The Goddess Exchange Program (part 16 of 19)

a Ah My Goddess fanfiction by JustJun

Back to Part 15
Peorth

My father, my father is on earth right in front of me!! And he wants to 
destroy Lind! KAMI-SAMA HELP! The last time I saw my father was when I 
made monthly trip home, even then though he was too busy to talk to me.

"Father why are you doing this!" I asked forcefully. Despite throwing 
Lind aside like a rag doll, my father is nice and kind and would never 
hurt anyone. So someone must be forcing him to do this, otherwise he 
wouldn't be so out of character.

"I told you I am here to eliminate Valkyrie Lind" he responded harshly 
without even looking at me.

"What have I done to deserve such a punishment?" asked Lind as she 
dusted herself off. She walked in front of me and only from behind could 
I see the back of her arm was bleeding. I gasped and wanted to heal it 
immediately but I knew she wanted to pretend there was nothing wrong. 
The stupid fool.

"That is classified information."

"That's ridiculous!" shouted Urd. "I don't care who you are! You can't 
just come barging into our home and blow Lind into a wall! I'm missing 
my dramas!"

"That's not exactly what you should say right now," muttered Skuld. My 
father looked angry at the comments my extended family made, if anything 
he cannot stand ignorance and well, Urd and Skuld were the queens of 
ignorance.

"High seraph I cannot accept this punishment without reason. So unless I 
am told I will not cooperate," said Lind.

"Cooperate? Do you think I need your cooperation? You forget Valkyrie 
Lind you have no powers. It was my decision to take them away from you 
at the last trial meeting. Do you see how powerful I am?"

"I do not doubt your power. The title High Seraph is enough to make me 
tremble in fear, but, your life will be the most difficult if you do not 
have my cooperation."

There I was watching my lover and my father begin their battle of fast 
witted words and mental ability. I wanted Lind to meet my family 
eventually. I even had plans to take her to my home the next opportunity 
we both had. I expected my mother to welcome Lind with open arms and my 
sister to question her continuously. I hoped my father would just give 
us his nod of approval, but now? Instead of a nod of approval he's going 
to give Lind a one way trip to oblivion.

"Apart from your life-force you are mortal. Let's see what you can do." 
With only a mere flick of his wrist he summoned forth a gigantic roaring 
fire element chimera. Damn Lind can't protect herself! I ran towards her 
but the fire creature made contact. I fell backwards from the force of 
the explosion

"LIND!" I shouted in terror.

"I'm alright!" She yelled back. Once the dust had settled I saw 
Belldandy floating in front of Lind commanding a strong windshield.

"Father! Stop this! I don't want you two to fight!" He threw an 
inquisitive look at me and raised his eyebrow.

"Is Valkyrie Lind important to you?"

"Yes! She is my lover! So please don't fight," I pleaded. I was on the 
verge of tears, I was so confused as to what was going on. I stood up 
and took my place next to Lind and held her arm. He furrowed his brow 
and his mouth twitched into a smile or scowl, I didn't know which, his 
beard always made it difficult to read his facial expressions.

"Out of respect for Peorth we shall not fight. However you still need to 
be eliminated Valkyrie Lind."

"Am I to just stand here and accept this? Or will you give me a fighting 
chance?"

"Your elimination will be decided using a ritual of old. Kami's will."

"Conditions?"

"If Kami picks me you will be reborn a mortal, Valkyrie Lind will no 
longer exist and all who knew you will no longer remember you. Your 
existence is thus eliminated. You will however remember your goddess 
life, so you can repent for your sins."

"That's ridiculous! She doesn't accept," I yelled back. How can he be so 
cruel? How can he do this with no remorse or pain?! Has my father become 
twisted and sadistic with his power?

"Peorth!" Lind hissed at me then she returned her attention to my 
father. "What if Kami picks me?"

