Disclaimer: AMG is not mine.
Choix
Chapter 25
No Regrets
"Everyone I know is fighting to get back what they had. I'm fighting because I don't know how to do anything else..."
Lt. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
Battlestar Galactica: Valley of Darkness
Three blue-tinted, holographic representations of Great Ships appeared over the briefing table as Lind continued to narrate, fully aware that the audience she spoke to was fifteen of the most powerful and respected gods and goddesses in Heaven, and that the overwhelming majority of them had already dismissed this meeting before it had ever begun.
She continued on anyway. That was her job.
"At this point, three of our Great Ships, the Meriadoc, the Strength And Purity, and the Augustine will transapparate over the Hellrider base in Realm One-Sixteen and begin a raid targeting their long-range forces. The attack will be seen as a retaliatory measure for the..." She paused. Even from what she had heard from confidential sources, it hadn't really been a murder. "... death... of the Deputy Surgeon General," she finished. "Hild will have no choice but to respond by sending the only forces available to respond quickly enough to repel the attack, the Demon Realm's Home Garrison Forces."
She tapped her pen against the holograms, and an image of Hild's palace appeared. "Once she does," Lind continued, "Our Valkyrie units will enter Hell through an experimental form of portable hardline capable of moving through Hild's defenses." She paused as an aerial view of the palace appeared, marking four corners around the structure. "Security will be set up at the four corners of the palace while infiltration teams will storm the castle, find Belldandy and bring her out. At that point, our forces will exfiltrate out the same temporary hardlines."
At the opposite side of the table, Michael raised a finger. "Commander," he began, "You said our Valkyrie units will infiltrate Hell... exactly how many Valkyries are we talking about here?"
Lind took a breath, but covered her apprehension well. She had been expecting this question and dreading it. It was the question that was going to end the meeting, and she knew it.
She tapped her pen again, and blue dots, each representing a member of the 1st Combat Division, began pepper the hologram of the palace. The commander faced Michael with an air of what she hoped was confidence.
Lind took a breath.
"All of them," she said.
There were gasps and grunts of shock around the table. She quickly tried to regain hold of the floor. "Any less," she warned loudly, "And we risk failure of the mission!"
"You want to send our entire force of valuable winged infantry into Hell!?" one of the gods asked.
Lind gave him a look of venom, thoroughly upset by who was asking that question. "As I recall," she growled. "You didn't consider them so valuable when you advocated cutting our numbers after the end of the war."
"Enough!" Michael called out with more resignation than heat. He looked up at Lind. "Commander, thank you. We will take this plan... under advisement."
Lind left the assembly room as soon as she possibly could, Gwydion falling into step beside her.
"That could have gone better," her former teacher told her.
"It was an impossible tasking," she told him. "To come up with a plan with a one-hundred percent chance of success while at the same time keeping casualties at zero. They expected me to fail, and I did not disappoint them."
Gwydion grunted as they took the stairs that led to Central Dogma's lobby. "As you noted in your arguments, they do bear some of the responsibility for this situation. Had they not been disbanded, two teams of Helljumpers with proper support could complete this mission. It's what they excelled at."
"There is no use in dwelling on what should be," she said.
"What will you do?" he asked her.
She stopped midstep and turned to him. "We will wait for an opportunity... and then embrace it."
"Is she worth it?" Gwydion asked her, stopping Lind before she could turn and step out the door. "How many have we lost already?" he asked. "How many more are even we, who accept death as part of our role, willing to sacrifice?"
She caught his eyes with sad determination. "She is the best of us," she whispered. "Everything every goddess aspires to be. If we turn our backs on her, we turn our backs on everything we claim to represent." Lind turned and started out the door. "And I will not turn my back on her."
888
Keiichi watched as Miranda set a blue stone about the size of a softball on the floor in the center of her living room. Kneeling next to it, she caressed the orb with her hands and chanted, prompting it to glow softly. She stepped back just as a small dart of blue light shot into the ceiling.
"Hardline established," she noted, turning to the others. She adjusted her armor and worked the action on her carbine. "Gaeriel and I will go first. Give us two minutes, then come through. Frigga first, then Keiichi, then Urd. Understood?"
They nodded. Weapons raised, Miranda and Gaeriel disappeared through the invisible portal created by the orb.
At exactly two minutes, Frigga hopped through.
Keiichi paused for a moment. "Um... I know this is kind of a girly question to ask," he said. "But I was unconscious the last couple of times, and I'm wondering... well... does it hurt?" he asked.
Urd smiled. "Keiichi, gods and goddesses use this as a mode of transportation all the time!"
"Yeah, but you're goddesses," he pointed out, hoisting his backpack higher onto his shoulders.
"It's no different," she assured him. "You won't feel a thing."
He nodded. "Okay, thanks." With that, he leapt through.
Skuld looked at her quizzically. "Does it hurt mortals for real?" she asked.
"Oh, yeah!" Urd replied with an expression that screamed, 'glad I'm not him.'
She hugged her younger sister. "Mind the store, Skuld. We'll back in a few days."
"I'm on it," Skuld assured her. "Go get Oneesama."
Urd grinned. "Easy as pie!" With that, she leapt through the portal and disappeared.
Skuld sighed. "Yeah... easy as pie," she muttered.
888
Krieg looked up as the knock on his door rang through his apartment. Not expecting visitors at this time of day, he growled and drew a soulblade before stalking to his door and taking the doorknob in his hand.
With one quick movement, he pulled the door open and stopped short.
"Carestia," he rumbled. "This is a surprise."
The rampant goddess didn't smile. "I want to talk to you," she told him. "Alone."
