Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Oh My Goddess!
Brimstone Rising
In Hell all you can do is scream. All around him he heard the damned
scream and his cries mixed freely with theirs.
Although they constantly burnt his skin, it wasn’t the flames that
tormented him. It was the faces. The faces never stopped appearing
before his eyes. His family, Drusilla, Jenny Calendar and so many more.
The faces of those he’d killed and the lives he’d ruined endlessly
danced before him, glaring and accusing. He shouted apologies and begged
forgiveness but it never came. The only thing that ever came was more
pain.
“Well, well, lookit here,” cooed a female voice.
He looked up and though the flames he saw a woman approaching him. She
wore pants and a jacket of black leather and a necklace of animal
teeth. Her skin was tanned and a mane of dirty blonde hair flowed past
her shoulders. Between her eyebrows were two angry red colored lines
that looked somewhat like war paint. The marks went to the top of her
forehead at a slight angle. Just under eye were two more red marks.
These were triangles sitting atop each other that pulled back toward her
ears in such a way as to give them a vaguely tiger-like appearance.
“It looks like I’ve found a fallen angel,” grinned the woman. “Don’t
worry, kid. We’ve got loads of fallen angels around here. You’ll fit
right in.”
“Who?” he rasped.
“Aw, you mean you don’t remember me?” asked the woman in a fake hurt
voice. She then struck a cheesecake posse and grinned at the man. “I
can’t believe you’d forget someone as lovely as yours truly. Then again,
life in the Pit isn’t exactly conductive to good memory.”
Another face flashed before his eyes. She had been a nurse named
Margot. He’d killed her and an entire tent full of wounded Confederate
soldiers in 1863, just after the surrender of Vicksburg. He remembered
the way she had screamed as he fed on the injured men before turning on
her. He remembered the way he’d laughed just before sinking his fangs
into her neck.
“Another flashback?” quizzed the woman. “Must have been a bad one from
the look on your face. Get used to those, slick. From the looks of
things, you’re going to be seeing them from now until Ragnarok.”
“Who are you!?” he screamed.
“You still don’t remember?” sighed the woman. “Well, I’m sure it will
come to you sooner or later. Try and think about it when the faces off
all those innocents you slaughtered isn’t taking up your time.”
The woman then turned and began to walk away. “I’ll check with you
again sometime and see if its come back to you. But no hurry. If there’s
one thing the Damned have it’s time. They don’t call this ‘eternal’
damnation for nothing.”
As she continued walking he could hear the woman’s staccato laughter
blister his ears. “Nya-ha-ha-ha!”
Once the laughter faded he began to scream again.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
He woke up with a jolt. It took him a moment to realize that he wasn’t
in Hell anymore, but in his own bed. “Just a dream. Just a dream…” Angel
repeated to himself. After taking a moment to realign himself, the
vampire climbed out of bed and ran a hand across his brow. Angel took a
moment to be thankful that vampires didn’t suffer from cold sweats.
A glance at a nearby clock told him it would be dusk soon. He hoped
that a few hours on the streets of Sunnydale patrolling for other
members of the undead would make him feel better. Secretly, he doubted
it.
Still trying to shake off the dream, Angel headed for the library of
the abandoned mansion he called home. Perhaps some time lost in the
words of great writers would make him feel better.
Twenty minutes later Angel laid the book aside in defeat. “Sorry,
Yeats,” he muttered. “Poetry, even yours, can’t help me right now.”
Surrendering to fate, Angel turned his mind back to the dream and the
woman with the marks on her face. He knew he knew her from somewhere.
His time in Hell had damaged him body and soul. Since his return to
earth his body had healed, but his mind still bore many scars. Not the
least of them being the lose of some of his memory.
Long past the setting of the sun Angel sat, trying to recall where he
knew the blonde woman from. Then it came.
“Mara…” he whispered.
And then it was gone again. Whatever he had managed to dig up from his
mind had slipped away as quickly as it had come.
“Mara. Her name is Mara…”Angel whispered to himself. Somehow, in his
heart, he knew that name meant trouble.
~*~*~*~*~*~
On the other side of the world, in a quite suburb of Tokyo, there sat a
small Shinto shrine. Two things made this shrine different from all the
others that dotted Japan. The first thing was that this one had been
converted into a home. The second was that this unusual residence was
home to one very ordinary college student and three very divine beings.
The student was Keiichi Morisato, lover of all things motorized and
student at the nearby Nekomi Institute of Technology. The divine beings
were Urd, Skuld and Belldandy, the Norse demi-goddesses of destiny.
