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Disclaimer: AMG and FMP aren't mine.
Ah! My Goddess!
Haloes
Chapter 25
Where Shall We Shelter? Where Shall We Sleep? Part 3
"Light the sky and hold on tight,
The world is burning down..."
Shawn Colvin
"Sunny Came Home"
Urd reached behind her and unbuttoned her shirt, making it easier for her to lower the neckline until it showed the top of her right breast.
Belldandy saw the scar left by the wind arrow and sighed for her sister.
"Teletha's people airbrush it out of the photos," Urd told her with a smile. "I told Keiichi I should just get a tattoo over it, but he won't let me, says it's a part of me... so he loves it too."
The younger Norn said nothing as Urd buttoned her shirt again. "Still," she went on, "For a girl who makes a living being sexy... it's kind of annoying."
"How did you get out?" Belldandy asked quietly.
"Fortunately for me," Urd said with a smile, "I'm not the only girl who loves Keiichi Morisato."
Seven years ago...
A burning rafter hit the floor barely five feet from where Urd's unconscious form lay, the paper and wood that made up eighty percent of the house and temple were now the fodder for a raging inferno.
Urd's chest glowed white, and a moment later her higher self was rising from her body like a phoenix. World of Elegance waved her hand in front of her mistress's eyes, trying to wake her up.
She took Urd by the shoulders and tried to shake her awake as the temple collapsed around them. The angel looked up suddenly as rushed footsteps thundered into her ears from the front steps. The owner of those footfalls could barely be seen through the smoke, and the angel could just make a mop of brown hair and a head half covered with a jacket tied around the person's face to keep the smoke out.
The mortal stared at Elegance for a moment in utter shock, but got over it quickly. Kneeling down, the newcomer lifted Urd by the shoulders and strained to drag the goddess out of the temple. Elegance followed, and the mortal pulled Urd down the front steps and as far away from the blaze as possible. By now sirens could be heard in the distance.
The mortal looked at the angel again and continued pulling the goddess toward the carnival, not stopping until they were secluded behind the mirror tent just inside the gate.
The figure unwrapped the jacket from her face and stared at Elegance before putting aside the first question on her mind and asking the second instead.
"Is anyone else in there?!" Megumi asked.
World of Elegance shook her head in a "no."
"What happened?!" Megumi demanded. "Where's Kei chan and the others?! And what are you?!"
Before Elegance could attempt to explain through charades, Urd moaned below them, and Megumi turned her attention toward the goddess.
"Urd?" Megumi coached softly. "Urd? Are you okay?" The mortal girl looked at the wind arrow embedded in her friend's chest and shook her head, not sure what to think.
The goddess's eyes fluttered open, and she tried to sit up, giving up after a painful cry and falling back to the ground. Her eyes found the arrow and squeezed closed painfully.
"GET THIS THING OUT OF ME!" she shouted at them.
Megumi, not sure what to do but spurred on by Urd's tone, grabbed the shaft of the arrow with both hands and pulled. Urd screamed in agony as the wind arrow slowly gave way, finally coming out of the goddess with a jerk. Megumi watched mystified as the arrow disintegrated before her eyes.
Urd took several deep breaths and nodded her thanks to Megumi. She looked to her right and saw the flames and smoke from the temple, shutting her eyes in grief for a moment before rising to her feet.
"Woah!" Megumi cried. "Not so fast! Give it a minute."
The goddess relented and nodded.
"And as long as you're hanging out," Megumi began, "You can tell me what the hell is going on!"
"Oh," Urd breathed, thrown off balance. "I was cooking some stir fry, and there was a grease fire..."
"Oh, and bear in mind I've already seen the floaty thing," Megumi told her darkly, nodding to World of Elegance.
Urd turned and saw her angel give her a sheepish wave.
"Oh... right," she muttered. "Okay, um..."
"The truth would be nice," Megumi pointed out. "Since I saved your life and all."
