Arc I: Chapter One

An Ill Wind

Her long, bare legs were moved quite seductively. Her feminine endowments entranced him, and he found himself wishing she would discard the leather things covering her shoulders. Once again he found himself thanking the Almighty that she wore that swimsuit looking thing on a regular basis.

She approached closer with each beat of his heart, staring at him with a knowing smile. "It's a shame that there's no Goddess Relief Office to provide aid to other Celestials." Her voice was that of a temptress who was obviously aware of what was on his mind.

"Damn shame…" he muttered.

Bending forward so her face was mere inches away from his, her smile became even more seductive, if that was possible. "I think a military man like you should have a little release now and then, don't you?" He nodded, though he wasn't looking at her eyes anymore. While her collarbones were quite nice, his gaze was somewhere south of there.

"Well then, why don't we play a little game?" she asked, pulling his face up to hers with a gentle touch of her hand, "Why don't we pretend that you're a deserving mortal, and I'm here to grant you a wish?" She got even closer, and he could feel her breath caressing his cheeks. His heart was pounding and his breaths came rapidly. "So, then," she whispered into his ear, "What is it, right at this moment, that you want more than anything? Tell me and your wish will be granted."

Thank you, Almighty, sir!

"Gil?" came a male voice.

He managed a confused, "Huh?"

"I think we should go down to Odin's tonight. What do you think?" the voice asked, sounding much more familiar this time.

"Xander, you son of a bitch!" Gilgamesh groaned into his pillow. His oldest friend in all of Heaven had just burst loudly into his room and awakened him from an extremely pleasant dream, and now he could barely remember it. Something about that dark haired Goddess who works over at Yggdrasil. The one that always wears those skimpy outfits. I'm gonna kill him for this. The young God sat up in his bed, answering grumpily, "I still haven't recovered from the last time, Xander."

The other God smirked, "Just because you can't hold your liquor."

"You were the one who spiked all my drinks, you jerk!"

"What?" he asked innocently, "Little ol' me?"

"Yes, you," he said as he rubbed his eyes, irritation in his voice, "Can't we wait till Friday?"

Xander shook his head as a small smile appeared, "No can do, buddy. I've got plans."

Gil raised an eyebrow as he swung his legs over the side of his mattress, wearing something that resembled light blue boxer shorts. "Plans?" he asked, "Other than partying? I'm not complaining, but are you okay?"

The other God chuckled as he ran a hand through his short, spiked blond hair. "I'm better than okay, Gil. In fact, what's going to happen Friday is why I want to celebrate tonight." Xander obviously saw the confused and exasperated look on his friends face because he started to explain himself. "Listen, I was going to ask after you had a few drinks in you, but I couldn't do something so underhanded to my best friend."

That drew a snort from Gilgamesh as he knocked some of the long brown hair out of his face. "Gee thanks, I guess."

Pulling over a chair, Xander sat a few feet away, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees. "You should feel honored about what I'm going to ask you. Anyway, I'm not hanging out Friday cause I'm taking Ex out to eat."

Gil rubbed his eyes blearily, "You guys go out almost every weeknight. What's the big deal with taking her on a Friday? It's not Thanksgiving, is it?"

Xander chuckled as he shook his head, "No, pal, not yet. But it's definitely important. See, I was going to ask if…"

He found his speech abruptly cut off as the lights in Gil's room dimmed for a moment before the piercing sounds of an alarm echoed throughout Heaven. The young God winced briefly at the annoying noise before he realized just what the seldom heard sound meant. The two Celestials simply looked at each other for a moment before Xander spoke, "An attack? You gotta be kidding!"

As Gilgamesh stood, a swirl of mist quickly enveloped him, then disappeared to reveal a set of dark blue and white robes. "I don't know what's going on, but we better get going."

Xander stood and began rustling around in his own green robes, pulling out a small box. "Before we go," he asked, "can a leave this here? I'd hide it at my place, but I'm afraid Ex will find it."

Gill blinked several times at the object before he gave a large smile to his oldest friend. Taking the package and setting it on his bedside table, he nodded, "I want to hear more about this later. Now let's go."

The blond God laughed as he gripped Gil's shoulder, "Right. Thanks Gil."

It was November in Japan. The leaves had long since changed colors and began their yearly descent to Earth, but by the temperature outside, you wouldn't have guessed that winter was only days away. The gentle breeze carried a pleasant warmth to it that seemed to make the cloudless day much brighter.

On this day, a beautiful young lady was on her way back from the market, singing quietly to herself as the rode her bicycle down the street. Her long hair seemed to shine golden as it trailed out in the air behind her, tied with a yellow handkerchief just below her neck. She wore a matching yellow sundress that allowed her to feel both the warm sun and the pleasant breeze.

"Hello, Miss Belldandy!" a young boy called and waved as she rode by his house.

