Happy Ever After...? ==================== One story ends.. another begins. There's always a day after. An El Hazard/AMG crossover By Barry Cadwgan (bcadwgan@fl.net.au) Ah! My Goddess and the people introduced to us in that story are property of Kosuke Fujishima The Magnificent World of El-Hazard, and people both native and foreign to it, were created by Hiroki Hayashi and Ryoe Tsukimura. I merely like them enough to want to craft stories around them. Fullsome thanks to my prereaders. TJ, Jussi, Richard, Skywise, Josh and Doug. Hope it's worthwhile! Many stories begin with something going wrong.. this is not one of them. =================================================== Morning.. present day.. Earth, Tokyo... Makoto Mizuhara lay on his futon with his eyes shut, listening to the birds greet the sun. He turned his head slightly.. opening eyes to watch the sunlight filter into his small room.. Makoto thought back over the last few months.. He'd finally managed to get his life back to something like normality.. he'd finished school.. the coaching Fujisawa-sensai had run him through in El Hazard in the time it had taken to construct the gate he had used to rejoin Ifurita had helped there. He finally decided to get up, completed his morning ablutions and headed down to breakfast. He had brought enough gold back with him to buy a small, two bedroom flat and make some discrete investments, storing the bulk away. Makoto stopped at the foot of the stairs, simply looking for a moment. A woman sat on the floor mat looking out onto the small back garden, her legs curled up underneath her, hair simply tied back in an azure waterfall down the back of her dressing gown, more beautiful than most other women in a ball gown. The beauty of a well crafted blade, which was appropriate. Ifurita. The most powerful of the Demon-gods of El Hazard. An android super-weapon created by a lost civilisation. Ancient, vastly powerful, slayer of armies and destroyer of cities. Crippled in body by the long ages she had slept, and in soul by memories of war and destruction. Feeling his gaze, Ifurita turned, a smile blossoming on her pale face "Good morning Makoto.." "Good morning Ifurita." he felt his answering smile, sun to her moon.. "You're early.. I haven't started on your breakfast yet." "Today's a big day. I wanted to make an early start." +++++ School! Makoto snorted as he finished breakfast and rose to help her wash up.. still it had to be done.. he could not have returned to El-Hazard, although he had made friendships that he would treasure for the rest of his life.. he could not return. He could not return because _she_ could not return. Too much blood had been spilt for her to live peacefully there.. too much blood and too many terrible memories. A clean break. A fresh start. She had earned it. Ten thousand years of slavery, then ten thousand years of longing. She had paid and paid and paid! "I could fly you there.. it would be much safer and faster than that." "No.. No fl.." he answered She smiled as she interrupted "I remember. No flying when there's anybody looking, no energy bolts, no.." He put his hands on her shoulders, prelude to an embrace.. "A quiet life." +++++ Makoto Mizuhara and Ifurita 'Robinson' got on his motorcycle and headed off for his first day at Nekomi Institute of Technology. She deserved a chance. They deserved a chance.. ..A chance to live happily ever after. +++++ PART 1 FIRST IMPRESSIONS Ifurita, wearing black leggings and enveloped in a large red jacket, sat on a blanket in the green outside the university administration building, basking in the thin winter sunlight, unaffected by the cool breeze. She was watching the young humans mill around the booths of the various clubs and societies. Makoto was out there, she was tracking him.. feeling his heartbeat.. hearing his tread. She had been alone for so long she had difficulty coping with crowds. Despite his memories, she had not been ready for it. Makoto had noticed her tension. She was reacting to everything, everyone.. jitteringly overloaded with potential threats until finally he'd taken her to the park, away from the crowd, before she reacted the way she was designed. "Concentrate on me. Ignore all of them.. Only act if someone actually does something, and for kami-sama's sake don't kill anyone." Then they'd sat and he had held her until the shivering stopped. And so she was content to simply