"Come in," he invited, stepping aside so she could enter.
The pilot entered the apartment and caught sight of the three comatose goddesses still lying on beds nearby. Krieg was apparently still intent on caring for them She noticed the daisies surrounding the women were fresh.
She heard the door close behind her and turned.
"Well?" Krieg growled expectantly.
Carestia folded her arms over her chest. "I changed my mind," she said. "I want to hear Miranda's offer."
The behemoth was thrown for a loop. His eyes narrowed. "You do?" he asked suspiciously.
"Yes, I do," she told him firmly. She noticed the uncertain look in his eyes and rolled hers. "The Inquisition didn't send me, Krieg," she told him.
"Why?" he asked simply.
She turned away and stepped toward the goddesses, looking down at them, but unlike before, when there was only amused contempt in her eyes, this time it was regret. It had been a thousand years since she had looked like one of them, been one of them.
"I thought I could make this my life," she told him honestly. "But it's not. It can't, and it never will be. I left my life behind... in Heaven... and told myself I had no choice but to embrace this one." She turned back to him. "I don't want to die here," she said. "Not as a demon."
He considered her words carefully, wondering if he should step over the red line. "We cannot just leave," he told her. "Even if Hell didn't chase us, Heaven would."
"True," Carestia told him. "We cannot simply beg for..." she smiled tightly as she finished. "... forgiveness." She turned back to the goddesses. "We must buy it."
"Buy it?" Krieg asked.
"Yes," she said. "And I know exactly what to trade."
888
Urd had to hold back a laugh when she reappeared and found Keiichi glaring at her, covered in soot.
"It was hot," he muttered bitterly.
She held back for a moment longer...
"And I'm covered in black stuff..."
She burst out laughing, the first true laugh she'd had in days. Standing nearby, Frigga smiled at the sound.
"Come, son," she said. "Let's get that cleaned off you."
Recovering from her laughing fit, Urd looked around. They had reappeared in a thick pine forest, but there was little underbrush to get underfoot. The ground was covered in brown pine needles, and the sound of birds echoed through the trees.
"So I thought we were going to the Styx," Keiichi said as Frigga wiped the waxy black grime off his face.
"The Styx isn't just a river," Urd told him. "It's a realm. Realm 94, The Styx. There's a river in it. On this side there are hardlines that lead to various realms controlled by Heaven. On the other side the hardlines are controlled by the Demon Realm. Valkyries and Hellriders both patrol it, it's like a demilitarized zone..."
"A Berlin Wall," Keiichi concluded.
"Of a sort," Frigga told him. "The trick will be getting past both the Valkyries and the Hellriders."
"The Hellriders won't be a problem," Miranda told them as she walked up. "We're about two clicks south of the best crossing. No flying, we'll show up on their scans. Gaeriel, you're on point. Let's go."
Gaeriel led the way north through the forest, walking at a clip just fast enough to not be unbearable. Keiichi made an effort to keep up. He knew if anyone was a liability here, it was him.
The Valkyrie at the front of their line stopped and gave the signal to freeze. Miranda marched up to the front and put her hand on the woman's shoulder. "It's okay, they've got us," she said. She held her carbine out with one hand and raised the other.
To Keiichi's complete surprise, six Valkyries suddenly appeared around them, carbines, bows and spears raised.
"Well, this is a great way to start," Urd muttered.
One of the Valkyries stepped up toward Gaeriel, recognizing her.
"Lieutenant," he began sternly. "You're in a restricted area."
Gaeriel cleared her throat and squared her shoulders. "I'm well aware of where I am, Master Guns," she bit out, thinking quickly. "My question for you is why you're here interfering with our mission after you were specifically ordered to leave this sector open."
The sergeant arched an eyebrow. "We received no such orders," her replied curtly.
Gaeriel sighed in exasperation. "Of all the times for Division HQ to screw up..."
"I'm going to have to see a copy of this order," he told her.
The Valkyrie officer paused, but Miranda responded, stepping toward the man. "I have it here," she said with a smile.
Standing to the side, Frigga watched the former colonel reach behind her waist and begin to draw a slim soul blade from a sheathe hidden beneath her armor. The queen watched horrified as she moved closer to the sergeant.
"Hold!" she cried suddenly. Stepping forward, the eyes of the rest of Valkyries fell on her suspiciously, but with awe. Miranda froze like a statue and blinked.
Frigga stepped forward and stood toe-to-toe with the sergeant. "My boy," she began quietly. "You know who I am, yes?"
"Yes, Milady," he told her. "But..."
"Then you must know that only the most important of matters would bring me here," she went on. "Ours is a mission of the utmost sensitivity. I beg of you... let us pass... pretend we were not here."
"Milady, I could not," he told her. "I..."
"You know of what is happening in Creation, do you not?" she asked, pressing him.
"Yes, of course..."
"And you know that my daughter, our Belldandy, is trapped in that place?"
"Yes..."
"And you know that we have done nothing to get her back," Frigga went on. "You are Valkyrie, a guardian of the innocent gods and goddesses who inhabit Creation. I do not ask you to come with us, just to allow us to finish what we've begun, to find my daughter, our wayward goddess, and bring her home."
The sergeant looked away for a moment, deep in thought. He raised his head a moment later and found the eyes of his teammates, each of them giving him a silent nod in turn. Clearing his throat, he turned back to Frigga and raised his voice so his entire team could hear.
"A good drill, Valks," he announced. "Still sharp as ever. Make way for the OpFor team, I'm sure they have plenty of other patrols they need to test before the day is out."
Frigga smiled. "Thank you."
