The Wyrd Sisters! Weavers of Past, Present, and Future!
Just when they thought it was all over, the Angelic Saints received a mysterious message. Written on browned parchment with a runic font, it read, "To Inessa, Ida, Temperance, and Chiro: Meet us by the oldest tree in your town tonight. -The Wyrd Sisters."
"What the- I thought we'd defeated the Abyssal Forest?!" Inessa was quick to gasp. As it risked the whole group being heard in the cafeteria niche they frequented, Ida promptly had to shush her.
"Other than that tree, what says they're from the Abyssal Forest?" Temperance said. "The Wyrd Sisters is no name I've ever heard, well, not in relation the forest anyway."
"Y'know, that implies you've still heard of them in relation to something," Ida muttered, rubbing her chin.
"Just from other myths and legends, that's all," Temperance shrugged, "I picked
Macbeth back when we were all assigned a Shakespeare play, if only because I had to pick something. It's another name for those Witches Three. But the word 'Wyrd', so I've heard, has Norse origins." Incidentally, Ida tackled the big one with
Hamlet, Chiro picked
Twelfth Night but insisted it wasn't for any personal reason, and Inessa went with the unexpected choice of
The Tempest.
"I knew it, there
are other pantheons out there! It's not just the Angels and Abyss," Inessa said, but then bit her lower lip. "Okay, I know I'm inferring a lot from a single word. But still, in everything Magical Girl, there's never just a single almighty faction out there! Er, unless they get a really short series."
"Another Pantheon or not, they somehow know our identities. That's already enough of a reason to take them as a threat," Ida spoke up, her hands almost slamming on the table. "If not for what Temperance said, I'd say these sisters really are with the Abyssal Forest, the Angels wouldn't be this mysterious with us."
"I don't know. Saying they'll meet us tonight, that's pretty upfront. The Forest would at least attempt some misdirection and manipulation," Temperance said, continuing her lunch unbothered. "We also wouldn't bother with snail-mail, we weren't that backward after all. Well, except Superbia of course."
"Hey Michael, have you ever heard of these 'Wyrd Sisters'?" Inessa asked as she opened up her backpack.
The archangel stared up at her and went, "The only ones I know by that name are the Nornir. They claim to control fate, ignorant that all have free will under His plan. Yet nor are they with the Abyss, or anyone but themselves, and in my experience they aren't ones to meet people directly."
"...Don't 'free will' and 'plan' contradict?" Temperance asked, only to be ignored.
"Nornir? Ooh, that sounds very Norse pantheon," Inessa perked up, but then perked down as she admitted, "I know the name from an anime."
"I'm guessing these Wyrd Sisters are just using the name, if even Michael thinks they can't be the real Nornir," Ida said as she scratched her chin some more, but then admitted, "I know the name from comics. But like, the cool alternative ones."
"Wow, you still have the time to read comics?" Inessa asked, but on second thought added, "Er sorry, didn't wanna touch a nerve."
"It's okay, I expected that," Ida muttered.
"I don't think I should go," Chiro then finally spoke up, after all of this had sunk in. "They're clearly looking for the Angelic Saints, and I was only one for a single battle, so do I really count? Yeah, the letter mentioned me, but I highly doubt they'd consider me any MVP."
Inessa tried to smile back, but ultimately had to glare at Chiro. "Don't put yourself down like that, you really are one of us. You're coming."
"And your healing will be all the more useful, if these Wyrd Sisters are that dangerous," Temperance said, appealing to the brain as Inessa went for the heart.
"Well, okay, if you really want me there..." Chiro said with a gulp. From what she knew of Norse mythology through her own interests, she could only feel she made a pretty poor excuse for a Loki.
"One last thing. None of you tell Counselor Naotake about us, you just know she'll try to make this all about her," Ida said.
"No one was," Temperance said, then had to smirk, "Worried she'll embarrass you again?"
"Doc- I mean, Counselor Naotake left the school a few days ago. Said she had so many other places to be," Chiro brought up.
"...Huh, we go through Counselors
fast, don't we?" Inessa said.
The old ash tree was in a secluded part of town, presumably why the Wyrd Sisters chose it, where ever more scraggly lawns met the surrounding woods. As the Saints approached now night had come, they were swiftly greeted with a giant burst of sparkling smoke, followed by someone playing a weird digital guitar while flying over them on a hoverboard of all things.
