gcordova@ccr.dsi.uanl.mx Well, this is part three, and it's longer than part two (which was longer than part one...notice a trend? I don't). I tried to cache al th spilling erors, may bee won or anodder excaped mie nowtis, emale mee, ok? :) (and also fermentation faults) All Comments and Criticism are well received. Ja ne! As usual. The interesting characters, known as Belldandy chan, Keiichi san, Skuld chan, Megumi chan and Urd sama (me picking favorites? naaa.. :) are creations of that nasty fellow Kosuke Fujishima, who came to take away all our free time with his devious stories. ENJOY! Pd: Text between brackets [..] are comments outside the story (by me, or my evil twin brother, or my editors); encased in <<...>> means it's a thought, and surrounded by stars *Como esto* means it's in some foreign language (yeah, I copied it, you know who you are). ================================================================= [...continued from part 2...] Suddenly, the certainty of it hit him with the force of a freight train, it was undeniable, the feelings were here, somebody was trying to kill him, but it wasn't him they were killing... <> German started running down the sidewalk trying to attune his senses to the feelings he was getting. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going, only the slight variations he felt were important, steadily guiding him to a certain temple. The kitten, forgotten by all, began calling painfully, waiting for someone to pay her some attention. Skuld slowly opened her eyes only to shut them quickly again, emitting a slight gasp. <> she thought. She started to notice that something was definitely amiss, and the first sign was a little kitten crying it's soul out in front of her face. Then she remembers, she was supposed to be walking home with Urd... "URD!!" She got up quickly, a little unsteady at first but regaining her balance quickly. At first she didn't notice anything, and then she looked up. Urd was almost unconscious from the lack of air, Marrller had her hanging from the neck, saying something about revenge. "Oh, look Urd. Your little sister is up already. Too bad she's no match for me, huh? Skuld quickly realized the situation was getting uglier by the second, so she ran towards the temple entrance, calling for her older sister, "Belldandy!!" So, where were we?" Marrller asked Urd. She didn't get an answer though, Urd just hung her head sideways, her face starting to turn a little blue. "C'mon Urd, you were much tougher than this. Maybe I should just get this over with...." German was running all-out now, feeling with each passing second how Urd's resistance was going down; when Urd fainted, his mind, which was now tuned to hers, started shutting down also; feeling himself starting to faint, he stopped and pulled a knife from his pack and pierced his left hand, which promptly woke him up. "YAARRGGHH!" *pant* *pant* "C'mon, hang on just a little more..." he murmured and started running again. When he turned a right at the next corner he found out exactly what was going on. "What is is Skuld?" Belldandy asked. She heard Skuld's cries and came out immediately. Skuld came running to her, panting from the exertion and quite panicked. Keiichi hurried and came closer also, alarmed at Skuld's state. "Where's Urd?" he asked, and Belldandy noticed also that Urd wasn't with Skuld. "What happened Skuld?" he suddenly sounded very concerned; the goddesses never ran around screaming each other's names like this, something very serious must have happened. His instinct took over, the need to protect Belldandy, his face took on a grim aspect, not knowing what to expect but suspecting something *bad*. Skuld took a moment to regain her breath and started explaining between sobs what she'd seen: "It's Marrller!! She knocked me out or something!! She has Urd! She's going to kill her!! We have to help her, I didn't know what to do so I came to get you" and then she turned around and the three started moving quickly towards the gate, "we have to do something! Urd can't fight her anymore so Marrller's getting revenge or something like that! Hurry! Hurry!" she said and started running towards the gate. "Well Urd, seeing that you didn't enjoy my little visit, I think it's time for me to finish this and say 'ta-ta for now', ne?". She shifted Urd to her left hand and made a fist with her right, the fist started glowing... German saw two girls, one unconscious hanging from the neck, being slowly chocked by the other one; it was obvious who was his soulmate, and she didn't have much time left. He was close enough to listen through the soul link to what was being said: <<...seeing that you didn't enjoy...