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-29-

At a little after six a.m. on a Sunday morning, Belldandy awoke screaming.

It was a peal of horror and desperation of a character that made the skin crawl.

One of such desolation, such utter defeat, it was heartbreaking.

"Oh Yggdrasil, I killed him!" Tears streamed down her face, and the woman sobbed into her hands as another hoarse wail tore from her chest. "Keiichi!" She drew her legs up to her chest, and another long chain of sobs wracked her body. She rocked back and forth, but found no solace in the act; her mind was too awake, too alive with the images of her last conscious act. Not Aoshima but Keiichi. It was Keiichi under her hand, Keiichi pinned to a wall, Keiichi falling limp as she crushed his windpipe and squeezed that last bit of oxygen from his lungs. Keiichi, whose head she'd almost torn off his shoulders, and it was Keiichi who'd collapsed before her, no longer moving, no longer struggling, no longer breathing as a third party dragged her away.

She groaned, distraught, and was unaware of the door opening and Skuld racing inside, was blind to her sister climbing into the bed with her and did not feel the arms that wrapped around her shoulders and drew her close. "I killed him," she cried. "Oh Yggdrasil, he's dead because of me! Why! Why?!" The word rose up into a fresh scream, and she remained deaf to the reassurances of her sister.

In another room, a sick angel began to struggle against those who surrounded her, and a god paused in his ministrations to listen to the wails issuing from the other side of the wall. One door down from them, a mortal tossed in his sleep. Downstairs, a goddess abandoned her potion craft only to be stopped by the pair of deities who assisted her.

"I never should have- If I hadn't-" A mournful noise bit off the sentence, and it erupted in a fresh shriek so shrill it made her throat burn. Skuld drew her close but said nothing more, and Belldandy grabbed hold of her like a woman drowning. "He trusted me and I killed him. He trusted me! And now he's gone!" The goddess wailed. "How could I have so utterly betrayed him?" she grieved. "When he was at his most vulnerable?! I-I'm no better than him!"

"Stop it!" Skuld said firmly. How she managed to keep her voice so steady was a mystery to her. "No more. You are not Aoshima, Belldandy."

Belldandy didn't hear her. "I never should have met him! He'd still be alive- He'd still be ali-"

The sound of Skuld's open hand colliding with Belldandy's face echoed through the room.

The elder goddess blinked at the black haired goddess in confusion as her hand tentatively came up to touch her reddening cheek. She froze as if she were seeing her sister for the first time. Skuld reached up and placed her hands on either side of her sister's head and forced the woman to meet her gaze. "He's alive!" she exclaimed. "Yggdrasil bless it, Keiichi's alive Belldandy!"

"A-alive?" The goddess croaked. She looked drawn and pale, her eyes wide with disbelief. "How can-" She shook her head. "No, no! I know what I did, Skuld!" Her voice rose in a shrill scream. "I-I crushed his throat! I felt the life flee his body! I heard his heart slow and then stop! Don't lie to me, Skuld!"

The younger Norn flinched as though Belldandy had slapped her back. "I'm not lying Belldandy," she said. "Not about this." There was a stern anger to her voice, and it was enough to make the elder goddess pause in her accusations. Anger was nothing new from Skuld. She had a short fuse that reigned over her head like an inglorious clown, and ten years ago, in a time before Japan, Urd had loved nothing more than to set it alight. That anger used to be small and relatively harmless; a match sparked alight and then whisked out in the next moment. It was usually directed at Urd, who'd gone from teasing Belldandy in their early years to teasing Skuld who showed none of the calm but at times dangerous temper the middle Norn carried.

Skuld had a plethora of targets for her anger; Urd, their mother, bugs in Yggdrasil, coworkers. But never Belldandy. And not so... deep. Fuming. Not so controlled. This was... someone... who Belldandy didn't know. It wasn't a trait of her younger sister. "Who are you?" The words left Belldandy's mouth before she could think to stop them, and she watched Skuld jerk back, staring at the woman in first shock, and then hurt.

"I'm Skuld." She sounded wounded. "And Keiichi isn't who you should be worried about right now." She pried herself out of Belldandy's grasp, crestfallen. "Stay here for a while. I need to get Urd and Nebo." She climbed off the bed and departed in silence. Not once did the younger Norn meet her eyes.

It was only after the door had closed behind her that Belldandy understood how grievously she had wounded her younger sister with a few thoughtless words. She felt a lump of disgust settle in her chest, and once more the goddess drew her legs up to her chest. "I am a horrible fool," she murmured. "A despicable woman made by a despicable man." She wrapped her arms around her knees and buried her face within the nest of her arms. I bring pain to those I love without cause and without thought. To the man I love. To the sister who aided in my rescue. I kill one-almost kill one-and wound the other.

