I don't own Ranma, Disgaea or Oh! My Goddess!.
"Dialogue"
((Thoughts))
Ranma watched with wide eyes as the naked demi-god Saffron hatched from his egg in adult form. As he saw the now grown up man, something clicked in his mind that let him speechless... well almost...
"What the hell are you doing here?!"
All the people present looked at Ranma questioningly that included Saffron too. Before they could demand an answer though, time seemed to have stopped for everyone except the phoenix and the son of Nodoka and Genma.
Saffron looked surprised at this, "What happ..."
Ranma interrupted him though, "I asked you a question."
"What did you do?!" asked the other man angrily
"I stopped time! Are you blind or something?!" saying it like it was the most casual thing in the world
"Wha...? No one is that powerful!"
"Stuff it, Angel Trainee Saffron." replied Ranma casually, "I know what you truly are."
Saffron looked like he had been slapped; he couldn't recall the last time someone called him that.
"H-how...?"
"Does Lamington know that you are down here?"
"You know M-master Lamington?!" questioned the 'phoenix' shocked, "Were you sent here on a mission too?"
"You really don't know who I am, do you?"
"We know each other...?" asked the angel confused
"Well... not really but from your looks I knew your parents. Maybe this will remind you."
Ranma removed his red shirt and placed the Akane puppet on it as he put the piece of cloth on the ground. He straightened again and with a small act of concentration six pairs of wings burst out from his back, they glowed with an unearthly but still gentle light as they illuminated the cave.
"Remember me now?"
"M-m-m-master... L-l-l-..."
"Cut it out. I see you do remember." said Ranma, the wings growing smaller every second as they retracted again, "No need to make such a fuss about it."
"B-b-but... I thought it were only tales..."
"I said cut it out." replied Ranma, slowly getting impatient, "You said something about a mission, is that the reason you're down here?"
Saffron suddenly found the ground extremely interesting and didn't look up from it.
"Well?"
"Yeah... ..."
"So, where's the problem? You're on an assignment... no need to be worried." responded Ranma, this time a lot calmer since he now knew the reason for the presence of the angel trainee here on Earth.
"... ... but that was a little over 2000 years ago..." said Saffron, still not daring to look the other one into the eyes
"Say what?!"
"Well... I tried to return, but when I came back to the Gate it was closed and I couldn't open it anymore." answered Saffron with a sad voice, "I had to remain on Earth, I checked several times in the last centuries if something changed so I could return... b-but I was trapped..."
Seeing that Saffron was almost breaking down Ranma rushed forward and embraced him, feeling sympathy for the young angel, "Shhh... Let it all out..."
And Saffron did, tears trickled from his eyes as he hugged the other man, "Why...? Why was I left behind...?"
"I don't know... but whatever the reason, Lamington will have to answer me." whispered Ranma into the angel's ear
((I can't believe it... to leave an Angel Trainee, a young one such as Saffron, back here... Someone so naive must have felt unbelievably betrayed and hurt after he realized that he couldn't return to his family.))
After several minutes the young angel calmed down again, but still didn't let go of the other man.
"I will open the Gate for you." stated Ranma with determination, "Don't worry, you will be home soon."
At hearing this Saffron broke the hug and looked Ranma straight in the eyes, the king returning that he was for eons now, "I won't return to Celestia."
Ranma was a little surprised by this, "Why?"
"I have my people here; they depend on me for survival. I can't just leave them." said Saffron as he walked away from Ranma, "I won't be like the ones in Celestia, I won't betray them."
The Saotome actually felt proud as he heard this, "You grew up."
"Yes, I did. It's not like I had another choice."
Ranma wanted to change the topic now; it made no sense to cry after old memories, "So... what was your mission here anyway? It's not an everyday occurrence that angels are sent to Earth."
"Well... I had to lead three strange guys to another town."
"Eh?" asked Ranma intelligently, ((Okay... that is weird. Hmmm... Maybe they were Ryoga's ancestors...?))
"I thought it was weird too, I couldn't even appear directly in front of them, that was part of the mission."
"So how did you lead these men?"
"I was always good at fire magic, so I appeared as a fireball in the sky. Then I used a spell that only made me visible to them."
"Okay... go on." said Ranma with a twitch in his eyes, ((I have a sinking feeling about this...))