He gave her a bow. "Milady."
The Valkyries parted and let them go by, disappearing back into the brush. Once they were out of earshot, Frigga fell into step beside Miranda.
"You were going to kill that young man," she hissed accusingly.
"I was," Miranda told her casually. "And at least half of his companions if luck stayed with me. Hopefully, Gaeriel and Urd could have gotten the others. If not, it would have been an inauspicious end to this mission."
"They're Valkyries!" Frigga hissed angrily.
"Yes," Miranda said quietly. "Choose."
"What?"
The former officer stopped and turned to her. "I said 'choose,' Milady," she bit out. "Your daughter or the people we might have to kill before this is said and done. If you think for a moment that we're going to get through this without blood on our hands, you had better rethink things."
The others watched the confrontation warily.
Miranda turned to them. "All of you choose!" she demanded. "Because I need to know, when things go to shit, that I can trust you all! Because if you can't do what has to be done, I'm better off moving on alone."
None of them said a word for a moment. Then, without preamble, Keiichi stepped forward. "I choose Belldandy," he said. "But," he added. "I'm not going to violate her wishes by hurting innocent people. I couldn't face her again after that."
Urd bit her lip and nodded. "I agree. We're not demons. We don't eat our own."
Gaeriel smiled. "I didn't sign on to kill Valks."
Frigga looked Miranda in the eye. "This isn't just your mission anymore," she said quietly. "You're part of a team, and we expect you to play by the team's rules." At Miranda's irritated look, Frigga continued. "We need you, Colonel," she said quietly. "We need your expertise."
Miranda searched their eyes for support, but finding none, took a breath and nodded. "Very well, have it your way." Shouldering her weapon, she moved on ahead.
"Think she'll be okay?" Urd asked.
Keiichi watched the Valkyrie move on. "She has a lot riding on this," he told her. "The last two hundred years of her life have been spent working toward this."
Urd watched her march away and took a breath. "Something tells me she's staked a lot more than that..."
888
She clutched at him and gasped, her eyes closed in the ecstasy of their lovemaking. The goddess tried her best, wanted it to be how she remembered it from their times before, but couldn't find it, that place in her heart and body where it ceased to be sex and became instead a physical representation of love.
Peorth let her mind drift back to those times as he moved above her, grasping onto the memories of that place and found enough of that feeling to suffice.
"Wynn!" she cried. "Ma cheri!"
As their lovemaking ended and their blood began to cool again, Peorth breathed deeply and thought about how it felt, even as Metheus curled up next to her in bed and held her. She had called him Wynn but even now had to admit how wrong it was. It was different because he was different.
I can change him, she thought. I can still fix all of this! I know it! I just need time!
He was right, a doubting voice in her head told her. Wynn is dead. This demon is all that's left.
Not true!
"Fleur?" she heard him whisper in her ear. "What is it?"
She didn't look over her shoulder at him, didn't want him to see the tears in her eyes. "It's nothing," she said.
Metheus looked at the back of her head and knew it was a lie. He might not be able to see her face, but her body language, the tenseness of her muscles told him she was very troubled. His mind went once again to their current situation. He hoped that things would settle between them, that even if things couldn't be exactly as before, that the feelings would still be there.
Of course, somewhere down the line, he would have to come clean about his methods. In the beginning, filled with the rage and bitterness of her betrayal of him, he had felt his using Tabitha against Peorth was justified. But after his conversation with Carestia...
He had to face facts. When Carestia of all people said you had gone too far... then you were well and truly fucked up.
The Inquisitor rose from their bed and threw a robe on.
"Where are you going?" she asked him, not turning to face him.
"The office," he told her quietly. "I have to work..."
Think, was what he wanted to say, but now he was entrenched so deep into this, he couldn't speak plainly to her without the risk of tipping his hand.
888
Keiichi wasn't sure what the mythological Styx River would look like, and even after cresting the final hill and looking down at it, he still wasn't sure. The legendary body of water was immersed in a thick, grey fog that obscured even the most subtle hint of water. Only the sound of water gently lapping against the bank hinted that there was a river there at all.
"So is this it?" he asked, trying to peer through the fog.
"This is it," Urd confirmed.
"The question is, are we in the right place?" Gaeriel inquired.
"We're in the right place," Miranda told her, pushing her way to the front. She stared out at the bank and waited patiently, like a businessman waiting on the platform for the next train, thoroughly confident in its imminent arrival.
She didn't have to wait long. Searching the fog, Keiichi saw a dim red light appear and start to come closer. As it approached the bank, he found that the light was a lantern fixed to the bow of what appeared to be a Viking long boat. Something dark stood on the bow. At first, Keiichi thought it might be Charon, the mythical creature that ferried souls across the river, but it appeared to be like a shadow. Glowing red eyes studied them as the boat rasped across the sandy river bottom and beached itself.
The former commando stepped forward and nodded to the creature. It spoke to her in a harsh, guttural language, and Miranda replied in kind.
Keiichi thought it sounded a little like German with a bit of Klingon thrown in. He wondered if he was the only one who didn't understand, but he saw Frigga lean over to Urd and ask her a question.
"My Demonic is a bit rusty, Dear, do you know what they're saying?"
Urd, who likewise hadn't spoken her mother's language in centuries, listened carefully, but had a hard time making it out. "The demon is telling her there are too few of us," she explained. "Miranda is saying..." She paused and tried to determined the correct translation. "A contract is a contract," she finished.
Finally, the demon nodded. Miranda turned to them. "Get on. We only have a short window to get across the river before the Hellrider patrols enter the area."
