A/N: *grins* Now we're getting to the fun part of this story...after all, you didn't think I'd let them off easy, did you?

Chapter 11

Using the power if the immortals to bind and seal away memories happened to be a terrible offense. Many turned a blind eye to it, as it was expected. Sadly, not all were so lucky. Hild happened to be one of the few blessed with the knowledge, and pardoned from receiving creation's scorn. It was a calculation by the system force, Hild was sure, but she employed the magnitude of the power anyway.

It was a dreadfully heavy burden.

Yet it was one that Hild felt the need to carry on her shoulders. She had intended to help a goddess grieve, and in return harass Tyr just a little. That was where the intention ended. That was the line that she, as a demon with vices, drew the line. Where she ultimately allowed herself to bask in the warmth of another for a short time. As a ruler that line was critical to her continual stay in power. It afforded her very little weakness, and every ounce of it was measured to the extreme.

Hild was no slouch, and she knew her actions were dangerous ones.

She could not afford to lose sight of her intended tasks and duties. The least important of which could easily send her people into anarchy. The most important ones could end creation itself. Still, for as much as she had plotted, and been plotted against, she could admit to blind spots in her intellect. For as long as she had crafted her half of creation to her ideal of perfection, or at least the nearest attainable thing to that notion, she had never expected this.

Or rather, she expected it to play out differently...it had been a coin flip, a game of chance, and she'd taken it.

Oh, had she'd taken it, and now, a goddess loved her. A first class, unlimited license goddess. A daughter of Tyr…a child born if his seed…the man Hild once loved with all of her heart. It wasn't just convoluted. It was fundamentally wrong.

"Anzasu, we have a problem." Hild said as she paced back and forth, her bows furrowed, her frown uneasy. "One I don't think easily mended."

"You mean that you have a problem…" Anzasu replied, her voice even, her words cool. "Why call me, Hild?"

"It was your idea to send Belldandy to me. She is your daughter, and thus, you hold some measure of the blame for this." Hild shot back, clad in a nightgown that left little to the imagination. "I'm asking you to help me rectify it."

"Belldandy poses a problem?" Anzasu murmured, the fog of her sleep drifting away from her in an instant. "What happened?"

"The same thing that always happens when you bind romantic and erotic feelings to the soul of another." Hild murmured quietly, shooting Anzasu a pointed look. "Now, are you going to come here, or do I have to drag you through the monitor?"

"I shall come." Anzasu replied, cutting off the video feed. It took the goddess mere moments to travel through her medium and enter one of Hild's personal rooms. She cast a seal of warding around the room, and then tossed Hild a pointed look. "Did you make a vow to her, Hild?" The goddess asked.

"Are you completely stupid?" Hild asked with a lifted eyebrow, arms crossed. "That would be a dangerous game."

Anzasu sighed, but nodded. "Then, what did happen?"

"I…I haven't a clue." Hild grimaced as she shrugged and leaned weakly against the wall. Anzasu was probably the only woman capable of seeing her this absolutely weak. "This was….well, it was out of the realm of my expectation to be quite honest." She paused, and looked up with an uneasy, aggravated shrug. "It would seem she disregards the contract…she offered herself to me, and not very timidly either."

"You didn't expect that to be an outcome?" Anzasu laughed. "I would think you would know well the risks involved in such a thing."

"I expected it." Hild answered. "I expected that she might, under different circumstances, find the intrigue of the bedroom with a demon alluring. I even guessed that she would seek one as a lover." She bit her lower lip then, a nervous action that gave truth to her words. Stifling a curse, she swallowed hard. "However, I didn't think that she would seek me." Hild shook her head. "So openly at that, and I do not think I enjoy the implication set forth by the action."

"You mean to say, that you do not enjoy considering that a heavenly soul chose you." Anzasu clarified kindly, choosing then to lean on the hand of mercy, rather than judgment afforded of her position. "If however, Belldandy were a demon, the thought would irk you very little. You would take her and lay claim to her without question." Anzasu knew this would become a very thorny situation indeed. "It is not Belldandy's attentions that drive you to distance yourself from her."

"If you know that, then come and rescue your daughter." Hild demanded heatedly. "Save her from herself, before she falls down into an abyss she can't escape from."

Anzasu sat unmoving, but her lips thinned into a tight line. With a slow blink of her eyes and a steady breath, she came to a conclusion she didn't like. "You love her…"

"Damnable word that it is." Hild hissed between her teeth. "Anzasu, I would advise that you do something…because we both know where this little experiment of Belldandy's is going to end up if this continues."

"I will not." Anzasu replied in a decidedly firm tone. "Consider this repentance, Hild."

"You will regret such a thing." Hild sighed. "You know what harm that kind of mindset could have."

Anzasu shook her head. "This is your atonement, for bedding down with Tyr while chained within your trials. Consider that this is the cause put into motion when you gave birth to Urd, and forever bound Tyr to you in a way that he could not escape…consider, if you will, that doing so is what will ultimately lead you to face that selfsame trial of judgment again, with my daughter of all people."

"You've gone mad." Hild retorted icily. "I would not presume to claim such idiocy."

Anzasu shook her head, she could not stop the events that were beginning to unfold, even if she desired to do so. "Perhaps also consider that Belldandy has already overcome the trial once before. Trust that she is not nearly as blinded by her emotions as Tyr."

"Insufferable." The demon queen hissed. "I refuse to think for a moment that you have come up with such a conclusion."

"Yet, it is the one I made, is it not?" Anzasu asked her, and Hild could no longer form a proper reply. "As an interspecies trails officer, I have an obligation…but as a mother, I pray to the Almighty that you will not fail this trial again, Hild."

The demon queen was so angry, she couldn't even speak. Words died on the tip of her tongue. Instead, she stood, seething her dark power glimmering in the palms of her hands in terrifying glory.