Chapter 9

"Keiichi!"

A feeling of utter deflation, collapse. No power.

"Keiichi!"

No sound could penetrate the cloud of sensory deprivation.

"KEIICHI!"

" I guess we'll have to do it the hard way."

An intense pain ripping through his mind jolting him back to reality.

"AAAAAAAAGH!" He snapped up arms in fighting mode ready to cock and lock a spell on whomever disturbed his reverie.

"Keiichi! Snap out of it. It's me!"

"Urrrgh, me who?"

"Urd, dammit. Wake up."

Eyes open, familiar surroundings and smells. Rice paper, bamboo. Faint notes of incense and cherry blossoms. The familiar voice of Yggdrasil calling out to him. He was reconnected. He was whole again.

He looked around him and saw he wasn't alone. In his room with him were Urd, and three very intimidating Valkyries all in shining white battlesuits and carrying fearsome weapons. They were led by the baddest of the Fighting Wings herself, Lind. The look on her face betrayed none of her true feelings, but Keiichi sensed that behind that stone exterior, there was a hint of respect.

"Ooooh. Urd, can you keep it down, I have a splitting headache." Keiichi moaned.

Urd said to her companions. "Get this, the man casts one of the most lethal spells in history and all he has is a headache. Geez, I should be so lucky. I cast something like that, I'm down for a week AND my license is suspended."

It took a few minutes for Keiichi to get his mind sorted out to the point he could sit up for an extended period of time, during which Urd and the Valkyries filled him in on the aftermath of battle.

"So basically," Urd said, after I dispatched Marller, I came back to see how you and Belldandy were faring. I return to you sprawled out on the ground next to Belldandy, the temple and almost everything within a half mile radius burnt to a crisp, and no sign of Hild anywhere. The energy transfer system was rebooted about fifteen minutes ago."

Lind continued in her deep authoritarian voice. "My squad and I get here and found the place a total mess. From what we were able to gather, you and Hild had quite a battle. That Lava Wind Barrage spell is supposed to be a spell that only First Class Gods and Goddesses can cast. It's one of the most devastating spells and is so powerful that it's on the Restricted List."

"Restricted List?" Keiichi asked.

"Yes, Restricted List. Spells on that list are so dangerous and powerful that to cast them results in an instant one year license suspension, no questions asked, with no appeal. But lucky for you, Kami-sama likes you, and was willing to overlook it this time because of the nature of the battle. He figured that was the only way you could have gotten rid of Hild given your situation, so he rescinded the suspension. Although he did say that this was a one-time pardon, so if I were you, I wouldn't do it again." Lind finished, "By the way, who taught that spell to you?, Only certain highly trained Gods and Goddesses can cast that spell, much less learn it."

Keiichi said. "I don't know how I learned it, It just came to me. I was so filled with rage after what Hild had done to Belldandy that I wanted to bring her down and make her pay for her deeds. The spell just came into my mind and I did it."

Urd said, "Well, because of this situation, there's a chance that you may be approached about taking the First Class Exam. If you're going to be throwing spells like Lava Wind Barrage around, you'd better have some clue as to what you're doing."

Suddenly, Keiichi remembered. "How's Belldandy? Is she okay, can I see her?"

Urd responded. "In that order, yes and no. She is alive, but in bad shape. She sustained major internal damage from taking that Hell's Lightning shot. That's one of Hild's strongest attacks and Belldandy took it at close range full in the chest. She will be all right, but she's going to be off her feet for a long time. I've stabilized her the best I can, but we can't take her to Heaven for treatment because of the extent of her injuries and passage through the gate for a heavily injured goddess is a very dicey situation. So we'll have to let her heal down here until she's strong enough for transport to Heaven.

"Once she's up there, she'll be under the best care available and it will only be a matter of days until you get your goddess back. Mentally, Bell's all right. I didn't sense any abnormal issues resulting from the hit, But I'd suggest that you don't see or talk to her for a few days until she gets some of her strength back. Once she sees you, she's gonna want to take care of you and try and feed you and do those things that she loves to do, and she is in no condition to do any of that. And in case you're wondering, you-know-what is out completely. Don't even think about it.

