you? Keiichi?"

"He's not here, but there's someone else here who wants to talk to you," her big sister's voice told her sternly as Belldandy opened the door to his room. "It's the Almighty!"

Keiichi saw the temple in front of him and slowed down, still smiling brilliantly. He loved riding his motorcycle, watching the landscape change and feeling the thrill of the speed and the excitement; and yet something was missing. He turned the last corner and parked the motorcycle. With a wistful glance at the sidecar, the young man petted his seat, since the bike had always been a faithful companion to him, and this was his way of saying thank you. And then, at last, he understood: not something, but someone had been missing on his way back home. He was so used to driving with Belldandy by his side that it felt awfully awkward to drive without her.

All at once, the young man felt his nervousness as he walked past the gate of the temple. Every beat of his heart seemed to pound painfully against his chest and the blood rushed to his head, making him feel light-headed. Step by step he approached the entrance of his home, while the weight of the box in his left pocket slowed him down considerably. After an endless time - or was it just a minute - he arrived at the door, took a deep breath of the fresh air to calm himself, gulped down the lump in his throat and slid the door open. Immediately, he was greeted by Urd and Belldandy, who both wore their formal dresses.

"Bell, Belldandy!" he blabbered incoherently. "It's, it's good to see that you're awake! How're you doing? Feeling all right? Good to see you!"

"Keiichi Morisato," Belldandy answered him in a firm voice and a blank expression. "The contract between you and me, Belldandy, first-class goddess, second category, unlimited license, is no longer registered in the system and thus no longer valid."

"Belldandy?" the young man asked her and carefully approached her. "What do you mean? Is everything all right? Did something happen?"

"Due to the fact that the contract is no longer valid," she continued in the same monotonous but firm voice, as though she had not heard him, "I am free to leave whenever I want.I hope you enjoyed your time, because I'll be leaving within the next ten minutes. "

Keiichi felt a thousand daggers piercing through his violent beating heart of glass until it shattered into a thousand small pieces. His blood, which remained circling through his veins, powered by a miraculous entity, since his heart was no longer intact, carried off the pieces of glass throughout his body. Every now and then one or two of them were lost in the perpetual flow and pierced themselves into his body, causing him horrendous pain that he could neither cease nor bear till he felt nothing anymore; However, neither did his smile falter for even one second nor did tears well up in his eyes. He smiled radiantly at Belldandy with all his admiration and love for her.

"Belldandy," he whispered, his voice being barely audible. "If that's how you feel, I won't stop you. But answer me this question: why did you tell me you loved me when you obviously didn't? I though you couldn't lie!"

"I do love you, Keiichi Morisato," the goddess said, her empty gaze staring past him into the perfectly blue sky. "I love this planet and every being on it, yet I do not love you in any other way. As a goddess it is my duty to make you happy and by saying that I made you happy, did I not? But before I go , I have one thing left to give to you: this ring belongs to you. "

"I guess so," he answered her numbly and stretched out his right hand to take the ring he had worked so hard for, while his left hand fumbled clumsily in his pocket and finally drew a small box out of it. He looked at the box silently until the silence's devastating shadow filled every corner of the temple and rang loudly in his ears.

"Uh, finally we can get out of here!" Urd brought the uncomfortable silence to an end, while she looked around the old temple in disgust. "I really hated this dump! A beautiful goddess like me should only reside in the most suited mansions. Nothing against you, kiddo, but I really, really hated it here."

"I understand, Urd," Keiichi told her with a smile and watched how Skuld appeared at the far end of the hallway, before turning to Belldandy and handing her the box. "Here, please take it with you. I don't have any need for it anymore."

Hesitantly, Belldandy took the box from his shaking hand and inspected it. It was so small and looked so fragile, as though it contained the pieces of the young man's broken heart. Her slim fingers touched the synthetic surface tenderly, trying to suck in as much of his love as possible. As she tried to open the box, though, the warmth of his hand on hers prevented her from doing it, churning up all her emotions for him that fought within her like the raving sea in a raging storm.

