Disclaimer: AMG is not mine.
Choix
Chapter 14
If I Was Your Mother
"You never killed for your country; you killed for yourself. God is never going to make that go away."
John J. Rambo
"Rambo"
She was surprised to find she wasn't alone upon entering the viewing room. Although the person she was with could not yet be seen, Hild's Window as working, which meant someone was using it.
Belldandy squinted, trying to make out what was being viewed. She blinked as she realized she recognized the place in the window as a room in the temple. In the center of the room, lying on a futon surrounded by a crystalline prison construct, was Peorth. The goddess was tossing and turning in her sleep, troubled by who knew what kind of nightmare.
"Peorth," Belldandy whispered.
"Princess,"
She gasped and turned, her hand going to her chest. "Hello?"
The goddess saw a tiny, orange ember moving in the shadows. With the sound of boots on stone, Metheus stepped into the light, cigarette in hand.
"I did not mean to frighten you," he told her.
Belldandy choked back her anger at this man, this god who had betrayed everyone who cared about him, who tortured her Keiichi...
She let the anger float away like smoke on the wind. If she was to maintain her spirit in this place, she had to be the goddess she had always been and offer forgiveness.
"Mr. Wynn," she greeted, albeit a little stiffly.
"Metheus," he corrected. "There is no Wynn. Not anymore."
"I see," she said. "I did not mean to disturb you. I came to see Keiichi."
"Then I shall leave you to it," he said, starting for the door.
"She's in agony, you know," she told him. "I have never seen her so distraught as I had when she thought you were dead."
He paused and turned back to her. Carefully, he circled the Window, locking his good eye on her. "Do you know what they're doing to you?" he asked.
She looked away. "They want to turn me into a demon," she said simply.
He took a drag on his cigarette. "Only The Almighty can do such a thing," he said. "Hild wants you to choose to be here. That's why it was necessary for you to make your oaths to her without us laying a hand on you."
She knew there was truth to his words. The goddess could feel it inside her. A small black stain on her spirit. She knew the longer she stayed, the more it would grow, consuming her soul.
Belldandy also knew that her reasons for doing it were pure, they had to be. It was her only hope of redemption.
"I didn't choose to be here," she told him sadly. "I chose to save Keiichi's life. You would not understand."
"Wouldn't I?" he asked. He circled the Window and approached her. "You love, Princess. In that we are the same... and different."
"How so?" she asked. "The things you do are cruel, malicious..."
He looked at the Window, at the image of Peorth sleeping there. "I love her the way you love Keiichi," he told her. "In that, we are the same. How we're different is in how far we're willing to go. Tabitha told me about your breaking. You would have given your life to stop my torture of your boyfriend. You would have gladly died..."
"Yes," she said, unflinchingly. "I would have given my life to save his."
"Would you have given mine?" he asked.
"I... I don't understand."
"No," he said. "Your sacrifice is easy. You own your own life. You may do with it as you will." He turned back to the Window. "To save her life..." He took a breath and nodded. "To save her life I'd kill every man, woman and child, mortal and immortal, in Creation and burn Heaven to its foundations. Anyone who resists, anyone who opens their eyes at me. I have no regrets about torturing Keiichi, because it means I'm one step closer to being with her again."
She thought on that, wondered if she could do the same.
"Not yet," he told her, sensing her question. "When you can... they've won."
He stepped away and walked out the door. Taking a breath, Belldandy turned to the Window and touched it, finding Keiichi's sleeping form in the next room.
888
Peorth looked up at the moon and took a breath before turning to the man sitting on the roof next to her.
Wynn sat there, looking down at the courtyard. It was the night they had reconnected after he returned from Hell. Every dream was different, from some other moment in their time together.
"So what is it this time?" she asked sadly. "Who are you killing tonight? Granters? Healers? What?"
The rampant shook his head. "I just thought you might need me."
She regarded him quizzically. "Who are you?" she asked. "At first... I thought you were just a dream... and then I thought you were... well... maybe a piece of you reaching out to me, to warn me. That maybe you were still on our side... But I saw you at the school... You had no idea how I knew..."
He turned his good eye toward her.
"Who are you?" she asked again.
There was a shimmer over Wynn's face, revealing a pair of grey eyes and blonde hair. With another shimmer, Wynn's face reappeared.
Peorth let out a shocked breath. "Lucky Jack?" she whispered.
The angel gave her a half-smile. "Not all of me," he said. "When we bonded in The Spark... and were... ripped apart..."
"A part of you remained," she finished.
He looked down. "I clung to you... to Gorgeous Rose..." he continued. "She's been hiding me... I'm not very much, but I still have a connection to Black Jack..."