"Before that I also had to appear before a woman and tell her that her child would be special." continued Saffron, "When I led the three men to their destination, I was surprised to see the woman there along with her husband. They lived in a cottage with all kinds of animals around them; the child had been born too."
"What time of the year was it?"
"Hmmm... I think humans call it Christmas now-a-days."
"Damn it!" shouted Ranma in anger
"What is it?" asked Saffron, surprised at the outburst
"Do you know that your mission created one of the biggest religions that that exist on this planet?"
"Err... no?"
"Well, it did. And it doesn't show me in a rather good light... Something about me betraying Kami-Sama... I didn't even work for him, that's why he has his gods!"
"Sorry?"
"It's not your fault that this happened... Kami-Sama probably asked a favor of Lamington."
"Okay... now what will we do about them?" asked Saffron, gesturing to the people who were still frozen in time, "We were almost fighting each other, how to explain that we suddenly changed our minds?"
"We don't." replied Ranma, "We go back to our previous positions, then I proceed to beat the crap out of you and we will meet in a month at Mount Fuji in Japan."
"We do?" questioned Saffron with a little concern for his health
"Yes." answered the young man as he walked back to the spot where he stood before
"Okay..." resigned Saffron as he took his earlier position
"Before I start time again, one question."
"What?"
"What is it about the talons and the whole egg hatching thing?"
"Oh... that. Well, when I came here over a thousand years ago there was this spring. After the long journey I wanted to take a bath and... Does it help when I say 'Spring of Drowned Phoenix'?"
((I'm not even going to ask how something immortal could drown.)) thought Ranma, "I thought the spring here was the 'Spring of Drowned Bird'?"
"It is now... after I got into the pool the magic of the Phoenix soul reacted with my own and fused together, the spring itself was 'cleaned' again but I retained the soul of the Phoenix."
"You're some kind of hybrid now?" asked Ranma with a raised eyebrow ((Now that is new.))
"Yes, something like that."
"Are you ready for the fight of your life?" questioned the Saotome as he picked up his shirt again along with the Akane puppet. Quickly he dressed again, looking like he did before time stopped
"Of course not, but it's not like I have a choice."
"Exactly, is there something else that bothers you?"
"Actually yes, why do you pretend to be human?"
"That's what I always did since I came to Earth. Living as an all powerful being around mortals is getting boring after a while. My current life is the best of all the ones before; I never had so much action and fun since the time before I left Celestia. I'm even thinking of keeping my new name as a kind of memento. Anything else you want to ask?"
"Yeah... How did you know that I was an Angel Trainee? I haven't even been born at the time you left Celestia."
"That is easy to answer; I can see you as you truly are. Your age, appearance... everything that defines you. It is one of the benefits of having once been the Seraph."
"Oh..."
"If that's all, I will restart time now."
"Of course." said Saffron and the world around them started to move again
-insert standard Ranma vs. Saffron from the manga-
The 'badly hurt'Ranma sat on the ground with Akane in his arms and the baby Saffron in front of him. Unnoticed by everyone else, Ranma brought his index and middle finger of his right hand to his lips and then touched the toddler's forehead with them. Saffron started to glow a little but it soon vanished.
"Good fight... we will see each other in a month."
About a week later, after the failed wedding...
((Good thing I send all those invitations...)) thought Ranma as he looked at the remains of what once had been the Tendo dojo, ((It wouldn't do for me to marry a human, don't want to bring any Nephilims into the world))
And it was true, for as long as he lived on Earth he never took a mortal lover, elves and other mythical beings were free game though. He hated to break the heart of all his fiancées but it had to be done.
Ranma turned around to look at the people who took part in the whole mess that only happened a few minutes ago. Shampoo and Ukyo looked guiltily at the ruins of the training hall, while the unconscious forms of the Kuno siblings were dragged away by Sasuke. Akane seemed to be ready to kill someone and her father was bawling his eyes out. The other two Tendos had disbelieving looks in their eyes, as their only constant in their lives lay crumbled before them. Ryoga got lost, Mousse had been knocked out like Konatsu and Happosai was nowhere to be found. The reaction of his parents varied though, his father stood there with wide eyes all the while muttering 'my retirement...'. His mother on the other hand tried to comfort the two older Tendo daughters with soothing words and a gentle hug.
