Where time exists
(Chapter IV)
It had been five days since anyone had seen or heard from Steve, and Laura was worried sick about her boyfriend. It was not like Steve to vanish without a trace, usually he would answer his cell phone or turn up sooner or later, but five days without any contact was rare. His family also had no idea where he was, and even the police couldn't tell them anything but to wait and see if he turns up.
Laura lay on her bed, and what seemed like the thousandth time that day, started to sob. It was like he had died, except without the proof, and thus, her mind was left wondering what could have happened, how could it have happened. It wasn't like he would have run away, sure they had their fights from time to time like any normal couple, but to just get up and leave, that would be so opposite of the man that she had come to know and love.
She was so upset that she had failed to notice the comic glow that came from her television, then a loud BANG echoed thought the house, a noise so loud that it sent a very upset girl running for her life.
Before she could be stopped, Laura was down the hall and out the door. Urd just stood there, near the spot that Laura had once been. "I hate it when that happens" she complained.
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Running as fast as she could, Laura ran down the steps of her house and to the end of the driveway. She had the intentions to go further, but the woman at the end of her driveway halted her in her footsteps.
"I'm not going to hurt you Laura, I'm just here to talk to you" stated the woman with long silver hair.
"W-wh-wh-who are you?" Laura managed to stammer.
A long silence hung over the air. Finally it was broken by Urd's soft voice.
"Perhaps we should discuss this inside" she said while walking away from a terrified Laura.
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After sitting at the Kitchen table for what seemed like hours, Urd was finally finished explaining everything to Laura, absolutely EVERYTHING. From Steve's wish, to the goddesses to Yggdrasil and her role as a norn, to Steve's unexpected disappearance. This girl was just full of questions, not that it wasn't unexpected. If Urd's boyfriend had suddenly disappeared, and could not be found on the face of the earth, she would question anyone who knew anything until she got all possible information out of them.
The sound of an engine came from the drive way, and in the blink of an eye Laura was up and in a panic. "My parents, how can I…you..explain…what..!??!?" Laura stuttered and stammered.
Urd took control of the situation, she grabbed Laura and dragged her to the television screen. "Come on!" she stated, not as if it really made a difference, Laura was too frightened at the prospect of going through this solid object to object.
Before she knew it, she was traveling at what seemed to be equivalent to the speed of light, and just as quickly ended up on the floor of an unknown area. "Wh..w.w..w.w…what..just happened!?" she stuttered.
Urd rolled her eyes while losing patience. "We are in Japan, now we need to find Steve"
This statement changed Laura's attitude pretty quickly. "Why do you care so much about Steve?" she asked with a raised eyebrow
Urd caught her intent fairly quickly and grew angry. "What are you trying to suggest mortal (putting extra emphasis on "mortal") that I'm somehow romantically interested in your pathetic boyfriend!"
The insults made Laura's blood run cold. "What do you mean by that "mortal" remark, and that doesn't answer my question, why do you even give a damn!?"
Urd walked up to her and stared her straight in the eye. "What do you think I meant, MORTAL!"
"URD!" yelled an angry but gentle new voice. "That's no way to treat our new guest" she said as she approached a calming but still quite fierce Laura. "Welcome to our home" she stated while bowing. Laura did the same. "Come, there is much to discuss, would you like a cup of tea?" inquired Belldandy as if nothing was amiss.
"Umm..sure." replied Laura.
They both walked off into the kitchen leaving a very angry Urd in their wake.
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"So how were you able to find me?" asked Laura.
Belldandy replied while carrying a cup of tea to Laura. "We initially used the Yggdrasil mainframe to attempt to find Steve, however there was no record of his existence. The only links we could find were in other people's files in connection with a one "Steve Eaton". The problem was they were all just ambiguous references, you're the only one with a clear defined link to him, we cannot even determine who his family was."
"So basically not only do you not have any idea where he is, you are also unsure that he even existed." Laura replied.
"That is correct" Belldandy replied tentatively, waiting for Laura to become upset.