>> <> he sensed, it was the strongest impression he received from his unconscious soulmate, a Demon was trying to kill her. // Los Heroes del Silencio \\ \\ "Iberia Sumergida" // <> he thought, and his anger started mounting higher and higher; the remaining distance was some fifty meters, so he started running full-speed, preparing his attack. <>. In five or six seconds he was at a very good distance and the demon hadn't noticed yet so he struck out with all he had; the general plan was to overwhelm her as quickly as possible and dispatch her before she noticed that he wasn't at his highest. The plan was simple. Let loose a curtain of intense psychic white noise, don't let her concentrate; second, strike as hard and as fast as possible; third, banish her. The third part was the weakest link of the attack, if he couldn't banish her then she was going to be majorly pissed, and right now was a very bad moment for an all-out battle with a demoness. He twirled his staff in his right hand and threw it towards the floating demoness and when it completed about two thirds of it's flight towards her head he let loose the white noise. Skuld, Belldandy and Keiichi were running towards the gate when they felt it; it was like hearing an intense noise at *very* high volume, Belldandy and Skuld could actually see the effect, it was like a thick white haze had suddenly appeared, confusing both the mind and the senses; for Keiichi it was like "thinking underwater", his thoughts were confused, he couldn't follow them from start to finish, and his vision swam before him; he held on to Belldandy to steady himself. "What the..." Skuld began. "Are you doing this Skuld?" Belldandy asked. "No, I thought it was you!" Skuld responded. "Then, if isn't you two who is it!?" Keiichi questioned, throughly confused by now. And they got even more confused when a staff flew by just outside the gate in front of them and running just behind it some guy. Time seemed to move at a snail's pace. Belldandy, Skuld and Keiichi arrived at the gate, not knowing what to expect. They saw the receding figure running towards a floating Marrller. The staff flew in an upwards curving trajectory aiming for the demon. Marrller suddenly felt her thoughts go momentarily blank and then saw the white haze confusing her. She looked behind her and barely managed to see a blazing white figure running straight at her when she felt an intense pain right under her chin. Marrller almost blacked out from the pain and the confusion; she let go of Urd to try and collect herself, raising her shields at the same time. Urd fell through the air, barely alive. German saw her falling and ran towards her, barely arriving in time to catch her. <> he marveled. He turned his attention to the demoness who was currently floating above him and concentrated his mind power for a single powerful blow. Belldandy, Keiichi and Skuld started running towards them when they saw Urd fall, but then Belldandy and Skuld saw the white haze receding and concentrating into this fellow's head, the concentration of psychic energy was each moment higher. The two Goddesses suddenly stopped cold. "Wait Keiichi!" Belldandy exclaimed and covered his ears, Skuld turned away from the stranger and covered her own also. Marrller turned towards German and prepared her attack to destroy this impudent mortal, German made a motion similar to a headbutt, Marrller felt intense pain inside her head destroying whatever thoughts were going through her mind, and then she heard an inhumanly powerful voice commanding her >>BEGONE<<. Unable to resist such a command she immediately vanished. It took all of Belldandy's strength to resist the psychic command, but it left her exhausted. She opened her eyes and looked at Keiichi, who seemed somewhat frazzled; since she seemed somewhat unsteady he put his arm around her shoulders, supporting her. Skuld took her hands off her ears and went to them. "Are you alright Belldandy?" Keiichi asked anxiously. "Yes, I'm just very tired; that command was quite powerful. I wonder who Urd's benefactor is." They heard some unsteady footsteps and they turned to see the stranger carrying Urd, walking towards them. He looked bad, he was very pale, and seemed excessively fatigued; he was bleeding through his nose and his eyes were bloodshot. "Might you have some place I can lay her down?" he asked in a low voice. "Yes!" Skuld answered, "let me help you with her." she said and motioned German to let her carry Urd. "Thank you, but I prefer to carry her" he answered with a very tired smile on his face. "Please, lead the way." "Follow me" Skuld said, and walked inside the gate towards the temple. German slowly followed her, and Keiichi almost carrying Belldandy came after him. German walked up the stair and into the house, taking great care not to jostle Urd. They arrived at the girls room and German carefully lay Urd on her futon. He felt