Urd eyed the former Valkyrie officer as she stepped into the boat. Miranda met her gaze, but the Norn could glean nothing from it.
888
Skuld looked down at the holotop and saw the tiny blue dots that represented her sister and friends begin to move across the portion of the map representing the Styx. They were either in a boat or floating over the river, and she didn't want to call them to ask. No point in letting Nidhogg know they were there quite yet.
She tapped her fingers together and watched, almost wanting something to happen so she could do something, anything, to help, but so far the only thing she could do was watch five blue blips traverse a map like some kind of low-tech MMORPG.
At first, she thought the knock on the door was a warning signal from the holotop, but after a quick check and a repeat of the knock, she knew it wasn't. She pulled her headset off and started for the door.
"Just a sec!" she called. She opened the door and took a quick breath in shock, feeling her chest constrict in sudden uncertainty.
"Um... Hey," Sentaro said nervously.
She swallowed back butterflies. "Um... Hi," she replied. "What... What are you doing here?"
The boy scratched the back of his head, something she had seen Keiichi do a hundred times when talking to Belldandy. "Well... You know... I was in the area and I... Well... Okay, I wasn't just in the area. I wanted to see how you were doing..."
Her cheeks warmed at the sentiment. "You... um... wanna come in?" she asked demurely as she played absently with her hair, Peorth's lessons coming back to her.
"Um... Sure," he said.
Skuld stepped aside and let him into the hotel room. A quick look around brought a new question to his mind. "Are you alone here?" he asked.
The goddess came up short. "Yeah," she said. "My mom and the others are... out... right now," she said. "I'm just holding down the fort... ya know?"
"That's cool," he said. "Any word about your sister?" he asked sympathetically.
She bit her lip, unsure of what to say. "They're working on it," she finally said.
"Well... That's good," he allowed, nervous and lost as to what the "right" thing to say would be. He finally decided to change the subject and saw the holotop on the kitchen table. "Whatcha do'in?"
Before she could stop him, he was looking down at the map on her screen. "Hey, is this one of those MMORPGs?!" he asked. "Cool!"
"Uh... Yeah!" she replied, taking the story for her own and running with it. "It's call... um... 'Rescue from Hell.'"
"Sweet! I haven't heard of that one!"
"Yeah... I'm kinda beta testing it," she said lamely.
"Oh," he said. "Well... Hey, I'll let you get back to it then," he said, turning reluctantly for the door.
"Hey!" she called out. "You... um... want some lemonade or something?"
He paused and smiled. "Yeah... Yeah, that would be great."
888
Benches lined the bulkhead of the long boat, and they each found a seat under the wooden overhang, seeking shelter from the chilled fog outside. The sole exception was Miranda, who was speaking to the demon guiding the boat on the bow.
Keiichi, finding a spot nearest to the edge of the overhang, pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and put one between his lips. As he raised his lighter, the hand of the goddess sitting next to him covered it. He looked up and found Urd sitting there, staring down at the floor with a preoccupied look on her face.
"Please don't smoke around me," she said simply.
The mortal boy paused for a moment and lowered the lighter. "Sure," he mumbled. "You okay?"
"Yeah," she said. "It's just a filthy habit, and you should quit before Belldandy finds out."
He smiled and decided to try to draw her out a little. "You're going to talk to me about filthy habits?" he asked. "I've never seen anyone knock down sake like you..."
"Yeah," she admitted. "I'm thinking about taking it easy from now on," she whispered.
It dulls your eyes...
Her throat constricted as she heard the voice in her head, the specter of memory, admonish her.
Your eyes shine, the voice continued. When you drink... the shine dulls...
She let out a weak cough and bit hard on her lip.
Don't, she begged. Don't do this now. Please? Please, don't do this... I can't do this now! Please! Not in front of all of them! I can't! Please don't do this! I don't want to do this in front of them! Please! Not now! Not now! I can't... Please!
The Norn swallowed as tears formed in her eyes. She tried to look away, to conceal what was happening to her, but Keiichi heard the choked sob that managed a heroic escape from her throat. She took a deep breath and tried to rein it back, but was failing miserably.
She felt Keiichi take her hand and turned toward him.
"Hey," he whispered to her. "It's okay. You can let it out."
"No, I can't," she whispered, tears running down her face. "If I let it out now, it won't stop, do you understand? I can't do that yet."
The mortal boy squeezed her hand. "I know," he said. "I do... but you don't have to hide it either."
She swallowed again. "She doesn't deserve you," she said bluntly.
"Huh?" he asked, blinking.
"Remember what you said right after you got back from the hospital?" she asked. "You were right. She should have fought harder or let you fight or..." She turned away as Keiichi looked at her, perplexed by the Norn's sudden attack on her sister. "People say," she went on, "... that you were lucky. That you lucked into finding the perfect girlfriend. Well, the truth is that she lucked out. Because she found you."
He looked down at the floor, uncomfortable with the attack on his girlfriend guised as praise for him. "I guess... you're still mad at her..."
The Norn's face suddenly turned vicious as that tendril of hate nurtured by her demon blood made its presence known. "Of course I'm still angry!" she hissed. "After what she did!? Am I supposed to just shrug it off, say 'shit happens,' and move on!?"
"No, it's just that..."
Her eyes were alight in green fire. "Keiichi, I hate her right now," she growled. "I hate her and I love her at the same time! Do you have any idea what that's like?! I hate her for what she did, whether she was herself or not! I love her as my good and kind sister! And I resent the HELL out of her right now!"
Keiichi stopped trying to speak. He was the one to tell her to let it out, after all. He sat there and listened as Urd got things off her chest, hoping it would help.