"Black Jack?"
Lucky Jack looked up at her. "The other part of me. He's... I'm..." He looked away. "I'm in a dark, evil place, Peorth. Me, and him and Wynn."
"What do they want?" she asked.
He clasped his hands in front of him. "Revenge."
"For what?"
"For being what they are," he told her. "They hate what they are, what they've become. They hate themselves. And they're looking for anything that can give their lives meaning again. Hell can offer them that."
He turned to her. "And he wants you."
Peorth shut her eyes. "And I want him. I want things to be the way they were."
The angel looked at her. "You were always the source of our greatest joy," he told her. "Always."
She opened her eyes and blinked back tears. "Can he be saved?" she asked.
"I don't know," he replied. "Rampancy... isn't a disease like a cancer or pox. It's an epiphany. A moment when you realize that words can mean only what you want them to mean. In that respect, Wynn's rampancy is accelerating. He offered his loyalty to The Almighty... then turned. He offered it to Hild, and now..."
Peorth's mouth dropped open. "Are you saying he might turn on Hild?" she asked. If that was true, it was huge.
"You ask that as if it might be a good thing," Lucky Jack said. "Wynn's not stupid. He knows Hild's entire plan revolves around him. And he also knows that once it stops revolving around him, he's expendable again. He's playing a game for blood. He doesn't want to be Hild's slave anymore than he wants to be The Almighty's."
"Miranda," Peorth breathed. "She might be able to help them."
"If she's telling the truth," Lucky Jack cautioned. "Paranoia is a symptom of rampancy, but even the paranoid have enemies."
"Will you help me?" she asked.
"Of course," he said. "I love you too, you know." He smiled.
She smiled back. "I'll find a way to fix you," she said. "I swear I will."
"Just promise me one thing," he said.
"Of course."
He locked his eye on hers. "Don't try to link with him again."
"Last time it nearly worked," she argued.
"And I was divided," he told her. "Now all that remains is Black Jack, and he is a dark and twisted thing. And he will kill you. And he'll love doing it."
She nodded. "Thank you."
He smiled and leaned in, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Good morning."
Her eyes opened and she shot up in bed. The crystal wall met her there. She sighed and started planning. Somehow, she had to get in touch with Miranda. Somehow, she had to get out of this cage. And somehow, she had to find Wynn.
All that and she had to save Belldandy.
It was going to be a long week...
888
"Okay," she said drowsily. "You can't tell me you haven't done that before."
"A..Are you okay?" he asked.
Urd glanced away long enough to roll her eyes. It was such a typical virgin question to ask.
"Because I know I'm not very good," he stammered. "I mean... well... obviously.. You... You're my first. Like you said before... no goddess had ever 'offered herself' to me... and... you were great! I mean, better than great! I mean..."
"Nyd..." she cautioned.
"And I guess I was pretty clumsy, and that's not what I want to be for you, you know?" he continued on.
"Nyd..."
"Because you deserve someone who knows what they're doing," he went on, oblivious to her warning tone. "I mean, you deserve a guy who can make you feel as good as you made me feel, and I'm just not..."
"Nyd!"
He took a breath. "I'm s..."
"Don't say it!" she cried at him, pointing to the sky as if to bring down a lightning bolt. "So help me, God, if you apologize for making love to me it will be the last time we ever do!"
He shut his mouth tight.
She let out a breath. "That's what I thought," she said with a smile. "And you have nothing to worry about."
"So... I was okay?" he asked.
She put her hand on his chest and ran her fingers up and down. "Very much so," she confirmed.
"Are you sure?" he asked, some of that old nervousness returning. "If not, please tell me. I... I want it to be... you know... good for you..."
Her smile intensified. He was sweet, and it was one of the things she liked about him. Yes, he had been clumsy. Yes, she had walked him through a couple of things. Yes, he was inexperienced. But he was also a considerate, caring lover, and she could tell she was on his mind the entire time.
"I'll part with a nasty secret, Nyd," she said quietly. "I have an ex-boyfriend."
"O...oh," he said.
"Mm hmm," she confirmed. "And let me just say that when I was with him, it was kind of obvious who he was there for."
"I... I see," he said.
"Don't lie, you have no idea," she said with a smile. "What I mean to say is, when he and I made love, his pleasure was foremost on his mind and foremost on mine. With lovers, you're supposed to care most for the other person. And you did that. And that made it wonderful."
He let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding. "I'm glad."
She caressed his face with the back of her hand. "So am I."
"So... does this mean the marriage is on?" he asked.
