The light, the light is warm, the light is inviting, the light is wrong! Darkness he understood, darkness held no fear but for some reason the light he found frightening. "Why am I here, what happened and why." Keiichi asked himself.
"Good questions," the voice of Lind echoed in his brain as her astral projection materialized in his mind's eye.
"Lind, why are you here?"
"Like you I am here because I am caught in the nexus, between the now and the then. The decision you are about to make will effect both our destinies."
"Can you tell me what is going on?" Keiichi asked in confusion.
"Belldandy has played her trump card."
"What do you mean?"
"She has reset time to the first nexus, the first turning point where your fates could have diverged. Nine months after you met, before your destinies became so intertwined. She wishes to save you from the fate that her father has planned for you. If she can erase herself from your life then you can go back to being just Keiichi Morisato and she can go back to heaven."
"Is that what she really wants?"
"God, what kind of stupid question is that?" Lind sighed, "No, she doesn't want to leave you!"
"Then why?"
"Don't be so naive!" Lind snapped, "She is just as capable of self-sacrifice as you are! She's not stupid! She knows what her father is planning and why. You don't think she doesn't want to stay with you with all her heart! But she doesn't want you to suffer the fate that her father has in store for you either."
"What fate is that, all I know is that ever since we've taken our relationship to the next level all hell has broken out."
"Keiichi, do you know the difference between gods and mortals?"
"There is about a two gram difference in the mass of our souls," Keiichi answered, "Belldandy told me."
"On average that's about the correct amount, in your case, however, the difference is exactly 1.7883 grams. Last week it was 1.8557 grams."
"So, you are saying my soul is growing?"
"Though nobody knows the exact reason why, your close proximity to Belldandy and extended connection to Yggdrasil has caused your soul to change."
"Was that why Urd was so upset? Because my soul is growing?"
"No, she misunderstood her father's intention; she thought that the empowering of your soul with evil was supposed to corrupt you, which it probably would have had Belldandy not been there to counteract it. The end result was your soul came out of that temple purer and larger than when it went in. We don't know how or why but like a muscle, it gets bigger and stronger with exercise."
"I would think that would be a good thing."
"Not in your case, as long as you are mortal then the Almighty One is limited in what he can require of you. Once your soul grows to the point where you can be considered a member of heaven then the law becomes more clear and his power over you more absolute. The Almighty One intends to conscript you, a mortal, into the host thereby forcing Belldandy to follow you back to the heavens. Before he can do that, however, your soul must be reshaped into one suiting of a god. That has been the underlying purpose of all the trials he has put the two of you through."
"I'm honored, I think."
"Don't be!" the fury in her voice unmistakable, "To become like us you must master a level of discipline far greater than is even possible to imagine on earth. We were born to this life, you were not. The difficulty will be beyond measure. Belldandy seeks to spare you that pain."
"I assume that there is a reason why you are telling me this?"
"Believe it or not I'm here to argue for Heaven's side."
"Sounds to me like you're making Belldandy's case for her."
"I'm sure by now you've realized that Belldandy is a master manipulator, but sometimes she forgets that what she thinks is best for someone might not be what that someone wants for themselves. Belldandy intends to erase this timescape, everything you've done, everything that has happened will be as if it never was. The Lord of Terror, gone. You running around with boobs diving off the top of that restaurant never happened. The angel eater problem, gone. Celestin trying to destroy the world, gone. My betrayal of the Almighty One, still pending. All the many lives the two of you have touched will be as if they had never met you."
"I see," Keiichi said sadly, "Although it seems kind of sad it might be better this way, I think. I'm a mortal born to live a short life and then die. Belldandy is a goddess meant to live her life for centuries. What can I offer her compared to that? At least this way she will get the rest of her life back."
"If that is your choice then so be it, but please listen for I still have more to say."
"Go on."
"The Urn of Hakushon, that held the spell for the Lord of Terror, will remained undiscovered, Urd or someone like her remains destine to fall under that spell. Without your contract to hold Belldandy to the earth Celestin will remain confined to the moon and the knowledge of his betrayal will remain locked inside Belldandy's mind, continuing to grow there like a cancer. Most importantly to me, however, is that without someone there to save her Skuld will die by my hands before she ever meets her first love."
"I don't think you are being completely honest Lind, I know from my own experience that it is possible to retain your memories from one time line to another. Are you telling me even knowing all this is going to happen you still can't find a means to prevent yourself from having to kill Skuld?"
"I'm not saying that at all. It is possible; it's just not probable. You see, while time itself is not immutable, like a river it still follows a fixed course. You can only change direction when you reach a branching from the main stream. In Skuld's case you forced that nexus, that branching of the streams, into existence just moments before I would have killed her. That is why I'm here, I want to ask you, no better yet beg of you, please, please make the hard choice. Don't let Belldandy do this thing.