"Right," Urd breathed, sitting up. "Okay, I don't have time for the whole truth, but here's the highlights. Belldandy, Skuld, Peorth, Sif and I are goddesses, and Belldandy isn't in California, she's been sealed by a demon named Hild, and the Belldandy who's been here the last two days isn't Belldandy at all, she's a monster called a Titan who wants to suck your brother's soul out of his face."
"You lost me after 'goddess,'" Megumi admitted.
Urd held her hands up in front of her face and allowed an arc of black lightning to flow between them.
Megumi looked at her wide-eyed. "Okay, go on," she said.
The goddess stood up unsteadily. "Your brother's in trouble," she said. "That thing is going to take him to an island called Kobura. When they get there, she's going to kill him. I gotta stop her."
"You don't look like you're in any condition to stop anything!" Megumi argued. She pulled out her cell phone. "Let's just call the police."
Urd put her hand on the woman's cell to keep her from dialing. "When Godzilla attacks the mainland, do you just call the police?"
"Of course not!" Megumi argued. "We also have the U.N. and their sonic cannons!"
The goddess sighed and stood up, walking around a bit to get the feeling back in her legs. "I'll take care of the Titan," she said. "I just need a few minutes... and an edge."
"So..." Megumi began. "Goddesses, huh? How did you all get here?"
"Like I said, it's a long story," Urd told her. "Your brother qualified for a wish from the Almighty. Belldandy was sent to grant it. He wished for her to always be by his side."
"He always was a romantic," Megumi told her.
Urd shook her head. "Yeah." She turned to the mortal and raised an eyebrow. "So what are you doing here?"
Megumi shrugged. "I was on my way to see you guys, say hi to Belldandy, you know?" Megumi answered. "When I got closer, I saw the fire and called the fire department. When I got to the front yard, I saw Belldandy shoot you and then just... walk out as if nothing happened. I didn't know what was going on, so I ducked behind a tree. I thought she saw me for a minute, then she... jumped... away. Weird..."
They paused for a moment as Urd collected herself. "So... what are you going to do?" Megumi asked.
Urd reached into her pocket and pulled out the silver rings her mother gave her. "I got something," she said. "Something that'll send her away."
"You don't sound like you want to use it," Megumi told her with an arched eyebrow.
"Yeah, it's kind of a last-resort thing..."
"So, I guess we shouldn't use it," Megumi said, rising to her feet. "So where are they?"
"The airport," Urd said as Megumi started punching buttons on her cell phone. She shook her head and muttered. "I keep telling you two to get cell phones."
"If we get out of this, I swear the first thing I get will be a cell phone," Urd growled to her.
Megumi held the phone to her ear for several moments then shook her head.
"No answer."
Urd bit her lip. "Dammit." She turned away, tapping her hips with her hands in thought. "She said she needs the key to his heart," she whispered. "The key to Keiichi's heart." She turned back to Megumi. "Okay, you know him better than anyone. What's the key to Keiichi's heart?"
The mortal blinked at her. "The key to his heart?" she asked. She smiled. "C'mon, you don't know?"
The goddess sighed in frustration. "No, okay, I don't know. What is it? Airplanes? Motorcycles? What?"
Megumi's smile brightened into a knowing one. "Urd, the key to a person's heart isn't a thing, it's a person."
Urd's eyes went wide as she realized the truth of what Megumi was saying. The mortal nodded at her silent epiphany...
...and her smile disappeared a moment later when Urd pointed at her. "Quick! Call Kiyoshi and warn her!"
Megumi growled and pointed her cell phone at her, quickly taking a picture.
"What are you doing?!" Urd demanded.
"Taking a picture of this!" Megumi shot back. "So I can print it out and give it to you for study, because this, Urd, this moment right here, this is what the fuck is wrong with you and Keiichi both!"
Urd looked away.