She smiled at him. "Of course not," she said. "It means we're lovers. One thing at a time, Nyd. One thing at a time."
Now he was just plain confused.
A knock at the door broke up their pillow talk.
"Urd?"
The Norn blinked. "Gaeriel?" She rose from the futon and put on her silk robe. Parting the door an inch, she found the Valkyrie's eye on the other side.
"Yeah," Gaeriel said. "Look, you guys need to clear out until I say you can come back."
"What?" Urd asked in amused shock.
"Yeah," Gaeriel confirmed. "Ms. Frigga is already getting you rooms at the Hyatt downtown. I need you to get Nyd, Keiichi and Skuld and stay there for a few days."
"Why?" Urd asked. "Are we hiding?"
"No," the valkyrie told her. "You're getting out of the line of fire. Wynn's coming. Tonight."
"How do you know?" Urd asked.
"Because I left him a little message saying I'm going to kill his girlfriend."
888
"Look, I appreciate the offer," Keiichi said as he and Megumi walked down the street. "But I think I'm just going to room with Otaki."
Megumi's face fell. "Kei chan, you want to sleep in the same room with Otaki?" When Keiichi had told her the temple was being fumigated, she offered him the futon in her living room. She was genuinely surprised he was turning her offer down in favor of hanging out with Otaki for three days.
"It'll be like old times," he told her, pulling a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.
His sister watched him light up and frowned. "I thought you quit," she said.
"Yeah, well I started again," he said.
They walked in silence for a few more minutes. Finally, she decided there would be no good time and reached into her pocket. "By the way," she said. "Here's that money I owe you."
"Money?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said, holding out a wad of bills. "You know... for crashing at your place, drinking your beer, eating Belldandy's cooking..."
She wasn't sure if it was the offer itself or the mention of Belldandy, but his face suddenly pinched. "Keep it," he said. "You don't owe me for that kind of stuff."
"Look, Kei chan, take it. I know you need it."
"I need it?" he asked. "Since when?"
She bit her lip and realized there was no good way to say it. "Look... Kei chan... I don't know how much you owe them or if you're just into something bad... but... Look, I want to help..."
"Megumi, are you high?" he asked.
"Are... Are you?" she asked tentatively.
"What?" he asked, lowering the cigarette.
"Oh god," she muttered under her breath as she realized this was going to get a lot worse before it got better. "Kei chan... Belldandy... she... she left, didn't she?"
He flicked the ashes from his cigarette and turned away. "I told you," he said. "She's visiting home..."
"While her mom is visiting Japan?" Megumi asked. "That doesn't strike you as weird?" Her face turned sympathetic. "Did... Did she leave you because of the money thing?"
"What money thing?!" he asked, exasperated.
"You know what I'm talking about," she said. "Muggers don't torture a guy and leave him in the street for what you keep in your wallet. That's down and dirty Yakuza stuff. So what happened?" she asked. "Did you gamble and get in over your head? Did you..." She hated even thinking it. "Did they get you hooked on something?"
He stared at her and slowly shook his head in amazement. "Wow," he muttered. "Just... wow." He turned and pressed the button for the walk sign.
She pressed her hands to the sides of head, realizing how crazy it all sounded. Just as she was about to try again, a ball rolled by her feet into the road, followed by a five year old girl chasing it.
"Kei chan..."
An approaching truck slammed on its horn...
888
Belldandy watched as Keiichi and his sister walked down the street. The expression on her lover's face was grim, and she wondered what they were talking about.
She heard the door open, but didn't turn from the Window. She already had an idea of who it might be.
"I thought I might find you here," Hild said cheerily. "And how is young Morisato?"
"He appears to be doing better," Belldandy allowed. "But he's still so... angry..."
"He's frustrated, I'm sure," Hild told her. "Heaven... well... I'll be honest with you, I expected a little more effort from Heaven in regards to trying to get you back. Their response has been lukewarm at best."
She saw Belldandy flinch, not much. Just the tiniest bit, but the goddess recovered and passed it off quickly. "Fighting for me would result in a battle," she said. "People would get hurt. I'm not worth that..."
"Yes, you are," Hild corrected. Belldandy looked up at her and saw amazement on the demoness's face. "How can you think that?"
"I am but one goddess..."
"Not to him," she said, gesturing to Keiichi. "I think that boy would move Heaven and Earth for you."
Belldandy's conversation with Metheus came back to her. Logically, she understood why Heaven would be hesitant to start a war over her, but knowing what Metheus was willing to do for Peorth, what Keiichi was willing to do for her...
"We have a big day today," Hild told her. "We're going out!"
"Out?" Belldandy asked.
