Disclaimer : Ah! My goddess does not belong to me.

Ceroxon asked me if I could do a fusion version of my winter special.

-oOoOoOo-

In her room at the abandoned arcade, Mara was laying on the ground, looking through various mail-order magazines both earthly and eldrich.

It was a pointless effort. The demon could barely pay any real attention to what was on the paper.

Rather than think up schemes to separate the goddesses and their mortal, Mara could only look at the items and wonder how she could offer them to Belldandy and ask to fuse again.

"Argh… why couldn't it be Urd? I'd be able to offer her some great booze and she'd jump through hoops…" Mara muttered before she crumpled up the magazine and threw it into a trash can. "But nooo! I'm hung up on Belldandy!"

Her mind wandered back to how being part of the Fusion felt.

Belldandy brought confidence and control. From what Mara could sense, Belldandy enjoyed her determination and the way she threw herself wholeheartedly into everything.

'But she loves Morisato! What a loser!' Mara thought… just as a deluge of flashbacks where she herself was called a loser for not being able to seperate those two hit her. The demon sighed before she muttered, "Eh… maybe I should think of him like he's a dog… like a small, fluffy puppy that only wants to cheer me up."

She smiled at the mental image of a puppy with its fur as wild as Keiichi's hair. "Heh, maybe he isn't so bad. I bet Belldandy must've had some seriously bad days that Keiichi could chase away…"

She sat up and began to head to the phone, muttering, "Maybe I could tolerate Morisato… I did get to see how he was trying to be a gentleman when Maradandy was drunk and grabby…"

Picking up the phone, she muttered, "Well, here goes nothing…"

-o-

Belldandy was going through the residence with a dust cloth, but her mind was wandering to when she was a part of Maradandy.

"Urd was more than willing to drink with the Fusion, but she's not so with me... Maybe it's because I don't get drunk on alcohol?" Belldandy asked herself. A wry smile crossed her face as she muttered, "I guess I should be thankful that Keiichi kept his hands to himself when I was fused."

The phone rang, so Belldandy headed over to it and answered, "Hello?"

"Ah, Belldandy! So glad I got you!" Mara's voice said.

"For what reason did you call?" Belldandy asked.

"Well.. I was wondering about your thoughts on Maradandy, now that you had a few days to reflect. Was it good? Bad?" Mara's voice asked. With a bit of amusement, she said, "Since I was a part of the fusion, I do hope it was great."

"I did enjoy the experience, Mara, but is that all you called for?" Belldandy asked.

Mara's voice sighed before asking, "Look, I might as well just toss it out there. I'd like to fuse again."

"Oh! Um… why?" Belldandy asked.

"Look, I liked being part of something that didn't blow up in my face. I enjoyed those contests with Urd, even if she was being a paranoid bitch…. Kinda surprised Skuld wasn't there," Mara trailed off.

"Yes, she went with Mother, to see about placing her in a human school for the next phase of her Earth Licence training. It's the same one Sentaro attends." Belldandy answered.

"Ah. Okay. Back to the matter at hand. I'm willing to do a permanent fusion with you, if you're willing to," Mara replied.

"...That's a big step, Mara," Belldandy uttered, not sure if she should accept, while suppressing the part of herself that did want to.

"I'll even make a deal with Keiichi. If he agrees to let be stay by his side forever, like you... then his side of the deal can be that he has to enter some races for Lady Hild. Probably a certain number per year," Mara quickly said.

"...We'll ask Keiichi about it. Also, if we fuse, you must call him Keiichi." Belldandy said. "Wait ten minutes. I'll turn off the defenses for the temple."

-o-

Some time later, Urd was watching Keiichi, Belldandy, and Mara.

"So let me get this straight... " Keiichi began. He gestured to Belldandy and Mara and said, "The two of you want to fuse again?"

"Yes," Belldandy said with a nod.

"To sweeten the deal, here's a contract that's in your favor, Mor-...Keiichi," Mara corrected herself as she produced a sheet of paper. Belldandy was smiling a little brighter.

Before Keiichi could take the paper, Urd grabbed it and looked it over.

