Disclaimer: I do not own Ah! My Goddess

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Seeing Belldandy walk down the street wasn't a rare sight. Seeing her smile wasn't a rare sight.

Her occasionally giggling at a private joke? That was rare.

Of course, the person only looked like Belldandy.

'When I get to the temple, I'll give Morisato complete hell!' the Demon-in-goddess-skin thought.

Images of forcing the mortal to endlessly clean the temple's rooms, having him take apart his beemer and putting it back together, talking Skuld into venting all of her frustrations onto the mortal, shrinking him to a doll and throwing him about, and so on ran across Mara's mind.

She paused to chuckle so hard, she shuddered. 'Lady Hild's plan will succeed! Belldandy will come back to a place where Morisato despises her!'

As Mara passed by a bulletin board, she saw an ad about a discount on steak. The sale would occur in about a week.

"Huh… I've been meaning to try out that saute recipe I read about the other day. The others would… like…" Mara muttered. She didn't know any cooking recipes… at least, not until that very moment. She gulped as she remembered how Bellandy changed a devil into an angel. While Mara may be ignorant in a lot of areas, she did know a lot about conditioning and mental processes, due to creating all sorts of supernatural things with her skill in genetics and biology. She also read a lot of manga and watched a lot of TV. "Can't… can't happen to me. I'm gonna be a… a…"

Her eyes widened.

She couldn't finish that statement.

She couldn't even say to herself that she would remain a demon.

When Mara turned around to run back to the Arcade, she saw her shadow temporarily changed to Hild's. It pointed in the direction of the temple before it changed back to the body's normal shadow.

Mara sighed. "I guess this means I have to work fast and hope no one asks certain questions."

Her shoulders slumped for a moment before she shook herself out of that mood. Under her breath, Mara said, "A depressed Belldandy draws more attention than a happy Belldandy."

As Mara headed to the Temple, she had to resist humming any song she overheard.

-o-

Hild watched as Belldandy was preparing her a meal. She was wearing one of her usual dresses, but was currently in Mara's body. There also was a collar around her neck, glowing with runes.

"It's so good of you to make me something, Belldandy," Hild said with a smirk. "It's also a tad interesting to see you take to Mara's body so well."

Looking back with a disappointed expression, Belldandy replied, "You and Mara only had to call me at the temple. We could have set something up. You didn't need to knock me out and steal my body."

She then tapped the collar. "You also didn't need to go and make this."

"That's to make you do whatever I order, Belldandy. Can't let you ruin my little plan," Hild retorted. "You wouldn't believe how hard it was to make it. There was also making sure that it made Mara do what I say against her will, but that's something you don't need to worry your pretty little head about."

"It's not my head, it's Mara's," Belldandy quickly said.

"Right, right… So... " Hild muttered as she looked up at the ceiling. "So, feel any different? Aside from the whole 'body feels wrong' signs. Can you lie?"

'Let's see what happens if I were to make Belldandy tell a falsehood!' Hild's gaze then shot towards Belldandy with a wicked grin. "Would you kindly lie to me?"

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Notes from HotelKatz: And the one I mentioned in chapter 8.

I have no idea what might happen next in this chapter. How far does the 'no telling lies' thing extend?

At least to the mortal shell that Belldandy normally resides in for this story. Perhaps it might be how Belldandy escapes the control collar thing. Being forced to tell a lie and being unable to lie creates a paradox/explosion?

How far would Mara be able to go through with Hild's plan? Would she see some similarities between herself and Keiichi, about how they both tend to lose a lot without the norns' help?

Or would Belldandy be able to break out of the collar because her temper becomes as short as Mara's? Which is to say she doesn't blank out and cause explosions like she does in her body, but is able to rip the collar in half because Mara once took the time to wrestle bears?

Ah, well. food for thought.