He also noticed that Akane was now stomping towards him, most probably she chose the person, which deserved her punishment.
"This is all your fault, Ranma!!" screamed the girl at the top of her lungs
"True." stated the man in question casually
"What?" asked now everyone dumbly
"Well, I did send these invitations." said Ranma without a care in the world, purposely ignoring the death glares the Tendo family (except Kasumi, she looked disappointed with Ranma) and his father were sending him, "Everything happened according to my plan."
"You did what?!?" yelled Akane, who wished that she brought something heavy with her so that she could bash the baka.
The look in Soun's eyes at those words was more demonic than all the Demon Head attacks he ever did.
Genma dropped to the ground and while looking at his son he whispered, "He became like the master, God help us... he became like the master..."
Nabiki's glare was cold enough to freeze the sun ten times over and the rest of the fiancées looked hopefully, expecting to be chosen as the bride now.
His mother, like Kasumi, had a disappointed look in her eyes. That was the only thing that made him feel really bad.
"Why...? Why did you do it?" asked Kasumi with a sad tone, "Do you hate us so much?"
Ranma walked to the girl and put his hands on her shoulders, looking her all the while straight in the eyes, "I don't hate anyone of you."
"Then why?" whispered Kasumi
"Because I had no other choice, I never wanted to marry any of my fiancées. Your father and Oyaji ignored all of this though and still pushed the engagement on me. I had to get it through their thick skulls that I was not going along with their plans and what better way to do that then destroying what means the most to them."
"All this just to break the engagement?" asked the girl surprised
"And it worked. With the way your father is looking at me right now, there is no way he wants to have me as a part of his family."
He put his hands down again and walked away from the people he called family, before Ranma left though he turned around for a final time and said,
"It was nice to get to know all of you but I have to leave now. Please don't try to follow me, it won't be possible." then he looked at his mother, "Nodoka Saotome, our contract is fulfilled now. I thank you for being my mother."
The woman stepped forward, "B-but...?"
"No buts... The contract said till the time you see your son's wedding day. That was today, it was never stated if the marriage should be successful." explained Ranma, "Don't worry, I will visit in the future. This is the funniest family I ever lived in and I didn't have that much action in centuries, for this I'm very grateful."
"C-centuries?" asked Ukyo shocked, "Who are you?"
"Hmm... I think I can tell you."
Before their eyes Ranma started to age and grow, the clothes shifting to accommodate for the new size. After a minute there stood a 24-year old version of Ranma, who was seven or eight inches taller than before and dressed in tight black leather pants, along with a black long-sleeved silk shirt. On his feet he had leather boots, which came to his knees and the short pigtail of before was replaced by a thick braid that almost reached his hips.
"Lucifer Morningstar, pleased to meet you." greeted the angel in front of them
"Lucifer? As in the 'Fallen Angel Lucifer'?" questioned Nabiki suspiciously
"Err... yes, that is how most people know me... even if it's not true." replied Lucifer, ((If I ever get my hands on the guy who wrote that damn book...))
"Not true?" asked not only one person
"I bet most of you know the story? The crap about me betraying God and wanting to take his throne?"
Most of them nodded, except Shampoo. She never heard about other religions in her village, so she wasn't very knowledgeable in that field.
"Well, as I said... it's not true. Angels never worked for Heaven; there are a few exceptions though. Angels and a certain kind of demons got their own realms that most humans know as purgatory. The light cases come to Celestia, the home of the angels, to work and help us with our tasks. They also get free room and board along with a few holidays. The worse cases are send to the Netherworld though, the home of the demons, where 20-hour workdays are not a rare occurrence. Forget holidays and all the free stuff, the pay is miserable and... Let's just say it's not a nice feeling if you are used as an explosive in a quarry.
Now where was I? Oh yes... Angels don't work for Asgard or Heaven as you know it. That's where the various gods and goddesses come into play, what I mean are the old Greek, Roman, Norse and Japanese gods and other deities from other pantheons. They work for Kami-Sama since they are his children. So there is no reason for me to attack Asgard, my relationship with God was always on a business level. Some favors here and there, a few assignments but nothing spectacular."