her pulse, it was a little weak but she'd be OK. <>. Keiichi placed Belldandy in her own futon next to Urd's, she'd already gone into her dormant state. German was kneeling next to Urd, quietly looking at her face. He had stopped bleeding from his nose so there weren't any unsightly red dots everywhere. He pushed an errant strand of hair off her forehead, smoothing it gently. He had a dreamy look on his tired face. Skuld seemed worried about her sisters and was checking on Belldandy for a while, and then Urd, and then Belldandy again. "Are you OK?" Keiichi looked at the stranger, he had a funny look on his face. "You seem tired." "She'd so beautiful..." he said in a soft voice, and then felt a velvety wave of darkness engulf his thoughts. Keiichi heard the strange murmur something and promptly keel over. Luckily he was expecting something like this, so he was ready to catch him. "Skuld, help me with this guy will you?" "What are you going to do with him?" "I'm going to take him to the guests' room. Grab his feet." Between both of them they carried the stranger to the guests' room and put him on the futon. After that they went outside to check if anything was amiss, they found a mewling kitten, a staff and a backpack. Assuming the staff and backpack were property of Urd's benefactor, they left them in his room. The kitten they took to Urd, where it promptly started licking Urd's fingers and purring. "So, what now?" asked Skuld. "I don't know. We have to wait for Belldandy to wake up, so she can check on Urd and this guy. You look kind of tired, why don't you get some sleep? I don't feel too hot neither, I'm just about ready to take a nap at least." "Yes, I do feel like a nap. See ya." and she walked toward her room. Keiichi heard the door sliding open and then shut. He checked the front door and closed it. After that he went to his room and quickly fell sleep on his futon. // Enya \\ \\ "Lothlorien" // "Wake up..." <> "Wake up..." Urd slowly became aware of her surroundings. She could feel the sun's light on her skin making her feel warm and drowsy; a spring breeze was softly blowing around her loaded with the scents of nature, rustling the grass; birds could be heard singing in some tree not too far away, their songs joyous and free; and the voice... "Urd, wake up..." It was filled with a strange longing, with great warmth and caring. She felt where she was laying and it wasn't her futon, it wasn't *a* futon at all, she could feel the grass under her, and her head raised on something softer and warmer; her heart missed a beat, she'd never found herself in such a situation, it was so... so... Romantic. It was something she'd contrive for others, not the other way around. She took a slow deep breath, savoring the aromas in the air, and opened her eyes. At first she didn't see anything because of the glare of the sun on her face; she blinked a few times to clear her eyes and ended up staring at a pair of dark brown eyes which were staring at her own green ones. She knew then that she lay on the grass and her head was on this young man's lap. Urd look at the young man, his face seemed weathered like he had traveled long and far, his eyes were friendly, loving even; his hair was pulled back behind his head; with his left hand he toyed absently with a lock of her hair. "Hello sleepy head." he said softly. He seemed thoughtful for a moment; "Do you know you have the most stunningly beautiful green eyes?" Urd slowly sat up; she was in a small meadow on a hillside; nearby, close to the hill's base, a small river wound it's way sparkling in the bright sun; downriver, not too far away is a small forest; birds swoop around in the air giving chase to their elected nest mates. There's a movement beside her; she turns around and sees he's already standing offering her his hand; he is a little bit taller that she is, wearing some kind of loose robe cinched at the waist with a length of rope, his hair is light brown and pulled in a braid that goes down his back; he has a staff strapped on hanging from behind; she holds on to his hand and gets pulled up to her feet and unexpectedly into an embrace; he pulls Urd into his arms and hold her there for a moment, looking into her eyes, his face an inch or two from hers. They stayed that way for seemingly an eternity, neither one moving; Urd was acutely aware of his scent, of the heat emanating from his body, of his heartbeat that pounded against her breast; his breath that mingled with hers; of the sparkle in his eyes; the fullness of his lips... Urd blushed deeply. "Come" he said in a soft voice after a moment, and slowly letting go of her body he took her hand and started walking uphill. She followed him, not knowing what else to do. Her heart pounded in her chest, she'd never felt the need to have