"Look, Urd, knowing that Belldandy didn't leave of her own free will... I guess I can understand better what you were doing," Megumi told her. "But it looks like it's not up to just you anymore. If this thing couldn't get Keiichi by appearing as Belldandy... if she's not the key to his heart anymore... then there's only one person who possibly could be."
"I don't want to hear this right now," Urd told her quietly. She didn't wait for Megumi to reply, walking across the carnival toward the street.
Megumi ran to catch up with her. "Why not!?" she demanded. "Urd, he's in love with you! And as soon as this whole thing is over with you can tell him how you feel!" She held up a finger. "And don't you dare tell me you don't feel anything! I know you're in love with him!"
Urd stopped. "Megumi... this thing... this Titan... it's incredibly powerful," she said quietly. "I know you're trying to tell me that the future is suddenly looking bright, but... in an hour or so, I'll probably be dead. Because there might not be any other way to save Keiichi's life. I'm okay with that, but I don't want to hear all about the life I'm not going to live."
Megumi digested this. "So what do we do?"
888
Keiichi was just about done preparing for the trip, but there was still one piece of business he wanted to finish up before they left. Climbing the stand, he sat down in the Shinden's cockpit and got comfortable.
"Hey," he said.
Hey.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
He could almost feel the plane shrug in his mind. I still don't want to fly. But I'm a little better, I guess.
"That's good," he said, excited by the news. "I just wanted to check on you and let you know I'm going to be out of town for awhile, but when I come back, we're going to work on this, okay?"
Yeah, okay, the Shinden replied. Where are you going?
"My girlfriend came back," he said. "The one I told you about."
Hey, that's great.
"Yeah, so we're going on vacation, try to reconnect, you know?"
That's great, Keiichi, I'm really happy for you.
"Thanks," he said. He sighed a moment later.
What is it?
"I'm a little worried about Urd," he told her. Hearing what Peorth said, it put a lot of things in perspective, things the oldest Norn had said and done over the past three years suddenly had a much different spin than they did yesterday. He felt bad... for a variety of reasons... not least of which was the fact that if he had known...
Why? the Shinden broke in. Because she went to Kobura?
A white chill ran up his back, and he blinked. "What did you say?"
Are you worried about Urd because she went to Kobura? the Shinden repeated. I know you saw something there or something.... something scary. I think she was going to go check it out. But I think she'll be o...
"Wait! Wait!" Keiichi cried, shaking his head. It was if he was waking up from a long dream. "What do you mean?! Why did Urd go there?!"
I dunno. She was in here this afternoon asking about it, said you were in trouble. But I guess you can't be in that much trouble if you're getting ready to go on vacation.
Keiichi started to shiver as things slowly fell into place. He looked up through the canopy glass as Belldandy walked into the hangar and greeted Peorth and Skuld.
"It followed me," he breathed. He put his hands on his head and winced in self-reproach. "It followed me!"
What did?
He ignored the question, his mind working overtime. Whatever it was must have followed him from Kobura. It took Belldandy's form, he saw it from the runway when it first lured him into the jungle. And since then...
The mortal mentally kicked himself for being so stupid. In the haze induced by her words, he had never thought to ask which island she wanted to go to. Now he knew.
Keiichi watched the monster as it made chit-chat with his friends. He had to do something.
Think, Morisato! Think! he thought.
Peorth. Urd said Peorth could take Belldandy in a fight. So he had to get to Peorth, but how to make her understand in time?
He had to somehow prove the monster wasn't Belldandy.
Hey! You okay?! the Shinden demanded.
He bit his lip as he watched them. Maybe he could trick it, ask it something only Belldandy would know. But what to ask?
"It knows me," he whispered to himself. "It knew enough to know what to say, knew to make itself look like Belldandy in the first place. It knows what I know about her." He followed this logic to its disappointing conclusion. "So whatever I ask, she'll know the answer to."
So ask it something you don't know, the Shinden suggested.
He blinked. "Huh? Then she'll just make up any..." His eyes went to Skuld, and inspiration struck.