"Hey!" Keiichi cried out.

"Oh, hush. I can read demonic contracts better than you can," Urd said. After a few moments, she said, "Funny, this doesn't seem like anything a First Class Demon would write… Isn't there supposed to be a pre-approval process on these things?"

"Oh. That process can be waived if it achieves a high-priority objective - like, oh, I dunno… restoring a severe discrepancy of shares? Besides, what's so bad about getting a good racer for Lady Hild? Plus, Keiichi gets a hotter babe out of it! What's not to like?" Belldandy seemed mildly offended, but was blushing at the same time. Mara caught this out of the corner of her eye and, smirking, continued on. "On the small scale, this contract will simply ensure that Maradandy gets to stay with Keiichi."

Urd tossed the paper to Keiichi and headed to a nearby door to lean against the frame.

"Urd… what's wrong?" Belldandy asked.

"Just worried I'm losing my sister and my best friend for some weird mix," Urd replied.

"We'll still be there, just in a different form," Belldandy answered.

"Or is it the fact you won't be unique?" Mara asked.

Urd glared at Mara before saying, "I will always be unique, Mara."

"I wonder just what about me and Belldandy fusing bothers you? Another being who's half goddess and half demon? Another person who is closer to Belldandy than you? Mara asked with a glare. "Whatever it may be, it's not your choice. Even Keiichi has far more say in this than you do."

"Mara, Urd does have a lot of say in this," Belldandy warned.

"Yeah, Mara. I'm Belldandy's older sister, after all!" Urd said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but I also know that you don't care much for someone kissing your ass insincerely, especially if they plan on getting something out of you, Urd," Mara replied. "Like when I told you that Troubadour wasn't worth your effort."

Urd raised a hand to argue, but put it back down and muttered, "You kinda have a bit of a point, Mara."

"Belldandy… I'm worried that I might lose you in this…" Keiichi said.

"Mara, let's have this be a temporary fusion," Belldandy said. "If only to let Keiichi get used to the idea."

"Fine…" Mara muttered.

When the two potential fusees looked at Keiichi, he said, "I guess it's okay if it's temporary…"

"Yeah, I guess I'll consent to you two fusing, as long as it's temporary," Urd said.

"Then sign the paper and then it'll be fusion time!" Mara quickly said as she produced a pen and offered it to Keiichi.

After he read the contract, he shrugged before he said, "I guess entering races is a small price to pay to have peace between us and Mara."

After he signed the paper, it glowed before vanishing. Mara explained, "Don't worry. That means it was accepted."

The goddess and the demon smiled before they hugged each other and glowed bright. When the light dimmed, Maradandy was reborn.

However, there was a slight change in her appearance. Her blank belt was adorned with 'K1'.

That did not go unnoticed by Keiichi, who pointed at it and asked, "So… why that?"

"Because I felt like it, Keiichi. Belldandy and Mara are both by your side, and so am I," Maradandy answered before hugging his head to her bosom.

"So… not going by his full name?" Urd asked, wondering if she should intervene.

"That was one of Belldandy's requirements," Maradandy answered with a wink before letting a blushing Keiichi go.

"Here's another question. What if you two fuse? What about everyone who'll question Belldandy's disappearance?" Urd asked.

"Same as usual to any major magical incidents, mindwipes and memory alterations," Maradandy answered.

"What?!" Keiichi asked in horror.

"It's how Megumi was able to handle being a car. We made her treat it like a half-remembered dream," Urd said with a touch of compassion in her voice.

"And a mindwipe to forget Mara possessing her. Otherwise, she might be afraid of any blonde foreigners in the possibility they might be demons as well," Maradandy added. "It's one thing to know there are higher powers, it's another to realize it when they're right in front of you. Maybe in the future, we can break the truth to Megumi."

Keiichi wasn't sure how to respond.

-oOoOoOo-

Notes from HotelKatz :

Xindran of the Goddess Relief Office was a great source of help with this chapter.

Also, I had to take down an earlier version of this because I didn't realize that Xindran was still betareading it. My bad.