Ring Christmas Bells
By Trisha L. Sebastian
(tls@thekeep.org)

This part of the Project is hosted by

Disclaimer: Belldandy belongs to Kosuke Fujishima and the other folks who run "Aa! Megami-sama". I'm using them without permission, but it's all good since I'm not making any money off of this either.

Belldandy is goddess of the present, the second of three sisters who are modeled after the Norse Fates. They take care of the "World Tree" which in the anime is not an actual tree, but a computer. In "Aa! Megami-sama" (which translates into "Oh! My Goddess") the Norse Fates are also in charge of wishes; when an good person makes a wish, they make it come true. Because of one college student's wish, she now lives with in Japan with her two sisters. For more information about "Oh! My Goddess", go to the Anime Web Turnpike's list of links here.

The song quoted at the beginning and in the title is a version of "Carol of the Bells" that I learned when I was in high school choir. In addition, this fanfic is inspired by a passage from Louisa May Alcott's _Little Men_. "Kami-sama" translates into "God".

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"Ring Christmas bells, merrily ring, tell all the world Jesus is king..." Belldandy hummed to herself as she boarded the bus. She reached into her purse and pulled out the shopping list. There were so many things that she needed to get for dinner.

"Duck, broccoli, fresh fish..." Belldandy ticked the items off her fingers as she moved to the back, pulling the roll of bills out of her pocket that Keiichi had given to her for the groceries. He worked so hard during the holidays, she thought with a sigh. The least she could do for him was make sure he received a nice Christmas dinner. The bus lurched forward, and she bumped into someone. The money spilled all over the floor.

"I'm terribly sorry, miss," the man said, kneeling down to pick up the money.

"That's all right. I just wasn't paying attention." Belldandy smiled as she gathered up some bills and held her hand out. The man put the bills he'd picked up in her outstretched hand, his fingers lingering on her palm. He sighed deeply and straightened up.

"You should be more careful with your money. Some people might want to rob you." The man sat down on a seat across the aisle. Belldandy sank down on her seat and put the money back into her pocket.

"I don't think that's too much of a problem. It's Yule time."

"Yule time?" he asked, surprised.

"I mean Christmas." Belldandy flushed, nearly forgetting that she was in Japan instead of her native land. "People tend to be happier around the holidays."

The man gave her a bitter look. "Not all people are happy."

"Hmm?" Belldandy tilted her head and the man looked out the window.

"What about the homeless people? I'm sure they're not having a 'Merry Christmas' right now." He gestured out the window. "Every day on my way home, I see them in the streets. The media may not talk about them much, but they're there."

Belldandy thought for a moment. "I can't presume to speak for Kami-sama," she began, "but I can tell you that things happen for a reason. There is a definite purpose to life." As the systems operator of the World Tree, she saw the strings of data that made up life. The strings that ran between herself and her sisters. The string that ran between her and Keiichi.

The man gave her a look of disgust. "You don't mean to tell me you believe that. That God deliberately makes some people lose their jobs for a greater purpose."

Belldandy studied the man carefully. He had a hint of stubble, and his eyes looked tired. He wore the dark gray suit of the salaryman, with his sleeves rolled up and his jacket folded over his arm. She took a deeper look into his aura, and as she watched, it turned darker, moving from bitterness to anger. Quickly, she recalled the data on this man, and why he might be angry. Belldandy frowned.

She looked up at the man. "It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that Kami-sama is responsible for everything. That one wish from Him can fix all your problems." She sighed deeply. "If Kami-sama could give all those people their jobs back, I'm sure He would."

"Why doesn't he?" The question tore from his lips.

Belldandy felt uncomfortable. No one had ever asked her that question before. Usually, as a member of the Goddess Relief office, her job was wish fulfillment. She had granted all sorts of wishes in the past. But always, before she granted the wish, the request had to go through Kami-sama. His word was the final seal on the contract.

