(This is an "Oh, My Goddess!" fan-fiction. The "OMG" characters are the

property of Kosuke Fujishima and other respective owners. Used without

permission, but with great respect.)

Jotunheim

Part Two: Exposition

By Michelle Johnson

"Here's the tea," chimed Belldandy as she entered the dining room with

a tray of tea and cups in her hands.

"Thanks, Bell," said Keiichi as she set the tray down and began to

pour. Once she'd finished pouring four of the cups, she first gave one

to Keiichi before she gave an expectant, questioning look to the two

visitors.

"Yes, please," said the young man with short, light brown hair. Bell

gave him the tea with a pleased smile, which he weakly returned. She

turned her gaze to the girl next to him, concern growing on her face.

The dark girl was leaning on the table, a hand massaging her forehead

as she let out a soft, tension-filled sigh.

"Are you okay, Miss...?" Belldandy paused, waiting for an answer.

"Jarrett," filled in the young woman as she looked up and gave a

strained smile. "Aisha Jarrett. And, yeah, I'm okay. Just,

feeling kinda sick from the transport, I guess."

Keiichi could easily see that. Both visitors had the look of being put

through the wringer, just Aisha showed it more.

Bell stood up from the table. "I believe I have something that may

help. I'll be right back."

"Ah! Wait!" Aisha began, but Bell was already out of the door. Aisha

sat back with a low huff. "I don't want to be a bother," she mumbled.

"Don't worry about it," said Keiichi. "That's just how Belldandy is."

"But I don't want to impose or anything," she protested.

"Like I said, don't worry. Believe me, we've had more surprising drop-

ins than yours. And dealing with a headache is the least of problems."

At an apparent loss, Aisha merely looked down, her braids falling

forward to hide her face, and whispered a thank you.

"Well, I for one thank you for being a gracious host," said the young

man. He thrust his hand out halfway over the table. "I'm Wil Thebault,"

he said with a smile.

Taking the offered hand, he smiled: "Keiichi Morisato."

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

At that moment, Belldandy returned to the room with a cup of a

different tea. She knelt next to Aisha, offering the beverage to her.

"I believe this should help."

Aisha too the cup with a half-smile, blew on it gently before taking a

cautious sip. Keiichi's tension eased a little as his guest gave a

pleased hum and downed the remainder of the drink.

"That was good," she said, pleasantly surprised. And you know, I think

the pains going away. Incredible! Like magic!"

Bell gave an appreciative smile. "You're welcome. I hope now you'll be

able to tell us a bit about yourselves."

Aisha and Wil exchanged embarrassed glances, both visually nudging the

other to go first. With an embarrassed laugh and scratching her head,

Aisha began: "There's really not that much to say. Um, I'm a sophomore

in ecology back in Atlanta."

"Oh, that sounds interesting!" beamed Belldandy. "I'm sure you must do

some rather unique studies, learning about how your beautiful world

works."

"I've never really heard anyone put it that way, but - yeah." She

continued, encouraged. "I'd have to say witnessing the wonders of

nature, the simple little treasures of say a plant, and insect, a fish.

Nothing can compare."

There was a wistful tone to her voice as she concluded, her calm

expression mirroring one Keiichi had seen Belldandy wear when she too

thought of how precious something was, no matter how insignificant the

object seemed. There was a calm silence, broken by some birds chirping

outside the windows. Both Aisha and Bell turned to face the source,

listening in appreciated silence to the handful of notes.

"That's about it for me," Aisha finally said in a cheerful tone. She

faced Keiichi with a grin. "What can you tell us about yourself, Mr.

Morisato?"

"Hey, just call me Keiichi," he answered with an embarrassed chuckle.

"I'm finishing up my undergrad studies here at Nekomi Tech in

electrical engineering. Mostly, I deal with racing vehicles and such. And I race for

the motor club."

"Wow, you race?" enthused Aisha, interest clear on her face.

"What do you race?" asked Wil.

"Mostly bikes, but I've helped in the design and building of a number

of other vehicles. But even the best design is worthless if there isn't

a good driver and crew."

"Sounds like fun," Wil said with an impressed grin. "Who knows? Things

may work out so we can catch one of your races. It sounds more fun than

what I'm studying."

"And what are you studying, Mr. Thebault?" urged Belldandy.

"Archaeology over in California," was his reply. "And call me Wil.

Though right now, I'm mostly helping out more on the paper and textbook

end rather than actual on site stuff. Pretty dry field of study if

you're thinking along the lines of Indiana Jones or something."

