Battle For The Heavens

n i n e

"So, do you know how to fight?" Noelle asked Andrew at dinner that night.

Andrew blinked a couple of times, Noelle's voice pulling him out of his thoughts, before he responded. "Um well, I took archery lessons as a kid. Does that count?"

Noelle folded her hands and leaned back in her chair in thought. "I guess archery lessons could be useful somewhere down the road...but what I'm asking is if you know how to really fight? Like how to fight with a sword or even hand to hand combat? Do you know anything like that?"

Andrew scratched his head with a slightly embarrassed look on his face and muttered, "no, I don't. Dad always said that he wanted to teach me how to use his rifle but he never got to..."

"I see." Noelle gave him a small sad smile before continuing, "well, guns wouldn't work anyway so that's okay. I guess we'll have to start from scratch then. It's a pity that we don't have much time."

"What do you mean we don't have much time?" Julia asked with a worried expression on her face.

"Well, it's true that time moves slower in heaven and hell but soon, Satan will realise my absence and send his demons to get rid of me. We have to be ready by then because if we aren't....the world will erupt into chaos. Enough chaos to destroy it, in fact," Noelle stated in a grave tone.

"Time moves slower there? Then how long has it been since you've been gone?" Andrew asked curiously.

"Well, I've been here for about a week. That's probably a day or so over there. But if we waste anymore time, we're done for. We need to get started as soon as possible."

"Okay, but where would we even practise? It's not like our house is big enough for that kind of stuff. Plus, where are we going to get a proper sword?" Andrew questioned.

"I can get the sword, but the space is a problem. Is there any big space that either of you know of, where we can practise in? It could be like a huge field or a big gym or something like that," Noelle asked, looking at Andrew and Julia with a hopeful expression.

"I don't know, fields aren't an option in our city and any gym would be filled with people who I'm sure would question the sword. Mom, do you know any place?"

Julia's face scrunched up in thought before her eyes suddenly widened and she jumped out of her seat and headed into the laundry room. Noelle looked at Andrew in confusion but Andrew just shook his head, wearing a similar expression.

Walking back into the room, Julia went straight to Noelle and handed her a slightly damp rectangular card. "Where did you get this Noelle? I found it in your jeans when I was folding up the clothes."

Noelle looked down at the card and recognised it as the calling card that Maria Yamaguchi had given her. She then explained to Julia about how Maria's son had wandered off and she had helped him find Maria again. And for that, Maria had given her the card and told her to get in touch if she ever needed any help.

When Noelle finished explaining, Julia smiled excitedly and exclaimed, "Noelle, Maria Yamaguchi is Akio Yamaguchi's wife!"

Before Noelle could express her confusion about how that was important, Andrew cut in with shock clear in his voice. "Maria Yamaguchi was the lady you helped? Wow, I can't believe I didn't recognise her!"

"Well, Maria has cut her hair really short so maybe that's why you didn't recognise her," Julia said, not noticing Noelle's completely lost expression.

"Yeah I guess and plus, the lady at the park was wearing a pair of sunglasses-"

Noelle cut Andrew off by standing up in her seat and asking in a slightly loud voice, "will someone please tell me what's going on and who this Maria person is?"