Her radiant smile made the kid blush as she waved back, "Hello, Tenko!" A small bark drew her attention to a small white dog at the boy's side. She laughed as it raised its paw at her. "Hello to you as well, Perro! And thank you for the compliment, I like this dress too!"

Tenko seemed to take her speaking to his dog in stride. She did it all time, after all, and Perro seemed to like her as much as he did. What the young boy didn't realize was that, being a Goddess, Belldandy really did understand the little dog.

As she continued her easy ride home, she not only listened to the people and animals that she passed by, but also the trees, the earth, and the wind as well. As a Goddess she was in tune with the spirits of everything in the world, and today she was listening closely to them all. The plants were happy to see the sun so bright, the lazy wind was warm and inviting, and the Earth itself was calm and quiet, feeling no desire to quake this day.

Rounding the final corner, Belldandy began to think again about the dinner she would prepare for him tonight. She had a wonderful assortment of vegetables, and there had been a sale on mackerel that had been too good to pass up.

Finally arriving home, she walked her bicycle onto the old temple grounds. It was the place that she resided, and the place where all her most important people lived. There was no other place in the universe that she would rather call her home.

Continuing around the side of the main house, she was on her way to put her bike away when she saw a black haired college student tinkering with a black motorcycle. He was wearing an old pair of jeans and a simple white tee shirt (at least, it had been white before). She smiled as she watched him remove a small part from the insides of the half disassembled bike, looking like he was about to ask it what was wrong with it. With an annoyed expression on his face, he gave up his staring match and wiped the back of his hand across his brow, only to leave a large black streak.

Unable to maintain her silence any longer, she let out a small laugh. Surprised that he had an audience, he turned quickly and smiled at what he saw, his troubles instantly forgotten. "Welcome back, Bell. Did you get everything you needed?" He stepped over the parts he had placed on some oil stained towels and walked over to her, taking the bags from the basket on the front of her bicycle.

"Yes, my dear. I bought a pumpkin while I was out, and I thought I might make a pie out of it. How does that sound to you?"

"It sounds wonderful!" he replied as she put her bike in the shed, "I can taste it already."

"I'm glad to hear it," she smiled as she came back to him. "I hope I can get it just right. I haven't made pumpkin pie in a long time," the Goddess said as she reached for one of the brown grocery bags.

"Hang on, there!" Keiichi grinned as he twisted, bringing the bags just out of her reach, "What kind of man would I be if I let the girl carry the bags inside?"

A warm feeling welled up inside her for the man she loved so much. Keiichi was a little on the short side, and had never been a particularly athletic person, so he always tried to make up for what he saw as a deficiency by doing whatever he could. Belldandy herself never quite understood this shortcoming that he believed he had, but was always pleased to see the look on his face when he carried something for her or performed some kind of manual labor.

Unfortunately, this time she wanted to carry one of the bags. The mackerel was supposed to be a surprise, and she didn't want him to look inside one of the bags and spoil it. "At least let me carry one, Keiichi," she reached again, only to have him turn around full circle to escape her. He had the cutest smile on his face, but she wouldn't let that distract her. Her expression changed to a curious one as she reached her hand toward his face, "Hold still a moment, dear."

He blinked as she rubbed her thumb over his nose. His cheeks were already turning scarlet by the time she spoke up, "You had a little grease on there." The young man was red as a beet and frozen in place, making it quite easy for the Goddess to snatch the bag from one of Keiichi's arms and scamper away.

It seemed to take a moment before he noticed one of his arms was empty. Belldandy heard an indignant, "Hey!" come from behind her as he began pursuit. Turning to look at him, she held the grocery sack away from him.

"You can't look in here," she explained as she held back her laughter, "It's a secret!"

This caused Keiichi to burst into laughter. "So I'm not authorized to look at the top secret vegetables?"

Belldandy laughed with him. It was the most wonderful thing in the world to her to share moments like this with her beloved, and it was just that much better with the perfect day that it had turned out to be. She was so filled with joy that she was totally unprepared for what happened next.

A cold gale cut its way across the land, a sharp contrast to the gentle breeze that had lazily floated through most of the day. The icy wind chilled the bones of everyone, whether they were outside or not. Priests at shrines and churches everywhere could feel the bad omen that this wind represented. Even Keiichi, a normal everyday human, could feel that blast of air touch his very soul.

But while the wind was just an uncomfortable jolt to most, for Belldandy it was an unbearable tempest. Her senses were so open and sensitive at the moment that the blast of air hit, it tore through her mind and heart, overloading everything. All that she could hear were the tortured screams of thousands of anguished souls, and all she could feel was the pain that was their existence.

AN:

Please review and let me know what you think. I'd very much like to hear from you.

Thanks for reading,

Katamari Damacy