l
-4-
"Kara, status report." Despite the fact that the Valkyries were flying close to the speed of sound, Lind's voice traveled with ease, reaching the young green haired woman that flanked her left shoulder. They'd entered Japan less than an hour ago, traveling via Gate to the planet after word had come their way from an Earth-side ISR platform that Skuld's position was moving east.
They'd been tracking the woman since she'd descended on her own, and the youngest Norn had shown no indication that she'd noticed what the locals had claimed to be a UFO trailing her position from close to 70,000 feet in the 'd been tracking the woman since she'd descended on her own, and the youngest Norn had shown no indication that she'd noticed what the locals had claimed to be a UFO trailing her position from close to 70,000 feet in the sky.
Now though, as they'd suspected, Skuld's position had changed as soon as she'd met her eldest sister. They'd both teleported over six thousand nautical miles away, and as soon as they'd reappeared in Tokyo, Japan, their position had been locked and tracked, allowing for Lind and her small unit to move in for an intercept.
"We're inside the exclusion zone at this time, Ma'am." Kara was a young Valkyrie, one fresh from training and who'd yet to get her feet wet. Her and Chrono both. Apprehending the Norns before they could further disrupt Belldandy's operations in Japan would benefit them both with a good chunk of experience that could later be applied to Demon transgressions.
Besides, Lind further reasoned, one of the Norns is half-way to becoming a demon as is. Might as well set the girls up with baby steps before some incident spawns that destroys the armistice and we return to war. "Chrono, do you have eyes on?"
"Negative." Chrono was a bit older than Kara, a goddess who was closer to Lind's age despite the fact that she'd been added to their ranks a couple months ago. The brunette had once been a part of the Administrative Sector in Yggdrasil before deciding her current job was unsatisfying and requesting a transfer to the more warrior-esque units. That left Lind with some doubts about her given that she'd never seen combat up close. But there had been a time where she worked under Urd, and for that the new Valkyrie was valuable.
Plus she wasn't an arrogant little shit like Kara, who was begging for a lesson in discipline.
"There's a ward on the area," Chrono continued as she narrowed her blue eyes. "It's got to have a radius of at least thirty nautical miles." She grimaced at the implication. "Ma'am, unless they decide to show themselves, it'll be difficult to find them."
"Aye, say true." It was all information Lind had concluded earlier, but she needed to test out her troops capabilities. "We'll have to try and draw them out."
"Why not flush them out?" Lind wasn't certain if Kara was joking or not. "You know, cause a bit of destruction, see if we can get lucky with some of the bigger spells with either a massive AOE or a cluster spell to help cover a larger range."
Lind grit her teeth at the suggestion, groaning internally at the younger goddess's recklessness. "Kara, I swear to the heavens, I will have you cleaning sandstone until it shines like a diamond if you ever suggest something so reckless and stupid again." She sucked in a deep breath. Kara was a very hot-blooded young Valkyrie who was eager to prove herself, and had yet to get it through her inexperienced brain that being a Valkyrie wasn't all about destruction and dancing on corpses. "We aren't in a battlefield. We're in a city filled with hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. Pray tell, what do you think will happen if we start destroying everything we come across?"
She could hear the shrug in Kara's voice. "They're just mortals. Dime a dozen. They'll repopulate soon enough. I mean, come on, they breed like rabbits!"
This little shit. Two of the three Valkyries thought.
Lind scowled. "We aren't destroying anything. The times we were authorized to pull stunts like that have long passed. Humanity has reached the point where their definition of magic can no longer be used to explain a demons-blessed meteorite raining down upon a city with a large population and destroying half a nation. Especially when they've got their eyes to the sky at all times and are looking for giant meteorites that could destroy a nation."
"But-"
Lind snapped her head around and glared at the younger woman. "Kara, if you say one more blasted thing I will send you back home with my left boot shoved so far up your ass that when Squadron Commander asks why you're back, the first thing out of your mouth will be 'moo'."
That seemed to shut the girl up, and oh, what a fine mood Lind was in now. She sucked in a breath through her teeth. I'll deal with her later. I still have one goddess in particular to meet who's been pissing me off for the better half of ten years now, and it's about time I confronted her on her actions. "Chrono, Kara, you're responsible for apprehending Norn Skuld," she ordered. "She's not much of a fighter, so she shouldn't be too difficult for the two of you. Chrono, you're in charge. Kara, if I so much as hear a peep out of you throughout the rest of this mission, I will personally hand you your ass on a platter side-by-side with Norn Urd, where you can regal her with tales of destruction from within the realms of the unconscious. Is that understood?"
"Aye, Sa-"
"The correct response to that is silence, Kara."
This time the goddess said not a word, and Chrono stared at the lead Valkyrie in apprehension. "After we apprehend Norn Skuld, do you want us to aid you against Norn Urd?"
"Negative." Lind replied as a fleck of gold glittered across her vision. "Urd's mine." The words came out a growl, and Chrono wisely fell silent.
"Urd!" The blue haired Valkyrie roared. "I know you're here! Show yourself, Black Wing!"
Chrono's eyes bulged at the jibe, and she glanced to Kara, who's jaw had fallen open in shock. "Did she just-" The brunette shut her mouth with a snap when Lind turned to glare at her. When the piercing blue eyes of the war goddess turned away again, and the goddess shared a look with her green haired comrade. Insults were one thing, but Lind had just called out Urd's angel. There were certain things that were considered taboo in a fight, especially amongst gods, and calling out specific mutations on a deity's 'other-half', on a deity's soul, was one of them.