somebody kiss her like a moment ago. <> she thought bewildered. "Who are you? Where are we going?" she asked. "It's a long story" he responded; he slowed down a little and walked beside her; "I'll tell you everything when we get home, OK?" Urd kept quiet; she didn't know where *here* was, but she felt at ease, safe, protected, cared for. She knew it was this man's doing, but she didn't know him. Her head was full of questions. She noticed he hadn't let go of her hand, but didn't make any motion to extract it from his, it felt like it should be there. They kept walking up the meadow, which is a large clearing in a forest. Close to the treeline there's a small log cabin, a lazy grey curl of smoke climbing it's way up from the chimney. They didn't speak a word while they walked; they just enjoyed the scenery, the sounds of nature, the pure air, the birdsongs, the sunshine... the company. They arrived at the cabin; it is a quaint little thing, small but beautifully rustic, adorned with ivy growing along it's walls, a garden surrounding it; the young man took a flower from the garden, a small shiny white-pink flower and smelled it, turn towards Urd and carefully placed it in her hair. He opened the door for her to enter. Urd looked inside, it's warm, comfortable, it seemed... home. There isn't any other way to describe it, everything one could possible need to feel at ease, to satisfy every hunger of the body, the mind or the soul, was there. "It's beautiful...do you live here?" "Sometimes, whenever I have time to come here." They entered the cabin and he closed the door. On the fire is a kettle making noises like it's contents are boiling. "Please sit wherever you like, I'll go fetch some tea, would you like some?" "Yes" she answered. She plucked the flower from her hair and examined it: a small round thing, very light pastel pink colored, almost white, and with a beautiful perfume; she twirled it in her fingers for a moment and placed it in her hair again, imagining how she'd look with it there and liking what she saw. Urd turned to the young man and watched him take two cups from the cupboard, fill them with boiling water from the kettle and put some tea leaves in them; he seemed mature, much more than his apparent age, and she felt attracted to him, a lot. That moment in the meadow when he'd embraced her had been intense, and she knew that he'd felt the same way. Urd hoped that everything would turn out alright. "Here you go" he said, handing her a steaming cup. The air was filled with the delicious aroma of freshly made tea. He placed a chair close to her and sat facing Urd. "Where do you want me to begin?" "First, who are you?" "My name is German, and you are Urd, right?" "Where are my sisters?" "Are they a little girl, about 13, black hair, and a young lady a little younger than you with light brown hair?" "Yes" "They're fine, don't worry." "Then, where are we?" He was deep in thought for a moment, like wondering how he should tell her something. Then, a decision made, he started speaking. "OK, let me explain to you a few things. First of all..." The scene slowly fades to black... Some hours later; it's almost dusk, the room is much darker, and the firelight casts shadows all around the cabin. German is just about finishing his tale to Urd, who has a skeptic look in her face. "... And you expect me to believe this?" Urd asked; "it sounds a bit... unbelievable, to say the least." "I know, believe me, I know; but I couldn't deceive you even if I tried, you're a part of me just like I'm a part of you." German paused for a moment gathering his thoughts; Urd looked at him expectantly; after a moment he drew in a deep breath and sighed. "I can't say anything else really, all that I've told you is true." He stood up and stretched, closing his eyes. Urd looked at him; his story aside, he was gorgeous. His weathered features gave him the rugged look of a true traveler; his bronze skin seemed to ripple shadows cast by the fire. He looked down at her and offered his hand. "Want to go outside and look at the sunset? It's truly beautiful, I'm sure you'll like it." There was a sparkle to his eyes; she just couldn't resist him. "Yes, I'd love to. But that doesn't mean I automatically believe you, OK?" German smiled and pulled her up, "It's OK; I know it's a really hard believe, I won't feel bad if you don't. C'mon, it's almost sunset." and he started walking towards the door. // Annie Lenox \\ \\ "Whiter Shade of Pale" // Outside, the walked a little uphill; near the top there was a pile of boulders and what seemed natural stairs to the top of it. When they arrived, German pointed to a pair of indentations which seemed like a pair of seats; they stayed there for a few hours, just talking of themselves, liking the closeness and the warmth of