Her eyes focused in on the man's eyes. "I don't know." The man barked out in laughter. "I will tell you what I do know. Kami-sama works in mysterious ways." The often quoted phrase had the man laughing even harder.

Belldandy clenched her fists. "For example," she said, her voice tight, "you could have robbed me as I got on this bus." The man stopped laughing and she continued. "But you didn't. Why? It could have solved any money problems you might have. It could have bought you a nice Christmas dinner."

He stared at her as she continued. "But what then? After you finished the meal, what is left? Just the bones of a duck, empty plates." She watched the muscles in his face work. "You still would have those problems. No single wish could take that away."

She looked outside and noticed that she had reached her stop. Belldandy stood up in front of the man. "Kami-sama provides opportunities. It is up to you to decide what to do with them." She passed the man, and got off the bus. Belldandy wished that there was something that she could do for the man, but it was not to be.

The sun was high in the sky, glinting off a patch of snow on the sidewalk. Belldandy shouldered her bag, and walked down to the market. She was troubled by the incident in the bus. Every day, there were people that she could help. The girl in her theoretical physics class who was failing all of her classes because she had to take care of her sick mother. The man who ran the newspaper stand who didn't know that he didn't stop smoking, he'd contract lung cancer in six years.

But when she asked Kami-sama if she could invoke the powers of the wish, He was silent. It was a question that had always preyed on her mind in her darkest hours, but never gave voice to. Why didn't Kami-sama help all the people?

She reached the market still thinking about the matter when she noticed a woman reaching up to straighten a flyer on a telephone pole. The woman wasn't quite tall enough to reach and was jumping up and down to fix the upper part into place.

"Let me help you," Belldandy said, reaching up effortlessly. She tacked up the upper end of the flyer and noticed that it was handmade. The woman saw her looking at the flyer and blushed.

"I just need some extra money for the holidays," she admitted, picking the corner. "I can type college papers, too." She looked Belldandy up and down. "Are you in college, miss?"

"Belldandy," she supplied, giving her a warm smile. "Yes, I go to Nekomi Tech."

The woman smiled in return. "My name is Misa. Thank you for your help."

"Your welcome."

Misa looked at the sheaf of papers in her arms. "I have a lot of flyers here. Would you be willing to post some on the school grounds or in one of the cafes on campus?" She held out a small pile.

Belldandy saw the thread that linked her to the man she'd encountered on the bus. It was the same kind of link that drew herself and Keiichi together. She saw the radiance of her aura. And all at once, Belldandy understood what she had to do.

"Of course I will," she said, a tingling sensation filling her. As she accepted the stack of papers, Belldandy's hand brushed Misa's. Misa jumped as if she'd been lightly shocked. Instantly, a slew of images rushed into Belldandy's mind, of Misa's husband who would lose his job at the end of the year and was so depressed with the shame of it that he couldn't look for another one.

Misa had tried everything she could to scrimp and save every bit of money that came in after the announcement, but it still wasn't enough. He slid deeper and deeper into despair, starting to drink heavily and come home late from work. Today, she decided to post flyers throughout the neighborhood because she didn't know what else to do. Their savings was so small, and she would do everything she could to help increase it and to help them get by.

Misa stepped back from Belldandy, her expression turning somber as she remembered what Kozuo told her just a little over two weeks ago. And right before the New Year, too. Well, she knew what her New Year's wish would be: that she and Kozuo would be able to make it through the next year happily.

Belldandy smiled again, a warm glow filling her. "I hope you have a happy Christmas," she said to Misa, knowing that she would see her again. Not as the college student that Belldandy had to appear to be, but as the goddess she rightfully was. When Misa stood in front of the temple on New Year's Day and made her wish, she would be there granting it, because Kami-sama willed it so.

Misa gave her a friendly wave as she walked across the street to a convenience store. Belldandy waved back, walking briskly to the market. She had a duck to buy.


The End