Instead of doing so Laura began to think deeply. Then it struck her. "How come Urd needs to use televisions to transport?"
Belldandy began explain how every God or Goddess has a median to transport themselves in the mortal realm when she stopped herself. The day Steve arrived, he transported himself without the aid of a median.
"What does that mean, what did he use?" Belldandy thought. Then it struck her like lighting. "I know where he is!" She shouted while jumping out of his chair. "URD!! SKULD!! COME QUICK!"
Urd and Skuld came bounding in the room from opposite doors, Urd holding a bottle of sake and Skuld covered in grease.
"Urd, Skuld, what is the one place that we have not looked for Steve yet!?"
"Aww Belldandy, you know we've looked everywhere, the Yggdrasil mainframe could not find him, so how could we?" Skuld whined.
Belldandy ignored this remark. "The question shouldn't be where is Steve, but WHEN is Steve. Remember how he transported himself without the aid of a device. That's because he did use a median, it was time! He must have transported through time that day, ever so slightly, to end up on the opposite side of that room." Belldandy stated proudly.
"Umm… Bell, maybe you've been thinking about this too hard, but how is it possible for a MORTAL to travel though time!?" Urd argued.
Bell had to think about this one for a bit, when it came to her.
"It was his wish….somehow it's better for mankind if he can travel through time" Belldandy said at a near whisper level.
This was all just too much for Urd. "HOW THE $#%@ DOES THAT MAKE SENSE!?"
"Urd!!!!" Belldandy and Skuld both shouted louder than anyone could have imagined possible. "Urd you know how the almighty feels about swearing" Belldandy said, much softer this time.
Urd didn't really care at this point, she was extremely pissed off that this mortal had the power to not only travel through time, an ability that most Gods or Goddesses didn't have, but that he did it less than twenty four hours after he received them. It took Urd at least a century after she learned of her role as Norn of the Past to travel through time.
"Well a mortal shouldn't have that kind of power, it's too dangerous. First thing we do when we find him is put a power sealing device on him." Urd stated.
Belldandy agreed with this, after all, it would be unpractical for someone who doesn't know the first thing about time travel to have the power to change the destination of mankind whenever he feels like it.
"Excuse me, but I don't think we should be worrying about what to do when he gets back, first we have to get him back." Laura interrupted as to bring the topic back on track.
Urd glared at her and Belldandy smiled slightly, knowing fully how she has felt at times Keiichi was missing Of course he always returned safely, it didn't prevent her from occasionally over-reacting to bring him back.
"So we have to search through time?" Skuld piped up.
"Of course you dimwit." Urd replied quickly. Urd was still steamed at the revelation of Steve's power. "Why him?" she thought angrily. "What makes him so deserving?"
Skuld, as Steve had found out upon his first meeting with her, had a few sore spots, most of all was being called a kid, or other names of that sort. However, she was a mechanical genius, and having her intelligence insulted, was something else that she was unwilling to stand for.
"What do you mean dimwit!?" Skuld replied hotly. "You're the one that blew up half the temple last year with your cursed potions!!"
Urd did not get offended as quickly as Skuld did, however she did have a few sore spots of her own, and someone infringing on her potion making ability was one of them.
"Look who's talking, you blow up anything or anyone that looks at you cockeyed with you patented Skuld bombs, you little brat!" Urd shouted.
This senseless banter continued on for a few minutes as Laura and Belldandy looked on in frustration. Laura especially so, her boyfriend was theoretically somewhere in time and the only people who could do something about it were bickering like children about trivial matters.
"ENOUGH!" Belldandy shouted, causing an eerie silence to fall upon the room.
"I can't believe you two! Urd, if anything happens to your charge you know you'll be held responsible." Urd wouldn't meet Belldandy's eyes as she lectured her.