In the shrine’s living room a stunning woman with long platinum hair,
bronze skin and a series of blue marks on her face was watching TV. She
was watching it while floating three feet off the ground.
-click-
“--continuing mission, to seek out new life and new civilizations. To
boldly go where no one has gone before!”
-click-
“—yet another riot erupted at Tomobiki High today when its most
infamous student, Ataru Moroboshi, is alleged to have--”
-click-
“That which has never been achieved, the path to becoming one with God;
the Human Instrumentality Project.”
-click-
“You gotta ask yourself one question - 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya,
punk?”
-click-
“--a shadowy flight into the world of a man who does not exist.”
“By the Almighty, there’s nothing on!” howled Urd. Frustrated, the
goddess floated to the floor and began to sulk. “We get more channels
all the time and there’s still never anything good on.”
It was then that Keiichi stuck his head into the room. “Hey, Urd,
what’s all the shouting about?”
“I’m bored, that’s what,” muttered Urd. “There’s nothing to do around
here! I’m so board I’m climbing the walls!” To illustrate her point the
goddess turned herself upside down and floated to the ceiling.
“Sounds like a case of cabin fever to me,” said Keiichi.
“Cabin what?”
“Cabin fever. It means you’ve been inside or in one place to long.”
“And what’s the cure for cabin fever, oh wise and all-knowing Dr.
Morisato?”
Keiichi grinned slightly at Urd’s joke. “If you want me to tell you
you’ll have to come down here. Looking up at you like that is giving me
a crick in my neck.”
Bemused, Urd did so. “Okay Doc, what’s the prescription?”
“It’s pretty simple. You just need to get out of the house for a
while,” prescribed the mortal man. “Go on a vacation or something.”
At those words Urd’s eyes lit up. “Hot damn, you’re right! A vacation
is just what I need!”
Keiichi took a step back nervously. Whenever Urd got this excited about
something it usually meant trouble. On the other hand, a few days
without Urd’s interference might just give him some time to get closer
to Belldandy.
“So, uh, just where is it that goddess go on vacation?”
Urd stopped dead in the middle of the pirouette she’d been doing.
“Hhhmmm, good question. We didn’t get much time off back when we were
maintaining the Yggdrasil System.
“Let’s see, I want to go someplace where I can work on my tan. Maybe a
little sightseeing and some clubbing. Oh, and booze. Wherever I go the
booze has to be good. And, of course, TV. I just can’t enjoy myself
without TV!”
Keiichi scratched his chin and tried to think. There had to be
someplace on earth that could fill all of Urd’s requirements. After a
few moments he snapped his fingers.
“I’m no travel agent, but what about Los Angeles?” he suggested.
“Plenty of sun and beaches, lots of nightlife, plus, it’s the
entertainment capital of the world.”
“L.A., huh?” mused Urd. “Yeah, now that I think about it that does
sound pretty good. It’s been a while since I was in the States.”
With a flash of light Urd transformed the silken Chinese dress she had
been wearing into a tanktop and miniskirt. From nowhere she produced a
pair of sunglasses which she slipped onto her face.
“When Belldandy and Skuld get back from the store tell ‘em where I’ve
gone and that I’ll be back in a few days.”
“Uh, Urd, maybe you should wait until they come back so you can talk
this over with them. If something where to happ--”
Urd sighed and placed a finger on Keiichi’s lips, stopping his protest.
“Anyone ever tell you that you worry to much, Keiichi?” she asked.
“Jeez, after I get back we’re going to have to come up with a vacation
for you. You certainly could use one.”
Keiichi boggled.
“Anyway, nothing’s going to happen,” assured Urd. “Trust me.” With
that, she gave Keiichi a quick salute and then jumped into the TV
screen. In a blink she was gone.
After a moment Keiichi strolled over to the TV and turned it off.
“After all this time it still amazes me when she does that,” he
muttered. “‘Nothing’s going to happen. Trust me.’ Famous last words,
Urd. Especially for around here.”
With a resigned sigh Keiichi turned and headed for the garage. He hoped
that Urd was right and that a few hours tinkering with the engine of his
motorcycle would chase his worries away.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Josh Garcia stretched and let out a long yawn. He took a swig from his
can of Pepsi and returned his attention to the book he’d been reading,
The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson.
“Hey Lucy, I’m home!” called a new voice.
Josh looked up to see his friend and fellow geology student, Winston
Coleman, stroll into the lab, a pair of McDonalds bags in his hands.
“My apple pie had better damn well still be hot,” muttered Josh as he
put his book away.