"You know Kami-Sama?!" asked Kasumi with wide eyes
"Yes... well, at least over the Yggdrasil chatroom and some e-mails. I never met him in person though, seems to be a nice guy."
"Chatroom?" stated Ukyo dumbly
"E-mail?" said Nabiki in the same dumb tone
"Errr... 'seems' to be nice?" for the first time Akane, she calmed down a little
"Don't worry. Deities don't have much to say on Earth. They are not in that kind of business anymore."
"Oh..." said the three who asked before
"If that was all, I will take my leave now. Good bye!"
Nodoka did have a last question, "What happened to these two?"
"Who...?" then he looked where she was pointing at, "Oh... them. I used a paralyzing spell on them, so that they wouldn't disrupt our discussion."
The others also looked in the same direction Lucifer was and were surprised to see Genma and Soun in the same position they were only a few minutes ago. They weren't moving an inch.
"It will wear off in the next few hours, don't worry." said the angel
He was about to leave again and turned around when he felt someone hugging him from behind,
"Please, don't go Airen." pleaded Shampoo, "Don't you love Shampoo?"
Turning around yet again, he dislodged himself from the Amazon and looked her in the eyes, "Of course I do."
"What?" not only Shampoo said this
"But don't get me wrong, I love all of you."
"Huh?" again everyone
"I love Nodoka for being so honorable, I love Kasumi for her gentle nature, Akane because of her determination and Nabiki for helping her family so much. I love Ukyo and her caring and friendly attitude and I love you, Shampoo, because of the happiness you radiate. I even love Ryoga for the friend he was in dire situations and Mousse because of his devotion. You won't believe it, but I love these two paralyzed morons too because of their friendship that held over the years.
Frankly, I love all of you as if you were my own children and nothing will happen to ever change that. We will see us again, don't worry. I will visit at least once every year."
He left them alone now and as he walked through the gates of the Tendo property and onto the streets, his clothes changed to the usual Chinese style.
"Now where should I go now? I have three weeks before Saffron comes here." said Lucifer to himself, ((Maybe the apartment in Juuban? Nah... Don't want to get involved with the Senshi. Where to? Oh yes, I still have that apartment in Nekomi!))
His destination now decided, Lucifer moved towards the train station. After half an hour he reached it and promptly proceeded to buy a ticket. He didn't have to wait long though, since the next train to Nekomi arrived only five minutes later.
As Lucifer was sitting on one of the free seats of the train he started to think of what he would do once he got back to Celestia,
((Probably deck Lamington over the head for leaving Saffron here... How can he be so idiotic? I wonder if there is a new Overlord for the Netherworld... the young Krichevskoy had promise to be a great ruler and the power to back it up too. I also want to know how Celestia changed over the last... Hmmm... I think it was 12.000 years...
Maybe I will also find somebody worth fighting there... the only good fights I had were against Herb and Saffron and even that wasn't all that challenging. At least I don't have to turn into a girl anymore; it was hard to keep that illusion up. Who created those damn springs anyway? Well, for me he's right up there with the guy who wrote that damnable book...))
"That seat taken?" suddenly asked someone
"Huh?" replied Lucifer with utmost intelligence
"I asked if the seat next to you was taken."
The angel looked up to see a beautiful green-haired woman with bronze skin, she was dressed in light-purple business dress and her red eyes were looking directly into his blue ones.
"Of course not, please sit down." answered the man
She did exactly that and after a few minutes of silence he started to talk again,
"How are you, Pluto-chan?"
"I'm well, Luzi-kun."
"That's good to hear... Oh... and call me Ranma."
"Ranma?" asked the woman with a raised eyebrow
"My last identity in the family I lived in. I actually liked it so much that I decided to keep the name for a while. It's definitely better name to go around than Lucifer... You still won't tell me who wrote the book?"
"No, I won't. I like your new name though, it fits you."
"You really think so?"
"Yes, Wild Horse is the right description for you. I still the remember that one night a few centuries ago where we had too much to drink... you definitely were a wild horse back then. I couldn't walk straight for at least three or four days."
"Ha ha... very funny." stated Ranma dryly, "So, how is the Senshi business?"
"I don't think we should talk about that in an almost full train wagon."
"Don't worry, they can't hear what we are really talking about. For them it sounds like we are old school friends who met for the first time after years."