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Belldandy's lecture continued for another couple of minutes while Laura listened with impatience, she wanted nothing more than to find her boyfriend and go home. She felt slightly threatened in this place. Urd seemed a bit hostile to her, and as nice as Belldandy had been to her, she felt that had they met under normal circumstances, she would have found her to be too optimistic and happy for her liking. It wasn't that she was a nasty or dark person, she was quite the opposite. However she didn't have a lot of patience for people who were excessively naïve and optimistic. Unfortunately for Laura, Belldandy was both.
Laura often wondered why she then dated Steve. Who was a complete optimist, even in the worst of situations, sometimes annoyingly so. He did lack naivety however, and thus, was not everything that she had come to despise.
Her relationship problems would have to wait for the time being, for now she was still uncertain if she would ever see him again.
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Belldandy finished lecturing Urd and Skuld with a sigh of frustration. The conversation had been had many times before, never really making a difference, never causing a change, and yet she repeated herself, many times, as if thinking this time it would make a difference.
She turned to look at Laura and at once recognized the look in the girls eyes, her soul was afire with passion and desire to find her boyfriend, and yet there was an uncertainty in her eyes, as if to reveal her fears about the situation at hand.
She cleared her throat to gain her attention. "Laura, there is something we should probably discuss." Belldandy said softy.
She motioned for Laura to follow her into the next room. Once they were there Belldandy shut the door and turned to face Laura.
"I'm going to be honest with you, and I hope that you can handle this." Laura nodded in response and Belldandy continued. "We are going to have to send you through time to find Steve" Belldandy paused as she let this information sink in. "To be honest, we cannot travel through time easily, and because we are looking for someone within time, it complicates matters even further." Laura was quite shocked at the possibility of traveling through time, yet she did ask why it would be easier to send her through time. Belldandy replied. "The reason for that is that we as Goddesses expel enormous amounts of power, power that is hard for others to control. Thus it would be similar to someone trying to control the output of a nuclear power plant, compared to someone controlling the output of a AA battery." Laura didn't quite understand, but she knew that asking more questions would only delay the time it took to find Steve. "Alright." She said. "I'll do it" Belldandy smiled slightly and nodded. "Alright then, there is no time like the present." Under normal circumstances, that pun would have gained groans from all that heard it. However, the joke was lost on Laura, who was deep in thought.
As they both walked back into the main room Urd and Skuld looked at Belldandy, then to Laura and once again back to Belldandy.
"So….what's the plan Bell?" Urd asked while folding her arms.
"We're going to use Laura as a beacon, and send her to when and where Steve is." Belldandy replied.
"Are you mad! What if he's dead! Or stuck somewhere in space, or a dangerous area! She could be killed." Urd spouted.
This was all news to Laura, she knew that traveling through time would most likely be dangerous, but the thought of dying hadn't crossed her mind.
Belldandy quickly took control of the situation and calmed Urd down. "As far as we know it's the only chance he has." Belldandy said softly, then turning to look at Laura, she continued. "Now Laura, when you find Steve, you must follow these instructions exactly." As she talked she removed a bracelet from her arm and handed it to Laura. "This bracelet is going to be used as a beacon, it is how we will be able to track you through time. Once you find him, remove the bracelet and it will automatically expand to the size of a hula-hoop. Place it around the both of you and hold on tightly. (Despite the situation at hand, Laura smiled at this, knowing full well that she wouldn't need Belldandy's advice to hold onto her boyfriend tightly.) Once you do that, we will bring you back. Also, if for some reason you end up in a dangerous situation, do the same thing with just yourself, and we will bring you back again"
Laura nodded and thanked Belldandy for all that she was doing.
"Urd, Skuld, come on." Belldandy stated.
Urd and Skuld moved to form a circle around Laura.
"Good luck, and Kami-sama bless" Belldandy said before she started to speak a language that Laura could never understand.
Urd and Skuld followed in unison while Laura looked around at the three, a little unsure if she was supposed to be doing something.
It was then that Laura's memory became jumbled. Lights started to flash and a wind started to blow.
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A bright flash enveloped the room, and from this grew a silence. The wind had died and the words had stopped
There was only one thing different than before.
Laura was gone.