"Do I even have a choice? Belldandy is a goddess, I'm just a mortal what can I do to change her mind."
"You can't change her mind! We are already standing at the point of divergence. If you wish to change your destiny back to the way it was, then you must fight her."
"Fight her!"
"Yes, fight her and fight her with all your heart! The only way to stop her is to oppose her and prevail! I know I'm asking a lot and it doesn't seem reasonable. But remember, like you she knows everything that is going to happen. Everything you've done and all you two have meant to each other and knowing all that, she has still decided on this path. She's hardened her heart, Keiichi. She's hardened it to the love you once shared, to the love she has for her sisters, even to the love she has for her father."
"How can I possibly prevail, a mortal against a goddess?"
"You can't, but you will have two things going in your favor. First thing is this."
Keiichi jumped back suddenly as one of Lind's one-winged-angels appeared looking at him longingly.
"Coolmint," he asked in surprised.
"Please Keiichi, Coolmint's wing is on the right side. This is Spearmint, she will help you any way she can to counter Belldandy's magic."
"And the second thing in my favor?"
"The second is Belldandy herself; she won't fight back with all her heart. If you can keep her occupied until the nexus closes then the reset will be aborted."
"Then what?"
"If by some chance you prevail then kiss your life as you once knew it goodbye. Your soul will continue to change. The gift/curse of longevity will be yours if you want it but your ass will belong 100 percent to the Almighty One."
"Gift and a curse?"
"Yes, your span of years will be similar to ours, you can remain with Belldandy for as long as she will have you. A gift if you will. But your friends and family will still have only their short span of time. Undeniably a curse as you will remain un-aging, watching them, their children and their children's children grow old and die.
"You make it all sound so appealing." Keiichi cracked sarcastically.
"Keiichi?" Lind asked him seriously; "In Heaven I am known by several names, Lind of the one Wing, Binary Lind, Twin angel Lind and just lately, Lind the Betrayer. I'm begging you, please, please keep me from becoming Lind the child killer!"
"I'll do my best." Keiichi answered her gravely.
"One last thing Keiichi, don't forget she will remember all that happened the first time. She will remember that Urd and Skuld built that circle of warding and she will do what it takes to stop the three of you. The only way to win is to fight a retiring action. You have to keep her busy until the nexus closes. Remember you can't hurt her but she can and probably will hurt you!"
"I have to ask, was it a similar situation to this one that trapped you into representing that song?" Keiichi inquired.
"No, I was just stupid," Lind smiled back at him, "you, on the other hand, are an idiot."
"Is there some kind of distinction there?"
"As it relates to the outcome, none at all."
"All right," Keiichi said, "I'm ready now."
"Okay then, brace yourself," Lind warned him as she grasped him by the shoulder. Closing his eyes and tightening his stomach muscles in anticipation. Lind drew back and hit him full in the stomach, as he felt the wind being knocked out of him he also felt the presence of Lind's angel Spearmint as she flowed into his spirit. When Keiichi opened his eyes again he could see he was standing atop the temple just out of view of Urd and Skuld as the pair worked feverishly to complete their Ultimate Magic Circle of Warding.
"Okay now what?" Keiichi thought to himself.
"You reconnoiter and get a handle on your situation and the enemies movements." Came the voice of Spearmint in his mind.
"I'm having some difficulty thinking of Belldandy as the enemy." Keiichi replied.
"Adversary, opponent, opposition, call it whatever you want! Just keep focused on the fact that there can only be one winner and that needs to be us!"
"All right then since you are the expert what do you think Belldandy's first move will be?" Keiichi asked as he took her advice and began scanning the area with his eyes.
"She will probably wait until just before your past self arrives and then put a barrier up to prevent you from accessing the temple grounds. That way she can neutralize any influence your past self might have on the outcome."
"Or she might just flatten the tires on my BMW by loosening the valve stems, thereby keeping me from making it back home on time." Keiichi said flatly.
"Don't over strategize," the angel warned.
"No, I'm pretty sure that's what she did."
It was Keiichi's use of the past tense that caused the angel to focus her attention on where Keiichi was looking. Standing at the other end of the roof, her face an emotionless mask of cold stone, stood Belldandy holding the clearly recognizable valve stem removal tool in her left hand.
"Keiichi," Belldandy began, the warning tone clearly evident in her voice, "don't involve yourself in this. Matters of heaven are the providence of heaven and are not the concern of the mortal realm. Withdraw now!"
"I'm sorry Bell but I can…"
Keiichi wasn't even able to complete his answer before Belldandy's wind-blast catapulted him across the yard in full view of the two other Norn's as they worked to complete their spell. Spearmint was able to control his trajectory and was wise enough not to expend too much energy as she slowed his speed of flight.