"New spell?" asked Setsuna
"Old spell; there was no need to use it before though. So... about the Senshi?"
"It all works out fine, they just recently defeated Pharaoh 90 and the Death Busters."
"Really? Damn... he still owes me 500 gold pieces from that bet we had four thousand years ago."
"Eh? You know Pharaoh 90?" questioned the Senshi of Pluto surprised
"Yeah, back then we had this bet running that I wouldn't be able to send him to another dimension. Well, I did it and won... I was waiting for him to return to pay his debt."
"You mean to tell me that he actually belonged into this dimension?"
"Errr... Yes, you didn't know? I mean, there is a reason he is called Pharaoh, he was one of the greatest and most powerful rulers of Egypt. The later generations took on the name Pharaoh as a way to remember an honor him."
"It seems that you aren't at all saddened about your friend's death."
"Why should I? It's not like he ever stayed dead for a prolonged time, believe me... I tried to kill him in every way possible just to test his claim." stated Ranma, "In a few centuries he will come to life again."
Setsuna's left eye started to twitch at that, "But the Death Reborn Revolution had been used against him! That's enough power to destroy a whole planet!"
"I don't know about you but... if you kill someone it doesn't matter how much power you use to do the deed... dead is dead. He will return... and I hope he has those gold pieces."
"Oh... so, where are you going now?"
"Nekomi, my last contract ran out today so I'm going to live there."
"Why not Juuban?" asked Setsuna innocently
"Yeah right... and then you send the Senshi after me to test them."
"I don't know what you are talking about."
"Of course you don't..."
"Come on, you know me. Would I really do that?"
"Yes, you would. You wouldn't pass the chance to let the Senshi fight me. They wouldn't even object if you told them that my name is Lucifer."
"Okay... you got me there. At least visit sometimes, it's boring out there at the Gates of Time."
"I'll do that but I think you should go now."
"Why?"
"Card control and I think you teleported in here."
"Oh! Okay, I disappear now. See you later."
"Bye." said Ranma with a nod
The woman faded from existence and Ranma dropped his spell. After around ten more minutes the train reached Nekomi and the angel got out of the wagon, leaving the station. It took him another fifteen minutes to reach his apartment. It was nicely furnished and pretty big but there was still one problem,
"Oh god... It will take me forever to get rid of all the dust."
Much, much later in a much, much cleaner apartment...
"I think I'm out of practice." said Ranma as he lay sprawled out on the wooden floor of the living room, "And I hate it too... Maybe I should have kept Pluto around... she did say that she was bored at the Timegate."
Ranma stood back up and patted his clothes up and down, each tap letting a small dust cloud rise into the air.
"Damn it... Next time I'm just going to buy a new apartment." muttered Ranma, "I need a drink..."
This said he walked to the front door, took his wallet from a cupboard next to the entrance and left his residence. It didn't take him long to find a suitable place, it was nothing fancy and rather small.
He entered it and was greeted by the smell of beer, sake and cigarette smoke. Ranma walked to the bar and sat down on one of the stools, he noticed that there were almost no people in there except for a few guys, who seemed to have an after-work party. The barkeeper, a rather old, overweight man, came to him and asked what he wanted,
"A bottle of the hardest liquor you have here. Oh... yeah, I'm drinking out of it directly."
"I hope you can take it, my best stuff is pretty strong."
"Just give it to me, I had a bad day." replied Ranma, ((Not really, but he doesn't need to know that.))
The man reached under his counter and pulled out a piece of paper, "You first have to sign this, lad."
"Huh? What is that?" asked the former son of Nodoka
"That is a contract that states that you won't sue me for any ill effects the stuff you want can cause."
"What 'ill effects' are you talking about?" questioned Ranma confused
"Going blind, severe liver, kidney and brain damage and other assorted injuries."
"I can live with that, give me a pen already." said the angel and then continued after the barkeeper gave him a ballpoint, "As long as I'm busy with this, go and get me that drink."
Everything worked out fine, Ranma got his alcohol and the man his contract. Now the barkeeper only prayed that our favorite angel didn't die, so that he wouldn't have to call the ambulance again like last week.
