Ah! 10948 edited. ch7.
When the goddesses arrived at the temple they discovered that a complex mandala had been constructed. The design consisting of a large center circle with two smaller circles 180 degrees opposed whose circumferences all touched. Surrounding the three circles was a larger circle whose inner radius touched all three circles in the center. When the two leaders of Heaven and hell entered the chamber they went immediately to the smaller two circles and sat facing each other across the larger circle. In the larger circle Keiichi lay suspended in midair still dreaming of the previous night.
"The reason we are here," the Almighty began, "is because we need to educate Keiichi in The Truth."
"What do you mean the truth?" Skuld began, "we have never been deceitful with Keiichi."
"Never?" Hild asked.
"Well hardly ever."
"Not the truth," her father corrected, "Keiichi is to know The Truth."
"What," Belldandy gasped, "you don't mean The Truth as in The Truth of All Things!"
"Well yes, his part in it at least," her father answered.
"He's just a mortal," Belldandy protested, "there is no way his mind can accept those facts. The Truth could kill him!"
"Be advised," her father warned, "this marks a binding agreement between the two realms. If you fail to abide by this agreement then Heaven will be in default and Keiichi will be subject to summary judgment in favor of Hild."
"But father you're not being fair. May I at least know why?"
"No you may not! This is my Judgment and you shall abide by it!"
Belldandy thought she knew her father but to have him assume that kind of attitude over such a simple request made her very afraid. Looking about as if he was daring someone else to speak he waited for another objection, hearing none he began: "These are the rules. Urd your mother and I have agreed to allow you to serve as referee and representative of both realms. You may narrate but you are not allowed to take an active part in the proceedings. Belldandy, in exchange for my not taking an active role, you will be allowed to accompany Keiichi in the inner circle. Skuld, you have free reign throughout the outer circle. If a schism results it will be up to Belldandy to keep his soul contained within the first circle, failing that if his soul crosses into Hild's circle she is free to capture it, if his soul crosses in to my area I will not try to hold it and if Skuld is unable to capture his soul before it escapes the outer circle then that is the same as a capture for Hild. Does everybody understand?"
The three goddesses nodded their heads in shock. This was hardly a fair duel, with the Almighty One setting it out and Belldandy trapped in the inner circle. If Keiichi's soul did escape Belldandy's grasp then the duel would be essentially between Hild and Skuld with Hild having the infield advantage.
"Yes father," said Belldandy in resignation, "we understand perfectly."
"Good, then wake Keiichi and let us get this unpleasantness over with."
When Keiichi opened his eyes he was shocked to learn that he was no longer in his bed curled next to Belldandy but instead in the middle of the temple floor surrounded by people who looked as if they wanted to dissect him. In front of him sat Urd, her expression so grim as to look death like, beyond her was Skuld, to the right and left sat Hild and the Almighty One, behind him he could sense Belldandy as she waited fearfully. In an odd way he was glad he couldn't speak because he knew the fear he felt would be heard in his voice.
"Keiichi," Urd began, "before you can understand what is happening and why you are here there are some things I must tell you, so listen closely."
Keiichi nodded his understanding.
"I'm sure by now you've noticed that the Gods and Goddesses you've met aren't really all that godly, and the few demons you've met aren't really all that, well, demonic. That's because deep down inside we really are the same as you. You see once long ago, Gods, Mortals and Demons all walked this world together, played together, and lived together. But the nature of people being what they are they began to seek out others of their own kind and shunned those that were different. Eventually this led to the peoples of the world dividing into three camps and dividing the magic of the New World amongst them. The largest, the Mortals only had one power; I'll come back to that in a minute. The next largest was the Demons whose powers were far greater than the mortals, but the nature of the power that the Demons wielded was unreliable and best suited for self gratification. The smallest group was the Gods, and their power was more of a nebulous high level type of thing best suited for endeavors of intellectual curiosity. Although there were fewer Gods than Demons power wise they about canceled out. Coveting what they could not understand each camp sought to control a majority of the magic in the ancient world. Fighting broke out between the two camps that eventually led to the world being split into three parts with almost all of that ancient magical power being controlled by Heaven and Hell. Although both sides had sought to control the power of the other there was one power they overlooked and it was left behind on the surface world for the mortals to deal with. This power I refer to is evil. Evil, true evil, is and always will remain the sole dominion of the mortal world. Since it was the only power left to them the mortals had little choice but to embrace it.