"Can't be much worse than some of the field work I've done," suggested

Aisha. "May I ask where your interest lies?"

He paused for a moment before answering. "Well, I'd have to say I'm

helping with a Native American site near Washington, but MY interest

lies in the Norse Culture. Especially their mythology."

"Then you must know all about their stories. I only know the one about

Balder and the mistletoe."

"Yeah, I know that one as well. I know all about the gods, the Nine

Worlds, the heroes, and Yggrsdail. It's fascinating how interwoven the

myths can be.

At the mention of Yggdrasil, Keiichi's attention perked. Here was

someone who knew about the system as well? Why not? If they had been

sent by Heaven to go on this quest, surely they must have had some

association with the gods in the past, possibly through the help

agencies as he had.

"I hope you don't mind me asking," he began, as to get their attention,

"but I was kinda curious; what did you guys wish for?"

Their reply was a pair of silent, confused stares.

Embarrassed, he asked with a nervous chuckle, "You did get a wish,

didn't you?"

"Wish?" asked Aisha.

"I don't know anything about a wish," was Wil's reply.

"I thought, since you were sent here by Yggrsdail," explained Keiichi,

"that you already knew about the gods and goddesses, and how the system

worked. I figured you probably met someone from the help agencies, like

I did."

Wil made a guess, "And when you were contacted at the time, you were

offered a wish from a goddess?" A mute nod from both Keiichi and Bell.

"May I ask what yours was, exactly?"

It took some time, but Keiichi and Belldandy recounted the events of

their first meeting, and summarized some of the more important details

of life after that fateful night. Once they had finished, they waited

to hear what their guests had to say after sitting silently through it.

Aisha was the first to respond, "Man! That was a stupid, selfish wish!

Only a guy would make such a wish without taking into account the

other's feelings." She shot Keiichi a level, criticizing look, making

the young man feel like he was some sort of cretin. She had a point, he

thought, and the matter had come up in his mind over and over in the

past. But, things just weren't that simple.

After a pause, Aisha casually leaned back from the table, propping

herself with her arms behind her. The expression on her face had

changed from one of annoyance to a gentle, thoughtful one.

"However," she resumed, "the exact wording was to have a goddess like

Belldandy by your side always. There was nothing about her loving you.

And that, THAT appears to be something that you both developed. So,

maybe it wasn't such a bad wish."

The tension inside Keiichi eased; for some reason, he had wanted to

hear this, as if he wanted the approval.

"You've been waiting the entire time just to comment on that, weren't

you?" asked Wil, to which Aisha gave an amused smile. "I can see where

your priorities lie. I'm still adjusting to the idea that there's some

truth to all those stories. I mean, there are a lot of differences -

not the least Yggdrasil is a supercomputer and not a tree - but that

there really are gods and goddesses and demons, and they maintain all

these dimensions. It's mind-boggling."

"Don't be too surprised," came Urd's voice. Everyone looked up to the

entryway of the room where she was standing. "You know what they say

about there being some truths in myths."

That said, she came to the table and sat down with a huff. Keiichi saw

that she was extremely tired and clearly stressed.

"Urd," he began, but was cut off by a wave of her hand.

"Just a little tired; no matter how many times you do it, making

potions can take a lot out of you. Sigh I'm going to be up for a good

part of the night finishing this thing." She stretched her arms over

her head, slightly amused at the interested look she got from Wil. "I

take it you guys have some questions. Ask away."

There were a few mumbles as the three mortals tried to collect their

thoughts. Keiichi had no idea where to begin, as he had nothing to go

by and no idea what the others knew. Perhaps, square one should be the

best bet.

"Urd, what can you tell us about this mission?"

"Depends on what you need to know. How much did they tell you?"

"Just that there'd been a hack into Yggrsdail and the we're being sent

to Jotunheim," was Keiichi's answer.

"That's it?" replied Urd in annoyance. "What about you two?"

"Um, less than that," began Aisha. "It was, I don't know, three o'clock

when I got the call, and that was just to say to be ready to go

someplace in a couple hours."

"Why didn't you ask for more information?" Urd asked.

"It woke me up," Aisha quipped. She bristled a bit under Urd's

unsympathetic look. "It was three AM! You try and think straight

getting a middle of the night phone call."

That floored Keiichi and Urd. He'd forgotten about the time difference

between Japan and the States. No wonder the two seemed so out of it:

that and being teleported would exhaust anyone!

Urd shot a look at Wil. "Same thing with you?"