The mortal licked his lips. Now that he knew what it was, he was just as scared now as he was on the island. The thing had almost gotten him then. Now...
"I really don't want to go out there," he muttered. He swallowed dryly and shut his eyes.
"Once I made the decision to act, everything else was simple," Hotaru's words came back to him. His eyes went to the metal box near the throttle where he kept her old straight razor.
Keiichi?
He set his jaw and popped the canopy, climbing down the ladder as the eyes of the three goddesses went to him. Keiichi took each rung one slow step at a time.
"Urd," he whispered. "I wish you were here now."
His foot touched concrete, and he turned, putting a smile on for their benefit. "Hey!" he called out.
"Keiichi san!" Belldandy cried. "There you are!"
"Here I am," he repeated dully. "We're um... we're almost ready to go. Just... just one or two things and we're in good shape."
"Wonderful!"
"Oneesama, are you sure you want to leave?" Skuld asked her. "You don't have to go. I mean, there's a beach just down the street!"
"Skuld, cheri, there are things a couple do on vacation that they simply can't do at home," Peorth told her, offering Keiichi a wink.
Keiichi swallowed again. "Yeah, so... um..." He walked over to a maintenance work table and cleared his throat. "Hey, Belldandy?!"
The goddess/thing turned to him and smiled. "Hai?"
His hand rested on a large wrench before he turned to her. "What's your father's name?"
Belldandy stared at him. After a moment, she smiled. "Keiichi san, I don't see..."
"What's your father's name?" he repeated.
Skuld rolled her eyes. "It's..."
"Shut up, Skuld!" Keiichi cut her off, shocking her into silence. He turned back to Belldandy, his course firmly set now. "What's your dad's name?"
Belldandy faltered for a moment. She looked to Skuld, and again, Keiichi cut them off.
"Don't look at her!" he thundered. Belldandy looked at him in shock. "What is your father's name?"
Peorth chose this moment to inject herself into the conversation. "Keiichi! What is this all about?!"
"Keiichi san... I... I don't understand!" Belldandy cried, tears springing to her eyes. "Why are you doing this? Why are you so angry?"
He ignored her and addressed Peorth. "I don't know Belldandy's father's name," he told her, his angry eyes turning back to Belldandy. "And that means you don't know either, isn't that right?"
Peorth looked from Keiichi to Belldandy and back again. "Cheri... you're not making any sense."
"It's not Belldandy," he hissed at her.
"Are you stupid?!" Skuld demanded.
Peorth, however, just sighed. "Keiichi, we've talked about this..."
"Keiichi san," Belldandy wept, coming dangerously close to destroying his resolve. "I don't know what's happening here, but please... you're breaking my heart."
He steeled his will. "His name."
Peorth stalked toward him, the look on her face beyond irritation and into outright anger. "Cheri, I don't think you appreciate your luck..."
Keiichi saw Belldandy raise her hand to Peorth's back and opened his mouth to shout a warning.
It was a too late, a blast of ice-blue energy struck Peorth dead in the back, knocking her into a nearby Cessna with enough force to knock the plane over.
The mortal grabbed the wrench off the table and took a step toward the thing, but with a fluid motion, her hand was now pointed at him, and a blast of wind knocked him over the table into the hangar wall.
As the wrench hit the floor with a clang, Belldandy looked at the two unconscious forms on the ground before turning a smile toward Skuld. The youngest goddess looked up at her sister in complete shock.
"O...Oneesama?"
Belldandy smiled and knelt next to her, running her hand through Skuld's raven hair. "Skuld chan," she said happily. "Help me get Keiichi san into that airplane."
Still in a state of shock, Skuld shook her head from side to side as she stared at her sister wide-eyed.
"Skuld!" Belldandy growled, taking the younger goddess by the front of her shirt. "Your big sister is asking you to do something!"
"Hey!"
The two of them looked up at the source of the call and found Urd floating just outside the open main doors of the hangar. She glared hatefully at Belldandy and pointed down at her.