"Your position as a Valkyrie will still change and thus Lind Valkyrie 
will still be eliminated, however, I will tell you why I am here. The 
answers of the questions of the world will be known to you."

"Either way I am to be eliminated...With reluctance I accept High 
Seraph."

"Lind you can't be serious!" I yelled at her but she nodded for 
Belldandy and me to retreat far away. I walked away reluctantly and we 
retreated to where the others were standing. They all looked confused as 
usual.

"Ano...what is Kami's will?" asked Keiichi scratching his head. "These 
two told me that food appears out of nowhere and it feeds everyone. I 
can't imagine Lind and your father doing that." I sighed loudly

"Honestly Urd and Skuld stop spouting your nonsense. What they're 
referring to is Kami's fill. My father was talking about Kami's will, 
completely different thing."

"What? I haven't studied ancient rituals in ages!" exclaimed Urd.

"Kami's will is when two opponents summon the will of god to strike 
them. Whoever god strikes wins and their part of the agreement goes 
forth. It is a way for gods to decided matters without fighting," said 
Belldandy.

"But either way Lind will be...she'll be gone!. What's the point? What's 
the point?" I said and broke down crying. My knees met with the grass as 
I sobbed into my palms. Belldandy hugged me and tried to calm me down 
but it was no use.

----------

Lind

Hah what a situation. I was trembling, actually trembling, but I 
couldn't show my fear; I never show my fear. This High Seraph, this god, 
Peorth's father...is to initiate in Kami's will with me and whoever Kami 
chooses the outcome is to be the same. Curses, without my normal powers 
my arm was still bleeding and it stung horribly. This is the stigma of 
being mortal...I better get used to it.

"You are an odd one Valkyrie. Of all I have watched over in my domain, 
you are the one that interests me the most. It seems you fight in the 
name of Kami, yet really you're fighting for someone else, a blasphemous 
act."

"Is that what you are judging me for?"

"No, I am judging you for an entirely different matter."

"Allow me this one request that you must allow me no matter the 
outcome."

"Speak it."

"...Let me be the one to erase Peorth's memory. Only I should do it."

"...Fine... For the duration of Kami's will I lift the restriction on 
your powers and in exactly 15 seconds we shall begin," he said 
authoritatively.

I felt my body being reenergized as my powers returned. My arm healed 
and the marks on my face glowed. I'm back.

"Time's up. GO!" He yelled. We stepped into the summoning position with 
our arms crossed out in front of us and began the chant. Our signels 
appeared on the floor; his appeared from flames bursting on the ground 
whilst mine just glowed...show off, just like his daughter.

"Arguments of old, wars of old, unresolved quarrels. Let them be solved, 
let them be decided by God's hand. Your subject seeks it. The divine 
hand, the divine decisions. Let it be heard" we said in unison. The sky 
parted and became a black void with only a single beam of light shining 
through. The beam of light grew and it hit the ground between our 
signels. Another millimetre and the beam would have touched my signel 
and I would have won. The light remained motionless, so we waited...and 
waited.

"Nothing's happening! Do something you damn light!" Yelled Urd.

"I can use my latest invention which can absorb the light and we can 
redirect it towards Lind and she can win!"

"Excellent Skuld let's do that." Before they could even move an inch I 
turned my head and gave them an icy death glare, then focused my 
attention back to the ritual.

"Joking Lind!" Shouted Urd nervously. The fools...but it's nice they're 
trying to be helpful.

Suddenly the light jolted and dashed everywhere wildly. It condensed 
into a ball and it beamed glaringly. My eyes followed it as it 
frantically flew everywhere, at Keiichi who dived out of the way, at the 
house and back towards the sky, then to my dismay it made it's way 
towards the High Seraph.

Realising it was my last attempt I rotated some of the symbols of wind 
in my signel to increase my power aura; it wasn't much but its better 
than nothing.