With his first gulp Ranma emptied almost a quarter of the one liter bottle. The elderly man on the other side of the bar almost passed out from shock as he saw that his customer was completely okay.
"Wow, good stuff you've got there."
Two bottles later and the barkeeper on the verge of a heart attack...
"If I only could get drunk faster..." muttered Ranma, when suddenly someone sat down next to him
"Four bottles of sake... I'm drinking directly out of them." said a certainly female voice
Ranma looked to the side to see who made almost the same request as him and was surprised. He saw the most beautiful woman that ever crossed his way. She was almost as tall as him, had dark-tanned skin and the most eye-catching white hair. Before he could examine her further though, she noticed his staring,
"See something you like, handsome?"
"Actually yes, you're one of the most stunning women I have ever seen."
"One of?" asked the woman with a raised eyebrow
"Yes, one of. You are not the first beautiful woman I've seen in my life."
"Fair enough."
"So... what are you doing here all alone, ordering four sake bottles?"
"Bad day... very bad day... and you? That stuff you drink is pretty strong, I heard you can go blind because of it."
"...I was bored... and didn't have anything else to do."
"Oh..."
And both of them proceeded with their drinking session.
Ranma at his fifth bottle, the woman at her third... the barkeeper... don't ask...
"What's your name anyway?" asked Ranma out of the blue
"Urd... and yours?"
"Ranma."
And the drinking continued.
Ranma: 10 bottles; Urd: 8 bottles; Barkeeper: ...
"I think we should go home..." mumbled Ranma, finally drunk
"I agree..." replied Urd, she too was not sober anymore
Both of them got up from their seats and dropped a wad of cash on the counter. They walked out of the bar and started on their way home... there was only one problem... the two forgot that they lived in different places and Urd followed Ranma to his apartment.
The next morning...
Ranma woke up with a splitting headache, which was quickly fading though since he activated his healing powers again. He disabled them last night so that he actually could feel the effects of the alcohol. As his mind cleared again, he felt something warm and soft pressing against him,
"Shampoo?"
"Who is this Shampoo?" asked the 'something warm and soft'
He looked to his side to see a gorgeous woman staring at him with her emerald green eyes. That was when the memories of last night came crashing down on him and Ranma was amazed how flexible she was.
"Hey, Urd."
"Morning." greeted Urd back
In that moment Ranma noticed something that he didn't see the night before, the three blue marks on Urd's face. He knew what they represented and he realized that the woman lying next to him was a goddess. That was a first for him; he never met a god or goddess before in his life.
"Nice tattoos you have there." said Ranma
"Tattoos...? Oh... that! That are birthmarks, not tattoos." replied Urd as she touched the one on her right cheek, she didn't seem to be worried at all that she spent the night with a man she didn't know
"Damn..." muttered the angel
"Huh? What do you mean with that?"
"You're a goddess, aren't you?"
Urd's eyes widened at this and her jaw dropped, "How...?"
"How do I know? Well, I'm not human either."
At this Urd jumped out of the bed and in a flash of light was dressed again. She stood there looking suspiciously at the man she slept with last night,
"What are you then?"
"Don't worry; I'm not a demon if you think that. I'm an angel from Celestia." answered Ranma and stood up too, as he left the bed the clothes he wore when he revealed his true self to the people in Nerima materialized on his body.
"Celestia? And I should believe that?"
"Of course you should."
Urd felt the urge to facefault at his answer but restrained herself, "Prove it."
"As you wish." when he said this, a pair of white wings ripped through the shirt on his back. He unfolded them as far as he could in a closed room and looked Urd in the eyes, "See?"
Urd let her guard down a little and asked, "What is someone from Celestia doing here on Earth? You all broke contact with us and the other dimensions eons ago."
"Vacation." stated Ranma simply and walked out of the room, leaving Urd back there.
After a few seconds she left the bedroom too and saw that Ranma was in the kitchen, the goddess entered it and watched what the angel was doing.
"You want breakfast?" asked Ranma
She took a moment to compose herself and answered, "Yeah, why not."
Accepting her answer, he walked to the fridge and opened it, "Crap..."
"What is it?"
"I forgot that I just moved in here yesterday. I didn't have the time to buy food."
"Great... now what?"
"When I walked here yesterday I saw a nice café only a few houses from here."