"Time to show you how we do things," Hild told her. "You're coming with me, and we're going to make a few deals."
Belldandy swallowed. "We're going to take people's souls," she said.
"We're going to grant their fondest wishes," Hild corrected. "The price fits the prize..."
Belldandy wasn't listening. She watched the Window as the ball rolled into the street and a little girl ran after it... Saw the truck cresting the hill too fast as it drove toward them...
Then saw Keiichi run into the street.
"KEIICHI!" she screamed.
She raised her hands...
888
"KEI CHAN!" Megumi screamed as she watched her brother race into the street. Tripping on something, he reached out and shoved the girl out of the lane as he hit the asphalt. The truck blasted its horn.
Keiichi rolled onto his side and watched the truck looming over him like an unstoppable force of nature. He could see the frantic look on the driver's face, hear the high-pitch squeal as the man stood on the brakes, but Keiichi knew automobiles and knew for a fact that truck wasn't stopping.
Suddenly, the truck's front grill imploded inward and the back of the truck launched into the air like the whole vehicle was a bike someone had shoved a stick into the front spokes of. He ducked as the truck flew end over end over his head, landing on the other side of him and rolling down the street in a heap of jagged, twisted metal.
Breath ragged in fear, Keiichi looked at the wreck in complete shock. He tried to rise to his feet, but the shock of nearly dying dragged him to the ground again. He saw a blood-stained arm hanging from the cab window and climbed to his feet again.
"Kei chan!" Megumi cried, as she grabbed his arm and tried to lay him down. "Don't move! Are you hurt?!"
"Help him," he muttered.
"Just don't move, are you okay?" Megumi went on. "Hold on..."
He roughly pulled his arm away. "I SAID HELP HIM, GOD DAMMIT!" he shouted.
The girl flinched as if slapped. Keiichi stumbled toward the truck, aware that he had twisted his ankle in the fall but not even feeling the pain. By now several people had surrounded the wreck, but none were trying to help. Some were even taking pictures with their camera phones.
The truck was on its left side. Keiichi got a hand-hold on a piece of what was left of the grill and hoisted himself up, crying out in pain as he put too much weight on his ankle. Megumi climbed up next to him and helped him up. The sound of ambulance sirens were approaching from the distance.
He paused and looked around, suddenly remembering the obvious fact that trucks didn't just launch themselves into the air. The boy searched the crowd for Urd's face or Frigga's, but he didn't see them.
It didn't matter. Turning, he continued to climb up onto the truck.
888
Belldandy watched the scene, horrified. She had ordered the truck to stop, placed her power between it and her Keiichi... but... she didn't want this! Her hand went to her mouth.
"Shhhh," Hild cooed, hugging her. "It's okay. He's all right. See? He's perfectly fine."
"Wha... What about the driver?" she asked. "Is the driver okay?"
"It doesn't matter," Hild said.
"It does matter!" Belldandy cried.
"He was going to kill your Keiichi," Hild reminded her.
"But he wasn't trying to!" Belldandy countered.
"So it would be okay if he died if he meant to?" Hild asked.
"Yes! No! I mean..."
"He was going to hurt... quite possibly kill... Keiichi," Hild told her. "Would you prefer that?"
"NO!"
"Then a decision had to be made, and you made it," Hild told her with a smile.
"But... He..."
Hild took her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. "One of them was going to die," she said plainly, shaking the goddess enough to keep her attention. "In that kind of situation, it's unavoidable. What is the difference between Fate deciding which or you? Is his life worth more than Keiichi's?"
"No! I mean... it's not about more or less! Both deserved to live!"
"Both weren't going to survive," Hild told her. "One or the other, and you chose Keiichi. It's not about weighing who should die, it's having the will to act!"
The queen hugged Belldandy, who looked over the woman's shoulder with haunted eyes.
"Now, then," Hild said softly. "I'll give you half an hour. Enough time to watch and make sure young Morisato is okay and get yourself cleaned up. Then we're going out. We have a lot to do."
Belldandy swallowed and nodded, staring off into space.
Hild smiled as she left the room.
888
Miranda scanned the temple's courtyard with the rifle's scope and released a breath. The valkyries were digging in. Something was up.
She saw the other goddesses and the mortal leave earlier that day, but no Peorth. The rampant could only assume she was inside somewhere. She could see their plan and wondered how stupid they had to be to think it would work. Lind's valkyries were well-trained, but she was willing to bet not a one of them was over eight hundred years or had even a tenth of the combat experience her people had.
Miranda was conflicted. On one hand, she felt she owed Peorth, not only for what she did to Wynn, but for trusting her and being willing to help her. On the other hand, this could also be her one best chance of getting them out without having to...