"Kewww." What? Did I just hear something go kew? Never mind that for 
now. The light had stopped a mere fraction in front of the High Seraph's 
signel, it spun wildly again then headed for me! Finally! Result. The 
light flew at me and once it passed through my signel the entire area 
lighted up in a giant flash. I was blinded for a few seconds but once I 
opened my eyes I jumped back in shock. A blue furry creature was 
floating in front of me.

"Kewww" it purred. Oh you've got to be kidding me. This fluffy animal 
decided my existence!! My face was that of pure disgust; I have a fear 
of anything small and fluffy as this creature is.

"Lind" Peorth called out as everyone ran towards me. "Whats goin...Wahh! 
What's this thing!"

"A child wind spirit. Congratulations Valkyrie, this avatar of Kami has 
chosen you and so you have won" spoke the High Seraph as he walked 
towards us.

"She won? Lind won't go away now?" asked Skuld.

"No she won't little one," he said as he patted her head affectionately. 
He seems like an entirely different person now, just moments ago he 
wanted to destroy me and now he's treating Skuld like his own daughter. 
The furry wind spirit was obviously happy as it flew around me several 
times until it rested on my shoulder. Adorable as it is, I was mildly 
terrified of it and was tempted to sweep it off. Somehow noticing how 
agitated I was even though I didn't show it, Peorth grabbed the creature 
and held it in her arms. I relaxed and smiled at her.

"Kewww" it called out happily.

"Now as I said prior to our ritual, your position as a Valkyrie will 
change and I will any of your questions."

"Any questions?" I asked.

"Anything."

"After millennia of dedicated service to Kami-sama, why am I treated as 
if I am a traitor? Why have I been ordered to be eliminated?"

"You are not treated as a traitor to heaven but a candidate for a higher 
power. The Valkyrie will be eliminated, not you."

"What?"

"It is a simple thing to understand is it not? I have chosen you to be a 
candidate for my seat on the council, to become the next High Seraph of 
the Valkyries." I felt my heart stop, and time froze around me, all I 
could hear was his last sentence repeating in my mind. Me? The next High 
Seraph? "The ritual we performed was my first task to you, to see how 
pure your heart really is. To see how dedicated you are."

"Father, why couldn't you tell us? Why did you make me think that Lind 
was going to die and I was never going to see her again?" asked Peorth 
weakly. He walked towards her majestically and held her shoulders 
strongly.

"My daughter, this was planned by an even higher power than I, long 
before you fell in love with her. In order for Lind to be tested 
correctly, she needed to believe that her last days were at hand and 
that her whole would be destroyed, so that I, her examiner, could 
evaluate her properly. I am sorry I made you think the worst, but there 
was no other alternative."

"But still..."

"How did you assess me?" He flicked his wrist lightly and the flames of 
his signel disappeared, where he stood was another spell engraved on the 
floor. He hid a spell in the flames; that cunning old bas...wait, I 
can't say that about Peorth's father, even if it is true.

"This is a Premonition spell, based on what Lind was thinking during the 
ritual, the spell would give me a premonition of her future. If I saw 
wrong doings, terrible outcomes or misfortune I would have immediately 
stopped everything." He turned to look at Skuld "Tell me little one, 
what did you see from my spell?"

"Me?! Why me?!" she screamed.

"You are the goddess of the future, I know you saw something, I felt a 
presence intercepting me. I don't think you realised you were even doing 
it." Like a child caught in the act, Skuld twiddled her thumbs together 
and smiled guiltily.

"What did you see Skuld?" asked Peorth.

"I, I saw fragments of the future. Nothing clear but I could make things 
out. I saw Lind talking to a god and then he bowed to her. Then I saw an 
image of Lind just smiling as she looked out to some gardens from atop a 
tower. Then..."

"I think that's enough for now" interrupted the high Seraph.

"But what about the last one?"

"We don't want to spoil the surprise now do we?" he said and winked at 
her. "So as you see the premonition spell showed us a good future, it 
may or may not be the real future but as long I can believe it can 
happen, Lind would pass."