"I'm not done with you yet." The anger and pain in the Norn's voice was palpable.
Belldandy stood up and started for Keiichi, intent on ignoring the Norn she had so easily defeated.
"I have what you want!" Urd announced quickly.
The Titan paused midstep.
"I have the key to Keiichi's heart," Urd told her.
Belldandy looked up at the goddess with loathing, wondering if she was telling the truth or not.
"You're going to have to come up here to get it," Urd bit out.
The Titan clenched her fists, and the air pressure in the hangar changed dramatically as the thing floated into the air until she was on the same level as Urd. Skuld watched from below as the two glared at each other like old west gunfighters before each simultaneously started firing energy bolts at the other.
They circled each other in the sky for a moment before the Titan blasted forward and grabbed hold of Urd's shirt, whirling around and throwing her further outside.
Before Skuld could move, she heard footsteps rapidly approach. Looking up, she saw Megumi racing forward and kneeling next to her brother. She slapped him gently on the cheeks a few times, but that seemed to have no effect.
"WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!" Skuld finally found the wherewithal to cry.
Megumi ran off and returned a moment later with a cup of water. "The thing that looks like Belldandy ain't Belldandy," she said hurriedly, splashing the water in Keiichi's face.
The boy sputtered and sat up in a panic.
"You okay?" Megumi asked quickly.
He looked from side to side, searching for Belldandy. "What happened?!"
"She knocked you and Peorth out," Skuld explained. "Then Urd sho..."
His eyes locked onto her. "Where's Urd?!"
Megumi pointed at the sky outside the hangar where purple and blue flashes of energy were arcing over one another in the sky as the two goddesses fought. "She's up there."
Keiichi looked up, wide-eyed, at the fireworks display occurring outside, swallowing dryly as he realized that Urd was up there fighting for her life. For six years he had seen this happen over and over, a goddess going into harm's way on his behalf. It was a feeling of helplessness he had battled time and time again... but this time...
"Come on," Megumi said, taking his arm to help him to his feet. "Urd says we need to get as far away as..."
He jumped to his feet, nearly pulling his sister's arm out of its socket. "Take care of Peorth," he ordered, running across the hangar.
"Wait!" Skuld cried. "Where are you going?!"
Keiichi hit the Shinden's ladder and raced up the rungs as if the floor was on fire. Jumping into the seat, he started the power-up procedures.
"Shinden, I need your help," he told her.
The fighter's engine roared to life.
888
Urd cried out and spun backwards as another wind-whip cut her shoulder. The bitch was fast, faster than Belldandy ever was. If what her mother said was true than she wasn't really fighting a copy of her sister, but the manifestation of Keiichi's highest opinion of her. That made things quite a bit different.
Her momentary musing came with a cost. Before she realized it, the Titan was on her again, grabbing her and throwing her through the air like a rag doll. Urd compensated and spun again, blasting out several lightning bolts without even aiming, just hoping to keep the thing's head down.
She knew, at best, this was going to be a zero-sum game. She was injured and outclassed, but if she could keep it distracted long enough, Megumi could get Keiichi out of the hangar and as far away from here as humanly possible.
And that might be enough.
Urd watched, dismayed and impressed, as the Titan managed to dodge her lightning attacks while moving inexorably forward until once again it was too late. Belldandy hit her dead on in a flying tackle that launched them both through the air...
888
"Negative, Nevada-One-Two-One-Papa-Papa!" Cake cried into her headset. "We have some kind of weird weather occurrence just off the airfield! You are not cleared for take-off!"
"What the hell is that?" Kit Kat asked calmly, pointing at something moving very fast right toward the tower.
Cake looked out the window and blinked. "OH, CRAP! GET DOWN!"
She managed to push her friend to the floor just as whatever it was smashed through the window, flew right over them and crashed through the window on the other side, taking brick, mortal, glass and several pieces of computer equipment with it.