She didn't want to dwell on it. If she had to pay that price, she would. Until then, she had an op.
Her eye left the scope and she leaned back, putting a cigarette to her lips. What was Peorth worth?
"I'm going to marry her," he said, holding the ring out.
Sitting across from him in the bunker, Miranda took the ring and examined it. "Nice," she told him. "When are you going to ask? Next leave?"
Lance Corporal Wynn smiled. "Oh, no," he said. "You know Fate's sense of irony. I'm not asking until the ink on a peace treaty is dry." He unstrapped his body armor and reached under it to a pocket in his shirt, pulling a small, golden disc. Tapping the side, a hologram of a young brunette with a long pony-tail appeared.
"She's lovely," Miranda told him, lighting a cigarette. She offered the pack to him.
"I've never had one of those before," he admitted.
"Never too late to start a bad habit," she told him.
Hesitantly, he took one and put it in his lips. She leaned over and snapped her fingers, lighting it.
He took a drag and coughed. "That's... That's good," he lied.
She shook her head and took another drag.
"Colonel," he said quietly. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course," she replied.
"Well," he began, "I'm just having a hard time trying to figure out a way to tell her about all this, you know?" he said. "I mean... the things we've seen... the things we've done... Do you think... Do you think she'd understand?"
Miranda let out a breath. "Would you?"
He looked down at the ground. "No, I guess not. What do you tell your family?"
"I try to tell them about the beauty I've seen," she said. "The sun going down over a particular ocean, or the way a certain cluster of trees look on a rainy day. Everything but what I actually do."
He blinked.
"What?" she asked.
"It's just that... That's kind of poetic, Ma'am," he confessed. "Coming from you and all. I mean... you're pretty AURAF... It just sounds weird..."
"Trust me, Corporal," she said. "One day she... or The Almighty willing, your children are going to ask what you did in the war. It's a lot easier to look in their eyes and tell them about trees and sunsets than it is about a demon whose throat you cut or a friend who'll never fly again because the fuckers cut off their wings."
She took a drag and noticed that during her trip down memory lane, the cigarette had burned all the way to her fingers. Tossing it aside, she stood up. The past was gone. It was time to get around to screwing up the future.
Gathering her things, she started to plan.
888
Hild looked up at the two story house and smiled. "This is the place!" she announced.
Walking behind her, dressed to blend in with the mortals living in Omaha, Nebraska, including a tan business skirt, jacket and glasses, Belldandy looked at the house and blinked. The house was quite nice, with Spanish architecture, a pristine yard with a few toys spread about hinting at the presence of children, and two SUVs in good condition sat in the driveway.
"Who lives here?" Belldandy asked.
"One Mr. Clark Johnson," Hild told her. "Forty-two years old, married, father of five, the youngest of which is only two. He's a marketing executive for a large insurance firm. Nice guy, goes to church every Sunday, gives to charity and even volunteers by helping acclimate Sudanese refugees who move into the city escaping that lovely little business in Darfur."
Hild turned to her. "Has he earned Heaven's Grace?" she asked.
Belldandy was taken aback. "No," she said. "He sounds quite nice, but I don't understand why he would be considered for a wish."
The arch-demoness smiled. "He doesn't want a wish, he needs a wish, and that is what separates what we do from what you used to do."
The goddess blinked.
"You see, Belldandy, Mr. Johnson has recently discovered something about himself, something he can't yet bring to tell even his wife."
"He's in some sort of trouble?" she asked. "Has he done something wrong?"
"He was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer," Hild told her. "Three days ago. He'll be dead in six months, probably less."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Belldandy said sorrowfully.
"What will Heaven do for him?" Hild asked.
Again, the question threw Belldandy. "Nothing. I'm sorry that his time has come, but every mortal faces death." Her thoughts flew to Keiichi. Not long ago, her real mother was trying to tell her the same thing.
"It's not death that he fears," Hild told her. "Come."
She followed the demoness to the front door and watched as she knocked. After only a few moments, the door opened, revealing a pretty, middle-aged woman. "Yes?"
Hild smiled. "Good morning, Ma'am," she greeted politely. "We're looking for Mr. Clark Johnson. Is he at home?"
"Yes, one moment." The door shut and after another few moments it opened revealing a tall, balding man.
"Hello?" he said. "Do I know you?"
Hild smiled again. "Mr. Johnson, my name is Hild, and this is my daughter, Belldandy. We're here to make you an offer that I'm sure you'll find quite intriguing."