I never should have come here.

XXX

It was Lind who came up the stairs with the completed potions, much to Skuld's surprise. The woman was walking down the hallway just as the Norn left Urd's room, and she paused as she saw the Norn's downcast stare. "You good?"

"Peachy," Skuld grumbled. She sighed and rubbed her face, then let her hand drop as she stared at the Valkyrie with fresh scrutiny. "What are you doing up here?"

The words were harsher than she intended. Lind either failed to notice, or chose not to react. "Urd's busy monitoring potions," Lind said. "Figured I'd take what she and Peorth already completed up to you and Nebo in her stead."

"You're either really brave or really stupid," Skuld said. "World of Elegance is acting like a tiger that just popped out a litter of kittens. I think the only reason she's tolerating me is because Nebo somehow won her over."

Lind shrugged. "It was either me or Peorth. Figured I'd have more of a chance with my girls."

"That's right. You have two angels, don't you?" Skuld asked, grateful for the distraction. Anything to get her mind off Belldandy's words. Who are you? She was Skuld, plain and simple. Regular old Skuld talking to a not-so-regular Valkyrie in a regular Midgard house with a regular mortal and a regular Tic and maybe some not-so-regular angels, but that didn't make any of them irregular, right?

Lind nodded. "I'll introduce you properly to them later on, if you like," she offered. "They're good angels, even if Cool Mint's a little too curious and Spear Mint's a little too antisocial. It'll be good for your angel. Let her meet some angels outside her choir and help socialize her a bit."

"Thanks. I appreciate the offer," Skuld said. "And thanks again. For Nebo. He's... he's helping a lot."

"He's a good deity, even if he is a little too informal at times," Lind replied. "I take it Belldandy is awake?"

The Norn winced. "Heh, yeah, she's up." Her voice was strained. "She's in a rough state, but she's up. I was going to grab Urd and let her know with Nebo."

"I'll let her know when I head back downstairs." Lind approached the room the angels had claimed for themselves and knocked on it. As all the times before, it was World of Elegance who opened it, and she bristled as she caught sight of the Valkyrie. Lind remained unfazed. "Potions." She held up several bottles for the angel's inspection, and some of the unease faded from the entity's stance.

Skuld moved to stand by Lind. "Could you let Nebo know that Belldandy's awake?" she requested.

World of Elegance paused from where she was gathering the potions, and puffed up like an owl coming across a threat. She bared her teeth and stuck her head out the door, the expression only fading when she didn't see anyone else in the hallway. Skuld, taken aback, watched the snarl diminish to a frown. The angel shook her head in distaste, then took the remaining potions Lind handed to her and retreated back inside. Lind and Skuld shared a look, and then Nebo appeared.

"Belldandy's up?" he inquired, and at Skuld's nod the man pursed his lips. "Gimme fifteen minutes or so. I want to get these potions going before speaking with her." The man rubbed his thick moustache in contemplation. "Also... think one a' ya could grab Urd too?" he asked. "For World of Elegance."

"Is World of Elegance mad at Belldandy?" Skuld asked. "She looked pretty pissed when I let her name drop."

"She's just upset is all," Nebo clarified. "It's the link. She and Urd are feeding off each other's anxieties. They don't mean to, but it's starting to wear her down. Her and Urd both, I suspect. Urd's letting her run independent of herself, and that takes up more energy than just summoning her for a brief period. They need a break."

"Try telling that to a stubborn ass like Urd," Lind muttered. Skuld found herself agreeing.

"Try telling that to a stubborn angel like World of Elegance," Nebo retorted. He looked at Skuld. "Noble Scarlet's getting pretty tired too. How you feeling Kyz? Be honest with me- none a' that tough girl stuff right now- I'm asking as a Tic."

Skuld scowled, but Nebo's concern was genuine. "I'm pretty tired," she admitted. "But I have too much I need to do, especially now that Bell's awake. Until I know she's good, I can't take a break, and Noble Scarlet said she wanted to help Holy Bell."

"Noble Scarlet's not even a full day old, Kyz," Nebo reminded her. "She doesn't know the extent of her abilities yet, especially when her first emergence was straight into a chaotic situation like what happened earlier this morning. She won't recognize that she's over-exerting herself until you call her back and let her rest."

"But what about Holy Bell?" Skuld asked. "I mean-you know how bad a' shape she's in. Are you just going to keep her out when everyone else is being sent away?"

"That's for me to discuss with Belldandy," Nebo said. "Trust me, Holy Bell's state of being is at the forefront of my mind, but I also can't ignore her sisters or their hosts overexerting themselves. After I finish speaking with Belldandy, I'm sending Noble Scarlet back to you along with World of Elegance to Urd, and I'm expecting both of you to get some rest, okay?"