"I resent the fact that her child will get to know her father, and mine won't!" she hissed. Keiichi started visibly at the news contained in that statement. "I resent it, and I hate her because of it! While the three of you are going to get to spend Christmases at the temple, opening presents and singing carols, my son is going to be asking me why there are no pictures of me and his father together! You and she are going to get to do things like that, and I'm not, because she took that from me and I hate her for it!"
They were silent for several moments. Keiichi, shocked and almost saddened by the revelation, lowered his voice to a whisper.
"Urd," he said quietly. "You shouldn't be here. If you are... pregnant... then you shouldn't have come along..."
She snorted a short laugh and shook her head. "You're wrong Keiichi," she said. "Frigga had a vision about me where she saw my child." She looked square into his eyes. "I'm the only one here guaranteed to survive."
888
"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" Carestia screamed, upending the table upon which their maps and schematics had sat, thwarting them for the last hour. She stared down at them, breathing heavily as Krieg watched her from where he sat, between two of the three comatose goddesses.
"An impasse?" he rumbled to her.
The demoness took a deep breath to keep from launching herself at her compatriot. "There is no way we can break into that wing of the palace, get through her Elites and break out again," she hissed. "Not the two of us."
Krieg rumbled in thought as he wiped a moist cloth against one of the goddess' foreheads. "Carestia is too aggressive to succeed," he noted.
"Hey!" she snapped at him. "You want to help or make snide remarks with your little girlfriend there?!"
"I was helping," he replied, looking up at her. "You're planning this like a demon, like Carestia. Brute force and nothing but."
"Brute force is what I'm good at," she hissed.
"No doubt," he said, continuing to bathe the goddess next to him. "But the Colonel taught us to be subtle as well."
The demoness regarded him carefully. She was never sure where things stood with him. On the outside, he appeared to be nothing more than a hulking mass of muscle and rage, but on the inside she swore he would have made a better poet or philosopher than a soldier.
"What are you saying, Basken?" she asked. "That we should just walk up and knock?"
He closed his eyes and smiled. "Thank you," he said. "Thank you for calling me 'Basken.'"
She took a step toward him, her face taking on an angrier hue. "You're not Basken yet," she said. He looked up at her. "Remember, we haven't escaped yet. Now start making sense."
Krieg stood up and looked her in the eye. "We have an ally on the inside," he said. "She just doesn't know it yet. And she has proven quite susceptible to manipulation."
Carestia smiled. "The Principessa herself."
"If we can convince her that she needs to be at a certain place at a certain time," he said, letting her figure out the rest for herself.
She grinned. "I have the perfect idea how," she told him, turning away and kneeling down to pick up the maps she had thrown about in her rage, her tantrum seemingly forgotten.
"What about Wynn?" Krieg asked her.
"He's too far gone," she said, not facing him.
"A day or so ago, I thought the same of you," he noted.
She paused. "You haven't seen the kind of things he's been doing," the former Valkyrie told him. "Truly evil things."
Krieg seemed to digest this. Carestia continued to defend herself.
"If we approach him, he'll roll on us," she said. "He's that far gone." The Seraphim pilot turned to him. "And I will not risk it."
"He would risk for us," he noted.
"He would have... once," she conceded. "Kr... Basken," she amended quietly. "If he can do those kind of things to his Peorth... someone he loved deeply... do you really think he'll sacrifice for us?"
Krieg growled.
"Come on," she said, inviting him to the table. "There's still a lot to do."
888
Miranda hadn't said a word since they left the boat at the demonic-held side of the Styx. She led the way over a rocky, craggy, desolate landscape of grey and purple rocks. It was the most depressing place Keiichi had ever seen. It looked like images he had seen from the Mars Lander, except there was a palpable feeling of futility and hopelessness in this place.
"Is it all like this?" he asked aloud.
"A lot of it," Urd replied quietly. "When they divvied up realms, Hild got the shit end of the stick a lot of the time. There are a few realms she controls that are breathtakingly beautiful, but most are... well... like this."
"I don't get it," he said as they continued to walk. "I mean, on the other side of the river it was nice and green, but here..."
"Demons tend to destroy the things they touch," Gaeriel noted condescendingly, stepping up alongside him.
"Demons didn't destroy this place," Frigga corrected her. "We did."
"Huh?"
The elder goddess smiled regretfully. "This side of the Styx was every bit as beautiful as the other," she said. "But it was also a good place for troops to hide. The Valkyries leveled it over the course of weeks, blasting it apart."
"I never knew that," Gaeriel said quietly.
Frigga shrugged. "It's regrettable, but that's the way things are."
The conversation ended on that uncomfortable note. Keiichi continued walking, but suddenly winced and slapped his arm. "Ow!" he hissed.
Frigga looked back at him. "What is it, son?" she asked.
He looked down at his arm and winced in chagrin. "Just an ant," he said.
Miranda froze and whirled on him. "What color?!" she demanded.
"Huh?"
"What color!?" she asked again.
He looked down at the smushed bug on his forearm. "Um... Red, I guess."
The former valkyrie searched the horizon with her eyes. "We need cover!" she said. "Now!"
"From what?" Gaeriel asked.
Keiichi blinked as a new sound floated into his ears, a kind of hissing, scraping sound that became more of a rumble every second.
Miranda heard it too and looked back over Keiichi's shoulder. "Take off!" she yelled. "Run!"
"What is it?!" Keiichi asked stupidly.
The warrior grabbed him by the back of his shirt and started dragging him over the next hill.
"Ants!" she cried. "Those goddamn ants!"
"Ants?!" Urd huffed next to her. "We're running from ants!?"