"Got that I was needed to fix a computer and to get ready to leave." He

scratched his head with an embarrassed laugh. "In hindsight, I should

have questioned it, because I barely know how to use mine!"

Urd muttered something angrily about search programs and needing to

talk with someone in administration. Things were beginning to get off

topic. Cautiously, Keiichi repeated his question.

"Yeah, the mission," sighed Urd as she rubbed her forehead. "The plan

is an in-out business. You'll be sent to Jotunheim, make your way to a

designated position to drop off the blocking device, and come back to

this dimension. Simple."

"But, Miss Urd," began Wil, "what about the hacker? Isn't he going to

face punishment?"

"That's not in the plan. But trust me, if we could we would. The guy's

pretty luck it's coming from Jotunheim, because that area's hands off

thanks to some archaic pacts. Heck, no one's been allowed in or out of

there in, I don't know, millennia."

"So, neither the gods nor the demons have jurisdiction over it. Who

does?"

"I'm taking a guess: Frost giants?" suggested Keiichi.

Urd replied, "Probably."

Images of towering, crystalline figures loomed back into his mind.

Fearsome warriors that scared even demons. It may have been Skuld being

Skuld - which equaled being a pain in the side at times - but there may

have been some truth to it. He felt ill at the thought of facing

whatever they were if they were only hinted at by what Skuld had said.

"We'll have to get past giants?" whispered Aisha.

"Probably, I don't know," answered Urd.

"How would we do that?" asked Wil.

"I don't know." There was some annoyance in her tone.

"Do you know anything about them?" asked Keiichi.

"No, I don't know!" exploded Urd. "I don't know much of anything about

frost giants or Jotunheim! There are so many holes and contradictions

in our records, they're little better than fairy tales. So stop asking

me!"

The explosion over, Urd glanced around the table at the stunned faces

of the others. There was a terrified look in Aisha's eyes that led to

Urd's hands, which were crackling with electricity. Embarrassed into

calmness, Urd attempted to relax before speaking.

"Sorry about that. It's just - Well, it irks me to no end, how we should

know more about that dimension, and we're sending you four, mortals, in

there because of an article in an archaic treaty."

Belldandy reached out and cupped one of her sister's hands in hers. "I

understand, Urd. I know you, and I know that you'll do your best to

make sure they're prepared."

"You bet I will!" exclaimed Urd as she shot to her feet, a fist held

determinedly before her. "Starting tomorrow, we'll begin training. And

I'm going to make SURE you're ready, even if it takes my super special

training!"

There was a mutual feeling of stunned concern at the fire in Urd's

eyes. But something she had said seemed out of place to Keiichi.

"Um, Urd," he began.

"Yes, K-boy," she replied, the annoyance back in her voice.

"Don't you mean three?"

"No, I meant four."

"But, there're only three of us."

"Huh? Three?"

She looked down at the table and did a quick mental count. One, two,

three, four, counting Bell. There was a conspicuously missing fifth

person.

"Uh, oh," she thought. She scooted between the two visitors with an

obviously forced smile.

"You two wouldn't happen to know anything about this fourth person,

would you?" Both heads shook "no." She thought, "This could be bad."

Aloud she said, "Well, maybe he's getting briefed or something." She

followed that with the thought, "Or lost or . . ."

Before Urd could get lost in a flood of worse case scenario, there was

a knock at the front door. Belldandy got up to answer it.

She slid open the door. "Hello? Can I help you?"

"Is this the Morisato residence?" asked the stranger. Keiichi and the

others gathered behind Bell to get a look at him. He was a young man,

perhaps slightly older than Keiichi. The glasses he wore were a

handsome wire frame, glowing in the late afternoon light the same shade

as the brown highlights in his otherwise black hair.

"Y-yes, yes it is. May I ask who you are?"

"Yuji Tanaka," was his answer. "Where can I put this?" He held out a

black duffle bag.

"Umm. I-I suppose Keiichi could show you." Yuji placed the bag down as

he pulled off his shoes, before he picked it back up and started

towards the hall. Stunned, Bell could only stammer, "C-come in."

"Hey, Tanaka," said Urd, as Keiichi began to move forward. "Are you

here because Yggdrasil sent you?"

"Yeah."

"How come you weren't transported here as Aisha and Wil were?"

The young man critically studied the two foreigners. "I took the

train." He faced Keiichi. "Could you show me where to put this?"

Keiichi was taken aback by his bluntness. "Uh, yeah. This way."

He led his latest guest to the rooms as the others watched in a tense

silence.