to answer some questions about his activities in Hell, and there's a..." She struggled to find a good way to word it. "There's an edge in him," she finally said. "A cruel edge... just beneath the surface. I can sense it there. I don't pretend to understand the things he must have gone through. But I do know the kind of demons Hild keeps close to her. And if he was one of them, then I shudder to think of the kinds of things he had to do to maintain his cover, and I weep for what it must certainly have done to his spirit."
Frigga could feel the truth in Lind's words as the valkyrie's mask cracked ever so slightly.
"I am not unsympathetic," Lind continued. "As a valkyrie, it rends my heart to do this to another avenging angel. They should all be able to come home. Every last one of them. But my oath... is to defend Heaven... And he stays down here."
She turned to go.
"And what if you're right?" Frigga asked softly, as if afraid of the answer.
Lind paused mid-step. "That's the other reason Gaeriel will stay," she said. "If I am right..." She trailed off, the words themselves unspeakable. Finally, however, she found the strength to utter them.
"If I am right, Gaeriel will put him down."