"Now left to themselves the realms of Heaven and Hell would just as soon go their own way. However, the power we wield was stolen from the mortal plane and therefore is always trying to return to it. This fact binds the fate of the two smaller realms to that of yours. If we wanted too we could just use our power to control the fate of the mortal world but that would require that we release the power we have back to the world from which it came. But there are a few reasons we don't do that. One reason is that the first side to expend their power in such fashion would immediately be vulnerable to attack from the other side. The second is that our power is essentially a living thing; it has its limits and of course must not be squandered. The third and probably most compelling is that once released back onto this plane this power would eventually find its way into the hands of the mortals. Were mortals ever to gain control over such power the world would fall into chaos as a result of the evil that dwells in the hearts of all men. To avoid that we chose to release our power a little at a time by making contracts with people like you down here. In doing so we are helping people change the world, and exercising some control over our fate as well. You see, for all the good we goddesses do, and all the mischief that demons cause. It is how you, the humans, choose to use the gifts we grant them that really matter. In the final analysis it will be the mortals who decide the fate of us all.
"That brings us to you. By our actions we have inadvertently empowered you at this one moment in time with the ability to alter all our fates. However, remember what I told you about Evil being the only power humans possess. Well evil is the only choice you have, but still it is a choice and so we, the Rulers of Heaven and Hell must abide by it. Now you can make your choice blindly, and for your sake I hope you do, but because the differences between the outcomes are so profound we will allow you to witness the possible outcome of your decision before making it binding. But you don't get to pick and choose. You get to make one choice and we will let you see the probable outcome. Then you will either accept it or reject it in favor of an unknown future.
It took a few seconds for Keiichi to wrap his head around what he had just been told. When he finally did he understood that essentially he was being asked to make a choice. A choice that could re-define the fate of the entire world. What he had done to be placed in such a position he did not know and he suspected that the reason, whatever it was, would not be given him.
"So what say you Keiichi Morisato," Urd pressed on, "will you consent to see a future of your choosing?"
Keiichi nodded his head yes.
"Good, now before you lay two paths, one uncertain, one well defined. Which of these paths would you have us take?"
Keiichi thought about it for a moment before he chose the well-defined path, thinking that if it was the wrong one it would be easy enough to determine and reject it if necessary.
"Now come with me Keiichi and let us all see what the future holds..." Urd spoke as she opened the door to the unknown.
Keiichi finally found his voice. His screams of anguish emitting from the temple were heard for miles around. As the Almighty one predicted a schism occurred as Keiichi's soul ripped itself from his very body. Belldandy and Holy Bell fought to keep his soul from escaping the circle but its revulsion for the body that once held it was so great that it easily escaped her grasp. Instinctively it knew to avoid Hild's circle as it raced for freedom beyond Skuld's outer zone. It was the nimble hands of Noble Scarlet that finally caught him.
Once recaptured the three Norn's rushed into the center circle with Belldandy and began helping her as they feverishly tried to reintegrate his soul with his body.
"Well my dear," said the Almighty One to Hild, "are you satisfied with the outcome?"
"If you don't mind, I'd like to stay and watch a little longer."
"Why, haven't we fulfilled the requirements of our parley?"
"That's why," Hild said in satisfaction as she pointed to the horrified expression on Skuld's face.
"He's not waking up! Why isn't he waking up!" she cried.
"Of course he is not waking up." Hild laughed as every eye in the room turned towards her. "His soul is the near perfect match to that of a goddess. Do you know of any goddess who would allow themselves to be tied to such a fate as what he just saw! Were he a god or even demon he would have re-written his fate long before now. But he is just a mortal, whose only power is evil, by rejecting the evil within him he rejects himself as well."
"Mother are you saying that you knew this would happen!" Urd said in disgust.
"It was easy enough to predict, humans instinctively fear the unknown. I knew it was a safe bet that he would choose the well-defined path. But the well-defined path is also the path of evil for that is the only power that mortals possess and therefore the only future he could shape. If his soul had managed to make it past the outer circle or I had managed to capture it then his soul would be mine and that would have been the end of it. Instead you managed to reintegrate his soul back into his body and sealed him to this fate. There is no way that Keiichi can accept that evil future as being of his own making! So his spirit fled to the inner most reaches of his mind.
"Then I will go in and find him!" Belldandy declared.