"So much for the element of surprise," the angel spoke to him in an amused tone even as the pair was still flying through the air.
Belldandy started to follow them then suddenly stopped hovering over the mandala that the two other Norns had been building, her hands a blur of complicated movements as she began to cast another wind-blast spell directed this time towards the offending talisman.
"We have to stop her," Keiichi warned Spearmint.
"I can only counter the magic she directs towards you! I can't cast any offensive spells. You have to do that!"
"I don't know how to cast magic spells!"
"You have the magic of your heart!"
Keiichi didn't know what she meant and sure as hell didn't have the time to figure it out. Instead he opted on a simpler strategy; he shouted down to Urd the simple one word instruction he had heard her shout more than once to her other two sisters. "Shield!" he screamed at the top of his voice.
As he had hoped, with an almost Pavlovian response Urd crossed her arms in front of her and blocked Belldandy's spell before it reached the circle.
"Keiichi, what is going on!" Urd shouted up at him as he hovered above the compound.
"It's our first lovers quarrel, isn't it cute?"
"Keiichi, I'm serious what is happening!"
"Belldandy is trying to alter your present which has become my past. You have to finish the circle."
Skuld, who had never been in favor of creating the circle of warding to begin with, had been observing the conflict with some amusement. Now it was she who was conflicted, Belldandy kicking Keiichi's butt she found extremely satisfying, Keiichi being able to fly like her sisters she found very disconcerting, having to choose between the two she found oddly terrifying. In desperation she asked her sister, "Urd what should we do?"
"How should I know!" Urd snapped, "You're the Goddess of the future. You tell me."
"But I've never done anything like that before!"
"There is never a better time to learn than the present." Urd said to her.
"Oh, why must mortal life always be so complicated!"
000
Predicting the future is always an iffy science; the reason being a theorem known as the Butterfly Effect, an underlying concept of Chaos Theory where minor changes in behaviors cause major changes in overall outcome. For instance if you were to know that you would be involved in a car accident on your way to work one morning wouldn't you just stay home until the danger passed? But then what about the accident you were supposed to be involved in? Without any method to measure the accuracy of the prediction how do you gauge its veracity? Similar to Heisenberg's uncertainty principal in its effect, knowing the outcome changes the outcome. Then what about the accident itself, does fate just wait in the wings looking for another chance to do you dirty or does your bad luck get transferred over somehow to the next person in the queue? If so then to whom? Take that knowledge a step further, wouldn't it be tragic if after having dodged putting a dent in your new Mercedes you discovered that the accident you should have been involved in happened instead to the mother of five in the mini van as she was taking her kids to school? Knowing that, would you still stay home or would you go forward even knowing the outcome?
This was Skuld's conundrum as she pondered what to do. Much as she wanted to side with Belldandy she knew that something serious had to have happened in the future for her sister to have stepped back into the past to change it. So she tried as hard as she could to look forward, forward to the point of divergence she knew had to be there, somewhere in the future march of time. The problem was she couldn't find it, there were just too many alternatives, too many different ways for future events to transpire for her to get an accurate handle on the correct path to the future. She was about to call it quits and just side with their sister when she decided on another course. Instead of trying to link the fates of Belldandy and Keiichi's future together she decided to look at only Keiichi's by itself. When she did she could see more clearly and she saw that no matter the outcome Keiichi's future was bright and he would most probably lead a long and productive life. Then she decided to look just at Belldandy's futures, the futures without Keiichi. In too many of those futures she saw only darkness. Delving deeper into the problem Skuld was able to discern a commonality in all Belldandy's fates; they were all ones where Keiichi was not a part of her life. Although she couldn't understand why, Skuld realized that Belldandy had chosen a dark future. The simple fact of the matter was that any future without Keiichi was the wrong future for Belldandy! Skuld knew that to be the truth now and that meant she had to do something she had never ever considered before, she had to openly defy Belldandy!
Keiichi and Belldandy weren't privy to Skuld's internal deliberations. The two of them had remained floating above the compound circling each other warily as they waited for the next shoe to drop. From Belldandy's perspective as long as the circle remained unfinished then she didn't have a need to attack. Meanwhile the clock was ticking away, the time when the gate was to open drawing ever nearer.
Keiichi was keenly aware that the delay was working in Belldandy's favor. If the other two Norns delayed any longer then the circle wouldn't be done in time. If they did try to finish it then Belldandy would simply do what ever it took to disrupt their work, failing that she need only fly into the gate as soon as it opened. Keiichi knew he somehow needed to keep Belldandy engaged and hope somehow to keep her past and present selves on this side of the gate.
"What about Skuld?" he shouted to her, "What about Urd? Don't you care about what will happen to them if you succeed?"