their company; enjoying the sound of their voices. The sun was gone and the moon up above when they walked down to the cabin again; the night was alive with the sounds of insects and the rustle of the wind through the grass and the leaves and quite bright, since there were no clouds and the moon was full. Urd was holding on to German's arm and leaning on his shoulder, wondering why she felt so... complete, at ease with this stranger, <> she thought with a smile. German looked at her smiling and smiled himself, "Why are you smiling?" "Oh, nothing much... It feels good to be here, to share this with you" "I feel the same way, I'm glad you liked it here. You know, you can come as often as you like." "Thankyou" she said. At the cabin German pulled open another door and pulled out a bedroll. "You can take the bed, I'll sleep in this, OK?" "If you insist" she responded. "I'm not shy you know" she added a moment later. German smiled at her, "I know. But we've just met, I don't know if..." suddenly he couldn't find any words to continue; Urd was walking towards him with a look in her emerald green eyes that said all that needed to be said. When she was in front of him she held his face gently in her hands and kissed him deeply. "I don't mind all that much" Urd told him in a deep silken voice; "I'd rather sleep warm and snug by the fire with you than in the bed, alone. What do you prefer?" she asked with a mischievous smile. He simply embraced her tightly, kissing her. "I don't think I need to answer that." [Scene fades to black] They days were long and full of sunshine and happiness for Urd and German; they swam in the icy waters down in the river, they walked hand in hand through the forest talking about themselves, about the people they knew, of what they liked; it was like a dream come true. Nobody came to bother them. It was... Perfect. // Enya \\ \\ "Evacuee" // A few days later Urd and German were sitting in the meadow below the treeline, looking at the horizon, just keeping together, enjoying the silence. It was midmorning, very sunny but not hot. They were both wearing robes made of that loose homespun German had on the first day. They heard a voice seemingly coming from far away, a soft and beautiful voice. <> said the voice. "Somebody's calling for you Urd," German stated; "You're going to leave soon." There was a sadness in his eyes, a sadness that spoke volumes of his pain at her leaving. <> the beautiful voice insisted softly; "And if I don't want to leave?" German smiled, "There's not much you can do, and remember what started all your troubles?" Urd seemed downcast; she got to her feet and German followed suite; she hugged him tightly and he responded in kind, both reveling in the sudden closeness they had in each other; Urd felt complete with him, nothing was missing, she didn't want to go away. <> "You have to go now." German looked into her eyes; "Worry not, we'll be reunited soon again." "I sure hope so. If you don't reappear I'm going to hunt you down, you hear me?" Urd responded with mock anger in her voice, but there was a definite note of sadness in it also. German took his right hand and made a loose fist; he concentrated for a moment and light, soft and white, started to pour out from it; when he opened his hand there was a light-pink flower in his palm. "This" he said, as he twined the flower in Urd's hair, "is my gift to you so you'll remember me, don't take it off." he places his hand over hers, and taking her gently in his arms he kissed her tenderly. "I promise I'll see you soon, OK?" Urd's eyes fluttered open. She felt herself going faint and looking at her hands and arms she saw herself becoming transparent, "I'm leaving, aren't I?" "Yes, I'm sorry you can't stay any more." he sniffed, and a tear rolled down his right cheek. "I promise Urd I'm going to meet you someday, you hear?" "I'll be waiting for you. Hurry up German." she responded; she was becoming fainter with each passing second; at the last moment she blew him a kiss, and then disappeared. Urd's eyes slowly fluttered open. "Where am I?" she asked but her voice came out as a hoarse croak. She dimly remembered a forest, somebody talking with her softly, a beautiful cabin... a kiss... but her memory was failing quickly, she was forgetting. Urd had a nasty bruise on her neck, and it hurt like all hells. "What happened?", she touched her throat gingerly, wincing at the pain. Then she remembered, her eyes opened wide, "Marrller!!" "Wait, don't speak yet." Belldandy was sitting next to Urd's futon; she placed her hand on her older sister's bruises and concentrated, whispering a few words; Urd felt a warm feeling go through her, radiating from Belldandy's hands. In a moment her pain was gone, healed. "How do you feel now?" Belldandy asked. Urd felt her