"But-" Lind rested a hand on her shoulder, putting an end to Skuld's protest. The woman looked at the Valkyrie, her expression still worried, and Lind's lips pulled back in a small half-smile.

"Listen to Nebo," she advised. "He knows what he's doing. He's not just blowing smoke out his ass."

Nebo sent the woman a flat look. "Thanks Kyz," he groused. "But yeah, gimme fifteen or so and then grab Urd for me." He disappeared once more back inside, and Skuld's shoulders sagged as she sighed.

"One thing at a time, Skuld," Lind mumbled. "Keiichi's alive and Belldandy's awake, and we've got potions for Holy Bell. We're making progress, even if it's slow."

Skuld said nothing, and the two retreated downstairs. The sun had risen enough to pour its rays through the surrounding windows, and it brightened the first floor with a golden sheen from where the light reflected off the wooden floors. Urd and Peorth were at work in the kitchen, mixing ingredients and stirring potion bases like a pair of chefs busy at work preparing a five-star entree. The two of them barely acknowledged each other, let alone the newcomers. It took the Norn a second to realize it was because the two were just focused on their individual tasks, and not out of the previous tension as she had so feared.

Together, Norn and Valkyrie took a seat in the dining room. Skuld watched the two deities in the kitchen work, and Lind leaned back in her chair, manifesting a pouch made of a similar material to her uniform. The woman unzipped it and pulled out a small, vacuum-sealed plastic bag and tore off one edge of it. "Skuld." The Norn looked to the deity, and Lind slid the bag across the table to her. "Have some."

Taking the bag, Skuld looked inside with a frown. "Jerky?" She withdrew a small piece and looked back at Lind.

"Caribou," Lind replied. "Homemade. From Chugach."

"Chugach?" Skuld looked at her in surprise. "You mean the Chugach Mountains? Along the Jotenheim border?"

Lind nodded. "Went home on leave recently. Folks sent me off with half my weight in caribou jerky." She snagged the bag and withdrew a strip for herself. "It'll help keep your strength up."

Skuld stared at the piece before taking a tentative bite. Her eyes widened, and for a brief moment a look of pleasure washed across her features. "This is really good!" she cried. "I've never had caribou jerky before. At least, not from Chugach. Most stuff out of that area is pretty expensive."

Lind nodded, chewing on her own piece in thought. "Most everything's homemade back there. Folks are Bedouin thanks to the weather and the animals, so the only real trading towns are near the border."

"Wow... so you're from Chugach?" Skuld asked. Lind nodded, and Skuld's smile bolstered with a glow. "That's pretty cool, actually. I'd have never guessed based off your name. I always thought you were from Asgard."

Lind shrugged but said nothing. The two shared the jerky in a companionable silence, and it was in just such a silence that Skuld worked up the nerve to ask, "So... what should I do now that I've got my angel?"

Lind raised an eyebrow, chewing on a bit of jerky as she considered Skuld's questions. "You don't want to ask Urd?"

Skuld hesitated, then shook her head. "I..." She faltered, then tried again. "My angel is... tiny. Different. And I... I don't want to bother Urd with this." She looked down at the table, finding a sudden interest in the patterns produced by the grain of the wood. "I wanted an outside opinion," she continued. "And, well... I saw your angel. Angels. So I figured..." The Norn scowled but didn't proceed further. She looked uncomfortable, worse yet, reluctant, to speak on the issue further now that the request had been made.

Lind contemplated the question in its entirety. "Speak with Nebo," she said. "In all honesty, Skuld, that is the best thing I can recommend to you right now." She met the Norn's eyes. "Just... don't be afraid of her. New angels are... fragile. They learn by interaction, and for your angel, new as she is, literally everything is new to her."

"Are you- seriously?" Skuld moaned. "I summoned her at the worst possible time..." She propped her elbows on the table and buried her fingers in her black hair, the textbook definition of misery. "Why couldn't I wait... fucking shit!"

"You hang out around Urd too much," Lind grumbled. In a louder voice she said, "Don't let this get you down, Skuld. It's not uncommon to summon an angel while in a state of distress; angels were originally designed as power amplifiers before it was discovered just how interconnected they were with their host deity. You saw I had two angels, right?"

"Yeah..."

"You want to know where I was when I summoned Cool Mint for the first time?"

"Where?" Skuld asked. She didn't bother asking which angel Cool Mint was. It didn't matter right now. There'd be time for proper introductions later.

"Urd was wiping the floor with my ass in her tendee form in Japan."

Skuld jerked back, eyes wide, "You're serious?" the expression on Lind's face didn't change. "Oh Yggdrasil, you are serious."

