It's been fun, but its time to end this ride.

Oh My Goddess! belongs to Kōsuke Fujishima and Dark Horse Comics.

A sunny day greeted Skuld as she stepped outside with her toolbox. The young goddess had a lot on her table today; first was to do basic repairs on Banpei and Sigel. She would have normally done it in her room, but she also had to fix her bike too, and there wasn't enough room. Calling over Banpei, she opened the toolbox and got to work Tuning the joints and adjusting the sensors was took some time, and then she heard the marching of metal going up the stairs.

"That's strange, no one should be coming yet. Banpei Force, front and center!" From around the temple smaller duplicates of Banpei headed towards the entrance, Sigel speeding there on the motorized wheels in her shoes. Skidding to a stop, her fist ready to fire at whoever these uninvited guests were. She almost jumped when she saw who it was.

Not only had Nero, Helen, and Epsilon returned, but they had brought the rest of them as well. She and the tiny machines ran back to Skuld and did their best to explain but she had to see for herself. She was aghast and slowly came to meet them once they had gotten up the stairs. They shouldn't have been there, shouldn't have been anywhere, and yet here they were, still in their gleaming yellow armor, weapons at their sides.

Before Nero had a chance to introduce her, Skuld was before the large frame of Upsilon, making her seem even smaller in comparison. His crimson eyes looked into her brown with a blend curiosity and familiarity.

"Miss…Skuld," He said hesitantly. "It is an honor to finally meet you."

She was slightly disappointed at his response, taking a step back. "Y-you don't know who I am?"

Noticing his error, Upsilon quickly tried to correct his mistake. "Epsilon tied your angel to me, some of it's memories drifted into my mind. I only know that you are Skuld. If it helps, you are someone I would like to know more about you when this is over."

The answer was slightly comforting, but as she turned to to face Gamma and Nero she was still wary. "I suppose you're not here on vacation are you?"

"Regrettably no." Nero said. "There are other things for us to do. Who else is here?"

"Just Urd and Peorth." As if on cue, they both stepped out of the temple. Strangely they both wore their goddess uniforms and their eyes narrowed as they stood at the door.

"Thank you." Nero bowed. "Epsilon, does your guitar need work done?"

"I do not want to be an inconvenience." Epsilon sat down, his cobalt cloak catching the sun as he pulled out the instrument Skuld made him. Plucking on a few strings gave the yard a ambient tune and Skuld went back to her repairs. It continued as Gamma, Nero, Helen, and Upsilon were confronted by Urd and Peorth while Omega floated around, surveying the grounds.

"So," Urd started. "You came back. And you brought the rest of them, too."

"Lind had a point; they are so familiar…" Peorth had been wondering about that since she first saw Epsilon trapped here, injured as he was. When Lind made her case to the rest of them about not sending him home, they eventually came to the conclusion that they should send them on their way. Even so, Lind was stubborn; she had to have known he wasn't the same, but even so she trained him, putting as much of her in him as she could in a day. Now that she's seen them herself, Peorth was inwardly glad that Lind wasn't here to see the rest of them.

"And they're just as hardheaded." Urd was on a short fuse today, especially now. "You should have just went home."

Gamma smirked at her warning. For some reason he just didn't care whose toes he stepped on. "You and I both know that we wouldn't do that. Besides, there is a question we came here to ask."

"Well spit it out."

"Did we, I mean the other us, fight Hild?" He said. "And did we die trying?"

Urd and Peorth were surprised, but the others weren't. Right then Omega came by. "Hey, I feel two energy signatures coming in fast."

"Is it them?" Rho said looking up, drawing his sword halfway.

"No." Psyche said. "One of them is like these goddesses, but the other is human."

Omega became more worried as the energy came closer. "What do you mean 'human'? How can either of those be considered human?"

Epsilon stopped playing and paid close attention to the signatures. As he felt them, the revving of a motorcycle got closer. Catching that sound made Epsilon smile and he got up. "Nothing to worry about; they're supposed to be here, we're their guests."

"No way!" Gamma gasped and ran to the gate to see that old Beemer carry along its two passengers as it pulled in. He needed to see them for himself, as if this whole journey wasn't just some mad dream, or even worse; that it was all real, and they were the only chance he had at finding the truth. Taking off his helmet and turning off the vehicle, Keiichi stepped off and helped Belldandy up from the sidecar. Seeing their hands, Gamma noticed that they had a matching set of rings.

Rho was the next person to see the two and came to them; neither of them stopping him. "Belldandy Odinsdottir, Norn of the Present I presume?"

