Chapter 3

Megumi slid her keys into the lock of apartment, the sun was now completely gone, and night had taken over. Megumi's strength was almost completely drained as she had returned from visiting Keiichi in Hokkaido. She had thought about the whole experience on her train ride south, and the short motorcycle ride from the train station. Megumi opened her door as she thought about the heartache she witnessed from her brother. It had been almost three months since she had found out that Belldandy and her sisters, and Peorth were Goddess. It had been as long as the same time since Belldandy was called back to heaven for a reassignment, and her brother's return home to Kushiro.

Megumi closed the door and turning on a light in her apartment she set her motorcycle on the floor with her keys inside the helmet. She removed her coat as she walked over to the closet and opening the door she reached for a hanger. Megumi placed her jacket on the hanger and then reached the hanger and coat back on the rack.

"Was Hokkaido fun?" a voice suddenly erupted behind her.

Megumi jumped and turning around she saw someone sitting crossed-leg style on her table. Megumi could not identify the man because he was wearing a forest green cloak, and his face was covered with a hood. Megumi back a little further into her closet and feeling her hand around the closet found the handle to her softball bat and Megumi gripped it very tightly.

"I wouldn't do that?" the voice said came from under the cloak.

"Who are you?" Megumi asked as her grip and muscles tightened for a strike.

"You should know." The voice said and then hands reached up to the hem of the hood and lowered to reveal the person; it was Njord. Megumi's hand and arm relaxed but not her shock that suddenly turned to anger,

"Just because your god does not mean you can come into my house whenever you want." Megumi said as she walked into her Southeast room and sat down on a bean bag, and started to remove her ankle covers.

"Well in that case, you may have to cut off some of the basics." Njord said, with out moving from the table; something that only further irritated Megumi.

"What do you mean that by?" Megumi asked strongly as she removed the first buckle; Njord finally got off her table and stood in the doorway.

"Well if you really don't want me in here you will need to seal all windows and shut off the fans and water." Njord said calmly, almost in a teasing tone as he looked at Megumi as she was halfway done removing the final buckle.

"Why should I do that?" Megumi said as she fuddled with the last strap.

"I told you, I am in every breeze and in every tempest, so if you want me out your going to have to completely cut off all these things." Njord said to her as Megumi finally got the last buckle off and threw it off to the side. Megumi looked away from Njord and sighing as she shook her head she looked back at Njord.

"Why are you here?" Megumi asked in a very serious tone.

"You called me here." Njord told her truthfully, still looking at her.

"I called you, I didn't call you here." Megumi said in a disbelieving tone.

"Sure you did on your trip back." Njord said and then Megumi remembered. She was riding on the ferry that took her from Hokkaido to Honshu when she got to thinking about her visit with her brother and wishing to speak with someone from Heaven, she thought of Njord. "That is why I'm here, so what did you want to talk about?"

Megumi looked at the floor for a moment, gathering her question and courage to ask her question she finally asked Njord, "Why did he separate him?"

Njord took a breath and then looking at Megumi he said, "I don't know."

Megumi knew this answer and it did not satisfy her one bit and she asked, "You didn't think to ask him?"

Njord looked at her with his deep blue eyes and then said, "You think I didn't ask?" Njord spoke with his voice lowering and then continued, "He gave me the order and when I asked he only said, 'Njord you have your task!'"

"What are you planning to do about it?" Megumi said standing up and looking into Njord's eyes with her own fire growing inside her.

"I'm working on it." Njord responded to Megumi's questions as he was trying to keep his demeanor calm.

"You're working on it? What about Kei-chan, he left Nekomi because all he could think about her, and he misses her." Megumi said as her voice grew to a point of almost yelling.

"So does Belldandy!" Njord simply stated, this got Megumi's attention and her level of frustration lower almost instantly. "She misses him more than anything; she hasn't smiled since she came back." Njord said to Megumi as she sat back down in her bean bag.

"I am planning to speak to the Almighty about this, but it will take some time. There are procedures and protocol I have to follow, I just can't barge into his presence and demand their re-joinment, but I am working on it." Njord said and then turning around he walked towards Megumi window in her kitchen and before touching it he added, "Besides, there was another reason that I came here."

Megumi sitting in her room looked at Njord and said, "What?"

Njord turned and touching the window he said, "I wanted to see you, because I did miss you." In an instant after saying this he had vanished and left Megumi to her thoughts.

Keiichi self-exiled passed into another month as the autumn began to change into early winter. The once gold and brown and had all fallen off the trees and covered the ground. The winds from the sea began to pick up and scattered the leaves all over the grounds of the Morisato residence. The leaves danced with the wind and the first hints of the winter breezed in with them.

Keiichi sat in his room and looked out the window and stared into the dance of the leaves and wind that preformed in front of him. His gazed turned to the calendar that hung on his wall near his futon that was rolled up and lying in a corner. The cross outs over the day marked the time he had been home, a total of almost two months. In the corner, next to his futon was a book bag that had held his clothes he had packed and his jacket and bike helmet that he rode up on. His clothes had been unpacked and folded in his old dresser, but he had always had his book bag and jacket ready for when he felt he could go back to Nekomi.

After two months he was ready to return in his heart, but his mind was unable to convince him that he was not yet ready. His feelings continued to plague him, almost hourly and would even cause his chest to hurt him more. Urd and Skuld came and visited him about a month ago, and he talked to them about his feelings. They offered to just take him, but he turned them down saying that he would only return when his heart and mind agreed it was time to return.