"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!" Kit Kat screamed.
Cake coughed as she rose to her knees, blinking as she touched her headset. With a growl, she pulled the earphones off. "Whatever it was just knocked out our comms! We can't talk to anyone!"
888
Urd held tightly to the Titan, even as the ancient goddess plowed her through another hangar.
"Big mistake, granny," Urd growled to her. She reached up and planted the palm of her hand on Belldandy's forehead. "Let's see you dodge this."
The bolt of electricity went straight through the Titan's head, knocking her away from Urd and sending her hurtling end over end through the air. The Norn floated to a halt and watched in triumph as the Titan started falling toward the ground... only to deflate as Belldandy regained control and started flying toward again with the speed of a falling star.
"Shit," Urd muttered, clapping her hands together and sending more lightning and energy blasts toward her. The Titan dodged these as easily as she did before, and Urd braced herself for the next strike as the Titan closed the distance.
Suddenly, in a blur of black and purple, something darted between the two goddesses. The Titan stopped cold and turned, watching it fly off.
Urd blinked in shock as Belldandy flew off after it.
"Keiichi?!"
888
"Come on," he muttered as he pushed the throttle past the red line. "Come on, follow me."
She's on our six, closing damn fast! Shinden told him. Come on, Keiichi! Push that throttle through the nose!
Keiichi looked up at the rearview mirror and saw the form of his girlfriend coming up fast behind them with Urd not far behind her. He pointed the Shinden out to sea and dived for the deck.
So what's the plan?
"Well," Keiichi said dryly. "I figured we'd lure it away from Urd so she could get away."
... That doesn't seem to be working so well...
As he was about to answer, his eye glanced up and found Belldandy flying right above the cockpit, almost like in his dream. He cried out and jerked the stick to the right. The Shinden's left wing swung up and batted the goddess away like a baseball.
888
Urd could barely keep up with the monster that was chasing Keiichi through the sky. Now that he'd chosen to put himself into this fight, she knew she had to end it quick. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the rings her mother had given her and slipped them on the ring fingers of either hand. If she could just catch up wi...
The thought was brought up short as she watched the Shinden roll suddenly to the right, knocking the Titan into deep left field. Seeing her chance, Urd bolted into the air as fast as she could, going for the catch.
She snagged the disoriented goddess and continued to climb into the sky like a ballistic missile. She didn't know exactly what these rings did, but she didn't want to be near Keiichi when she used them. The ocean below them meant no innocent bystanders would be harmed either.
The Titan came out of her daze and started to struggle, but Urd wrapped her arms around her and laced her fingers together to keep her from getting away.
Belldandy howled in rage, a sound Urd had never heard from her sister and only further highlighted how unlike Belldandy this thing really was. She continued to climb as it struggled, and the Norn had to fight just to hang on. She squeezed harder, lacing her fingers tighter so the rings could touch, only a few more millimeters and she would have it.
Keiichi's voice stopped her.
"Urd..."
She froze in mid-air, the sound of his voice piercing through the adrenaline. Looking at the Titan again, she saw Keiichi's smiling face staring back at her.
"Urd," it said again. "I love you. Take us down... and we can be together."
The Norn took a breath, hating the fact that she had to hear those words from a creature like this. Snarling, she squeezed as hard as she could and touched the rings together.
She gasped in pain as thunder rolled through the air around them. She felt as if she were bleeding out. No matter how hard she breathed, she couldn't get enough air. It felt as if someone tapped a tree too many times and all the sap was draining out.
Her eyes caught the Titan's as it looked around in concern. A bank of storm clouds had appeared out of nowhere around them, filling the sky with darkness and flashes of lightning. The storm grew in intensity as her strength continued to ebb.
It was in a moment of cold revelation that she realized the clouds hadn't come from the rings, but from her. The storm was her energy, pulled from her body by the rings and set loose around them, violent and out of control.