"I'm not looking to buy anything at the moment," he said distractedly, starting to shut the door. Hild put her foot in it, blocking it.
"It's about a piece of news you received three days ago," she went on.
The man looked over his shoulder before turning back to them. He sighed. "Let's talk outside."
888
Belldandy observed, and had to admit she was surprised. She was used to seeing Hild bully or cajole someone into obedience, but instead she watched as Hild walked silently next to Mr. Johnson as he bled to her.
"The doctors say I'm going to go through stages or something where I get angry and depressed and accept it," he was saying. "I... I don't want to shout at the sky and say it's not fair, you know, but it's not. I'm not afraid of dying, Miss... I was in Desert Storm, I've seen dying. It's just... I mean six months? My youngest is barely talking, and all I get with him is six months?"
Hild said nothing. She listened as they circled the house again.
"I think that, and I just... I can't take it, you know?" he asked. "I mean, how would you feel? Do you have kids?"
"I have two daughters," Hild told him. "One of whom I don't get to see much."
"So you kind of know what I mean," Johnson went on. "I... I just want to see him grow up, you know?"
Belldandy felt compelled to speak up. "You'll be able to watch over him from Heaven," she suggested. "You'll be able to see him. I can promise you that."
He turned to her. "See him? See him what? Stand over a tombstone, wishing he knew his daddy as anything other than a photograph?"
The bitterness in his voice made Belldandy step back a pace.
"I mean what about him? What about all of them? We have insurance, and Mary has a good job, but..." He shook his head. "Why now?" he finally finished.
It was time to get to business. They stopped at a set of patio furniture, and Hild sat down. "Mr. Johnson, what if I could make you a trade that extends your life?"
The man blinked, suddenly aware that he had just explained delicate medical issues about himself to two strange women. "Who are you with, anyway?" he asked. "The church?"
"Of a sort," Hild said with a smile. She pulled a set of papers out of her jacket pocket. "I'll be perfectly blunt with you, Mr. Johnson. In your religious outlook, I'm the devil."
He laughed. "Yeah, lady, sure you are."
Hild held her hands out about a foot apart. The man's eyes went wide as a stream of black lightning arced between them.
The demoness lowered her hands and gave him an expectant look. Johnson looked between the two of them frantically. "Jesus Christ," he whispered.
"No, he has no interest in helping you today," Hild told him. "I do."
He stood up and backed up a pace. "Je... Jesus Christ," he said again.
Hild turned to Belldandy. "This is common," she said quietly. "Remember, we're dealing with a negative reputation from the outset. The key is to wait for them to get over this momentary disbelief." She turned back to Johnson. "Mr. Johnson, I know this is quite a shock, but please hear me out."
"You're the fucking devil?" he asked. "So what? You're here to steal my soul?"
"I assure you," Hild said. "We're not here to steal anything. We're not going to hurt you. We're not going to bet a fiddle of gold against your soul."
Belldandy blinked. "A fiddle?"
Hild shut her eyes and rubbed her temples. "It's a long story, but it can be summed up with the words, 'fuck Georgia.'" She turned her attention back to Johnson. "Mr. Johnson, do you want to be at your youngest son's graduation or not?"
"Of.. Of course I do," he breathed.
"Do you want to dance at your daugther's wedding?"
"Yeah..."
"Do you want to grow old with your wife and look back on a long and happy life with her?"
"Of course."
Hild sat back and pulled a pen from her pocket. "Here is what I'm offering you," she said. "Your cancer, gone. I guarantee that you will live in excellent health until you are one hundred years old. After that it depends on how well you took care of yourself. The price, of course, is your soul that I collect after you die at a ripe old age."
He fell into his chair. "Then what?" he asked.
She shrugged. "It depends on what purpose you might be suited for."
"Like swimming in a lake of fire?" he asked.
She smiled. "Mr. Johnson, I know we get some bad press, and I admit, a lot of it is true. I enjoy tormenting the wicked. It makes me feel like I'm giving back to society. But you're not a wicked man. For you it would be the outer layer of Hell, I think. You wouldn't take joy in anything, but you'd have all your memories of your wife and children intact. I won't lie to you. It still sucks balls, but that's the choice you have now. Happiness now with your family or happiness later without them."
His hands went to the side of his head. Belldandy watched, fascinated and horrified. It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
"This isn't going to be a Twilight Zone kind of ending where I sign this contract and my kids all die in a fire tomorrow, is it?" he asked.
Hild smiled again. "Mr. Johnson, I want your soul," she said truthfully. "If you sign this contract, I get it. I have neither the need or desire to torment you further. This is your choice. Under the contract, no one but you can be affected by it. Your wife and children need never know."