Keiichi turned away form the calendar and grabbing his helmet and jacket walked out into the overcast morning. His parents had left earlier in the day to go to the market where Keima sold some of his vases and glassware items. Keiichi walked over to the garage and started his bike and drove it out of the grounds and out onto the coastline road. Keiichi had taken this route before when he needed to think, and again he went out on the road.

Keiichi drove for about two hours to a small part of the road that overlooked the ocean. Keiichi sat on the guard rail that only protected him from the sheer forty foot drop that took you directly to the rocks below. He looked out over the vast ocean and thought about the first date he and Belldandy had, how he slipped on the soda can and she had caught him and they kissed, but she had collapsed before she had even noticed. Then came of the memory of when he and Belldandy stood on the top of the three stones on the ocean and how she had told she loved him, but he could not tell her because Skuld jumped between him and confessed to Skuld instead.

Keiichi watched as the ocean sprayed the rocks and consumed them for a few seconds only to withdraw and then repeat the process again. As he watched he felt small rain pellets began to hit him, signaling that rain was beginning to fall. Keiichi got up from the guard rail and tightening his jacket around him he got back on his bike and turning around he started back home.

Keiichi made the turns that he had made many times on the drive that he was taking before. His goggles started to fog up so he took them off and then switched to his visor that he had on his helmet. The rain began to fall more and heavier and he started to drive slower and slower as the road became more and more difficult to drive on. As he drove he began to see small snowflakes sticking to his visor, he would use his hand to try to clear them off, but he ended up smearing the snow and rain.

Suddenly as the snow and rain began to mix before his eyes, an image of Belldandy flashed before his eyes. Keiichi was sure his eyes were playing tricks on him, but his heart slowly broke again and again as the same image played over again and again like a song on a CD that just skipped. Keiichi's eyes swelled up inside him as he tried to stay focused on the road and his driving, but the only concentration that he could have was seeing the image and the anger and hurt that built up inside of him. The pain of seeing Belldandy crying as she rose back into heaven filled his heart with the pain and anger as the speed also piled on, and then the inevitable happened.

Keiichi tried to take a turn to sharp and on top of that the road was slick with rain and snow, and he lost traction. Keiichi suddenly snapped out of the images and found himself in trouble as he slid across the road heading for a guard rail that divided the road form a sheer sixty foot drop! Keiichi pulled the brake lever for the back brake, and then stomped on the front brake lever, but the brakes locked as he continued to slide towards the guard rail. The Guard rail got closer and closer; Keiichi shut his eyes and braced for the impact and the fall; but instead he felt something grab him and the next thing he knew landing on something hard. Keiichi opened his eyes and found himself staring at the pebbles of the road and looked up in time to watch his bike finish the slide and smash into the guard rail.

The bike hit the guard rail so hard that the bike shut off as soon as it hit. The bike bounced off the guard rail and hoped a few inches on the dirt patch that was near the guard rail and came to a stop. The bike started to hiss out small vents of steam that shrouded the lower half of the bike, but not before Keiichi saw that oil was dripping out of the oil pan and his front tire was flat. Keiichi got up and walked over to his wounded friend and looked over the damage himself. His sidecar was worst off then the bike, not only was the windshield shattered, but the tire was flat and his rearview mirror had snapped off.

Keiichi looked at the bike and then getting his bearings and location grabbed the handles and started the push back up to his house. Keiichi knew that he was only fifteen minutes away from home on his bike, but now with pushing the bike it would take almost one hour. He pushed and pulled the bike over the slick roads as they rose and dropped in grade level along the landscape. Finally as his watch beep announcing the time as three o'clock in the afternoon he reached his driveway, his folks were still not home. Wasting no time he put his bike under the garage and then covered it with a blue tarp that Keima kept in a corner. As Keiichi finished putting the last of the tarp on, an envelope fell in front of him; Keiichi picked it up and looked at the front, it only had his name. Keiichi opened it and read the letter that was only a sentence.

Your anger will not solve anything any faster;

and your death will not get you closer to her!

A fresh wave of anger grew inside Keiichi and then he tore up the letter and then wading them up angrily he threw them into a puddle. He stormed out of the garage and stood in the mud as it oozed around his shoes and then felt the anger consumed him. He looked around at his home and then looked up into the sky as the rain and snow fell around him. With out even the will to try and stop himself he opened his arms and using all of his strength, he screamed, "WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO HUH?! DO YOU WANT ME TO JUST FORGET ABOUT HER; IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT!!!"

The only response he got was the continual rainfall and snow that continued to bite at his face. Keiichi kept his eyes and hand stretched outwards waiting for the response he wanted to hear, but nothing. Keiichi dropped his arms, but not his gaze for a moment and then looking down at his shoes he said, "Yeah, that's what I thought!" He walked slowly back to the house; removing his shoes and his jacket he went into his room to change. As Keiichi changed his clothes and put on a clean t-shit he looked over at his calendar and something on his desk caught his eye. He walked over and found another envelope similar to the one that fell out of the tarp out in the garage.

Keiichi read his name on the front; he was going to rip it up without reading it. He really wanted to, but something in his heart stopped him form even trying to rip it. Instead he found himself opening it like he had done in the garage, and slowly pulling the letter out read the simple sentence on the paper:

If you chose to trust nothing, then at least

trust one thing, the promise you made to her.

Keiichi read the letter over and over and then putting the letter back in the envelope he put it in his desk. Keiichi finished putting on his socks and then went to get something to eat, the words from the letter burned into his heart as he promised himself, "I will wait!"