"Then what are you waiting for? I'm starving... the way you worked me through last night would leave anyone exhausted."
"You seem to take it pretty lightly that you had sex with an angel you didn't even know."
"Why should I be worried about it? I'm a goddess of love and an open mind about sex is belongs to the job description."
Ranma accepted the answer, it made sense; both of them walked out of the kitchen and made their way towards the front door. Some minutes later they were walking next to each other on the sidewalk, this was also the moment Ranma remembered something about mythology,
"Errr... Urd?" asked Ranma as he looked at the goddess
"Yes, what is it?"
"Ummm... You said you were a love goddess."
"Yes, why do you ask?" Urd was now curious
"Well, I just remembered a thing about Norse mythology... you know, the three Norns... Urd, Verdandi and Skuld?"
"Heh heh... well, I'm the goddess of the past too." replied Urd, "And its Belldandy now, not Verdandi."
Now a question came up for Ranma, which he always wanted to know the answer about, "Hey, Urd. How is it to be worshipped?"
The deity in question stumbled as she heard this, but before she could fall to the ground Ranma caught her and brought her back on her feet.
"Thanks." said Urd gratefully
"No need to thank me, you stumbled because of my question."
"You just caught me off guard with it."
There were some moments of silence as they started to walk again, but Urd decided to break it,
"Well, it is weird at first but you get used to it after a while. With my sisters and me it wasn't so bad, since the prayers were almost always for the three of us as a group. Other deities got a pretty big ego though; they felt great that they had so much influence on the mortals."
"Let me guess, some of them abused their influence."
"Yes, after a while some of them even demanded blood sacrifices, just to see how far the humans would go. The sad thing is that some deities took a liking for it... and wanted humans to be sacrificed to them."
"I bet that caused an uproar in Asgard."
"Of course it did, a good example for it is the fight between two brothers. That was in South America, a few hundred years ago. It was like this... Tezcatlipoca was one of the worst and most violent gods; he demanded that the heart of a human should be cut out of the body while the mortal was still alive. His brother Quetzalcoatl disagreed with him though..."
Ranma interrupted, "Only him? There must have been more who were opposing this."
"There were... but no one was powerful enough to stop him. He was a first class god with almost unlimited power, has it not been for his limiters that only Kami-Sama could remove."
"So, where's the problem there? I know quite a bit about Asgard through the library of Celestia and there must have been more gods or goddesses with a 'First Class: Unlimited' status."
"There were but he was more powerful than them, the sacrifices and rituals of his worshippers actually increased his powers unbelievably... At the end of the line Quetzalcoatl decided to finally stop his brother, but he couldn't even scratch him... they fought for over a month and his energy reserves seemed to be almost completely empty, while Tezcatlipoca was as fresh as at the beginning. Quetzalcoatl tried in one desperate attempt to gather all the power he could muster, all energy he could from his surroundings to kill his brother... in this moment something weird happened.
His form started to shift and he turned into a gigantic feathered snake, as we felt his power at this moment we couldn't fathom what has happened. It was bigger than anything we have felt ever before and we could even see Tezcatlipoca tremble in fear at his new enemy. Everything went quickly after that; the snake ripped Tezcatlipoca apart like he was a piece of paper."
"What happened after that?" asked Ranma curiously
"The snake started to glow and after some seconds dissolved completely into wisps of light, Quetzalcoatl was never seen again. Most of the deities were confused and frightened by this, so we went to Kami-Sama to get an explanation... he refused to give one though and he only sealed the remains of Tezcatlipoca into a stone mirror, deep into one of his temples. In our moments of shock in the aftermath of the battle the demons started an attack on Asgard, using our weakened state to strike against us. After a long and bloody war, Kami-Sama and Hild decided to sign a peace contract that allowed no deity or demon to influence the human world anymore. That, along with the Doublet System that bound every god and goddess to a demon or demoness."
"Doublet System? Whatever for?" asked Ranma, ((And how did they not know about the Augoeides(1)? Well... if they are corrupted this easily maybe it's good that they have no idea how to access it.))
"To prevent another war... if a deity dies, the connected demon would die too and vice versa."
"Sounds pretty effective!" stated the angel
"It is."