The look on her face that she gave him clearly showed him he had scored a point. "You leave them out of this!" she hissed, "the affairs of heaven are not your concern!"
"I will decide what concerns me, not you and not heaven! They are my friends and that is all the justification I will ever need!"
It was just about then that the Belldandy of the past stepped out on to the courtyard and spied the still unfinished Ultimate Magic Circle of Warding. Shouting at her two sisters in horror, "What are you two doing!"
Ignoring her Urd looked at the Goddess of the Future and asked, "Skuld, what is your decision?"
Looking at her elder sister with a confidence she had never known before, Skuld replied. "Keiichi, we side with Keiichi!"
Urd, realizing that time was of the essence quickly cast a spell of reversal setting time back the necessary seconds she needed to finish the circle.
The Belldandy of the past disappeared back into the house, meanwhile the Belldandy of the present dived headlong towards the mandala and Keiichi dived headlong towards her, crashing into her a mere ten feet above the ground. Twisting away from him Belldandy got up and started to run towards the circle, her hands in motion as she formulated her wind-blast spell but Keiichi did a leg sweep and scissors trapping her legs causing her to crash to the ground. Even as she lay prone in the dirt her hands never stopped moving. In desperation and not having any other available target he slapped Belldandy on her backside three times, the pain coming from this unexpected quarter was enough to cause Belldandy to lose her concentration as she reached behind her as she sought to protect her derrière from further assault.
"It's not… your decision… to make… Belldandy!" Keiichi shouted at her.
Unfortunately for Keiichi he might as well have been talking to a fence post. As realization of what had just happened to her was sinking into Belldandy's consciousness her sanity was on its way out. The next thing Keiichi knew he was trapped on the ground and Belldandy had her hands around his throat, her face a mask of fury.
As he fought to remain conscious he heard Urd as she began reciting the words to the spell that would awaken the Ultimate Magic Circle of Warding.
"Blaze like the flames of fire,"
"I've got to hang in there just a little longer." Keiichi thought to himself as he felt his face turn blue.
" Race like the cold wind,"
"You know I can show you several ways how to break a strangle hold." Spearmint chimed in helpfully.
"Shake like the water and receive like the earth!"
"Not yet!" Keiichi answered her even as he was starting to lose consciousness.
"I order you in the names of the three goddesses of present past and future…
"Oh crap!" Belldandy said outloud as she realized her mistake.
"Ascend Ultimate Magic Circle of Warding!"
As the last phrase was being uttered Belldandy suddenly remembered her purpose and was instantly aloft as she sought to cross the threshold between this world and the next ahead of the blast she knew was coming. Moments later Spearmint had the semi conscious Keiichi in flight as well as the pair sought to overhaul Belldandy before she crossed over. All the while burning prodigious amounts of the little angel's magical energy.
"Keiichi," came the tired voice of Spearmint in his mind, "we are at the point of no return. If we continue we will not have enough energy to go back."
"I don't care," Keiichi replied through the haze in his mind, "just get me to her before she crosses over."
"Aye Aye sir," came the proud response of his borrowed familiar.
With that Keiichi suddenly felt his body thrust forward as the little angel expended her remaining energy in one last remaining burst. Just as suddenly he felt himself become weightless as the acceleration ceased, his forward momentum was still fast enough so he could overtake Belldandy but he now had no way to control his trajectory. It was the exhausted Spearmint coming to the rescue again as she extended her single wing to make the necessary course corrections needed to cause the two to collide. As the pair collided in mid air Keiichi had recovered enough of his wits to wrap his arms tightly around Belldandy's waist and hold on to her for dear life.
"That won't work Keiichi," Belldandy said apologetically as she continued upwards with him in tow, "once I cross the threshold the recall notice will be fulfilled and this timescape erased. I wish you would understand, I'm doing this because I love you."
With those last three words Keiichi finally understood what Spearmint had meant about the magic in his heart.
"Me too," Keiichi replied with a smile as he looked towards the terminus of the gate now only seconds away.
"What do you mean?" Belldandy asked.
"I…"
"Don't you dare!" Belldandy screamed in horror, as his intentions became clear.
"Love…"
"Keiichi, no we're too high!"
"You!"
With the last word said Belldandy suddenly went limp in his arms and Goddess and Mortal ceased rising towards heaven and began their inexorable plunge towards the earth.
"Well that was clever," came the amused voice of Spearmint in his mind, "I'm out of gas, she's unconscious and we're all falling like rocks. What now?"
"I'm fresh out of ideas," Keiichi replied calmly, "how about you."
"Same here," the little angel replied.
"Might as well enjoy the ride then."
"It's not the ride that worries me," Spearmint replied with a bit of sadistic humor, "It's the sudden stop at the end that gets you."