As such, when a figure all at once rose to meet them from somewhere far below, it came with no surprise to find that the individual in question was Urd, armed with her own verbal ammunition as well. "Bring it you One-Winged Half-Soul!" the goddess snarled, and Lind stiffened before firing off a blast of concentrated magic. The shot missed her by a foot, yet it seemed to instigate the goddess across from them, as Urd launched herself towards the flight of three.
"Skuld's coming up behind her. Move out!" Lind ordered. As instructed earlier the trio separated, the younger Valkyries diving towards Skuld while Lind squared herself off against Urd. The woman summoned her poleax from where it was stored in an interdimensional portal, then charged to meet the goddess head on. Time to take you down at last, she thought.
At about five feet from Urd, Lind pivoted in the air, spinning in a tight circle before bringing her axe down in a vertical swing on the darker goddess. The momentum achieved brought with it a power difficult to emulate in the air, and it was through sheer reflex that Urd did not lose her head in the resulting attack. Can't hold back with this one, Lind reminded herself, pivoting to her left as a ball of violet plasma surged past her. Rumors say they barred her from First Class because her strength at Second Class was already unnaturally high. The Valkyrie slid beneath a hand coated in electricity, and then launched the butt end of her axe into Urd's gut. The woman dropped several feet, buckled over and trembled in pain.
So...kind of like you? A small, timid voice echoed in the back of Lind's mind, and the tone was just-so-slightly different from that of her angel as to make Lind pause.
Spear Mint? She asked, Is that-
EYES FRONT VALKYRIE! Spear Mint roared, and through reflex Lind brought her arm up, shielding her face from Urd's elbow. She let the force behind the blow send her back, providing distance between the two of them. She dropped back into a fighting stance, her halberd raised and ready. Sweet Mother of all that's Holy does she have some sort of spike on her elbow? It felt like her arm had been punctured with the way it throbbed, yet a quick glance showed she wasn't bleeding, nor that Urd was armed with anything that could pass for a weapon.
The Valkyrie narrowed her eyes, then dipped her axe down and up, bringing it up in a diagonal slash that forced Urd to retreat once more. Now the Valkyrie was on her, falling into a series of cuts and slashes that forced Urd to retreat, backing her up and into the sky, where a heavy cloud deck formed with the night's rain. Get her in the clouds and take her out when she loses sight of you. Make the battle quick and decisive. She can't sense me with the spoofer active which means I'll have the advantage; use her own magic against her and then drag her ba-
As if sensing the woman's intentions, Urd ducked under a horizontal swing and then came forward, stepping into Lind's guard and launching an elbow up towards the Valkyrie's chin. Lind tilted her face up and to the right at an angle, and Urd clipped the corner of her jaw instead, bringing with it enough pain to startle the warrior. Again, she used her polearm to place distance between them, yet Lind could already tell that it wouldn't work a third time. Urd was adapting to her strategy at a faster rate then she'd expected. The goddess was now no longer allowing Lind to push her back into the clouds and was keeping herself close, making it difficult to use the halberd with it's longer range. It was forcing Lind back, down to earth and away from the cover of clouds.
She jabbed at the woman with the pike at the end of the pole, and this time Urd grabbed it. "Urd Bolt," she growled, and before Lind could retaliate a current of violet electricity traversed the length of her weapon, traveling up Lind's arms and biting into her body. The Valkyrie released the weapon with a shout, and Urd yanked it away from her, throwing it to the ground below with such force that it glowed.
Distracted, Urd never saw Lind step into her guard until it was too late. The Valkyrie grabbed the woman's right arm and twisted, causing Urd to release a howl of pain. "Didn't anyone ever tell you," Lind hissed, "that you never take a weapon from a Valkyrie?" Without releasing her hold on the goddess, Lind spun in the air, forcing Urd to follow lest her arm be wrenched from its socket. Her face met Lind's leg as she came down, followed by a secondary kick that landed square in Urd's back, sending the goddess sprawling to the ground.
Lind followed her down, and the goddess caught herself twenty feet above an empty intersection, a pair of wings snapping out behind her and providing enough drag to stop her fall. One of the wings was barely visible in the evening's darkness, and Lind narrowed her eyes. So there's truth to the rumors after all, she thought, diving to meet the goddess as Urd turned and sped off, her speed increased with the new appendages on her back. I wonder if that means the other rumors are true as well... Calling her own angel for aid, Lind threw herself after the goddess, intent on running her down. She'd seen blood on Urd's face from where her kick had landed, and despite the loss of her weapon it filled Lind with new confidence. To spill first blood was to claim the first victory, and Lind had always preferred hand-to-hand over any other form of combat. I'll run her down and run her ragged, she thought, as a flicker of gold flashed across her irises. She can't outrun a Valkyrie.
And so it was that Urd began a new game of cat and mouse, leaving her younger sister to fend off two additional opponents.
XXX
"Ah fuck."
Skuld's eyes darted between her two opponents, her stomach a knot of unease. The green haired Valkyrie, Kara, smiled at her from where she held a bo staff. "This doesn't look too hard. I mean, she's basically just a civilian, right Chrono?"
Chrono didn't respond, her own hand's empty of any weapon that Skuld could see, and that made her nervous. Valkyries were twice as dangerous unarmed than they were armed, and the popular belief was that they delighted in combat and destruction. And here I am, the lucky fool with two to entertain and no sister for back up. She sighed internally. I can't trust Urd with anything, can I?
Kara smirked, her face arrogant as she caught a glance of Urd's departure. "Looks like your big sister ain't too tough." She crowed. "But then, that's only to be expected when you're a black-blooded cur."
Skuld went ridged. "…Say again?" She asked.