"You can try if you want," Hild said, "but with your power so weakened by last nights 'ahem' exertions I doubt you could do much for him. By the time you are strong enough to safely go in after him his spirit will be beyond even your reach. No my dear, I'm afraid that he will remain in that coma from now on, until death finally takes him! The evil future he would have precipitated on us all forever forestalled."
"Mother! How could you do such a thing!" Urd cried, "Given any information at all he would have chosen the correct path."
"For him this is the correct path," Hild replied coldly, "His voice forever silenced. His knowledge forever lost."
"But why!" screamed Skuld.
"Because he absorbed the power of a goddess, do you understand! A goddess!
"The future he saw was one where mortals coveted our power and relentlessly tried to steal it from us. Where gods and demons were hunted like animals! Where mortals drunk with power ravaged their own world!"
"We would have helped him to keep your secret, if you had only told us." Urd said.
"I couldn't take the risk, one slip from him and Armageddon would have been upon us. Besides, where do you get off blaming me, this was the legitimate outcome of a fair and honest parley. Instead blame your father. If he hadn't been so busy sniffing up my skirts maybe he could have negotiated a better deal. As for me I was just looking out for the best interests of my realm."
"Poor Keiichi," Skuld sniffed, "you and Belldandy finally get it together and then this happens."
As she kneeled next to the unconscious body of her sister's boyfriend she felt the presence of her father as he walked over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. She wanted to push it away, knowing her father had failed so miserably but with his touch came the sense of reassurance. He smiled on her as he kneeled down to her level and said. "I'm afraid that I haven't been much of a father to you Skuld. I've let my position as the Almighty One come between the two of us. Here, take my card, next time you are topside stop in for a visit and I promise I will make time for you."
He stood up and surveyed the room, in its center knelt Belldandy as she held the comatose form of Keiichi, Holy Bell's wings encircling them both. At his feet knelt Skuld, trying to come to terms with the possibility that something this bad could ever be right. And Urd, whose rage was starting to tax her newly installed first class seals.
"Urd," he spoke to his eldest daughter who looked back at him questioningly, "For the record, I don't consider this a satisfactory outcome."
With that he strode out of the room to be rejoined by Lind and the two ascended back to Heaven.
As soon as he was away Urd searched for signs of Hild's presence. Not finding any she suddenly became all business. "All right people, we need a time portal and we need it now!"
"Huh, what's up?" Skuld asked.
"What father said just now, this isn't a satisfactory outcome. That means he doesn't consider my contract fulfilled."
"What contract?" Skuld asked.
"Later! We need to move fast while my mother is still basking in the afterglow."
Quicker than had ever been done before the three goddesses open a portal to the past. It was only after the gate was opened that Skuld thought to ask the trivial question. "Where are we going anyway?"
"What do you do when one of your inventions doesn't pan out?"
"Well," Skuld thought out loud, "sometimes if it just doesn't work..."
"Of course," Belldandy and Skuld shouted together, "Start over!"
With Belldandy carrying Keiichi, the three Norns entered the gate and stepped back into the past. To the morning of the day when Keiichi first made his contract with Belldandy. Like a hawk swooping down on its prey from above, Belldandy found the still sleeping Keiichi and forcefully reintegrated his past and future self's so fast as to be there and gone before the shock of the event woke him fully.
Safely snuggled away in that place that exists between time and space the three watched as Keiichi relived that first day before he met Belldandy. When time finally synced up again they stepped back into the now of that same evening and settled down to watch as Belldandy surveyed the night sky. As the three watched together Skuld suddenly became aware of the card her father had given her. Removing it from her blouse she noticed that it was embossed with three symbols that matched Belldandy's power tattoos.
"Belldandy?" Skuld asked.
"Yes Skuld?"
"Father gave me this card, but I really think he wanted you to have it," she said as she passed the card over to her.
Belldandy took the card and reading it, a puzzled expression came over her face as if she couldn't discern its meaning, then she just shrugged and put the card in her blouse.
"What are we waiting for?" Skuld whispered.
"Me," Belldandy said, "we are waiting for me to descend."
Observing the night sky in a fashion that only goddesses can do, the trio spotted the light as Belldandy's past self descended from Heaven. Belldandy flew up to meet her former self and there in the skies above, the two Belldandy's and their angels performed an intricate dance in the night.
"So beautiful," said Skuld as she watched the dance unfold.