"About a million of them!" Miranda told her. "And they're about the size of cats! The one Keiichi killed was a scout! They can smell its blood!"
Being dragged the way he was, Keiichi was facing behind them and could see a cloud of dust beginning to catch up to them. Suddenly, like a wave, a red mass crested the hill behind them as millions of chittering creatures skittered toward them.
"Over there!" Gaeriel cried, leading the group to a formation of rocks.
"Running would be good!" Keiichi called out as he watched the insects getting closer. "Running! Running! Running!"
Miranda entered the rock formation and tossed Keiichi aside as she turned. "Shields! Quickly!"
Urd and Frigga shut their eyes and raised their hands, using their powers to erect a force shield around their shelter. It reminded Keiichi of a soap bubble in a kid's bathtub encircling the entire group.
Rather than shy away from the magical construct, the ants enveloped it, their glowing red pinchers biting into it. Keiichi watched Frigga and Urd wince.
"What is it?" he asked.
"They're... They're draining it," Frigga gasped out in disbelief.
"It's not going to hold long," Miranda confirmed. She tapped her bone mic. "Home One, Rescue One! We need your assistance!" She waited a moment before tapping the mic again. "Home One, Rescue One! Skuld! Do you read?!"
Nothing.
Miranda bit her lip and decided for the direct approach. "SKULD, DID YOU FORGET YOUR FUCKING NAME?! COME IN!"
888
"Thanks," Sentaro said as Skuld handed him his third refill of lemonade before sitting on the couch next to him. She smiled, unaware that ten feet away, the light on her headset was blinking, informing her that she was receiving a transmission.
The boy eyed her warily. "Are you sure it's okay?" he asked hesitantly. "I mean... me being here while your mom and sister are out?"
"Don't worry," Skuld said, unaware of why it would be such a big deal. "I'm not expecting them back for a few d... er... for awhile."
"Oh, okay," he replied nervously.
"It means a lot to me," she said quietly, her turn to be nervous. "That you came over, I mean," she finished.
He blinked at the statement, and she blushed a deep crimson.
"I mean... Don't be weird!" she cried defensively a moment later.
"Sorry," he said, bewildered.
She sighed. "No, I'm sorry," she said. "It really does mean a lot. It's kind of like when Oneesama talks about K..." She broke off and cleared her throat. "You know..."
"I guess," he said stupidly. He seemed to muster up some courage and held his head high. "Skuld, look, I want you to know something, okay?" He didn't wait for her to reply and continued to speak. "I really like you!" he blurted. "I mean... like like you... But I know you've got a lot on your mind now with your sister and everything, but I just wanted you to know that and I was thinking maybe when this was over and you had some time maybe we could go out or just... I don't know... hang out more as a boyfriend-girlfriend thing or... or... or..."
Skuld didn't say anything, she just let the awkward silence hang over them like a cloud of adolescent weirdness.
"You wanna go steady?" Sentaro finally said, summing up his argument.
The goddess blinked. "Does that mean we have to live in a temple and I have to cook? Because if so, I think this conversation is over..."
"No!" he said, waving his hands. "I just mean... that... maybe we could date each other... you know... exclusively?"
A smile began to spread over her face as her blush reached a new never-before-discovered shade of red. "I..." Before she could finish, her eyes fell on the headset. "OH, CRAP!" she cried, running to the computer and leaving a stunned Sentaro there, blinking in shock.
Bracing herself for a lecture, Skuld threw the headset on and moved the mouse on the holotop, bringing the computer to life. What she saw made her blood run cold.
"SKULD! WE ARE GOING TO DIE HERE!" Miranda was shouting.
"I'm here! I'm here!" she cried back. "Oh, jinkies!" she muttered. "Um... Let' see.... What can I do?!"
Thoroughly discouraged, Sentaro stood up and sidled toward the door. "I'll... just let you get back to your game..." he said.
She covered the mic with her hand and turned to him. "No! This will just take a second to... GIANT ANTS?! COME ON!"
"I'll just come back later...."
"Seriously, this won't take long to..." Her eyes went wide at the screen. "They can chew through force fields?! What kind of crap is THAT?!"
"Seriously, I can..."
"SENTARO! SIT DOWN!" Skuld ordered.
The boy sat.
Skuld turned back to the computer. "Okay, what do I do?"
888
The strain of keeping the shield up was evident on Frigga and Urd's faces as they struggled to pour more energy into it to make up for what the ants were consuming. Their bodies teemed over the dome of energy, completely blotting out the sun.
"We can toss a couple of glassers out there, maybe carve a path out of them!" Gaeriel suggested.
"I don't think you have enough bombs for all of them," Keiichi muttered. He looked at his arm and turned to them. "They're following me, right?" he asked. "I could lead them away!"
"Absolutely not!" Frigga cried through clenched teeth.
"Does anyone have a better idea?" he challenged.
"Air support!" Miranda said.
Gaeriel and Keiichi turned to her, but she wasn't speaking to them. She was holding her bone mic against her throat. "Use the CAS program you found and send a couple of valkyries over the Styx. Do you have a pen? Write this down!" She paused for a moment. "Okay, request fire mission, Realm Nine-Four. One-six-two, break... Remember to say 'break.' Two-five-seven, break. Three-three-six, break. Targets are non-sentient arthropedics. Friendlies on their lingo, danger close. Unable to mark targets. Do you got that?"
888
Skuld wrote furiously on a napkin, nodding even though Miranda couldn't see her. "I got it!" she said. "I just need a second!"
"Take your time," Miranda told her with just a hint of reproach.