"I really am a candidate for your position High Seraph?" I asked.

"Let's not use titles, I'm tired of them, call me Ciel."

"Yes sir! I mean Ciel."

"Good. To clarify there are three candidates for my position all of whom 
I have chosen personally. They went through the same trials as you and 
passed, but you are the only one to have had me as an examiner. I felt 
inclined to be your examiner since you are dating my daughter."

"I am really am a candidate" I exclaimed still astonished "I'm not 
worthy enough for such a position Seraph."

"I am the judge of that. However we shall discuss more of that later, I 
want to get to know you, Lind."

"Of course sir, ask me anything."

"What are your intentions with my daughter?" I meant ask me anything but 
that.

"I, I..."

"Father! Stop bullying Lind." God I love Peorth for saving me.

"Kewwww" the wind spirit called out; well at least it's on my side.

"Wonderful. Now that that's all settled let's go inside for some tea" 
said Belldandy as she headed towards the house. Everyone followed her 
but I trailed behind to talk to Ciel privately. He was speaking to 
Keiichi who looked nervous and just plain scared


"Ano, Ciel-sama do you think you could fix that wall you broke?"

"I broke?" he said and glared at Keiichi.

"No, no sir! I didn't mean you broke it!"

"Haha, I'm joking. Relax young man." Stretching his palm out the entire 
garden cleaned and fixed itself, I think he even added a few more 
plants.

"Arigato" Keiichi said and walked off, I heard him murmuring to himself 
something about hoping the police wouldn't question him again.

"You have something to ask me Lind?" He asked. Turning to face me. He 
smiled smugly using that iconic Peorth smile; at least I know where she 
gets it from.

"Yes Ciel-Sama. I appreciate Skuld's interpretation of the premonition, 
but what did you see?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes. I believe I have a right to know."

"Well let me see. Since you were thinking of Peorth during the trial and 
not strength or power, your premonition was about your family's future. 
That's what I found interesting, the other two candidates thought about 
surviving and how they could fight their examiner if they lost. Their 
premonitions were about leading Heaven's armies into battle and sitting 
at the council table, rather boring things really. But yours was about 
your family, your future family. You are an intriguing Valkyrie Lind." 
He scratched his beard and smiled "Skuld-chan saw you talking to a god 
who then bowed to you. That is true, that god was simply paying respects 
to his new sister in law."

"Sister in law?!"

"Then Skuld spoke of you looking out to a garden from atop a tower. That 
image is a bit askew; you were looking out to a garden yes, but you just 
in a very big house. You were watching over children, your friend's 
children, but nonetheless it made you smile."

"And the last scene?"

"Well now that would really spoil the surprise if I told you."

"Please...Father" I asked knowing it would get to him. He started 
coughing, startled at my statement.

"Now, let's not get to hasty."

"Sorry I got ahead of myself."

"The last scene was of Peorth holding a toddler with blue hair." I 
chuckled happily and I couldn't hide my smile, I could even feel tears 
welling up. Peorth with a toddler? I don't even know if she can last a 
day with a chlid, then again it would be her own, our own child. Its a 
nice thought.

"It is a good future" I exclaimed and he patted me on the back.

----------

The sun had risen by the time Ciel had left to return to heaven. When 
Keiichi realised he hadn't slept and that he had to work early in the 
morning, Ciel turned back time to the moment he arrived, so it was night 
again. Technically he wasn't allowed to do that, but the man did choose 
me to succeed him so his choices can't be wrong. I certainly wasn't 
going to tell him he couldn't reverse time; I needed my sleep as well.

We all got to know him better and Peorth was practically bursting with 
happiness seeing how well he and I got on. He explained that my magic 
ban would last two more days, since my ban and the trial were different 
matters. He took the wind spirit with him to my relief and despite 
Skuld's protests. But the furry creature was to return and announce to 
me when the next exam would start...great.