"They are two but still only one," Urd said, "look closely though and you can see the differences. See how empty the old Belldandy looks. That's the residual effect of Celestin's betrayal. Look at our Belldandy now; see how whole she has become, so confident, so sure of herself. If ever there was a doubt about her staying down here this should be all the proof you need."
"I realize that now," Skuld admitted as she continued to watch the two angels dance in the sky, "I just didn't want to admit it. I've always known that something bad had to have happened to her when she was my age. I had hoped that my being goddess of the future would someday give me the power to help her some how. But nothing that can be done in the future can undo the scars of the past can it? That's why you've been pushing them together all this time, you've been trying to fix the past with the past haven't you?"
"You know," Urd told her with pride, "I think you will make a very potent goddess of the future someday."
"I intend to be."
Finally the two Belldandy's finished their dance in the sky and merged into each other. Spying her sisters on the ground Belldandy gave them a thumbs up as she vanished into Keiichi's room.
Up in his room the startled Keiichi was looking on the Goddess of the Present for the first time as she said, "Fear not, I am the goddess Belldandy and it is my duty to come to those in great distress and to, Oh to hell with that!" she said as she flew across the room and showered the freaking freshman with passionate kisses.
"Excuse me lady," said Keiichi from underneath Belldandy as she pinned him to the floor, "but who are you again?"
"Oh, how rude of me," she blushed still not letting him off the ground. "Here is my card," she said as she handed him the 3x5-index card Skuld had given her with a hand written message scribbled on one side.
"Please," she said in quiet desperation, "read it out loud for me."
"It says," Keiichi recited, "I wish for you to remain by my side forever."
"Granted," she screamed joyfully as a bolt of blue energy leaped from her forehead to blast the entire roof off of the building.
In the parking lot below the two other goddesses found themselves running for cover as bits and pieces of the roof fell all around them.
"What in Heaven was that all about!" Skuld cried.
"Just a small bonus," Urd smiled, "when past and present deities merge their power is doubled."
Urd's joy at having successfully completed her mission quickly faded as her hypersensitive nose caught the subtle hint of her mother's brimstone perfume in the night air. Turning her nose upwind she spoke to the emptiness, "Mother, have you ever thought about just buying something off the shelf at Macy's rather than have that idiot mix something up?"
"Ah, Madame de Brinvilliers, next to Thomas Midgley one of the greatest poisoners of all time," the chilling voice of Hild came from behind the pair. "You would think that an alchemist as accomplished as her could come up with something that wouldn't react so violently with my natural body chemistry."
"I knew it was to much too hope for you to just leave things as they are." Urd sighed.
"Hild what are you doing here!" Skuld said angrily, "Why can't you just leave them alone, haven't you done enough damage already!"
"I thought you three might try something like this and I just had to come see for myself if you all had learned from your past mistakes."
"I can't believe you!" Skuld cried, "What did she ever do to you! Why can't you just leave her alone already!"
"Don't worry I won't cause any trouble for them." Hild assured Skuld, "If Belldandy wants to waste energy granting the same wish over and over again then it doesn't bother me. Without there being some major change to the cause and effect the outcome will always remain the same with Keiichi in a coma four years from now."
"If you're so sure you are always going to win then why are you here?" Urd asked her mother sweetly.
"I just wanted to see if Belldandy was clever enough to warn herself off." Hild answered her, "But I guess that was too much to hope for. Instead, it seems she would rather Keiichi relive the last four years over and over again than for her to just let him go. I kind of feel sorry for her in a way, Keiichi will never age but Belldandy will continue to grow old. Even if she uses her power to keep herself looking young it won't change what's happening on the inside. I wonder what Keiichi will think then on that day when he wakes to find the body of a withered old hag by his side where once a beautiful Goddess lay."
"Without question you are the ruler of all Hell." Skuld muttered under her breath.
"Why thank you for the complement my dear. You know, I actually was impressed a little bit by how Belldandy got Keiichi to reinstate his wish but I am curious, why did she change the original wording of the pact?"
"Formatting," said Skuld with a smile.
"What do you mean," asked Hild, suddenly wary.
"It was father's idea really," said Skuld. "The original contract bound the Goddess Belldandy to the mortal plane. Complete with all the required licenses and restrictions. By changing to the more generic 'you' Belldandy is free to manifest in whatever form and at whatever power level she requires."
The two goddesses watched in silent satisfaction as the implications of what Skuld said caused the smug expression to leave Hild's face.