Keiichi had to ask. "So did I kill Hild?"

Urd said "Kill Hild? No, Keiichi. Lava Wind Barrage is an extremely powerful spell, but it would take an attack 50 times that strong to kill Hild. But you did hurt her badly and I guarantee you, she'll think twice before attacking us again. Neither her nor Marller are going to attempt anything against us for a long time. Hild is evil, and a formidable foe but she does respect power. If she does attack again, she won't take you so lightly.

"You did a good job Keiichi." Urd said. "You saved Belldandy's life and defeated your greatest enemy. No doubt it's because of all my great training, although Belldandy had a hand in it also." Lind agreed "A truly marvelous example of spellcraft. I'm impressed." she said with a faint but definite smile. That was about as close to giddy as Lind would ever get. "Well, it seems that we weren't needed after all. But I still owe you a social call, Keiichi. Farewell and take care of Belldandy." Lind summoned the gate and her and her companions stepped through and were gone.

Urd gave Keiichi a thumbs up and walked back into the temple, leaving Keiichi to his thoughts. "Why didn't Belldandy merely use magic to block Hell's Lightning? Why did she throw herself in front of me putting her life in such danger? It didn't make sense."

He rose to his feet, and almost fell back down again. He ached all over, and even though he was reconnected back to Yggdrasil, he still felt drained of energy. He lurched back into the temple, but as he stopped by the Tea Room, he couldn't resist at least looking in on Belldandy. He silently opened the paper thin door a crack and peeked in on her.

What he saw chilled him. The lights were out and it was dead quiet. Belldandy was laying on her futon face-up. Perfectly still. Her beautiful face was ashen and pale. Her eyes were closed, but her mouth was open only slightly, her full lips dry and thin. She didn't make a sound and Keiichi had to look very hard to make sure she was breathing. Belldandy looked more dead than alive. The sight of his goddess in such pain tore at his heart. He so wanted to go in and touch her, hold her, be there for her in her time of need just as she had always been there for him.

The tears ran hot down his cheek. He wanted to go in, but Urd's request for quiet made too much sense to disobey. He wanted to send healing energy to her as she had done to him so many times before, but he had to be in physical contact with Belldandy to do that. Instead he just composed a message of support in his mind and sent it to her telepathically. No sign as to whether she'd received it, she didn't move a muscle. But Keiichi did have a feeling of warmth come over him, as if she was letting him know that everything would be all right. They were still connected, and that raised his spirits.

Urd came up from behind, silently shook her head, and gently guided Keiichi away. He went back to his room and lay down on the futon, and was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Chapter 10

One week after the attacks.

It took a week for Belldandy to heal to the point that she could open her eyes and sit up without assistance. She looked a thousand percent better although she still had a long road to recovery. The color had mostly returned to her skin, her eyes were much clearer and brighter. She could speak in complete and logical sentences, but she didn't talk at length. Urd forbade her to stand up, and despite Belldandy's constant requests to see Keiichi, Urd refused to cave in.

"No. Belldandy, it's not a good idea to see Keiichi right now. Your system took one hell of a shock and you need to save your strength to heal. Don't worry about him right now. He's worried sick about you, but he's all right. Megumi has been coming over to do the cooking and, as much as I hate it, I'm taking care of the chores." Urd didn't bother to hide her extreme disdain for manual labor.

"B-but, Urd, Keiichi needs me, and I need him." Belldandy said weakly.

"I know all that, but if I let him see you as you are right now, he'll be dejected and miserable, and that will make you dejected and miserable, and right now that's the last thing we need in this temple is two dejected and miserable deities on top of the two moody and half-crazed ones that already live here."

" But Urd..."

"Belldandy, please..."

"I'm sorry, Urd."

"Sorry for what, Belldandy?"

" For being such a burden to everyone."

"Bell, you're not a burden to anyone. You got severely injured in a battle where the odds were against you, did you expect us to just leave you there to die? Not on my watch, sister dear. In a few days, when you'll be strong enough, we'll go up to Heaven and get you fixed up right. And then you'll be back to being the same old lovable Belldandy."