throat, there was no pain left. "Thankyou Belldandy, thankyou for saving me." her voice came out as deeply harmonious as ever. Belldandy looked at her curiously. "You mean you don't know the young man who saved you?" "Huh? I thought you saved me. What happened? Who fought off Marrller?" "I'll tell you the whole story in the living room. I bet you're hungry, you've slept for two complete days, you wouldn't wake up when I tried to wake you before." "I was..." and she forgot what she was going to say. "How strange. I think I was having a dream, I can't remember what it was about though." A cold empty feeling rushed through her making her shiver. Something beautiful found and then lost again. She could almost remember what it was, but then it would just scurry away not letting itself be discovered. "Well I'd think it was a nice dream" Belldandy answered with a cute smile, "you were smiling most of the time." "I was?" "Yes. Too bad you can't remember it though." Belldandy looked truly downcast at the idea. "Let's get you something to eat, OK?" She got up and walked out the door. "I feel famished. Lets go." Urd reached up to push her hair back and feels something tangled in it; slowly extracting it she sees it, "How beautiful; did put this in my hair Belldandy?" Urd asked. "No, what is it?" "Oh, never mind...." she trailed softly. "What?" Belldandy came back and looked through the door, Urd was sitting in her futon looking at something cupped in her hands. "What is it Urd?" "Look" Urd showed her a tiny flower, pastel pink, almost white, with a most beautiful perfume. "I wonder where this came from; it seems familiar, but I can't put my finger on it..." Urd finished. "It's beautiful" Belldandy said; "What are you going to do with it?" "Oh, I don't know" and she slowly twined in her hair. "How does it look?" "Very nice" Belldandy said with a smile. "Let's go have breakfast, OK?" "Yes, lets go." Keiichi, Megumi and Skuld were in the living room sitting by the table waiting for Belldandy and Urd. When they appeared through the door Urd was received with an assortment of smiled. Skuld ran up to Urd and hugged her tightly, "I'm so glad you're fine, neesan. I was really worried for you." Urd felt a lump in her throat, "Thankyou Skuld, I'm fine now." Urd slowly unwound Skuld's arms and made her way to the table. She sat down between Belldandy and Skuld, who kept an eye on her. "How do you feel Urd?" Keiichi asked and took a bite of rice. "I feel fine, thanks; although very hungry" Everybody smiled at this and started making smalltalk while they had lunch. Urd ate ravenously, not eating anything does that to you. Everybody looked at her once in a while, wondering what was different about her. "Urd, what's that in your hair?" asked Megumi. "Oh, this?" she replied, taking the flower from her hair; "I don't know where it came from, I woke up with it in my hair" she hands it to Megumi who cups it in her hands, looking at it, "isn't it beautiful?" Urd asks with a smile. Keiichi crowds next to Megumi to get a better look at the flower. After a moment Megumi hands it back to Urd, who inserts it into a button hole in her blouse. After a while everybody finished lunch; Keiichi helped Belldandy pick everything up, Megumi left to do some homework; Skuld, convinced now that Urd was OK left for her room, there were some interesting AI routines she was working on. Keiichi and Belldandy returned from the kitchen, Urd was still sitting at the table, staring strangely at the flower. "What are you looking at?" asked Belldandy; she sat next to Urd and Keiichi sat next to to Belldandy. "I don't know, I feel like I've seen this flower before, and it means something, but it's like the dream, I can't remember..." she answered. After a moment she snapped back to reality; "So, will you tell me what happened?" "Well, it went something like this..." Belldandy and Keiichi explained to Urd what happened, starting at the arrival of Skuld, the stranger using strange powers to save her from Marrller; Belldandy explained the part about the psi-noise haze and the mind blast since Keiichi really couldn't explain it. They recanted the fight, how this fellow seemed to know how to get rid of her, seemed to know pretty well what to do and how to do it. "It was a pretty quick fight. To me it seemed like he just wanted to get rid of Marrller to get to you more than anything" Keiichi added. Urd perked up at Keiichi's commentary, Belldandy gave him a questioning look. "How do you know that?" Belldandy asked. "Well, you were almost unconscious after the psi-blast, remember? He came to us carrying Urd in his arms looking so bad I could swear he was asleep on his feet; Skuld offered to help him carry you" he said looking at Urd, "but he seemed very protective of you; he carried you all the way