As the smoke parted, the silhouette within was shown to be
a tall, stone-faced woman, clad in a flowing cloak and gown that looked pitch black under cover of night, her hair cascading into a series of perfectly neat curls, and a lace-brimmed hat tipped down to conceal her face.
The hoverboarder, other than wearing black, was dressed entirely differently. She wore a coat made of some strange leather alternative, had multiple spiked belts around her waist and long boots, a pink bow kept her spiky hair together, with a pink blouse to match. A little like Lupin, though not as consistent. And where the older woman looked severe, this girl looked like she couldn't be having more fun, a fanged grin topping it off.
Then
the third presumed Wyrd Sister showed up with no grand entrance, her groaning and asking the other two, "Sheesh, can neither of you just show up like a normal person? 'Cause you know these theatrics make you look like real try-hards, right?", her Swedish accent tying in with temperance's Norse theory. Per her being 'normal', she had messy brown hair and shown up wearing an anorak and jeans.
"Boo! And you keep saying Urth's the buzzkill," the hoverboarder said as she stuck her tongue out at the anorak girl.
"Yes, and it is appropriate we convey just who these Angelic Saints are meeting with here," the older woman, Urth presumably, said in a more ancient accent that could only be described as 'old Norse'.
"But what if someone else sees? Yeah, we picked a deserted spot, but still," the anorak girl said.
She then saw that all the Angelic Saints had transformed while the three were arguing, with Chiro last in sequence. "Great, you only made them think we were gonna attack them. Hey look, you four," the anorak girl then addressed the Saints directly, "We're just here to talk, not to fight."
"Oh come on, I could totally kick all their arses," the hoverboarder piped up, anorak having to leap in and restrain her.
"Sure you could, Scrappy," the anorak girl said through gritted teeth, then addressed the Saints again with, "Look, I'm Verthandi, this here's my little sister Skuld, and over there's-"
"Urth, Norn of the Past, First of the Witches Three, Waterer of the Highest Well of Yggdrasill, and Foremost Weaver of Fate," the cloaked woman said.
Verthandi had to sigh at such an ostentatious introduction. "Right, that.
You just have
to grab all the attention."
Inessa then gasped, dropping her bow for a second. "Oh yeah, Verthandi, Urth, and Skuld. I really do know you guys from anime," she honestly opened with.
Despite playing peacekeeper up until now, Verthandi had to glare on hearing that and mutter, "Oh, do you now?"
"Well, your name did get muddled in translation, but yeah," Inessa said with a sheepish grin, before she had to admit beneath her breath, "
You were much nicer in it."
But Verthandi heard that last bit anyway, then sighed and told her, "Yeah well, never meet your heroes, kid." Though Chiro would beg to differ.
"Okay, you really don't mean to fight? Well ah, not sure what show Inessa means, but your trench coat kinda makes you look like John Constantine," Ida then mumbled in an attempt to defuse things. By now, Temperance was the only Saint with her guard still up.
"Wait, who's Constantine?" Inessa had to ask.
"...It's an anorak," Verthandi said blunt.
"Constantine's an anorak?" Inessa somehow came to the conclusion.
It was then Skuld cut through the awkwardness with yet more awkwardness. "So hey you're, ah, Ida Montgomery?" she hovered up to Ida and asked. "Because you were gonna die in that battle with that dragon, you know?"
As Ida's face went an utter pale, Verthandi let out a groan and said, "Might wanna look up 'tact' in the dictionary, Skuld.
Guess we should finally give you the lowdown, we're-"
"The Nornir," Urth cut her younger sister off, "Weavers of Fate, Decider of Destinies. It was this maiden's fate to die at that confrontation, but we were pleaded with to alter her fate so she would live. Here is her thread of life as proof." She then pulled out a long piece of string studded with dew, with each drop reflecting a scene from Ida's life.
Such a reveal left Ida clutching her head and trembling. She was silent for a long while but then managed to mutter, "Why... why are you telling me this?"
"Because us Norns change with the times and... we've figured if we're gonna control people's fates, it's only fair we be more transparent. It's your death, or would've been, you've got the right to know," Verthandi said, uninterrupted this time.
"No way. Ida's the bulkiest out of all of us, there's no way in any timeline that she could have ever died," Inessa spoke up.
"It would've been because of me," Chiro had to say all downcast, "I wouldn't have casted a healing spell on time, something like that."
"Look, it was nobody's fault. Chance and luck are just cruel like that, so hey, good thing you've got Fate to mediate them, huh?" Verthandi said, sounding like she was trying to convince herself just as much.