Bell managed a tiny smile. "Thanks for all you're doing Urd. I really appreciate it."

Urd said happily, "That's what sisters are for. If it will make you feel better, you should be proud of Keiichi. He did very well against Hild."

Belldandy said "I don't remember anything after I got hit, what did he do to win?"

"You'd be really impressed, he used a Lava Wind Barrage spell to send Hild back to Niflheim."

Belldandy jerked back up, eyes wide open. "He used a WHAT?" she shrieked in alarm.

"You heard me. He used a Lava Wind Barrage spell,"

"Where did he learn that?" She exclaimed incredulously, "I didn't teach it to him. You can't teach it to him. Where would he learn such a powerful First Class spell much less one on the Restricted List. Kami-sama must be very mad."

Urd placed her hand on Belldandy's shoulder, and gently laid her back down.

"No worries about Kami-sama. He forgave the violation due to the circumstances of the battle."

Belldandy breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Urd continued, "Keiichi said that the spell just came to him, he wanted revenge against Hild and he was able to successfully cast the spell."

Belldandy said "I wish he would not have used revenge as a motive. I don't like it."

Urd replied. "In a battle against one like Hild, all's fair. He had no choice. He saw you take that hit and that image of you laying there half-dead put him over the edge. I don't blame him for what he did. Matter of fact, I thought it was a very impressive and appropriate thing to do."

"I guess you're right." Belldandy said uncertainly. "I just don't like taking revenge, even against Hild."

"Keiichi did what he had to do to protect you. Just like what you did to protect him."

" So when can I see him?"

"Bell..."

"Yes, Urd?"

" Give it a day or two, I'll make sure you see him before you return to Heaven for further treatment." That brought a smile to the goddess's face as she closed her eyes and fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

After Keiichi woke from his nap, he felt much better, the soreness that wracked his body was mostly gone and even though he was a God and didn't need to take human nourishment, he decided to head to the kitchen and fix himself something to eat. "I wonder if there's anything I can make a sandwich out of?" He wondered aloud. As per Urd's request he didn't stop by the Tea Room to look in on Belldandy although he desperately wanted to. He entered the kitchen and was mildly surprised to see his younger sister Megumi at the stove trying to cook something and not having much success doing it.

"Hi Kei." Megumi said in her usual cheery, perky tone.

"Ah, Megumi. What brings you here?" Keiichi asked, figuring that she was here to mooch one of Bell's excellent meals.

"Urd called me and said that Belldandy wasn't feeling too good and she asked me to come over and take care of the cooking for the next couple days. What happened?"

Keiichi had to think quickly because this was the first time that he had seen his sister since he and the goddesses returned from Heaven, and she didn't know he had been transformed into a God. She also didn't know that the three women living in the temple with him were also goddesses. Keiichi told her and everyone else at Nekomi Tech that Belldandy was a foreign exchange student and that Urd and Skuld were her sisters. Which was half right. Consequently, he could not tell Meg that Belldandy was the victim of a savage demon attack, much less that he had fought off the demon with a high level Lava Wind spell. But her had to come up with an excuse that was at least somewhat credible.

"Well Megumi, Belldandy got hold of some food that didn't quite agree with her. She came down with a stomach bug that hit her pretty hard. She's been in bed for a few days taking it easy." Keiichi said as he fidgeted and prayed that she'd buy his excuse.

Megumi turned to look at her older brother, she looked at him as if she had seen something unusual about his appearance, but then shook it off as an illusion playing tricks on her eyes.

"Wait a minute, Keiichi.". Meg said warily. "We're talking about the woman who cooks better than a five-star chef eating something that didn't agree with her? That can't be right."

"That's the truth. Meg. The doctors said she caught a bug. C'mon Meg, I know it's a lame story, but humor me, pleeeease?"

"Okay Kei, I...guess that can happen. Don't see how, but..."

"Trust me, Megumi, would I lie to you?"

"No. You never were very good at lying. You turn as red as a stoplight."

Keiichi turned the conversation away from Belldandy. "What are you cooking for lunch?"