to your futon. After that, while I lay Belldandy on her own futon he just looked at you, he had a look on his face, if you don't mind me saying this Urd, I could almost swear he knew you from somewhere, either that or he was in love with you, he had that kind of look." Urd cast him a sharp look, "Now look here, I haven't done anything of that kind here." Keiichi continued, "I didn't say you have. It's really weird, I've never seen the guy, he's not even Japanese. Well, anyway, let me finish. When he was looking at you he moved a lock of hair off your face, mumbled something I couldn't quite get and then just keeled over. I think it was the exhaustion." "After that, I asked Skuld to help me carry him to the guests room, we put him on the futon, closed the house and we all went to sleep a while." he finished. Urd was digesting all this info slowly. <> "So, where is this guy?" "He's still in the guests room, he was still unconscious when I checked on him this morning" Belldandy responded. After thinking for a moment, Urd slowly stood up, "I'm going to check on him, wanna come?" Urd, Belldandy and Keiichi walked to the guests room; Urd was deep in thought wondering who this fellow was, wondering at the motivation he would have to fight off Marrller to save her; Keiichi and Belldandy walked together arm in arm, not saying anything. When Urd opened the room the first thing that caught her attention was the staff; she couldn't make out much detail, but it looked impressive. A backpack was on the ground next to it, seemed kind of dirty. On the futon lay it's current occupant, a tallish guy with light brown skin, dark hair done in a rough braid pulled over a shoulder; when she turned around to let Belldandy and Keiichi through the door Urd saw at the edge of her vision a soft blue nimbus surrounding the body, but when she turned to look at the blue field again it wasn't there. Urd knelt on one side of the guest's futon, Belldandy and Keiichi on the other. Urd had a troubled look on her face, she really didn't know what to expect from this. Keiichi and Belldandy watched her with a certain level of expectation, probably he'd be some long lost friend she'd never mentioned or something like that. Urd examined his face, something tugged at her memory but she couldn't quite pin it down, <> she thought, and a warm sensation flowed through her, she felt her face warm, she was blushing; <> Keiichi and Belldandy saw her reaction, "Do you know him?" Keiichi asked. "No, but... I feel like I've seen him before." she responded while twiddling the flower in her blouse. German's face didn't seem serene, it looked like he couldn't let down his guard even while sleeping. His brow was furrowed, seemingly concentrated on sleeping. Urd felt a strange stirring in her breast; on impulse, she reached out to feel his forehead "Wait!" Belldandy exclaimed alarmed, and then say amazed as Urd not only placed her hand on German's face, but he relaxed visibly, sighing and letting the tension leave his body. Urd smiled quietly; "He trusts you." Belldandy said. Keiichi had an "I told you so" look on his face. "What is that supposed to mean?" Urd asked, not taking her sight off German <> "While you were unconscious I tried to heal him, but he didn't accept it." "He ... countered it?" Urd looked up at Belldandy. "No, it was like..." Belldandy trailed, searching for the right words; "it was like he shielded his body against external effects, the spell didn't backfire, I didn't get a backlash, rather it just didn't hold on him." Keiichi smiled, "It was rather funny, Belldandy throwing a ball of light at him and it just bounced off, and then trying to cast it on you." "You 'tried' to heal me?" Urd asked incredulously, "why only 'tried'?" "It wasn't funny" Belldandy told Keiichi with a disapproving look. "Gomen nasai" Keiichi apologized contritely. "I was rather surprised; and the strangest part was" and here Belldandy looked at Urd, "that while you were unconscious I couldn't heal you either, you wore the same shield as him" "I..? Me? But, I can't cast any spells!" Urd exclaimed. "I know. You weren't generating the shield, *he* was. He was protecting you while you slept. Now Urd, if you know him, I'd appreciate it if you told us. This guy isn't your normal witch/warlock/mage/priest/whatever, that shield spell is quite strong, I couldn't dispel it. Second, he seems to trust you, look..." Belldandy produced a small sphere of light, similar to the one she used with Urd a while ago, and let it drop on German's chest; it was slowly absorbed, and German's face became more serene, his breathing slow and calmed. "See? When you touched him he lowered his shield. Something strange is going on Oneechan." "I sincerely don't know Belldandy." Urd responded. "Well, I don't think it'll take