“Gripe, gripe, gripe. That’s all you ever do,” teased Winston as he
unwrapped a burger. “You really should get more sleep. All these late
nights are making you irritable.”
“Maybe so,” grumbled Josh while shoving some fries into his mouth. “But
the credit hours and experience I’m getting in here are worth it.”
“Experience?! You call this experience? All we do is sit around here
and watch these machines do nothing. I swear, the Seismology lab has got
to be the dullest place on the whole UCLA campus!”
“I like the quite,” said Josh. “It gives me time to work on my thesis.
Which, if I may be so bold, is what you should be doing instead of
sitting around on your butt playing Pokémon.”
“Thanks for the advice, mom,” snorted Winston.
Josh’s retort was cut short by a flurry of activity from the machines
in the lab. “Hey Winston, what were you saying about this being the most
boring place on campus?”
“Shut up.”
Soon the two students were busy pouring over the computer’s data.
“Well, it looks like we just picked a minor, routine shaker,” concluded
Josh. “From the looks of things it was just barely a 2.4. Have you
located the epicenter yet?”
“I’m just getting that information now,” answered Winston. “According
to our readings, the center of the quake was right under some town
called Sunnydale.”
Josh let out a whistle. “Sunnydale? Prof. Jurgens mentioned that place
in class last month.”
“Yeah, I remember that,” said Winston. “About sixty years ago a big one
hit out there and swallowed half the town, right?”
“Right. But with a shaker this size I don’t think we have to worry
about that happening again. I’d say everyone out there slept though this
one.”
“Envy them,” sighed Winston. “It may have been a small quake, but Prof.
Jurgens in still going to want a full report on it. Better go make some
coffee. I think we’re going to be at this for a while.”
Josh nodded and went off to find the coffee pot.
~*~*~*~*~*~
“We’re home!” called a cheery voice. Keiichi glanced up from the
homework he’d been doing as Belldandy and Skuld, their arms loaded with
packages, entered the living room.
“Hold on and I’ll help you with those,” called the young man as he
scurried over to the two goddesses.
“Where’s Urd?” demanded Skuld. “A lot of this junk is for her. The
least she could do is help us carry it.”
“Uh, Urd’s sorta gone right now,” informed Keiichi as he took a bag
from each of the two.
“Gone? Gone where?” asked Belldandy as she ran a hand though her
chestnut hair.
Keiichi was beginning to feel a bit worried. He knew how deeply
Belldandy cared for her sisters and hoped she wouldn’t be upset at him
for his role in Urd’s leaving.
“You see, Urd was complaining about being bored,” began Keiichi. “I
suggested that get a change of scenery or take a vacation or something.
I was pretty much just joking.”
“Go on,” prodded Belldandy.
“Well, Urd loved the idea of a vacation. She started going on about how
she wanted some place with sunshine and nightlife and TV. Off the top of
my head I suggested Los Angeles. The next thing I know she’d changed
into an outfit of the cover of Vogue and had jumped though the
television.”
“Good,” beamed Skuld. “No Urd for a while sounds great to me.”
“Skuld! That’s a terrible thing to say about your sister,” admonished
Belldandy. “I wish Urd had waited for us to come back. A family vacation
to Los Angeles sounds wonderful.”
“Actually, the impression I got was that Urd wanted to take this trip
alone,” supplied Keiichi.
“Aw, who cares what Urd wants?” said Skuld. “As long as she’s in
California she won’t be around here to pick on me or boss me around.”
Belldandy gave her sister another reproachful look. Skuld’s face
reddened and her eyes fell to the floor. “Sorry, sis,” she muttered.
The older goddess nodded and headed into the kitchen. “If Urd wants
some time to herself then we shall respect her wishes. Once she gets
back maybe we can look into going somewhere together.”
“A vacation?!” squealed Skuld in delight. “That’d be fun! Even if we
had to take grumpy old Urd with us.”
“It wouldn’t be a family vacation if we didn’t take Urd *and* Keiichi
with us,” called Belldandy over the sounds of her beginning to prepare
dinner.
Skuld ran a hand though her raven hair and scuffed her foot on the
floor in embarrassment. “Oh, of course. It wouldn’t be a family trip
without him. No, sir!”
“Thanks a lot, Skuld,” grumbled Keiichi.
Inwardly the Japanese man sighed. When she’d first shown up Skuld had
been somewhat hostile toward him, blaming him for “stealing” her beloved
older sister away from the young goddess. In the months since Skuld’s
attitude toward him had mellowed greatly. Though he didn’t admit it,
Keiichi had begun to feel like an older brother to Skuld. This was due
in no small part to the fact that the girl reminded him of, Megumi, his
own younger sister.