Chrono eyed the woman, then glanced back to Kara, whose smile grew wider. The older woman motioned for the younger woman to stop, quit, desist, shut up, yet the Valkyrie paid her no mind. "Oh come on, I'm sure you've heard the rumors too. That tainted devil of a woman wasn't even considered for a First-Class license because she's so defiled. I mean, come on. She's a bastard. Not even Niflheim wanted her so she got dumped in Asgard because even her mother was embarrassed to have her around." Seeing the glare from Skuld, Kara smirked and continued. "I mean, sure, she's the Daitenkacho's daughter and all, but everyone knows that the best parts of her ended up as stains on a mattress."
Skuld sucked in a deep breath, and then the anger fled her features as she released it. This did not put Chrono at ease. On the contrary, is made her more anxious. "You know, I was actually having a good day, too," Skuld murmured. She sounded disappointed. "I get to hang out with Urd…met a man who might actually be a decent representation of humanity…and finally, finally, get to try to free my Big Sister." As she spoke, Skuld counted off with her fingers. When she finished, some of the anger returned, but a little different this time. Whereas before she was just angry in general, now it was more specific and targeted.
And it promised pain to whomever was in the crosshairs.
"And now you had to just... ruin the ride." She sighed, then reached into her pocket and withdrew a small black device the size of a cell phone. She tapped it in various locations, and the box popped upon, revealing it to be a container of some sort. Small beads that resembled pearls rested inside, and as she spoke Skuld withdrew several of them, rolling them within the folds of her palm gently. "You two appeared, and in reality, I guess I don't even mind that…but then you," she looked at Kara, with a determined, dangerous expression, "had to go and open your big trap."
The hand with the tiny pearls closed into a fist, and as Chrono watched one-by-one the pearls appeared between the forefinger and the thumb, where Skuld began to flick them about without care. "You should know something about me," she continued. One. Two. Three. Four. "I like getting into arguments with people. I like debating with folks. It heats up my blood. It gets my brain thinking. It inspires creativity in me." Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. "People always assume I have a short temper as a resultt; that any little thing will set me off."
Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen.
"But hey, let me tell you something, Lady, let me tell you something Ma'am," The title came out mocking, and Skuld let the final pearl, this one number twenty, dance across her knuckles like a trick coin. "There's actually only a couple of things that really, honestly, truly piss me off like no-fucking-tomorrow." She rolled the final pearl between her index finger and thumb, her eyes never leaving Kara's. "And it's two things, really." The woman flicked the final pearl into the night sky, and Chrono watched as it vanished, right along with the other nineteen pearls; they were too small for her to see and too numerous to track.
"The first thing is people messing with my family. That includes dipshits like this Aoshima-fuck who stole my sister from me ten years ago." The woman snapped her fingers, and around the three of them a series of stars began to glow. They were tiny. About the size of a pearl. "If this Morisato guy Urd's got so much faith in doesn't do it…if Urd doesn't…then when Belldandy is freed, I will personally hunt him down, strip him of every ounce of flesh he's worth, and let him hang from a balcony for the crows to peck at while his soul lies imprisoned in his body."
There were twenty stars in all. Twenty tiny little stars that glowed with an light so intense they illuminated the surrounding area. Chrono could almost feel the heat radiating off of them. "The second thing I cannot stand….that I will not tolerate, are people who insult my family." Skuld's eyes narrowed. "In particular my sisters." Her voice dropped an octave, and suddenly Chrono was cold, so cold, so very, very cold. "Especially Urd." The stars began to pulse with a luminescent light, and Chrono was reminded of a white dwarf, the stars all tiny suns that had reached their terminal mass and were at the end of their long lives. She shivered uncontrollably. This wasn't right, this wasn't natural, this was wrong, wrong, wrong, but she didn't know the hows or the whys or the what-have-yous. "Urd may be a bitch, but she's my bitch," Skuld continued. "She may have all the brains of an overripe melon, but she's my melon-brained idiot sister."
Chrono shared a look with Kara, who looked uncertain in the presence of the pearl-stars. "Uh..." Kara uttered. "Maybe you should rephrase that first part..."
"Maybe you should shut the hell up and apologize," Skuld replied, cutting her off. The calm had yet to leave her voice, and again Chrono shivered, wishing more and more that she was fighting by Lind's side. Lind at least was safe. But this... Skuld was showing signs she was even more a Wildcard than Urd, and that was a frightening concept to find herself up against. Especially with a Valkyrie like Kara as her only backup.
"Yeah...no." Without warning Kara lashed out with her bow staff, and all at once the white dwarf stars reacted, their glow enhancing to the point of blinding before forming a wall between Skuld and Kara's choice of weapon. The round, metal end released a hollow warble as it landed, a noise so strange and so alien that it left both Valkyries nauseous. Then the metal that engulfed the wood shattered, and Kara released a yelp. "What the hell?"
Skuld bequeathed them both an unpleasent, cool smile. "Etiru." Her arms stretched out in front of her and the goddess spread her fingers, and the two warriors watched with wide, uncertain eyes as the twenty tiny white dwarfs moved to her hands, two to each finger and creating the illusion of a pair of burning white gloves. The woman dipped into an unfamiliar fighting stance, and sensing the imminent battle at hand, the Valkyries followed, Kara spinning her staff to the other end as Chrono dropped into a fighting stance of her own.
"Kara." The younger Valkyrie looked at her comrade. "If we end up getting our asses kicked because you decided to open you mouth and insult a Norn, I will lock you up in a latrine so soiled demons won't even touch it and have you lick the goddamned walls clean."
Just for a moment the tip of Kara's staff dropped. The woman glanced at Chrono in horror. "Bullshit," she hissed. "We're the same rank. You don't have-"
"Belu!" Skuld snarled. She sent a punch towards Kara, and the Valkyrie looked to her in a mixture of surprise and confusion, batting at the younger woman's fist. The range difference between them was large enough that the punch wouldn't have even reached Kara where she stood. Yet, that was before ten of the glowing pearls shot from Skuld's hand and soared at the green haired woman. They traveled in a straight, neat line, one behind the other, and Kara swatted at them with her staff in the hopes of disrupting their path. Then the pearls tore through the hardened, magically enhanced weapon like it was paper, and Kara threw herself to the ground as the alien weapons sailed past her head.