She felt the Titan renew its struggle and concentrated all her remaining strength on keeping her hands laced together. The storm around them continued to rage, the wind knocking them about like a sailboat in a hurricane.
It was getting harder to breathe, and then...
A flash of light enveloped them both.
The Titan screamed.
The sky was on fire. A halo of light surrounded them.
Urd squeezed tightly as the other goddess continued to scream in Keiichi's voice. There was less and less to hold as the seconds passed and the thing's form began to fall apart into its individual pieces of divine matter.
And then... silence.
The Norn hung in the air... alone... with only a gentle rumble of thunder to keep her company. She tried to move her arms, but couldn't. Tried to close her eyes, but couldn't. There was nothing left. She was barely breathing, all the energy she had left went into that.
And then she began to fall.
She heard the wind whistle past her ears, could see the storm clouds come into view as she spun backwards over and over as she hurtled toward the earth in an out-of-control free fall.
The goddess Urd fell from the heavens, not even able to summon the strength to shut her eyes from the air whipping past them. But she could still think, she could remember.
Keiichi's face when she first stepped out of his TV after pretending to be part of a pornographic video...
Her miniature sitting on his shoulder, whispering into his ear to buy a ring for Belldandy...
Holding him in his old dorm room as he cried and wishing he could feel the joy he once had...
Keiichi carrying her paralyzed form to the tub and pretending that he was hers...
As she spun end over end, she couldn't help but notice the water getting closer and the clouds getting further away.
The temple roof, the stars overhead...
Unbidden and unstoppable, tears formed in her eyes and flew into the air around her as she fell.
Keiichi dancing with her... the feel of his hand in hers... looking in his eyes...
She tried to shut her eyes, but the muscles wouldn't respond. Why didn't she just tell him? She wanted him to know. Before she went, she wanted him to know so badly...
The goddess made one more rotation and hit the water.
888
Keiichi's attention was pulled in a hundred different directions. The sudden storm had taken them completely by surprise, and two lightning strikes had hit the Shinden, one in the nose cone and one in the right wing, and he was having trouble controlling her.
"Prioritize!" he heard Hotaru yell in his mind from his flight training. "Aviate! Navigate! Communicate! In that order!"
He concentrated on keeping altitude, then once that was under control he checked his position. He looked outside, his head moving from side to side as he searched the sky.
"I don't see them!" he cried. "Do you see them? Where are they?!"
I can't see them either, the Shinden told him. Are they in the water?
The idea filled Keiichi with fear. He quickly hit the switches to turn on the FLIR and turned the aircraft to start a search pattern. It didn't take long for a yellow blob to appear on the screen.
"Urd," he breathed.
How do you know it's her and not the other one?
He knew. He didn't know how, but he knew.
Keiichi's heart dropped into his stomach as the yellow started to dull to green.
"She's dying," he gasped. His hand flew to the mic on his headset. "Tower! Tower! This is Nevada-One-Two-One-Papa-Papa! I need SAR at..." He realized he wasn't hearing any static or background noise and checked the radio.
Lightning got it, Shinden told him.
The boy looked down at the display. The green was turning to blue.
"We have to do something," he said. "Is there... Is there a... What if we..."
There was no way. She was going too fast for him to land, get help and then get a rescue team to her. She was dying, and there was nothing he could do.
Keiichi...
Maybe he could fix the radio. He reached out to the panel and started turning the screws holding it in place with his thumbnail.
Keiichi...
"Come on," he breathed. "There's gotta be something I can do... There's gotta be..."
Put me down in the water.
He blinked. "What?"
You need to get to her, the Shinden told him calmly. Put me down in the water near her and swim out to her.
Keiichi shook his head and continued turning the screws. "No, there's got to be another way."
Keiichi... It's time. This is what I was born for. Keiichi paused as her words sunk in. Do this for me. I got to dogfight a god. Let me die saving one's life. That's enough for me.