“I hope Urd will be okay,” said Keiichi as he returned to his algebra
homework. “America is a crazy place and from what I hear, L.A. is the
craziest place in the whole country.”
“Don’t worry about her,” dismissed Skuld as she began to tinker with
one of her ever-present mechanical devices. “Urd may be a big ol’ pain
in the butt, but she can take care of herself.”
On that Keiichi was forced to agree. He nodded and then turned back to
his work.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Los Angeles is a city of many landmarks. But none is more famous than
the Hollywood sign the lays nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel
Mountains just outside the city. Every year thousands of tourists flock
to see this icon of the entertainment industry. But tonight the sign
played host to perhaps its most unusual visitor ever.
“Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars. Let me see what
spring is like on Jupiter and Mars…” sang as soft voice.
Perched atop the D in the Hollywood sign Urd gazed down at the city
with a smile. “I always did like that song.”
As the lights in the metropolis below continued to twinkle the goddess
began to kick her legs back and forth like a child on a swing. “Keiichi
was right. Getting out of the house was just what I needed. For the
first time in a long time I don’t have Belldandy or the brat looking
over my shoulder. That means it’s party time! Look out, LA! Urd is in
town and she’s gonna make you shake like no earthquake ever did!”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sunnydale, California
The next day
“I’ll go with bizarre lifeform from the planet Metaluna,” said Xander.
“I’ll say castoff from a failed experiment at cloning the Toxic
Avenger,” countered Buffy.
“I’m guessing some kind of slime mold,” continued Oz.
“I don’t think slime molds come with little bits of…fruit, I think
that’s fruit, floating in them,” commented Willow. “Or maybe that’s
pork.”
It was once again time for lunch at Sunnydale High and the Slayerrettes
were busy trying to discern what the latest addition the cafeteria menu,
‘Sunnydale Surprise’, might be. So far any classification for what the
sticky green substance on their trays had proved elusive.
“I’m telling you guys, I really think the lunch lady is trying to kill
us,” said Xander as he began to prod the goo with a fork. Much to his
surprise the fork suddenly became stuck.
“The sad thing is that in this town that’s actually a possibility,”
mused Oz.
“Can we please talk about something besides homicidal faculty members?”
sighed Buffy. “Stuff like this reminds me of the time Coach Marin tried
to feed me to the swim team.”
“New topics are good,” agreed Willow. “Say, did you hear about the
earthquake last night? It’s supposed to have hit right under town.”
“There was a quake last night?” asked Xander as he continued to
struggle with the Sunnydale Surprise. “So how come I’m stuck in this
academic prison instead of digging myself out from under the rubble of
my house? Which, upon reflection, sounds like a lot more fun than the
geometry class I have next period.”
“Oh, it was just a little quake,” informed Willow. “A 2.4, I think.
That’s like baby size when it comes to earthquakes.”
“I hope it’s just a normal quake and not some nasty gross monster
belching,” said Buffy.
“This is California, birthplace of all your favorite natural
disasters,” shrugged Oz. “You can’t start thinking that every bad thing
that happens in this town is because of the Hellmouth.”
“He’s right,” nodded Xander who was still trying to liberate his fork
from his lunch. “This could just as easily have been the underground
mole people testing their secret earthquake machine before they launch
their attack on the surface world.”
The others stared at Xander.
“What? After vampires, zombies, fishmen, killer eggs and mummies are
underground mole people so hard to believe?”
“Xander, you really need to spend less time down at the comic book
store,” teased Buffy.
“I say thee nay!” retorted Xander. “Mock not my comics or I shall smite
thee with mine hammer, mighty Mjolnir!”
This time the whole cafeteria turned to give Xander a quizzical look..
The young man’s face turned red and he suddenly became intensely focused
on his plate.
On the far side of the room Cordelia Chase rolled her eyes. “Why did I
ever allow that geek within sight of me? I must have been possessed.”
Back at the table of the Scooby Gang Buffy and Willow tried not to
laugh but failed. Oz, as always, remained unflappable. “Tis some foul
plot by mine evil brother Loki to bedevil me,” grumbled Xander.
“I guess you guys are right,” said Buffy. “There’s no point in worrying
about the quake now. If it was just Mom Nature working out a kink then
no big. But if it was some monster or mole people or whatever, they’ll
show up sooner or later. And if they do I’ll do my slayage thing and
afterward we can all go out for cheese fries.”
“The classic formula,” grinned Willow. “Sounds good.”