Ida had spent a while huddled against herself, like she was trying to check she was all there, all corporeal. Then she realised, "Wait, you said someone pleaded with you to save me? Someone was looking out for me?"
"Our client's identities are confidential. Transparency does not mean we'll tell you everything. If they wish, they shall make themselves known to you in due time," Urth proclaimed.
Verthandi then suspiciously tugged at her own collar and mumbled, "Er, yeah, confidential."
"So, fate and destiny... really, genuinely exist?" Chiro asked in trepidation, like she had an even bigger question she was too afraid to ask.
"They absolutely do not!" Michael suddenly shouted as she hopped in front of Inessa, "If you do have power over fate, you are going directly against the Divine. Humanity was gifted Free Will!"
"Cool it, Michael," Verthandi said without needing an introduction, "Who was it who fated that Christianity would take off in Scandinavia again? Yeah, you owe us big time.
Not that I've never regretted that."
"Besides," Skuld then flew over to Michael and grabbed her, "We already deal with one pipsqueak loudmouth in Ratatosk, no way I'm gonna put up with a second." She then started bouncing Michael on the ground like a basketball, the angel protesting all the while. That was, till Inessa finally broke through and grabbed her, Verthandi helping by holding Skuld back again.
"I mean no disrespect to Ida, but I must ask. Are there any other 'fates' you've 'weaved' for us?" Temperance coldly said.
"Yep, a whole bunch!" Skuld blurted out, while still having one angry eye on Michael. "Of course, an annoying little doll's gonna get mad if we actually tell you any of them."
"Point was, changing Ida's death was big enough that we had to come and tell you," Verthandi said.
Inessa was still huffy at Skuld, but went back to hyper when she asked, "Wait, if you're from Norse myth, ooh, does that mean Thor, Loki, Odin, they're all real too?"
"Yeah, they are," Verthandi said, but then growled, "though trust me, you're gonna really wish they weren't."
"And it sounds like you didn't grant any special favours to Superbia, since he never mentioned you and, well, we're all still here," Chiro said, with Temperance nodding in confirmation.
"Well, someone by that name came to us once, but we didn't humour him for a second," Verthandi said.
Urth then hissed at her sister, "Client confidentiality, remember?"
"What? Doesn't count if he was never really a client," Verthandi made her case.
"Look, thank you, thank you so much for saving my life..." Ida said then stopped, "but controlling people's fates? That's... quite the power, it's scary." Temperance and Michael both angrily nodded in unison.
"Yeah well, and I say this with love to my sisters," Verthandi shrugged like it was far from the first time this topic had come up, "our powers over fate could really be in much worse hands, if it's any consolation."
"We are the incarnations of Past, Present, and Future after all. Who better to control fate?" Urth smiled with a bit too much pomp.
"Yeah, and us fating stuff is what keeps the Aesir from lording over everything unchallenged. Things would get super lame if that happened," Skuld said.
"Right, that's... good," Inessa said, like they were still thoughts she was leaving unprocessed. "So um, I hope I'm not committing heresy calling you this, but would you goddesses-"
"You are indeed committing heresy, just not the one you think. We are Jotnar, not goddesses," Urth said.
Inessa blushed and said, "Oops, my bad. What I wanted to say was, since you've come all this way, would you like us to show you around town?"
"'Come all this way'? Relax, Yggdrasill lets us zip anywhere anytime," Verthandi said, then dropped to a grumble, "Besides, Urth probably has a whole ton of work lined up for us."
"No, just as long as we're back before morning, we should be able to fit in a little excursion," Urth said, with both Verthandi and Skuld stumbling back hearing that.
"Awesome! The mall would be all closed by now, ooh, so then d'you wanna come to my house?" Inessa swooped to say.
"Might as well. Couldn't be any worse than our place," Verthandi said.
"Ooh, I already got a little something planned," Skuld said, flashing a wicked grin before zooming after a scurrying Michael.
That turned out so much nicer than I thought it would, Chiro thought but then gulped,
though this hardly sounds like the end of it...
Author's Note: I originally wanted to run this by Shadell first to make sure her characters were all on point, but I also wanted to submit this to the
Omake Challenge (though I doubt I'm eligible to win) and didn't know if Shadell would be in touch before the deadline.
Anyway, this is another crossover with my own work, that being
Verthandi in the Middle. I singled Ida out specifically in this Omake to give her more attention