him much to wake up now that he's accepted the healing spell." with that she got up, Keiichi following her. "If you don't mind, I'd like to wait here." Belldandy looked at her, and then at Keiichi. He just shrugged; "OK, but call us when he wakes up, OK?" "OK" In the kitchen Belldandy and Keiichi are finishing up with the dishes, placing everything where it's supposed to go. It didn't take them much to leave the kitchen gleaming. "Well, that did it" said Keiichi while he wiped his hands on a rag. "Yes, it does look much better now" Belldandy responded. She leaned towards Keiichi and gave him a peck on the cheek. "That's for helping me clean up" and then quickly gave him another kiss, this one slower and on the lips, "And this is because I love you". She turned around and walked out the kitchen, looked back over her shoulder and winked, giving him a smile full of mischief. Keiichi sighed. <> he asked himself, for about the thousandth time. After hanging the rag to dry he went to his room. Urd was twirling the flower in her hands. *Something* about it made her feel warm inside, but that isn't a feeling she's accustomed to feel. Frankly, she was feeling quite miserable. <> she sighed, a long, drawn, deep sigh. After a moment, looking at German, she started talking to herself without noticing. "Well, you certainly aren't one of the guys from upstairs, they never took me seriously although now that I've thought about it it's nothing but my fault." She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. She was silent for a moment, and then felt someone looking at her. Urd turned around to look into a small pair of green eyes that stared at her from the door. "Here Mii-chan, c'mere little girl." The little kitten bounded towards her mistress, purring contentedly. "How long have you been there, ne?" Of course, Mii-chan didn't respond; not that Urd would have understood her without her powers. The warm little bundle just purred more and burrowed into Urd's arms. She sat down and wrapped her arms around her knees, closing her eyes. "So," the brown-skinned beauty whispered, "just who are you?" After waiting a while she returned to her own room. Keiichi and Belldandy are sitting outside, enjoying the warm weather, talking quietly. They were sitting quite close, enjoying their company. Belldandy leaned on his shoulder, closing her eyes, feeling happy. She turn to his face to say something and saw his brown eyes examining her fixedly. He had a tiny smiley on his lips and a warm, caring look in his eyes; she felt her heart melting with that look. She moved slowly closer to him, feeling her heart thumping in her chest. She eyes fluttered; she felt Keiichi's lips brush her own, when they heard a distinct growling behind them. "Um, excuse me..." ================================================================= Evacuee Enya Shepherd Moons Each time on my leaving home I run back to my mothers arms, one last hold and then it's over. Watching me, you know I cry, you wave a kiss to say goodbye, Feel the sky fall down upon me! All I am, a child with promises All I have are miles full of promises of home. If only I could stay with you, may train moves on, you're gone from view, Now I must wait until it's over. All I am, a child with promises All I have are miles full of promises of home. Days will pass, your words to me, it seems so long; eternity, but I must wait until it's over. ================================================================= If there's a composer that can truly bring a tear to my eyes it's Enya. Her music has just got to be the most beautiful I've ever hear, it's... unnatural, maybe a God (or Goddess?) given gift. I got a little stuck here, so this is the final state for chapter 3, and 4 will be posted until I return from Christmas break, which will be about mid-January. I *hope* to keep writing during the icy and windy desert winter back home, unless some beers and friends sidetrack me :) I have some ideas for a Ranma fanfic, I hope I can crystallize them by January, if not I'll post them to the list so anybody else can have them. If you check out my web page you'll find the song "Iberia Sumergida" there. Since I had to save space it isn't a very high quality sample, besides, I caught it off the radio. It's a very good song by some Spanish group called "Los Heroes del Silencio" (The Heroes of the Silence). Check it out, and if you like it well, email me, maybe I'll put up other Spanish rock songs, some of which I've already thought of, some by Caifanes, a pretty popular Mexican group. Now, I know I might be flamed for placing copyrighted material up on the net, but lets be realistic, I'm actually doing them some unpaid propaganda! Anyway, if you feel like flaming me, "Go ahead, Open it!" (So Sayeth Lord Stimpson J. Cat). -RangerElf