Belldandy silently begged the man to walk away, but he didn't. He licked his lips and nodded his head.
"Okay," he said quietly. "Okay. Where do I sign?"
"You're certain?" Hild asked. "No take-backs."
He looked up and nodded. "I want to see my son graduate. I want him to see me there. There's nothing more important to me than my kids. Not even my soul."
She pushed the contract to him. "Put your hand on the contract," she instructed. He did as he was told, but Hild paused. She looked toward Belldandy. "Belldandy, dear... You finalize this one."
The goddess went cold. "M... Mother?" she asked.
"Put your hand on his and finalize the contract."
"I... I can't do that," she said.
"Will excuse us for one moment?" she asked Johnson. Taking Belldandy by the elbow, she led the goddess a few steps away. "What's the problem?" she asked, her tone tinged with concern.
"You can't make me... I mean... You said you wouldn't make me do..." The goddess was near panicking.
"Belldandy," Hild whispered. "I'm doing this for you."
"For me?!"
"Yes," Hild whispered. "Part of your training is on how to conduct and close a deal. Normally you have to perform five of these and pass a test, but if I actually see you do it, I can just sign you off on it and you can cut almost three weeks off your training."
Belldandy was brought up short. Three weeks? Three weeks closer to seeing Keiichi again?
No! No! It's wrong! It's abhorrent!
Hild looked over her shoulder at Johnson and then back to Belldandy. "Belldandy, dear, listen to me. The deal is practically done. I just need you to finalize it. It's going to happen anyway. Everyone here wins. Mr. Johnson gets his life with his loving family at his side. You get to see Keiichi three weeks sooner."
"You're taking his soul," she argued weakly.
"I'm trading his soul for something he values just as much, a life with his family," Hild corrected her. "Will Heaven give him that? Will Freya send one of her goddesses down here to offer him Heaven's Grace? Is there anyone but you and I who are willing to offer this man more than just empty platitudes and false words of comfort?"
Belldandy shivered, frightened by how much sense she thought Hild made.
"Remember what I said earlier?" Hild told her. "All that's left is the will to act. Three weeks, Belldandy. Three weeks closer to seeing him again. And if you don't, I'm just going to finalize the deal myself anyway. Where is the harm?"
The goddess said nothing, desperately searching for an argument she could use.
"This is who we are," Hild said. "This is what we do."
She took Belldandy's hand. "Come," she said quietly. Stunned, Belldandy followed, barely aware of what she was doing.
The arch demon pulled her back to the table, and before Belldandy realized it, she had placed her hand on Mr. Johnson's.
The papers beneath their hands flashed with a dark red glow, and the sigil on Belldandy's forehead shined as the power of the contract between the two flowed through her, arcing into the sky and splitting the clouds overhead.
A moment later it was over. Belldandy collapsed into her chair.
Hild smiled and offered her hand to Johnson. "Mr. Johnson, the contract is complete. The cancer is already receding. By tomorrow morning it will be as if it was never there."
"Will she be okay?" he asked, gesturing to Belldandy.
"You were her first," she explained. "My advice to you now is to live every moment and cherish it. And I will see you in about sixty to seventy years."
The man swallowed nervously. "Yeah... Yeah..."
Hild helped Belldandy to her feet and guided her toward the front gate. "You did so well, my little Belldandy," she said proudly. "Not even in Hell a week and you already have a contract under your belt..."
"I'm going to be sick," Belldandy said, covering her mouth.
The goddess fell to her knees and threw up behind a bush. Hild held her hair and patted her back gently.
"I... I can't believe I did that," Belldandy sobbed.
"You can't believe what?" Hild asked. "That you were willing to help that man when no one else would? That you were willing to make a choice to give a family back their husband and father?" She smiled knowingly. "I think that sounds like exactly you."
"And his soul..."
"Yes, Belldandy, his soul," Hild reminded her. "It was his to trade, and he traded it, and he got exactly what he wanted for it."
Belldandy stared down at the pool of vomit on the ground below her, digesting Hild's words.
"Who owns who you are, Belldandy?" Hild asked. "The Almighty? Or you? Not even I would claim to own your soul. Your body, yes. Your loyalty and fealty, yes. But never your soul. I wish to save it, not own it."
She helped Belldandy to her feet and dusted her off. "My Belldandy," she said. "This is a milestone day for you. We should celebrate. Come, there's a wonderful French restaurant in the Old Market. Wonderful food..."
In a trance-like state, Belldandy followed.
888
Metheus was walking down the hall when the page stopped him in his tracks.
He looked down at his PDA. There was a message that said, "Call me." Checking the number, he dialed it.