It was then that the bell rang and rang and the presence of academia
returned.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Los Angeles, California
One hour later
“Blood, sweat, tears, fear, loathing, urine and smog. Smells like
humanity.”
The author of those words stretched and then went back to leaning
against a wall in one of L.A.’s more dingy bus stations. Her name was
Mara and she was a demon first class, unlimited. As a general rule,
demons are rarely in a good mode. Unless they’re up to something evil
that is. And while Mara was up to no good (she wasn’t a first class,
unlimited for nothing) it was doing little to improve her mood.
“Damn goddesses,” Mara grumbled. “Damn Urd most of all! Thanks to her
my plans for the Lord of Terror are dust. And to make things worst I’m
in deep with my bosses back in Niflheim. I’m lucky they didn’t cast me
into Helheim after that fiasco. Not even the Gods can return from there.
“Even so, I can’t believe I’ve been busted down to this. Doing Faustian
deals and tempting mortals to sin. This is rookie stuff! I should be
back in Japan coming up with ways to the goddesses and that wimpy mortal
they’re shacked up with miserable!”
Mara stopped her ranting for a moment to spit on the floor. Due to the
spell she’d weaved around herself none of the humans in the area
noticed. To them she was simply not there. “I guess I should be grateful
I got assigned to Los Angeles for the duration of my ‘probation.’ There
plenty of people in this burg who’re glad to sell there souls for a
little taste of fame. And with all the greed, lust and vanity already
floating around, getting mortals to sin is a snap. This job may suck,
but at least it isn’t too demanding.”
“Bus 17 from Glendale now arriving,” blared the PA system.
“Ah, fresh meat,” grinned Mara. “Folks new in town are always ripe for
plucking.” Still grinning the demon headed for the passenger unloading
area.
Mara leaned against a column and watched the passengers get off,
looking for any easy prey. Third off was tall red haired kid who sported
a purple shirt and blue shorts. “Hhhmmm, that one looks promising. At
that age mortal males have more hormones than brains. A little push in
the right direction and this boy could start some serious trouble. My
favorite kind.”
“Zack! Yo, Zack!”
Mara turned to see a chubby blond boy running up to the first kid.
“Hey, Wally,” greeted Zack. “Thanks for coming to pick me up.”
“No problem,” said Wally. “But I was sure surprised when you called.
Aren’t classes still going on back at your college?”
“My former college you mean. I dropped out and there is no way I’m
going back. In fact, I never want to set foot within ten miles of UC
Sunnydale again.”
Mara’s ears suddenly perked up. “Hhhmmm, Sunnydale. Now there’s a name
I haven’t heard in a long time…”
“Why’d you drop out?” asked Wally. “I hear UCS isn’t a bad school.”
“Wally, you’re my cousin so please take my advice on this,” implored
Zack. “Stay as far away from Sunnydale as you can. That town is just bad
news. People disappearing all the time, weird murders and all kinds of
other creepy stuff happen all the time there.
“I’m telling you, I have no idea what my mom and dad were thinking when
we moved out there two years ago. ‘Lower crime rate’ my ass! South
Central on a Saturday night is safer than Sunnydale at high noon on a
Sunday.”
“Take a pill or something,” grumbled Wally. “It couldn’t be all that
bad.”
“Remind me to tell you just how many kids at Sunnydale High died while I
was going there last year,” snorted Zack. “And to think I hoped all that
weird stuff might be over when I graduated.”
“It didn’t?”
Zack shook his head. “My roommate back at UCS disappeared after about a
week of classes. He left a note saying college was to much for him, but
he didn’t go home.”
“So what? College can get to people. So the guy just took some time off
be on his own.”
Again Zack shook his head. “That’s what I thought at first. But his
parents came by hoping I might have an idea of were he might be. When I
showed them the note he left behind they said it wasn’t his handwriting.
That really freaked the hell out of me.”
“So that’s why you dropped out and decided to enroll in UCLA?”
“Yeah, anywhere is better than Sunnydale.”
“If you say so,” shrugged Wally. He and Zack then grabbed the redhead’s
bags and headed into the terminal.
“Heh, sounds like Sunnydale hasn’t changed a bit,” grinned Mara. “I
wonder…” With a contemplative look on her face, Mara vanished.
In the terminal Wally and Zack looked at the space the demon had just
occupied and then gave each other knowing glances.
“It looks like she took the bait,” assessed Wally.
“So it seems,” said Zack. “The first part of the plan is a success. The
boss is going to be pleased.”
Wally and Zack’s eyes briefly flared crimson before they too
disappeared.