After such a stressful day I retreated to my room first and changed into 
my pyjamas, a simple white tank top and loose trousers, and lay down 
wearily on the futon. I closed my eyes but soon heard the door slide 
open and close. Smelling her perfume I smiled and wrapped my arm around 
Peorth as she lay down next to me.

"Why aren't you wearing your pyjama top?" She asked.

"I hate buttons" I answered and opened my eyes to see she was already 
changed into her sleeping T-shirt; damn advantages of magic. She rested 
her head between the crook of my neck and collarbone and held my waist 
tightly. Remembering the premonitions her father told me about I started 
to chuckle again.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing" I replied still laughing.

"Come on tell me"

"Want to get married and have a child?"

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"Just something your father mentioned to me. He's a nice man."

"Yeah he's so nice, especially when he see saw you and threw you into a 
wall."

"I was expecting worse in all honesty. I heard some rumors about what he 
did to your sister's husband."

"My family is crazy; you wouldn't want to marry into it."

"I do though, I do." I felt her smile into my neck and she snuggled 
closer.

"ha if you thought my father was bad just wait till you meet my younger 
brother. He has a sister complex."

"Is he a Valkyrie trainee that frequently causes trouble?" I asked 
curiously, as a particular delinquent's image popped into my mind.

"Yeah he is. How did you know?"

"There's a trainee who constantly tries to pull pranks on me so I 
switched him to Mist's program. I think I know why he did it now."

"Well if anyone Mist should be able to handle Luso. Told you he had a 
sister complex."

"I wish I could let you meet my family," I said sadly. My parents died 
courageously in the demon-god war long ago, before the time of the 
doublet system. I didn't like to talk about it, and she knew it.

She moved so her face hovered above mine, I opened my eyes to be greeted 
by her wondrous stare.

"I am all the family you need" she whispered and kissed me lightly, as 
if she was proving it. She lay beside me and I rolled to face her. She 
kissed me once more and soon we both fell asleep. My lasts thoughts 
before sleep claimed me? I wonder if I'm going to throw my child's 
partner into a wall in the future. I could start off a tradition.

----------

MWAHAHAHA wasnt what you were expecting now was it?

I love word play. Daisuki!!

Thank again to my lovely reviwers and dedicated fans!!

Keep reading, enjoying and squealing because of my fanfictions!!

Next chapter!Ah! my goddess- Meet the family!!

----------

Omake!!

1) Resume Premonition scene

Ciel: what did you see little one?

Skuld: ummmm you don't want to know.

Peorth: it's ok skuld, tell us what you saw

Skuld: I saw Lind in a cage

Lind: WHAT? who dares to capture me?

everyone gasps!

Skuld: Then i saw Peorth dressed up in leather and she was holding a 
whip.

Everyone: Ohhhhh that explains it then

Peorht: Yep seems like our future.

2) Resume Lind and Ciel private conversation

Lind: What was the last scene?

Ciel: I should not say. It will spoil the surprise.

Lind: ...I LOVE YOU!!

Ciel & Peorth: WHATTTTTT!!

Justjun: CUT! Lind your line is please, father.

Lind:sorry it's just everyone is watching me, I can't work under 
pressure.

Justjun: honestly she can defeat monsters and beasts but she can't act 
under pressure.

3) In the living room

Ciel: so tell me about your relationship

Peorth: well I've stabbed Lind in the stomach

Lind: I've made her collapse from the sky

Peorth: and you threw her into a wall the moment you saw her

Ciel:...some family huh?

4) Introduction

Ciel: I am unlimited, unrestricted class, high Seraph of the Valkyries!!

He stands proudly and posses

Everyone is sniggering

Ciel: What are you all laughing at?! quiver in fear before me!

Peorth: Umm, father, you may want to take your Lind wig off.

Ciel: I can't if i do that damn robot attacks me!

He runs off crying!

Ciel: I hate you all!! your so mean!!

Onwards to Part 17


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