"Hey, we're there!" exclaimed Ranma as he pointed with his finger to the left
Urd looked at the café and was positively surprised, it seemed to be the exact opposite of the bar they were in last night, "Nice. I didn't expect something like this."
"What, you thought I would drag you to a crappy bar like the one last night?" retorted the otherworldly being with a raised eyebrow
She didn't look him into the face, "Well..."
"You did!" exclaimed Ranma while pointing his index finger at her accusingly, "Oh well... let's get a seat."
She resisted the urge to facefault and complied, both of them sat down at one of the outside tables and each one took one of menus that lay on the table. A few moments later a waitress came out of the main building and walked to them,
"Good morning! You already decided what to order?"
Placing the menu to the side, Ranma looked at the girl, "I want a large bowl of miso soup, please."
Urd put her menu on top of Ranma's as she decided what to order, "I want the salad special."
The waitress wrote their orders down, picked up the menus and left them both to themselves.
"Just a question but why did you order the salad? Back in the apartment you said you were starving."
"Telling that story kinda lessened my appetite." replied Urd with a shrug
"Oh... Sorry if I brought up bad memories." said Ranma sincerely
"You didn't, it just wasn't a very pretty event." answered the goddess, "Now tell me about yourself, how is it in Celestia?"
"Hmmm... It's pretty peaceful up there... and well, it can be pretty boring too."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing exciting ever happens up there since the Gates were closed." responded Ranma, "Not to mention that most angels are pretty stuck up."
"Stuck up? How that?" asked Urd curiously, she hadn't noticed that with her sisters' or her own angel
"They are arrogant just because they are angels, just mention demons and they feel the urge to wash their ears for hearing this." muttered Ranma, "They seem to forget that we all lived together once."
"The angels can't be that bad, I have my own and my sisters too. They don't seem like you described them."
"Ah... these angels are assigned directly by the Seraph. He would never choose an angel with such an attitude as a partner for a goddess or god."
"You know quite much about that, what's your job up there?"
((Think, think... think fast.... Yes!)) thought Ranma as he came up with an idea, "I work as a Sentry, we are under the direct command of the Seraph and belong to the most powerful warriors in Celestia. We also protect the Sanctuary."
"Sounds like an important job." said Urd a bit surprised, she was sitting together with one of the most powerful warriors of Celestia
"It is, it's just so boring... since no one except an angel can enter through a Gate, there's actually no reason or need for protection. That's the whole reason I came down here."
Before Urd could reply to that one, their waitress came back with a tray that held their food. She placed in on their table and hurried back to the building, she needed to serve a new customer. While they were eating, Urd continued with their discussion,
"So you took your vacation down here because you were bored and not because you're overworked?"
"Yes, I thought that something exciting might happen here on Earth."
"Then why not go to Juuban? With all the youma that show up there, there should be enough for you to do."
"Yeah right... with my luck the Senshi come after me..." said Ranma, ((That has nothing to do with luck... I know Pluto-chan.))
"Come on, they wouldn't attack an angel."
"Maybe they wouldn't attack an angel but how would they know that I was one?"
"Umm... the wings?"
"New youma with wings..." stated Ranma, "I bet that's what they think first."
"Would they be dangerous to you?"
"No, not really. It would need someone of your powerlevel or higher to put me in danger." then he brought some noodles to his mouth with chopsticks
"You really think that only a goddess can match you in power?"
"From what I've seen on Earth, yes." replied Ranma after swallowing the food
"You seem to be very confident in your abilities."
"How about a sparring match to prove my claim?" challenged Ranma with a smirk that he only used for his rivals back in Nerima
The goddess contemplated this for a second and then answered, "Why not but..."
She was interrupted, "Onee-chan? Why didn't you tell us that you have a new boyfriend?"
Urd recognized the voice instantly and looked slowly to the side. Her two sisters were standing there along with Keichi, all three of them looking at her with wide eyes.
Author's Note:
Yes, yes... you're asking yourself now when he is going to update his other fics. Well, this was my last new idea, so I'm starting to write the next chapters for 'Death and Rebirth' and 'Requiem Battle Network'.
(1). Augoeides is a term I used from the manga Bastard!!. I'm not going to spoil what it is now but if you are interested read the 21st volume of the manga, there's an in-depth explanation.
Hope you like this story!
Ja Ne!!