sit and watch the world go by for a little while. It was all so 'normal', or so her borrowed memories said. She still wasn't sure what normal was, especially as it applied to her.. but she was certain she would have fun finding out. Fun.. non-productive activity, not related to any Mission Objective. Purely for personal enjoyment, to feel 'good'. It was strange, this 'freedom'. Freedom. Of the gifts her Makoto had given her, she was not sure which she valued more, her freedom, or the awakening that had lead her to _want_ her freedom Awakening without freedom had been torture.. freedom without emotion would have lead to stagnation.. pointless.. purposeless.. Her freedom.. What was her Mission Objective now? She did not know and the thought at once exhilarated and terrified her, but she knew she would enjoy finding out, with Makoto, and there was so much to.. Her musing was interrupted by a pair of shadows.. "Hello pretty lady.." She glanced up.. she had classified all humans as default friendly neutrals.. and dismissed them.. "Mind if we join you?" She favoured them with a basilisk stare.. "yes." and as they made to sit ".. I mind." +++++ Makoto walked among the thronging students.. Chorus line club.. Super strings study group.. Manga club.. Women's Vollyball club.. Art club.. babe's galore was right, but he was already well and truly 'involved'. A smile passed across his face. After Shayla Shayla and Nanami chasing after him.. No, he'd had enough of that. He was a one woman man. Sayoko shot a second glance as she saw something familiar in a young man who was walking past.. ..Laundry lovers club? _Grave robber's_ Club???? Makoto stopped and stared for a moment before moving on. NIT Four Wheels club.. he flicked a glance over the bunny suited girls signing people up and kept right on walking. Loud music, and louder exhortations from the spruikers. Tacky. NIT Motor Club.. A lot like their competition: Brashly loud, but a lot less 'professional' looking.. and somehow friendlier, a _real_ club, messy, fun and _alive_. On impulse, he walked over to say hello. The woman, a tanned platinum blond in something bright and tight, lazily looked him over, her lips curving into a dangerous smile. It was a species of smile he'd seen before. Ignoring her, and seeing the smile curdle slightly out of the corner of his eye, he concentrated on the man in biker leathers and studs Ootaki and Urd, who had been holding the fort while the others ate their lunch, looked over the newcomer. A young man, black hair and brown eyes, slightly built and to Urd's experienced eye, attractive but not overwhelming.. but with a quiet maturity and self assurance well beyond his years. An _interesting_ specimen. Urd's green eyes sparkled in anticipation. +++++ Ifurita was standing, hands clenched, two ..boys for want of a better word, standing separated enough that she couldn't glare at both simultaneously. Makoto could see the indecision in her posture, if she didn't know what to do.. "You! What are you doing here!" Makoto barked as he strode up, catching the nearest one with his eyes. Ifurita shot him a look of relief "What's it to.. " the closer boy trailed off and he took a step back as he saw the look in the man's eyes. Ifurita concentrated her glare on the other who flinched at her undivided attention. "I think you'd better leave." Makoto growled as he stared them down. They finally took the hint. "See, I didn't hurt them." Ifurita seemed almost amazed "I didn't have to hurt them." Makoto gathered up the blanket and small rucksack and linked arms with her "Come on, I have a few people I want you to see." +++++ Urd felt a warm inner glow as she watched the NIT MC's two newest recruits walk away. Such an unusual pair. The man so ordinary.. reminding her of another very 'ordinary' young man. And the woman.. some sort of artificial being, she thought, a sense of great age and a blood stained past.. and a surprising innocence.. She could almost _see_ the chemistry fizzing between them. Ah! Love! But she was _sure_ they could use a little help.. +++++ Skuld, running ahead of Belldandy, Keichi and Megumi with a triple decked ice cream cone in each hand took one look at Ifurita walking past and her eyeballs nearly exploded! "kawaii.. kawaii mecha.. " the pint sized goddess whispered as her eyes filled with tears of joy, turning to follow the demon-god with her gaze. "Now then Skuld-chan, it's