Chrono stared at the broken weapon with wide eyes. "Oh...fuck." Then watched as the tiny line of pearls, still in their neat little train, traveled back to Skuld.
"Etiru." The glowing orbs returned to Skuld's hand. Her smile grew malicious. "Now," She said, eyes sparkling as Kara got to her feet. The Valkyrie was shaking. "About that apology..."
Chrono stepped a couple of feet away from Kara, blue eyes darting between her and Skuld. "I just want to say," she began, "That I worked under Urd before my time a a Valkyrie and I hold no feelings either for or against her."
Kara's head snapped towards Chrono. "You bitch!"
"Belu." The Valkyrie dodged to the left with a yelp as once more a chain of the glowing orbs shot towards her. Yet as soon as the orbs left Skuld's hand, Chrono lashed out with a roundhouse kick, her right leg moving so fast it seemed to blur. Skuld's eyes widened, and she cried out as well. "Adapu!" The woman brought her arms out in front of her, and the beads on her opposing hand shot out as Chrono's foot came towards her, spreading into a wall.
The Valkyrie reeled as her foot collided with the pearls, and she stumbled back, gritting her teeth against the pain that hummed through her leg. It felt like her foot had bounced off an iceberg, throbbing and pulsing as a deep numbness seeped into the bone. With another command of "Etiru," the orbs returned to their stationary position on Skuld's hands, and the Norn narrowed her eyes.
"Idiots, the both of you." She murmured, and with a squeeze of her fist the orbs grew brighter. "Who the hell do you think taught me how to fight?"
XXX
That's a fucking demon. Keiichi's heart began to jackhammer in his ribcage as he stared at the woman before him with wide eyes. Oh…oh fuck. All at once he was back in Afghanistan, armed with an M4 and firing off a burst of gunfire at a blonde man who was using some sort of strange weaponry against a woman who looked to be on her last leg. Of how a short burst of gunfire had struck the man but did nothing aside from draw his attention. Of the sudden, horrid realization that Keiichi had screwed up in that exact moment, as the man's red eyes-literal, glowing red eyes-had met his and how the blonde had laughed then, and Keiichi had started fearing for his life. There was something in that gaze…something evil in that look which had chilled Keiichi to the bone back then, had paralyzed him, had made that primitive lizard brain of his scream in terror over what he was facing.
Now, that same lizard began to rouse once more, and Keiichi broke out into a cold sweat. I don't have Urd to back me up now. Urd had said nothing of a demon. Keiichi doubted he'd have even agreed if she'd mentioned there was a demon. Yet here one stood before him, as real and as chilling as the midnight air. I don't even have the Poodle, he thought. Hell, at this point, I'd even take Baby Bravo for backup. But he was all alone. All alone in a video editing studio, with screams and cries emerging in a cacophony of voices from the speakers, a dead man lying near the editing station, an unconscious sick fuck, and a demon who had her own role to play in this whole ordeal.
"Indeed," Hagall purred. "You're all alone… you've been abandoned by any you would call 'dear', and without even a weapon to defend yourself against." The demon took a step forward. Keiichi stepped back and to the left. "Poor, poor Keiichi-kun." The man stiffened. Only his sister's called him by that name. He allowed only his sisters to call him by that name. To hear the Japanese honorific coming from a demon formed a knot in his gut, and the man grit his teeth as he felt a bead of sweat trickle down his temple.
Hagall paused as she took another step, then tilted her head to the left, looking down the length of her nose at him. The smile she sent him was arrogant, haunting, and above all, terrible. "Oh?" She murmured. "What's this? Is the big bad ghost afraid of something?" She sauntered towards him, and Keiichi backed up, edging towards the left as he retreated. "But what?" She continued. "Surely not the men in this room; one lies dead and the other may as well be. Not what's on the screens, despite the visible…" Her eyes darted to the monitors behind him, then back to Keiichi, "…talent so portrayed by the actors."
She's got that same evil glint the other one had. Keiichi thought. Urd, where the hell are you? Where the hell was Belldandy, for that matter? Had she been sealed by this demon? Could gods be sealed like demons? I don't know how to break a seal, if that's the case. I don't even know where I'd look for her.
"Oh, I assure you, Belldandy still walks as a free goddess," Hagall spoke again. "It…would be no fun if I was to merely seal her. We can do that by the way—seal gods. It's part of an old armistice agreement between our two people." The woman continued her advance, her heels clicking on the tiled floor. Keiichi continued to edge to the left, watching as, step by step, the two of them began to circle.
"You read minds." Keiichi stated.
"Oh my. A mortal who speaks the obvious?" One of Hagall's brows rose in mirth, and she released a sharp, amused laugh. "You are a sharp one, aren't you?" Keiichi flinched. "I assure you, Keiichi-kun, I can do much more than that." She paused, blue eyes glittering with malice. "I wonder... should I show you?" She inquired. "Your deepest fears, your buried griefs. Tell me, what is it that so frightens Keiichi Morisato? If I were to look under your bed, what monsters would I find? Would their faces be men?" Her eyes bore into his, and Keiichi felt the hair rise on the nape of his neck, evoking a shudder that traversed the length of his spine. "Or children?"
For a moment, and just for a moment, Keiichi thought he saw someone from the corner of his eye. A boy, perhaps around five, with tan skin and black hair. The man wrenched his gaze from the demon's, his heart clenching in his chest. "Fida?!" Yet it was an illusion, a trick of the eye, and the child he thought he'd seen vanished like so many other ghosts from his past.