"Don't open it here, Bell. It's for your eyes only," the mechanic whispered softly and took her in his arms for the last time. "Thank you, Bell. Thank you for everything you've done for me. Those past years were the happiest of my life. I loved every second with you."Embracing her softly, Keiichi remembered every obstacle they had encountered together and overcome: Mara, the Lord of Terror, Peorth, Welsper, Lorelei and even Hagall. He wished that he could hug her like this forever, but the tighter he held her the faster she seemed to slip out of his arms. After a few blissful seconds he let go of her and stepped back, because he knew that his true wish was not to hold her but to make her happy whatever that might mean for him and his happiness. For a split-second he thought that he saw tears glistening in her blue eyes and the faintest sound of a voice telling him 'farewell'. And then she was gone.

"Skuld," the young man said with a hollow smile, kneed down before the young girl and embraced her, "I want to thank you, too. You've never pretended to like me to begin with, but to me you were like a little sister. Although I've got nothing I can give to you, I'm sure you'll be just fine, because you're a fantastic goddess. And I'll make sure to drop Sentaro a note that you won ' t be around anymore. "

"You idiot!" she yelled as he let her go, turned around and ran to the bathroom, tears streaming down her face all the way. "Why couldn't you just hate us all? That would've made things so much easier, you dummy."

"Now, don't go all touchy-feely with me, kiddo," Urd told him casually before he could say anything at all. "I was just here for my sister's sake. By the way, I'll take the TV with me, okay? "

Without further ado Urd vanished into thin air, leaving Keiichi all alone. The young man sat down on the hard, wooden floor in the middle of the hallway and stared blankly at the wall. He couldn't believe that they were gone just like this. He felt dizzy, because his memories forced themselves into his mind and showed him confusing remembrances of things past, all circling around a certain goddess no matter how hard he tried not to think of her. Just as the first tears started welling up in his eyes, he drew his knees close to his chest and hugged them in order to calm himself. He could simply not believe that she was gone.

Urd felt an unnaturally strong and chilly wind blowing past her as she manifested in heaven. She hid her beautiful face in the palms of her hands. After she had gathered her remaining strength, she looked about herself and found her two sisters sitting opposite to each other. Immediately, Urd rushed towards her younger sister. Belldandy was sitting on the ground, looking at the sky. Tears were gushing out her eyes, flowing down her cheeks, leaving a salty path, and dropping down unto her dress. The goddess of the past kneed down in front of her and embraced her.

"Bell, look at me," she whispered into her ear, softly caressing her sister's cheek. "It's better that way. The Almighty's word is law. It's better to break his heart once than to keep him longing, waiting for your return. He'll find a nice mortal woman, maybe Sayoko or even Chihiro, marry her and be happy." . You did the right thing. ""Yes, I know," she sobbed. "But why does it have to hurt so much? Every time I close my eyes I see his smiling face and I feel as though I cannot breathe anymore."

"It'll ease with time, dear," Urd reassured her, wiping the tears from her face. "Now, don't you want to take a walk with me?"

"I do not wish for it to ease with time," she answered her sister sadly, "because that would mean that I would forget about him, would it not?"

Keiichi sat down on a bench near the ocean and watched the sunset. The sun's golden reflection in the water and the shadows of the night contrasting the reddish glow of the lingering light of day eased his spinning mind. She was gone. Forever. He had to accept the simple truth, and yet he could not stand the pain. Every once in a while, a familiar face walked by and greeted him, asking where Belldandy was and his answer was the same forevermore:

"Gone," he repeated once again, feeling a small portion of the pain leaving with every repetition, as Sayoko asked him about Belldandy. "Gone and she won't come back."

Sayoko sat down next to him, took his hand in hers, squeezed it tightly and watched the golden sunset with him. Together the two enjoyed the last beam of the setting sun and remained sitting next to each other, holding hands and not saying a single word, until the night had engulfed them completely in its veil of darkness. Slowly, Keiichi turned his head towards the young woman next to him and smiled weakly at her.

"Thank you, Sayoko," he said and wanted to stand up as the queen drew him closer to her and gently kissed his cheek.

"Peorth, there's something wrong on earth," Chrono exclaimed. "Something or someone is setting free a huge