"That's right mom," Urd said, no longer afraid of the word. "Keiichi Morisato has just bound Goddess first class, second category, unlimited and unrestricted Belldandy to the mortal plane. Oh! She is so going to kick my ass when the Lord of Terror takes me this time around." she almost giggled.
"This isn't over yet," Hild hissed at them. "Even if she is more powerful than before it doesn't really change the fundamental rules of cause and effect. Even if it did a gentle nudge from me and everything will be back on track."
"Father thought you might say that, so he told me to give you this to read." Urd said as she handed her mother a folder with a FOIA cover sheet.
"What is that?"
"It's my copy of the sanitized version of the 10948 file you were so hot to get your hands on. Unless you are really into the techie stuff I would skip ahead to the highlighted section."
"You mean," Hild began, "that you have had a copy of this file on you all along!"
"Since I was one of the principals of course I would have my own copy. If I had known that you wanted to see inside so badly I would have let you peek at it." Urd smiled knowingly towards her mother.
"So you're telling me that all my hard work, all my devious planning was wasted on those two. The files were there for me to see all along!"
"The FOIA version, yes." Urd answered her, "The only reason it was classified to begin with was to keep Belldandy from finding out."
Opening the sealed folder Hild rifled through the contents until she reached the critical part. There is a certain satisfaction to be had in watching the leader of the netherworld go pale as she realizes she has just been outmaneuvered, Urd thought to herself.
"That is a pretty significant change to the cause and effect don't you think?"
"Your father can't be serious! How could he possibly be willing to let her loose uncontrolled with this record!"
"It's not that bad," Urd said, "Belldandy isn't inherently violent by nature, she just gets homicidal when someone she cares for is in danger. As long as nothing bad happens to Keiichi then you have nothing to worry about, now do you?"
"There is no way I'm going to stand for this!" Hild declared. "I'll have Mara up here with an army of demons for back up as soon as she breaks her seal!"
"Oh, yes you will! See this," Urd said dangerously as she wiped the makeup from her forehead revealing a diamond shaped mark, "This is father's punishment for me overstepping my authority! I am now a first class goddess and those two are my first contract. You screw with them and not only will you have to deal with Belldandy but you'll also be dealing with a pissed off 1st class goddess, the system force and all the other undesirable things that come with opposing the will of Heaven. Do you think, powerful as you are, you can stand against all that and still keep your own realm under control?"
Hild was taken aback by the tone of her daughters voice, it wasn't so much threatening or boisterous as it was cold hard steel, much like that of her father when he laid down the law.
"Oh, you are such a cruel child!" Hild finally said half mockingly.
"You called this tune mother, now it is time for you to pay the piper."
"To think, I spent all that time and effort seducing your father last night and all the while he was plotting this! I even slept with him! It makes me feel so, so used! I think I just might be falling back in love with that man!"
That said, Hild open a transport portal without even bothering to mask its presence and removed herself from this past timescape.
As the two Norn's watched her fade away Skuld turned to her sister and asked, "I thought you said father didn't grant you any additional powers."
"He didn't," Urd smiled down at her, "but he didn't take away my power to deceive either."
"I see, so now Hild doesn't have any way to gauge the nature of what she's up against. Very clever Urd. Tell me, do you think there might be a happy ending for them this time?"
"I can't say, but I know that mother isn't used to playing on a level field. That in and of itself will give her reason for concern."
"What about us?"
"Well dear, I think we are just going to have to put away our angels for a while and resume our roles in Heaven until time catches up with us. Don't forget to drop by and see father while you're up there."
"Tell me, are you planning on doing anything different this time around?"
"I doubt it. The first thing I intend to do is a full scale memory dump when I get back, so I'll probably make the same mistakes all over again."
"Sounds like fun, maybe I'll do the same thing." Skuld answered.
From the antechamber where the Almighty One stayed, Lind and the Old god looked down upon events from on high.
"Why the sudden change in attitude?" she asked.
"Because I hope that someday Urd's mixed blood will allow her to seal the breach between Heaven and Hell, but even if she is successful it will still fall to her on how to reunite the three realms. It is my belief that without her even realizing it she has embraced her fate and is even now working towards that goal. So for now, at least for the remainder of the time I hold this office, she will have the tacit support of the Almighty One."
"The Black and the White, the noble mistake that really wasn't."
"Yes, but for now let us keep that our secret. There are those in both realms that would oppose her, were her true purpose known."
"I understand and I obey Almighty One."