Hagall's laughter was cruel. "My, you certainly have a thing for children, don't you?" Keiichi looked back at the woman. "So many children, so much misfortune...you truly were born beneath an unlucky star, weren't you?" The demon snickered, and Keiichi felt a ball of hate build atop his fear. "And to think, you curse all you meet with such a wretched demise-"
"You shut your goddamned mouth right now." Keiichi's voice came out low and commanding, his anger overriding the instinct that even now screamed in his ear-flee! Flee! There's a fox in the chicken coop and it's coming for you! Run! Scream! Get away! Instead he drew the plasma coil from its holster, which even now felt too light in his hands. I've been scared plenty of times in the past. He reminded himself, and Hagall's grin grew larger. This time's no different. He thought. I'll just nail her and run. Nail her and run, that's all I got to do. Just hit her once and-
He fired, and his shot was true. It struck Hagall straight in the chest. Seizing his chance, man bolted for the room's exit, uninterested in the weapon's effectiveness. Now he let his instinct override him, now he let the panic engulf his mind, now he-
Hagall appeared in the door's threshold, looking none the worse for wear. "And tell me," she purred, "What were you going to do when you realized that little toy didn't work on me?"
Without thinking Keiichi threw the would-be hair dryer at the demon, all other thoughts having fled his mind in the resulting panic. Hagall caught it without effort and crushed it with one hand, her eyes never leaving his. The amusement had left her face, though, and Keiichi knew all at once that she was done toying with him. "I'd say it's high time you introduced me to your monsters, Keiichi Morisato." He ran towards her, intent on barreling into her if need be, when the ground opened up beneath him.
And Keiichi Morisato found himself falling. Falling into a chasm so deep, so black, so impenetrable, he feared he would go insane. And as the chasm closed in around him, as Hagall's voice echoed through the darkness, a part of Keiichi wondered if he'd gone mad already.
XXX
Gunfire.
Someone was firing at the ECP.
Screams broke through the many TCNs, and panic seized the locals like a madness. All at once they were flocking to the ECP's gate, pushing and shoving and yelling and screaming as they fought to get through, fought to get onto base, fought for shelter from the bullets spraying towards the MPs without discretion.
He remembers cursings and how Jackson is by him like magic, how he looks right and there is McGuinness, screaming orders as behind them Iraqi soldiers ran for cover. None of them are armed. "Morisato, you're on point!" McGuiness screamed in his ear. "Jackson, you cover him!"
He remembers asking about the civilians, but not McGuinness's response. He's at the ECP instead, taking shelter behind a cement barricade and firing at men, at women, at anyone armed and firing on the ECP. He catches glimpses that live on to haunt his dreams: the look of surprise on one man's face as he takes three rounds in the chest. The terror on a woman's as she's mowed down in the crossfire. The burning eyes of another man as he targets an MP.
The man looked down the red sights of his weapon, pulling the trigger as the tiny red dot landed on the torso of first one man, then drifted to another as he picked up his fallen companion's weapon. Their aim was poor and wild, their weapons the old, mass-produced AK's that'd been lying around since the Iran-Iraq war, uncleaned and uncared for and jamming without cause. There are screams on his side of the barrier, he doesn't look, hears someone scream for a medic, hears Sanchez's voice further off. They all sound distant and dreamlike, unreal and fantasmal in this horrid reality that exists between his sights. ("You know what happens next, don't you?" Hagall asks, and yes, now he recognizes the voice and he knows what's about to happen and he's scared and shaking, shaking because of what's about to enter his line of sight, shaking because of what he's about to do—)
There he was. It was Fida alright. ("You pulled the trigger as soon as you saw him, didn't you?" Hagall persists. "You didn't think, you just acted, and it was only as his body flopped to the ground that you realized what you did. You createn. MURDERER.") He recognized the boy's bowl-cut hair, recognized the bright red t-shirt he wore, and his finger-
"No." He breathed. "That's not what happened." He stopped himself. Forced himself to stop, his finger just starting to squeeze the trigger. "I knew it was him immediately."
("And still you murdered him." Hagall wasn't even trying to hide herself now.) The bullets were flying, deafening the air around him and yet somehow none of them struck Fida, who was racing towards the ECP in a dead run. ("The only bullets meant for him were from your gun, remember?")
Keiichi shook his head, his eyes wide. "No, that's not how it went." He repeated. "It was—"
("You saw him and pulled the trigger. You reacted without thinking and a child died for your crime. Like a perfect little soldier without thought for anyone else.") Time froze, and Keiichi found Fida in his scope, the child's dark eyes wide with fear and panic. The boy looked close to crying. Hagall appeared next to him. She wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulders and smiled at Keiichi, locking eyes with him as she had before. The look on her face was one of contempt. ("But then again I suppose that's all you are. A Gun under contract. A paid killer. A professional murderer. You deal in death and business is good, is it not?")
Why hadn't anyone else fired at the boy? Why had, of all the people present that day, he'd been ignored by soldiers and insurgents and civilians alike? Why had no one else seen him?
("You know the answer to that.") He felt a pair of hands, as gentle as a breeze, graze across his arms, felt hot breath on his neck and felt his hair stand in object terror. ("You were the only one looking for him that day... Children have always remained invisible on the battlefield, for they are the participants no one wants to acknowledge.")
He closed his eyes, yet still found no relief. The scene behind his eyelids was even worse; that of Fida's everlasting survival, where Keiichi didn't fire upon the boy, where the youth reached him at the ECP and how Keiichi, too relieved to see him safe and sound, did not notice the strange, bulky shape to his person nor the wires sticking out of his shirt.