Megumi looked down at the mess on the table where she was working and said "I'm trying to make a stir-fry, but it's not quite coming out the way I wanted."

Keiichi took a look, shook his head, and said "Yeah, I can see that. I think takeout is a better option here."

Meg agreed. "Yeah, this isn't working. It's pretty sad that neither of us ever learned to cook very well. I always get takeout or throw something in the microwave, and you have Belldandy. Which is the reason I'm always coming over to mooch a home-cooked meal."

Keiichi said. "Well, at least until Bell gets back on her feet, we have to rely on Motofuji's Express Ramen for a while."

Megumi looked at her brother again very closely "Keiichi, there's something different about the way you look. Something's not quite the same about you. I can't put my finger on it, and maybe I'm seeing things, but you don't look...normal."

Keiichi got a chill down his spine. He thought that the symbol on his forehead was invisible to humans. "But could Megumi see it? How? What does she know?"

"What do you mean, Megumi? I don't look any different than usual. Maybe you're finally seeing how good looking a man I am." Keiichi chuckled as he primped and flexed his muscles..

Megumi threw a pot holder at Keiichi. "Yeah, right! You're just as dorky looking as ever! It's just that somehow your face seems brighter, like it's got some kind of energy behind it. I can't explain it. I don't remember seeing it the last time I was over.

"About that. Remind me not to come over the next time the Auto Club is having one of their booze-ups. I haven't drunk that much in ages and If I even smell sake anymore, I'm gonna ralph!" Megumi put her finger in her mouth and faked throwing up.

Keiichi let out a laugh and said "That was a wild night. We were totally unprepared for it. You, Chihiro and Urd were drunk as rats and you kept telling those two all those embarrassing stories about me when I was a kid. Sheesh, I'll never hear the end of it from them."

"I was wondering where you and Belldandy got off to that night. You two left and we didn't see you again until the next morning. Were you putting the moves on your girlfriend?, Hmmmm?" Megumi suggested, giving Keiichi a playful elbow.

"If she only knew!" thought Keiichi. "No, we went back to my room and spent some time together looking at the full moon...And no, nothing happened!" He didn't dare tell Meg that he and Bell had since become intimate and then some over the past couple weeks, It would be all over school the next day. And while Kei was no longer attending Nekomi Tech, most of his friends were still there and they'd give him hell the next time he showed up on campus.

"And you had the perfect chance to step up and be a man and you wimped out again! I'm ashamed to call you my brother, Keiichi" said Megumi. "Oh well, Bell insists on staying with you, so I guess eventually you'll man up. I'm going over to Motofuji's to pick up some take out for everybody, see you later." Megumi picked up her coat and ran out of the temple. Keiichi sat at the table alone shaking his head as her heard his sister's bike crank over and roar down the street.

"If she only knew."

Chapter 11

Two days later.

It was another two days before Urd had decided that Belldandy was strong enough for Keiichi to see her. She had improved significantly. Her skin continued to return to its original glow. She was much more alert, and her strength, while still rather low for a goddess of her stature was coming back more and more every day. When Urd gave him the go-ahead, Keiichi could hardly contain himself. He literally flew into the Tea Room and gently, but firmly embraced his goddess. His heart leaped with joy as she returned his embrace and kissed him deeply. Their hearts were beating as one once again. A big smile came across Belldandy's face as she held her man.

"I've missed you so much, Keiichi!" Belldandy exclaimed joyously. "All these days in this room alone, not being able to hold you and love you. I needed to feel your arms around me again." While Belldandy was still pretty weak, she was holding on to Keiichi almost to the point that he couldn't breathe, but he stayed put and let Belldandy hold him as long as she wanted.

"As much as you've missed me, Bell, I've missed you even more." Keiichi said gratefully as he held her face in his hands. "I've been going crazy the last week. I wanted to sneak in here while Urd wasn't looking, but I didn't want to risk her wrath. You look great!"

"Thanks, Keiichi." Belldandy said as she released the embrace. "In a few more days, I'll be strong enough for transport to Heaven so I can finish my treatment. There's only so much that Urd can do for me down here. She can help heal my physical body, but I have to go back to Heaven to have my powers re-established. I could not use my powers to help myself heal."