"Lord Metheus?"
"Tabitha?" he rasped. "What is it?"
The young demon girl's voice had an edge of urgency in it. "My Lord, you know how you ordered me to keep an eye on Yggdrasil's comms for any mention of a certain goddess? Well... I found one in the morning dispatches."
"Go on," he urged quietly.
"My Lord, it's a termination warrant."
He took a breath. "What?" he hissed.
Tabitha nodded even though he couldn't see her. "She's been found rampant and sentenced to die. Execution to be carried out in less than five hours."
Metheus squeezed the phone so hard he thought he could hear the case cracking.
"My Lord?"
He growled. The cowards. They were going to kill Peorth to get to him.
"My Lord?"
"Tabitha," he bit out. "I want you to contact every recovery agent you can get your hands on and order them to meet me in the briefing room in full battle-rattle in thirty minutes."
"Yes, My Lord."
He closed the phone and started for Carestia's place at a run. When he arrived, he knocked on the door and waited. It only took a moment for the former valkyrie to open it.
"My Lord," she said with a smile.
He got straight to business. "We're going to kill some gods," he said. "You want to come?"
Her smile intensified. "Our first date," she gasped. "I'll get my dancing shoes!"
888
"Gaeriel, listen to me," Peorth tried for what must have been the hundredth time. "You don't know what you're dealing with. This plan is not going to work."
The valkyrie was making her quarter-hourly check of the fortifications. Nothing was getting into the temple. Nothing.
888
"Modified snatch-and-grab," Metheus told the assembled demons and rampants. In front of the group, Carestia and Krieg, in full gear, checked their weapons. "Target is tier-one personality, goddess first class, commercial license." A holo of Peorth appeared in his hand. "Under no circumstances whatsoever is she to be harmed."
The demons, recovery agents trained to engage and detain traitors, eagerly checked their equipment. They almost never got a chance to fight gods...
"Valkyrie presence in the area is high," Metheus went on. "Aeriel insertion."
"Rules of engagement, My Lord?" one demon asked.
"The target is not to be harmed," he repeated. "You are clear to engage all other targets..."
888
"If he shows his face around here, we're going to put a sword through it," Gaeriel assured her. "He'll come alone. There's no way Hild is going to put her regular troops in this."
"And why not?" Peorth asked.
"Because no matter who dies, she loses demons. Doublet's still in play. She's not going to risk a war just for you..."
888
"Anyone with a weapon," Metheus continued. "Anyone who resists... Anyone who opens their eyes at you..."
Carestia smiled like a girl about to go to the candy store.
"Time from insertion to exfil no more than thirty minutes," he said, the rage in his voice rising.
"What about Doublet?" another demon asked.
He paused. Hild was not going to like this. Then again... she had all but given him carte blanche...
"Fuck Doublet," he said.
888
"Gaeriel, these are not rational people you are talking about!" Peorth begged her. "They're not going to play by your little rules of engagement! If he comes, he's coming for blood!"
The valkyrie was done talking. "You just sit there and be a good little worm on the hook, all right?" she said. "If this works out, I might even ask Lind to cut you a little slack at your own trial."
888
The rampants and demons assembled in the hardline nexus and chambered their weapons. Metheus worked the action of his Gravedigger carbine and waited. Even as they stood there, a crow was flying over the temple with a portable hardline beacon in its talons. As soon as it was directly overhead, they'd go through.
The light overhead beat a steady red. When it turned green, they'd go.
He took a deep breath.
I'm coming, Peorth. I'm coming...
As he thought this, the comm jewel in his earpiece came to life. "Inquisitor, this is Hild. I'm here on Earth, and I'm hearing some rather... interesting things... about an operation I haven't authorized..."
He tapped his mic so everyone on his team could hear. "Yes, Your Majesty, and may I say it's a wonderful plan! I stand in awe of your greatness. I am honored to be a part of your will."
The other demons looked to one another and smiled.
"My plan?" Hild asked, only his receiver picking it up. "Metheus, am I going to want to hang you when I get back?"
"I agree, Majesty, the valkyries have had their way for too long. Now is the time to strike."
"Metheus!"
"For the glory of the Dark Lady!" he shouted.
"FOR HILD!" the rest of the team cried in response.
The light turned green.
"You are making such a mistake!" Hild's voice growled at him.
"GO! GO! GO!"
As one, the group rushed into the glowing crystal at the front of the room. A moment later, Metheus was in free fall as he and his team fell from the crystal in the crow's claws. As one, the group of sixteen demons and three rampants extended their wings and rolled out toward the temple below.