"And that's why I pulled the trigger," he said outloud. "It wasn't out of cruelty. It wasn't for murder or because I just 'reacted'. I know what I saw. I had to do it, for the safety of the base."
("But there was nothing in his shirt.") Hagall's words caused Keiichi to grit his teeth as the image changed, once more showing Fida's body dropping to the ground. ("He recognized you and was running for help. You, who used to toss him candy from convoys. You, who helped patch his wounds after an IED exploded outside his village walls. You, who would hand him MREs and clothing and bottled water as a sign of good faith towards the populace. He knew you by name, Keiichi Morisato, and so he ran to you, fearless of the bullets, fearless of the soldiers, fearless of the men who were his own people. He ran to you and you betrayed him, shot a five year old boy down like a dog in the street.")
There was a clatter, and some small part of Keiichi was aware that he'd dropped his weapon. He didn't care. "Get out of my head!" he screamed as he tore his helmet off. A bullet whizzed past his ear. He didn't notice. "What the fuck are you trying to do to me?!"
"Jank, what the fu-" Jackson was next to him, staring at him with wide, startled eyes, only to topple over a moment later from where a bullet tore off his jaw. Blood and bone sprayed the sky, and Keiichi stared, paralyzed, as the man collapsed without another word.
No, He'd been bullshitting with the real Jackson not even twelve hours ago. No, this isn't what happened, this isn't right, he all around him Keiichi was seeing more and more discrepancies with his memories. Americans were dropping like flies. The two MPs who'd been manning the gate were both down, one bleeding out and the other dead. They both left that fight alive. One was grazed in the arm and another was saved by his helmet. Sanchez was running towards them, a medic to the end, and was blown away when an RPG crashed into his position. There weren't any RPGs! They only had AKs! They only had small arms! He watched in open horror as a leg sailed through the air. Was that Sanchez? Or one of the MPs? He clutched his head, shaking it in disbelief. "This isn't what happened, this isn't what happened, this isn't what happened!" He was screaming now, and the air was filled with the sound of gunfire. Laughter and gunfire and screams and smoke and—Fida.
He looked back across the barrier, and there was the boy, his eyes dead-set on Keiichi and his expression still terrified. He reached the ECP without so much as a graze, and to Keiichi's eyes it seemed almost as though the boy's skin was translucent, revealing the skeleton beneath. "Keichi!" The boy had never learned how to say his name properly, and it wrenched at Keiichi's heart. "Keichi! Please help me!"
I can't move. Keiichi thought, his eyes traversing Fida's face. They boy repeated himself. "Keichi, please help me. Keichi, please help me, Keichi, please help me." It was one of the few bits of English he'd taught the boy. In case he ever found himself in danger. Run to an American and say 'please help me' and they'll take care of you. God, he'd spent a fucking hour going over that phrase with him. And now... now... Keiichi's throat locked in despair as he spied what he'd already known: A series of black wires that poked through the collar of his shirt. The man grit his teeth.
He'll blow you and everyone near you up if you don't stop him. That was the voice of cold, hard logic, you know it's true, just as it was back then. It was the voice of training, the voice of steel that had gotten him through so many firefights alive. This isn't real, remember? You know exactly how everything happened, you went over it more times than you care to remember. You wrote it down. You spoke it aloud. You looked back and asked yourself, 'if I had any control over it, what would I have done differently?' And the answer was always no. There was nothing you could have done that wouldn't have gotten you shot, your team shot, of caused some sort of breach in the ECP that would have led to more deaths. Now shut your eyes tight, Morisato, 'cause it's time to start visualizing. Stop thinking about the bullshit that never happened and start thinking about what you want to happen.
He can feel Hagall digging through his mind now, her fingers like worms burrowing through a fresh, hot corpse. Block her with steel, he tells himself, block her with something she can't penetrate, something she won't expect. Something she has no defense against.
But what?
What would stop her in her tracks? What would catch her so off guard that he'd break through this nightmare she was forcing him to live through? What? What?
And then it came to him.
Always look on the bright side of life.
He can sense Hagall pause, can almost feel her eyes widen in new curiosity.
And so he showed her.
XXX
"Oh? What's this?"
In another world, from another perspective, Hagall paused in curiosity, her physical eyes drawn to the collapsed form of Keiichi Morisato before her as her mental eyes were drawn to something else. She'd been toying with him, prolonging his suffering as she was due a good laugh, and his misery had its own special flavor to it that she found particularly appealing.
He'd fought her, of course; they always did, but never before had any of them succeeded. But then again...they'd also never attempted whatever it was the SEAL was attempting now. A smile carved its way upon her face, and the woman cocked her head back, eyeing the fallen man in amusement. "I suppose I have the time to humor you," she murmured, speaking not to the body before her but to the spirit imprisoned within. "Tell me, fool-man, why should I look on the bright side of life?"
The spirit bequeathed her an image, and with it a pair of golden brows shot up in surprise. An image of crucified men, hanging suspended and alive ten feet above the ground. The air shimmered with heat, the men flayed alive and naked aside from a dirty-white loincloth. Religion? She scoffed. The man before her never struck her as the religious type. How fitting that he should turn to faith while his mind was slowly being undone, unwound, stripped of all its mortal sanity before he either killed himself on the blows his conscious thought were there or she killed him herself, and she'd never been the type to soil her hands in death.
Blue eyes narrowed, and her mind's eye focused on one of the faces projected to her, finding not Jesus or a Saint or some other figure, but Keiichi himself. Beside him was another man, the dark-skinned man she had heard referred to as Jackson. "Is this you and your team?" Hagall inquired, her curiosity peaked. "All of you on crosses?" The woman released a sharp bark of laughter. "And tell me, what is this supposed to symbolize? A return to Jesus?"