"So how long will you have to stay in Heaven?" Kei asked. He didn't want to be separated from Belldandy any longer than was absolutely necessary.

" It will only be three days Earth time to get my powers back on-line. But don't forget, Keiichi. You're a God now, you can come and go to Heaven as often as you want. I want you to be with me as I am transported."

"Not even Hild could stop me from being by your side." Keiichi said with a determined tone.

"Speaking of which, Keiichi, why did you use a Lava Wind Barrage spell with revenge as your motive. I don't like using revenge."

"When I saw your crumpled and lifeless body on the ground after taking that hit, all I wanted was to make Hild pay for what she had done to you. Belldandy, I will do whatever it takes to protect you, and if that also means revenge, then I'm sorry."

" But how did you learn that spell, we didn't teach it to you."

Keiichi shook his head and said, "I don't know. It just came to me. I was so angry and hurt after seeing you knocked out that I just took all my hatred and wrath for Hild, combined it with the love I have for you, distilled it into pure energy, and used it to drive the spell. It was the first thing that came into my mind. I've never seen that spell before, and I doubt I could do it again unprovoked."

Belldandy looked out of one of the Tea Room windows and said "Well, I hope you don't ever have to use that spell again. It's very dangerous and even though Kami-sama let it go this time, you could be in very serious trouble if you ever have to use it again."

Keiichi said, "I have a question for you. Why did you jump out in front of me and take that hit? Didn't you have enough power to block it with magic?"

"No, Keiichi." Belldandy replied, head down as if ashamed. "I ran out of power when I used that repulsor spell. I should have known better. But when I saw what kind of spell that Hild was going to use, I couldn't let you try and block it with your magic, and if that spell would have hit you..." Bell shuddered uncontrollably, "Well, you see what it did to me, it would have destroyed you. So I had to jump in front of the spell because I had no choice. Like you, I would sacrifice my life to protect you." A tear formed on Belldandy's face. Keiichi reached over and wiped it from her eyes and he stroked Bell's cheek with that same hand.

The two sat there hand in hand content to be silent and enjoy each others company. Keiichi thought that he could actually see Belldandy's condition improve dramatically just by being in physical contact with her. She was clearly in a much happier frame of mind. He wasn't able to read Bell's aura to the same extent that she was able to read his, but he guessed that she was immensely overjoyed about being reunited with Keiichi, but also a little angry at herself for being taken in by such a simple tactic. He could sense that she felt she did the right thing by sacrificing herself to save him, but she also felt that she had put Keiichi under needless stress.

"Belldandy, don't beat yourself up about what you did during the battle. You did what you thought was best, and I don't fault you, and you're not putting any extra stress on me."

Bell looked at him in complete surprise. "You could read my mind?"

"No, I've been around you long enough to know how you feel at any given time. And your feelings always mirror mine. When I'm happy, you're happy. When I'm sad, you're sad."

"But Keiichi, I just want to do whatever it takes to make you happy. That's why I'm here." Belldandy said.

"No Belldandy, that's why you came here. That's not why you're here now."

"I don't understand."

"You came to grant me a wish and fulfill a contract, right?"

"Right."

"But you're here now because you love me and want to stay with me forever, right?"

"Right."

"There's no contract between us now, because we're God and Goddess, so other than our love for each other, there's no contractual reason for you to be here."

"That's true, Keiichi."

"So, you can stop thinking that somehow you always have to win my approval, Belldandy. We will always be together and I will never turn you away. You're stuck with me."

Belldandy giggled, "Or is it the other way around, that you're stuck with me?"

Keiichi looked deeply into his goddess's face and said. "Believe me, I can think of much worse fates than being stuck with you. I could be stuck with Urd."

"I HEARD THAT! You wish you were stuck with me. I would have made a real man out of you a long time ago!" Urd's mocking voice carried from her lab, causing both Keiichi and Belldandy to erupt in peals of much needed laughter. "Visiting hours are over, Keiichi. It's time to let Belldandy get some rest."

Keiichi got to his feet, kissed Belldandy, and waved goodbye as he left the room.