"Odinsdottir?" Belldandy wondered. "My father is Tyr."

"Tyrsdottir; you're older than I thought."

"That's not her name either." Rho was flummoxed by what Gamma said. "That her maiden name, at the most. Hold on…Oh no!" Gamma was horrified. "We must have crashed your honeymoon! I'm so sorry!"

"Oh man," Omega said as he came by Epsilon looking onward, paralyzed by guilt. "You nearly blasted her husband, I wish I could have seen that."

"For your sake, I'm glad you weren't."

Peorth was left with Helen and Upsilon, Upsilon was silent as Helen and Peorth talked.

"How's housekeeping?" Helen asked.

"Enjoyable, I've been catching up on my reading." Peorth summoned a slender thorny vine. "Although you owe Urd and I a card game. We're still a little sore about it, aren't we?"

"Of course." Urd replied. "How about you, Sunshine?" But where Upsilon was there was nothing. He had somehow gotten behind Gamma without anyone noticing. He touched Gamma's back and he flinched and got out of his way. Upsilon took a step towards Keiichi, dwarfing the man physically, and his stony face and unmoving body unsettled him mentally. Upsilon's head twisted to Belldandy his movement mechanical.

"This is Keiichi Morisato?"

"Yes." She answered flatly, her body glowing blue. "What are you going to do to him?"

"Nothing at all, if you protect him as well as you did against Epsilon. Judging by your power, I fully believe you can." He came back to Keiichi and placed his left hand on his shoulder and summoned Panzerfaust, the giant hand nearly wrapping around his right side. Keiichi had been around him for some time, but this Upsilon was even colder, and then his eyes shifted to red.

"Tell me Keiichi Morisato." Upsilon's voice was soft. "What does the power that can defeat Hild look like?" He probed into his mind but he was immediately repelled, causing him to cry out. He became furious, increasing his grip. "Master! Help me pry his head open!"

"Very well, but please stop calling me that." Helen sighed, her red eyes becoming more vibrant. The mental boost allowed him to pierce his mind, and the memories came to him. For Keiichi there was no pain, but Upsilon was shaken by the things he had seen. He let go, not knowing that he had lifted Keiichi into the air and he fell.

"Did you get the answers you wanted?" Belldandy said as she went to the side of her husband.

"Yes."

"So what's the verdict?" Rho asked. "Is it possible to win?"

Upsilon said nothing to him, but gave the response to Gamma. "We will die if we continue on this path."

Gamma's breath became shallow. "W-was it Hild?"

"We don't even get to her. She has a team, they deal with us, one by one. Eihwaz and Mokkurkalfi were among them."

Gamma had to ask, he couldn't stop himself. "How?"

"Rho died of fatigue," As Upsilon recounted, everyone came to him. "I was impaled by Maschinengott. Some beast tore apart Epsilon, and Omega took grievous wounds and died of blood loss. You, Gamma, burn your very soul away fighting."

"And me?" Nero asked.

"You were a living shadow of us. When we died, you did as well. Oddly, Helen was not present there."

Overcome with grief, Gamma fell to his knees crying. Nero had to pick up where he left off. "Belldandy, is what he said true?"

She nodded. "I-I didn't know how to tell you before, so we just sent you home in the hopes that you wouldn't come back."

Urd groaned. "But you were stubborn, again. So I suggest you go home."

"This can't be real." Epsilon clutched his necklace, hoping for solace. "That can't be how this ends!"

"Belldandy can't lie." Gamma found a bit of his control. "She's a First Class Goddess, they carry too much power to lie." Rho reached a hand out to pick him up but Gamma slapped it aside. He swung his black fist, breaking the tiles below. In an instant he shot up in the air and flew off like a jet. Over the channel they heard him as he left.

"JUST GO!"

Omega looked up at Gamma speeding away. "So that's it then? We make it here, after all we've been through, and it's over?"

"Victor needs time to cool down." Psyche said. "You all might want to do the same."

"Yeah," Rho agreed. "But still we need to get him back. Nero and I will get him back."

They left, and the group disbanded; Helen and Upsilon staying, Omega and Epsilon going their separate ways. Keiichi wanted to apologize, do something for these guys who gave up so much to get nothing back, even less than nothing in a sense, but Upsilon got in his way.

"It was not your fault that we were cursed, or that Helen, Epsilon and Nero didn't make it home. You have done all you can, we could not have asked for any more." He started practicing his swordplay, confident in his training and conditioning. "Tell me more about you and your wife, at your own pace this time."