And then the singing began. Oh Nidhog, the singing.
Keiichi looked up to the sky and smiled, his body shiny with sweat from either the pain of the nails in his hands and feet or the heat of the midday sun. He imagined Hagall's eyes in the sky; Hagall in place of a god, Hagall in place of Urd or Belldandy and he couldn't help but smile. Oh this was going to be a riot, oh this was his only chance, so he might as well put on a damned good show.
"Some things in life are bad,
They can really make you mad,
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle!
And this'll help things turn out for the best...
And...always look on the bright side of life..."
Keiichi whistled a happy little tune, and Hagall stared at him, dumbstruck, as the man continued.
"Always look on the light side of life..."
More whistling. Why was he whistling? Why was he singing? Why was Keiichi Morisato nailed to a cross and singing and whistling as even his team stared at him in confusion?!
"If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.
And...always look on the bright side of life..."
Now the other members of the team were whistling, singing along in a grand symphony of insanity, and Hagall was at it's mercy, trying to make rhyme or reason of the strange scene playing out before her.
"Always look on the light side of life..."
Oh Nidhogg, everyone was singing now. And they were British! Why were they British!? No one on Team 12 was from Britain, and the reports she'd read on them claimed that McGuinness was Irish! Why were they all singing and whistling in British accents?! Keiichi Morisato had never even visited Great Britain, yet there he was, singing his disgustingly cheerful little heart out and Hagall; Didn't. Know. Why!
From the ground a series of figures emerged, and for a moment Hagall hoped it was whatever monster had been intended to end this disastrous affair. Instead her mouth dropped, and a noise like a squeak arose in her throat. ("H-Hild-Sama?") But that was impossible, because Keiichi Morisato had never met Hild, had never seen Hild, did not even know that a woman of such grand and terrifying power existed in his own puny comprehension of the greater universe and all it's mysteries. Yet there she stood. Three of them, in fact, arm in arm and all wearing matching outfits of an oil-tin cap and a fake carrot nose, dressed in some terrible get-up as if someone was trying to pass her off for a witch. They were dancing with ducks and coconuts carried by swallows-African or European, Hagall couldn't tell-and Nidhog bless it none of it...NONE OF IT MADE ANY SENSE!
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"
XXX
Keiichicame to with a gasp and a shudder, for a moment not recognizing where he was. A part of him was still in Afghanistan, another piece nailed to a cross, and it took him a second to realize that he was back in the video editing room, lying where he'd collapsed near the door's entryway. Hagall was kneeling before him, her hands buried in her hair and a look of perturbed horror on her face. "Why are they singing?" She whispered, her voice so quiet that Keiichi almost missed it. "Why are they whistling?!" The demon's eyes were glazed and distant, and after a moment's hesitation Keiichi dared himself to wave a hand before her face. The woman didn't notice.
Always look on the bright side of life, Hagall. Keiichi thought, looking around his surroundings before easing himself past the demon. A hefty portion of his mind was still devoted to visualizing the scene that even now played out in his head, and now he'd added a series of Skulds juggling holy hand grenades and white rabbits to the scene as well. They were dancing around the Witch-Urd's with wide, insane smiles on their faces, as the Witch-Urds continued their own dance, heaving first one leg, then the other into the air. All of them were singing. All of them were whistling.
He crept past the mesmerized demon, being careful not to touch her, and into the adjacent hallway where he grabbed his discarded helmet. He didn't put it on. Not yet. Instead, his mind still filled with images of crucified men, witches with ducks, and holy grenades used to take out white rabbits, Keiichi headed down the hallway and did what any sane, reasonable, person in his unique situation would do.
He ran for his fucking life.
I need to find Belldandy and get the hell out of Dodge. He pressed himself up the staircase and into the hallway on the next floor. There was no way to know Hagall's range of telepathy, nor how close she needed to be for her to spring some kind of 'mind-trap' on him, and Keiichi didn't want to stick around and find out. In his mind Monty Python continued to play out it's humorous songs, now looping in his head like an ear-worm, filled his thoughts. He let it. It worked in Dreamcatcher, fuck, it might work here. True, Hagal wasn't some sort of parasitic alien that passed intestinal shit-weasels to her victims—at least, Keiichi hoped not—but she still seemed able to pick up on local thoughts pretty easily.
So let the earworm act like a jammer and keep the under-thoughts quiet beneath. As an afterthought he put on his helmet, hoping that Skuld's stealth suit worked against demons as well as she claimed it did against gods. If it does, I will straight up kiss her for it. The idea that a stealth suit and an earworm were the only defenses he had against a demon with ungoldy telepathic powers did not do much to place his mind at ease, but right now it was the only thing he had. If it kept Hagall off his back until he found Belldandy, than so be it. Code 23 09 1988. That was what he had to pass on to Belldandy when he found her-if he found her. It sounded like a date of some sort. He wondered about it's significance.
You'll have all the time in the world to ponder the mysteries of the universe later. He reminded himself. Find Belldandy, pass her the code, and get the hell out of here. The third floor was empty of guards, and for that Keiichi was grateful. It seemed that whoever he'd knocked out on the first floor was the only other guard in the facility, and not looking a gift horse in the mouth Keiichi took full advantage of it. In a rush he went from one room to another, crashing the traditional sliding-style doors open with a force that spoke of great urgency. Most of the rooms were empty, though Keiichi still beheld them with distaste. Some had beds. Some had chairs. Some had...bindings. All had cameras. He recognized some of them as studio rooms from the video's he'd witnessed, cleaned and sanitized as they awaited their next chunk of action. Keiichi's stomach rolled. I have never in my life wanted so badly to burn a place to the ground. He thought. The man continued to the next floor.