The young goddess clicked on the CAS icon on her computer and bit her lip as she entered all the information into the spaces provided. Double checking her numbers, she hit the "SEND" key.
PASSWORD?
She felt her blood run cold. Swallowing, she hit the mic again.
"We might have a problem," she gasped out.
"The devil you say," Miranda quipped back.
"It's asking for a password!" Skuld hissed.
"And I assume by your tone you don't have one."
"I didn't think we'd need one!"
There was silence for a few moments. Then Miranda came back on. "Skuld, I trust you. I know you'll find a way to hack one, or get through the system. I believe in you, all right?"
Skuld nodded. "Yeah, yeah, okay! I'm on it!"
888
"I believe in you, all right?" Miranda said into the mic. She listened for a moment then turned it off, turning to Keiichi and Gaeriel. "We're all gonna die," she noted.
"What's Plan B?" Keiichi asked.
Miranda looked up at the dark, chittering sky. "I saw a group of these things devour an entire platoon that was too loaded down with wounded to escape in time," she said. "They'll keep sucking the energy out of that field until Frigga and Urd are spent, then Gaeriel and I will step in to keep it going a little longer, and then... the field will collapse and those little bastards will come in here and really ruin our picnic."
"Eaten by ants," Keiichi said with a nod. "That's all you had to say. 'Eaten by ants.' That pretty much sums the whole thing up."
"Is there anything we can do?" Gaeriel asked.
"Yeah," Miranda told her. "Hope someone upstairs likes us."
888
"Commander!"
Upstairs, Lind looked down at the Valkyrie who had hailed her. "Yes?"
"Ma'am, do you remember that fake CAS program you had me add to the intel data folder?" he asked. "Someone's trying to use it."
"Excellent," Lind breathed as she stepped down onto the TOC floor toward the viewing cube. "Spike their connection and give me a look at what they're doing."
The Valkyrie, one of Lind's Network Operations and Security Center techs, typed in several commands, linking their network with Skuld's. A real-time image of Skuld's computer desktop appeared on the cube.
"What is she doing now?" Lind asked.
Gwydion looked over the imagery. "She's trying to order a CAS mission for the demonic side of the Styx," he said. "But she doesn't know the password." He grunted at the girl's pluck. "So she's trying to guess it."
"Any chance of that happening?" Lind asked him.
"It's been known to happen before," he said. "A certain, well-known mortal managed to guess the NOSC connection number, but honestly..." He shook his head.
Lind looked over the data on the cube and could guess the situation Skuld's friends were in. They were obviously trapped, surrounded by an arthropedic enemy, mostly likely Fury Ants, and that meant they weren't going to last long without help.
Unfortunately, the only way they could get that help required Lind to disobey orders from Michael.
"Commander?" Gwydion asked softly.
The Valkyrie leader was aware of the eyes of every warrior in the TOC bearing down on her. She thought about Belldandy, how the gentle goddess had helped her discover herself during the Angel Eater fiasco. She thought about that group of gods surrounded by Fury Ants because they had the brass to do what her own Valkyries had been forbidden from doing.
"They should all be able to come home," her words to Frigga came back to her. "Every last one of them. But my oath is to defend Heaven..."
She took a breath. "Authenticate her request," she ordered.
"Lind?" Gwydion whispered, shocked into using her name rather than her rank.
"I want heat on that lingo," she said calmly. She turned to her operations rep. "Who do we have in the Styx?"
The Valkyrie paused but quickly found the information. "Um... Ripcord One and Two are on aerial patrol. They can be on location in four minutes, but Ma'am... Nidhogg will detect them. They'll know we've been there."
"Vector Ripcord One and Two to that location and pass on the information provided to us," Lind calmly instructed him.
As the tactical rep went to work, Gwydion approached and whispered in her ear.
"What about the rules of engagement?" he asked.
"We should have been engaged long before this," she whispered back. "We've been waiting for an opportunity, this is it. I am charged with defending gods and goddesses. I see a group of what could be a group of people who got lost and are now under attack. I am duty-bound to defend them."
"Nice story," he noted with an arched eyebrow.
"I'll have to come up with something better before I talk to Michael," she replied regretfully.
888
Skuld's eyes widened as she saw the message on her screen.
PASSWORD ACCEPTED. MISSION UPLOADED. TIME TO TARGET: 4 MINUTES.
"It worked! I did it!" she screamed into the mic. "They're coming! They're coming!"
"What?!" Sentaro cried, surprised by her shouting and rushing to her side. "What is it?!"
She turned and kissed him full on the lips before turning back to the computer. "I so rule!" she cried.
888
Miranda turned to Gaeriel. "We've got incoming!" she cried. "Pour as much energy into that shield as you can!" She closed her eyes and raised her hands over her head, mimicking Urd and Frigga.
"What should I do?!" Keiichi asked quickly.
"Duck! And don't look up!"
He blinked and turned as suddenly a bright, white light filtered through the mass of insects over them. Flinching, he held his hands up, blotting it out.
"Close your eyes! Don't look at the light!" Frigga shouted.
Keiichi shut his eyes, but he could hear that something was happening above him. The chittering had become panicked squeals and he wondered if this is what real ants sounded like when they were burnt by a magnifying glass.
The sound stopped. Tentatively, he opened one eye and looked up. The ants were still there, but no longer moving. Instead of a bright angry red, they had all turned white.
Urd and Frigga fell to their knees as they lowered the force field, and suddenly Keiichi was covered in a white powdery substance that was once the giant ants. At first he thought it was ash, but it felt too coarse. Some had gotten on his face and lips and he could taste what it was.
"They turned to salt?" he asked in disbelief.