A thousand years seemed to pass between them before he swallowed and closed his eyes. He sat back slowly and took the shuddering throttle in his hand, biting his lip as he took the stick in the other. Lining up the image from the FLIR, he pushed the stick forward.
"Shinden," he said quietly.
I'm going home, Keiichi, she said. Thank you. For everything.
He blinked tears out of his eyes. "Thank you," he replied. The automatic proximity alarm sounded as he got closer to the water.
PULL UP... PULL UP... PULL UP... PULL UP...
He heard the warnings, saw the ocean rushing barely a meter beneath them.
And then they hit the water. Keiichi's body was flung against the harness, his head hitting the side of the canopy. He blinked stars out of his eyes as his hands clumsily grasped at the latches.
Keiichi, you've got to get out right now! I'm taking on water! You've gotta go!
The cold water hitting his sneakers snapped him awake. He tugged at the latches and growled out loud when he found them jammed.
The water reached his knees.
"Come on, come on," he grunted as he pulled at the buckles. He struggled to control his panic. If he panicked now, he was dead.
The control panels started to flicker. In the flickering light, he caught a glint off a metal box, and his hand shot out to it. Opening it, he pulled out Hotaru's razor and opened it, hacking at the straps like a man taking a machete to a jungle thicket.
Finally free, he popped the canopy, pushing it open. The water was passing his belly button. Standing up, he turned and grabbed the emergency kit from behind the seat. He put the yellow life vest and pulled the cords, inflating it.
The sea was rougher than he had hoped, a remnant of the brief thunderstorm. Waves slapped the side of the airplane.
He jumped out of the airplane just as the water started to overflow the cockpit. Hitting the water, he started to dogpaddle, turning just in time to watch the nosecone of the Shinden disappear beneath the black water.
"Goodbye, Shinden," he whispered. Swallowing back grief, he turned and started swimming uncertainly.
"URD!" he yelled. "URD!"
A wave hit him, and he went under for a moment, his mouth filling with water. He surfaced and spat it out.
"URD!" he cried. He floated there for a moment, searching the water. Then he found it. Something, a shadow in the moonlight. He paddled toward it. "URD!" he screamed as he paddled, salt water splashing in his eyes.
He found the goddess floating face up, her eyes shut and her body limp. Keiichi grabbed hold of her and accidentally dunked her beneath the water.
"Shit," he gasped as he pulled her back up. He let her go and started removing his life jacket. "It's okay, Urd," he told her. "It's okay. I got you."
A wave hit them both, and they went under again, Keiichi floating to the top first and pulling her up with him. He finished pulling off his life jacket, not even caring that he wasn't a strong enough swimmer to stay afloat in the turbulent sea. He pushed the vest over her head and snapped it, letting her head float on a cushion of air.
He went under again, and this time had to struggle to break the surface, gulping mouthfuls of air as he surfaced. He grabbed hold of her with fingers numbed by the frigid water and treaded water behind her, his cheek buried in her soaked hair.
"It's okay," he sputtered. "It's okay. I got you. I got you." He reached into the small emergency kit and pulled out a dye tube, popping the top and throwing it into the water near them. "I got you," he said again as he clung to her. Nearby, the water turned a phosphorescent yellow as the dye in the tube drained into the sea.
He held onto her for dear life even as he checked her for signs of life. The pilot held his hand under her nose, but his fingers were so cold, he wouldn't have felt breath to begin with.
"I got you," he repeated tiredly, exhausted by the fight, the flight, the storm, the crash and swim. "I got you," he whispered. Another wave lifted them, water splashing over them.
He gulped for air and closed his eyes for a moment. "I got you," he whispered again. "I'll hold you as long as I can, okay? I'll hold you as long as I can."
Lightning flashed across the sky, and a gentle rain began to fall on them both.
"I got you," he whispered. He swallowed and struggled to hold on. "So tired," he muttered. "I'll hold you as long as I can. God, I'm so tired..."
The two floated in the stormy sea, the clouds passing by paying them no mind.