He'd been wrong. There were other guards here, as made evident by the lone man who stood outside a larger room with twin doors. Like the guards he'd seen before, this one was dressed in a gray suit; one that hid the concealed holster while still presenting a professional appearance. The SEAL observed him for less than a minute before rushing him. If Belldandy is anywhere, it's got to be here. He told himself. Either that or the girl... Regardless he'd take either one and continue searching for the other. No one needed to live in house of demons and monsters.
The guard went down with little effort. He'd not been expecting any intruders, and certainly not intruders of the black stealth suit variety. The man had done little other than stare in the stupid surprise of a cow receiving a killing blow to the head, and likewise he too fell without a sound. Keiichi dragged his body away from the door, wanting a quick escape for his retreat.
He paid for it with a blow to the side of such force he was sent sailing down to the other end of the hallway. He collided with a wall hard enough to splinter the wood. The man gasped and clutched his side, the rising pain so strong that the SEAL feared he'd broken a rib or two. His vision swimming, the man looked up, finding a woman storming towards him. "Shit." It was Hagall.
"That," The woman hissed as she drew near. "Was a foolish move." The man blinked and shook his head, his eyes tearing up and blurring the demon as she approached. "A clever one, I'll admit, but foolish none the less." Her eyes narrowed. They were glowing red. "It will not happen again. This time you die."
Fear got Keiichi to his feet, and the SEAL bolted down the corner hallway, following the long, rectangular perimeter that made up the fourth floor's hallways. Hagall appeared as he rounded the second corner, and sliding so hard his shoes squeaked Keiichi turned and ran the other way. This is stupid, she's got me pegged. It hurt to breathe and his injured side was burning like no tomorrow. Fuck, he hoped that wasn't a sign he'd punctured a lung. I'll round another corner and she'll be there.
Sure enough there she was, a sneer on her face as soon as he turned the next corner. The demon lunged at him, and he threw himself to the side, slamming again into the wood before making off down the hallway once more. He heard a growl in his ear. It didn't sound human. His instincts drove him to duck, and a chunk of the wood on his right side exploded in wood shards, leaving a hole the size of his head in its wake.
He thought he heard a scream come from the room on the other side of the wall, yet between the pounding in his ears and his own rasping breaths, Keiichi couldn't be certain. Move move move move! He didn't so much as run now as he did stumble forward, and he could sense more than see Hagall stalking after him, and it made the hair on the nape of his neck stand on end. She wasn't even bothering to run at this point. Find Belldandy. Pass her the code. 23 09 1988. Code 23 09 1988. Pass it to Belldandy. Need to find her and-
He stumbled forward, felt something sharp bite into his right leg, and roared in pain. Have I been shot?! Does she have a gun? But that didn't make sense. Skuld said the suit was bullet proof, right? And why would a demon need a gun? Ignore it asshole! Get to Belldandy! Find Belldandy before she—
He stumbled back into the main hallway where knocked out guard laid. The door had opened, and Keiichi saw a woman kneeling down beside the unconscious man. She was wrapped in a sheet and nothing else, her long, almond hair cascading down her back and across her shoulders in long, thick locks. He froze, taking in the gentle curve of her back, the rise of her shoulder blades as she examined the man before her, the sweet glow of skin the color of fresh cream. For a moment everything else: the pain, the fear, the danger he was in, fled his mind as the woman rose. She turned to look at him, and Keiichi's heart skipped a beat as her blue eyes gazed towards his.
"You." She narrowed those eyes his way. Keiichi felt his heart seize. "You're the one who injured the guard, aren't you?" She examined him, looking him up and down. "And that, that'sone of my sister's suits. Skuld sent you, did she not?"
Keiichi didn't reply at once, just stared awkwardly at her, dumbstruck. "You're beautiful," he finally blurted out instead. Somewhere in the depths of his mind where reason still dwelt, a piece of him cursed and smashed a melon with a giant hammer.
Belldandy frowned. "You did not answer my question." She stated, then paused, observing him with critical eyes. "Take off your helmet. I would see the face of the man my sister would involve in my affairs."
It was an order. Not a request but an order. Of course he followed through with it. At this point, he would walk through a bonfire naked if she asked. As he removed the helmet a brief thought, Hagall, passed through his mind, but it was quickly suppressed. He dropped his headgear on the floor, and he saw Belldandy's eyes widen in shock, in surprise, in such terrified disbelief that she was left frozen. Then it changed to such unbridled joy that she looked straight up divine. He felt himself grin, felt it widen into a smile, a genuine, honest smile the likes of which he'd not felt since before Debra had walked out on him. I found you, he thought. I finally found Jeanie. This nightmare's almost over.
There was a tapping from behind which alerted him someone at the other opposite end of the hallway. Tentatively, Keiichi broke his gaze from Belldandy and turned to see what it was.
Christ on a donkey, why couldn't it have been Aoshima?
Hagall met his gaze, her expression no longer upset as it once was but still vicious. She had a smile, calculated and malicious, so wide and so large on her face that it looked like it would split it in two. The code. Say the goddamned code asshole! Yet already he could feel himself falling back into that deep pit, back into that wretched void, even as he was falling forward. His peripheral vision caught a sheet falling, caught a hint of breast, and a piece of him even though he felt something catch him before the mind-trap sprang on him. "Code 23 09 1988" He heard himself mutter.
And then Keiichi Morisato surrendered himself to his next nightmare.
A/N: So we did actually get this chapter done on the same schedule as before. Good on us, right? Well... Chapter 5 is no where near as complete as the others were at this point, so I doubt we will get it out by next weekend. What little we have is pretty good, though. Urd and Skuld are both badasses.
Also, I feel the need to warn you now, chapter 5 will involve some disturbing imagery. Hagall is not playing anymore.