"What?" Miranda asked. "You think Sodom and Gomorrah was a myth?"
He shook the substance out of his hair and rushed to Urd, who was having trouble rising to her feet. The boy took her arm and helped guide her up.
"You okay?" he asked, his voice heavy with more concern now that he knew her situation.
"I'm fine," she said with a wave. "But suddenly wishing I had some margaritas."
Sighing with relief of her own, Miranda keyed her mic. "Skuld, I owe you a Coke. Good job."
888
Skuld only vaguely made out what Miranda had said. She was busy at the moment kissing her new steady boyfriend.
888
"Well," Gwydion whispered. "We're in it now."
Lind nodded. "Colonel, prepare a team and gather what's necessary for a light, mobile command post, light security."
"Yes, Ma'am," he replied. "Where will they be deploying to?"
She turned, the faintest hint of a smile gracing her lips.
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes:
I know, it's been awhile. Sorry about that. Real life takes a toll. Come January, I'm going to disappear for about six months on "business."
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SNEAK PREVIEW...
The phone rang again.
The goddess's hand hung over it as if suspended there by some unknown force. The most natural thing in the world for her, something she had done thousands of times before, was to pick it up and answer it. It was the first step in granting a wish, and yet...
It rang again, and still she paused.
The ring Skuld had given her that morning twinkled in the light over the device. Why did she pause? The person on the other end of the phone was a client, someone who was to be offered Heaven's Grace. There was nothing to fear from them.
Another ring. Other goddesses in the office were now craning their heads around the walls of their cubicles to see what the problem was. She knew without looking that that's what they were doing, and yet she didn't turn to them or react. Her eyes were transfixed on the phone.
"Um... Are you going to get that?" one of the other granting goddesses asked her pointedly.
She didn't answer as the phone rang again.
Why do I hesitate?! she asked herself. She couldn't explain it, she just knew that answering that phone was the wrong thing to do!
Silence.
As if snapping awake from a dream, her hand darted to the phone and snatched it up.
"Hello!" she cried into the receiver. "Hello!? Are you there?!"
Only a dial tone answered her. A ball of ice plunged into her stomach as she began to realize what she had done. The stars themselves had to align perfectly before a goddess and client were matched up. There was no redial, no Star-69. It was her job to grant that person's wish... and she failed.
You didn't fail, the professional side of her scolded her. Failing implies you tried and did not succeed. You simply turned your back on your holy duty...
Tears threatened to appear in her eyes. What had she done?
"Belldandy?"
Her head whipped around to the sound of the voice so fast, she was sure she would break her own neck. "Hai?" she asked.
Freya, the goddess in charge of the Goddess Help Line, stood at the end of the line of cubicles. Her blonde hair and perfect features could not lessen the disapproving look that was glaring accusingly at Belldandy.
"I'd like to speak with you alone," the elder goddess said politely before turning and walking away.
The rest of the granters looked at her in concern and wonder. Belldandy was one of the best granters in Heaven. Why would she simply freeze like that?
Belldandy took a breath and rose from her chair, giving one last look at the phone now sitting silently on her desk.
Who were you? she wondered. I'm so sorry...
Turning, she followed Freya down the hall.
Rather than end up in the other goddess's office, Freya led her outside into the courtyard garden and stood near the small waterfall and pond at the far right corner, admiring the multi-colored plants and flowers that were blooming there.
The sights were lost on Belldandy. The young goddess was staring at the ground in shame, bracing herself for the scolding that was sure to come.
Freya regarded her carefully for several moments before speaking. "Belldandy," she began quietly. "What's wrong?"
"Ms. Freya?" Belldandy asked, her gaze rising to meet the older goddess's.
The head of the Help Line took a breath. "Missing a call, Belldandy?" she asked. "That's not like you. What happened?"
Belldandy swallowed nervously, painfully aware that she didn't even know what happened. "The phone rang," she said. "And... I didn't answer it," she answered honestly. "I don't know why I didn't," she went on after a moment of silence between the two. "I just... Something inside me said I shouldn't... that it was important that I not answer that call..."
Freya took a breath and put her knuckles to her lips in thought. "Was there some warning from another goddess or..."
The young granter shook her head. "No, nothing like that!" she said, a tear running down her cheek. "I simply... failed to act..."
Turning away from her, Freya took a step toward the garden as Belldandy waited for her punishment.
"We have a duty, Belldandy, to make people happy by acting as the conduits of the Almighty's will," Freya told her. "Whether we agree with that will or not is irrelevant..."
"I don't disagree!" Belldandy defended. "I don't even know who this person is!"
"Whoever they are," Freya replied, turning back to her. "They have lost their opportunity for a happiness you were supposed to provide!" She shook her head in disbelief. "Belldandy..."
"Please, Ms. Freya!" Belldandy begged. "Let me make this right! I don't know why I didn't act! I can't explain it to myself so how can I explain it to you?! All I know is that... I... I failed." She swallowed back a sob and took a breath. "Is there any way I can make this right?"
The elder goddess studied her for several moments, unsure what to think. Belldandy was one of her best granters. This was so out of character for her...
But the bottomline was that she had a duty and she didn't do it. She had to punish her. The director couldn't play favorites with her girls. She sighed.
"Go home," she said. "I'll think about it."
Belldandy wiped tears from her eyes. "Hai," she said. She turned and started for the door. Stopping at her desk to pick up her things, her eyes fell once again on the silent phone, its rotary dial staring accusingly at her.
"Who are you?" she whispered aloud.
Ah! My Goddess!
Second Dawn
Coming soon
"Hope has a place..."