not polite to stare like that.. " chided Belldandy coming up behind her Skuld turned to her sister "Sorry oneesama.. but.. but.. she's so KAWAII!!" +++++ Ifurita whispered to her companion "Did you notice how that little girl was staring at me? Is there.." Makoto smiled reassuringly "I'm sure it's you're striking good looks." +++++ The next day, Makoto and Ifurita arrived at the NIT MC headquarters. "Let's meet them all shall we." Makoto said as he pulled open the door to the clubhouse. Boxes and parts from all sorts of vehicles were piled and stacked with a complete disregard for type, size, shape and the laws of physics. Amongst the debris were seven people. A Large Economy size with a brushcut, small moustache and muscle shirt standing with his arms folded talking to Ootaki who had signed them up yesterday, another guy in a grey uniform with some sort of insignia sat crosslegged glowering at nothing in particular. The woman from the previous day squabbled with a little girl with long black hair. A third, with golden brown hair and the most glorious blue eyes, smiled at the new arrivals. All three shared a family resemblance and odd markings on their faces. A slight man with short black hair sat close to the smiling woman, grinning and waving them over. The contrast between the four girls was striking. Ifurita did not have the warm caring beauty of Belldandy, the sultry heat of Urd, or the cuteness of Skuld. Ifurita, ancient and deadly.. the beauty of a naked flame, a glacier or a mastercrafted sword. A perilous, inhuman beauty, armoured in pride and an assurance that there was nothing physical in this world she need fear. Tamiya lunged for Makoto, arms outstretched for his customary 'greeting'. "Welcum to da Club my FrieUUURRRKKK" A stony faced Ifurita shoved her love back, to land sprawling outside the door, and grabbed the giant by his belt with one hand, easily lifting him off the floor, the other hand coming back to strike.. "NO!" shouted Makoto, one arm outstretched in a futile attempt to avert a tragedy. Ifurita froze, then lowered Tamiya so his feet touched the ground. He kept going on his own, falling to his knees. Ifurita stood back and bowed "My apologies sempai. I misinterpreted your actions. It will not happen again." "Sallright.." Tamiya squeaked, his eyes filling with tears of pain. She had lifted him off the ground very suddenly.. and his pants had bunched up painfully. Ifurita had moved over to Makoto who was dusting himself off "I made a mistake didn't I." she asked softly, her eyes downcast. "Maybe" Makoto replied, looking at the others, still staring in shocked surprise, both at the strength she had displayed and the unthinking, unhesitating reaction to danger : Attack. Ifurita turned and seeing the other's reactions, a look of anguish briefly crossed Ifurita's face.. so alone, it seemed she would always be alone. Who could blame them for looking askance at a monster like her. Belldandy quickly came over making reassuring noises. Ootaki hauled Tamiya up commenting "Y'know, I told you that'd happen _one_ of these days.. didn't expect a chick to do it though." He turned to Ifurita "Robinson-san you must work out a lot!" Makoto sidled over to Keichi "Ah.. is it always like this Sempai?" he asked quietly Keichi sweatdropped and scratched the back of his head "Well, actually this is pretty quiet." Makoto glanced towards Ifurita, now being fussed over by Belldandy and looking quite confused. "Oh." was all he could say. "I'm Morisato Keichi, Third year engineering, that's.." Keichi took a moment to introduce the others present. "Thank you sempai. My name is Mizuhara Makoto, first year engineering and.." he lead the other over to Ifurita and Belldandy "..this is Robinson Ifurita, also first year engineering." The introductions continued.. Sitting and watching them, Skuld's eyes glowed with enthusiasm "I've never seen anything like her before!" "Shaddup brat." whispered Urd gazing with equal, if differently focussed, enthusiasm "Don't put them off!" +++++ OMAKEE THEATRE!! (Thanks to Jussi for this) Makoto and Ifurita have a list of NIT's clubs and are reading and making some comments on it. Ifurita (wearing glasses) : (looks up) Grave robber's club? I did not think that was socially accepted. Makoto: Umm... Well... Ifurita: And this: Earth Defence club? Honestly, Makoto-san, is this Nekomi Institute of Technology or Tomobiki High?? +++++