Lind nodded. "If not for Cool Mint manifesting when she did, there might have been a... we'll call it a 'marginally different outcome' from that night in Japan. But she turned out fine, and a lot of that had to do with proper socializing with her older twin and heavy awareness of what she was experiencing on my part. And I'm a Valkyrie, Skuld." She didn't go into further explanation. "And you've got a full up choir of angels here: World of Elegance, Holy Bell-don't give me that look Skuld- my girls, even Peorth's angel and, dare I say it, Nebo's Flora, if that antisocial creature would ever bother to manifest outside his office. Lots of different angels for her to interact with, and Nebo himself will offer you all the advice in the world if you ask him. He loves angels. Adores them like they're his own children, and he loves nothing more than when a deity shows initiative to learn more about the Other Soul."

"I see..." Skuld pursed her lips. "Do you think..." She hesitated a moment and bit her lip, then pushed herself to continue. "Do you think he'll know why Noble Scarlet is... is so... small?"

Lind nodded. "I'm sure of it."

"Will he be mad?" she asked. "Mad like, like World of Elegance is with Bell? For how small she is?" The goddess shifted in her chair, wrapping her arms around herself and looking all at once like a child trapped within an adult's body. "I... Lind, don't tell Urd this, please, 'cause I don't want World of Elegance to get mad at me like she is with Bell, but... what if I fucked up? What if I fucked up somehow by summoning her like this, and that's why Noble Scarlet is so small? What if... what if it's irreparable? What if she's stuck like that- stuck like a child- forever?"

"Can you accept your angel for her appearance and capabilities despite what flaws she may have?" Lind countered with another question, and Skuld looked up at her sharply. "Because that is what really matters, Skuld. My girls each have only one wing- one lost in combat, the other born with only one and I love them both for who they are. Urd has the Black Wing Mutation, and I'm sure you've heard the stories involving that, and World of Elegance is by far one of the largest angels I've ever seen regarding the sheer amount of power nestled within her. Holy Bell is... well, that remains to be seen."

The goddess sighed, looking at Skuld with pursed lips. "What I'm trying to say is that despite any disabilities or mutations our angels have, they are all capable of functioning normally, and we love them and care for them regardless of how others view them. Nebo isn't the type to get upset with a host over the state of an angel unless they display intent to harm, which is stupid because that's akin to a deity killing his- or herself. World of Elegance angry?" Lind shrugged. "So what? She's angry with everyone right now. She'll calm down and get over it if you show you care for Noble Scarlet, and if she doesn't, why should you care? The only thing that should matter to you is if you can accept Noble Scarlet for who she is here and now- not what she may or may not become in the future, and certainly not for what you were expecting her to be."

"I see..." Skuld mumbled. It was perhaps the most she'd heard Lind talk since the Valkyrie had read Urd her rights in what now felt like a lifetime ago. "I- thanks Lind." She relaxed, though it was marginal. "I... I think I needed that. Really. That- that helped a lot. I'll... I'll go talk with Nebo later on."

Lind nodded, then released a loud breath, looking all at once exhausted. "I hate talking," she muttered. "Fucking jaw hurts now."

"Hey Kyz." Nebo entered the dining room with a perturbed frown on his face. "Did Belldandy come down here at all?"

Skuld stared at him in confusion. "No..." she drawled. "Was she supposed to?"

"She wasn't in the bedroom," Nebo replied. "I thought maybe she came down here to talk with you guys."

"What do you mean she wasn't in the bedroom?" said Urd and she and Peorth paused in their work. Urd stared at Nebo with wide eyes.

"Exactly that," Nebo replied. "I wanted to see if she'd be willing to meet with Holy Bell before grabbing you and Skuld and-"

Urd swore, abandoned the potion she was making and rushed through the kitchen and dining room. Nebo pressed himself against a wall to let the goddess pass as the woman bolted up the stairs.

"Uh... any ideas, Kyz?" The Tic looked back to the room filled with goddesses.

Skuld pursed her lips. "I don't know," she confessed. "I mean, she was pretty distraught when she woke up..."

"But if that was the case, where would she go?" Lind asked. "Holy Bell isn't with her. And with her angel being in the condition she is now, she won't have the energy to go far."

Peorth looked at the Valkyrie in alarm. "Wait, what about her angel?" she asked, then looked to Nebo, "Monsieur, what is wrong with her angel?"

Nebo shook his head. "Can't say," he said. "We need to find Belldandy though, and soon. Holy Bell doesn't have the energy reserves right now to maintain a physical form very far from Belldandy." He reached into his tunic and pulled out a small, golden medallion that shone with magic. "I'm keeping her stable right now, but I didn't come expecting something like this to happen. My own reserves ain't what they used to be, even with ol' Moony curled away inside me, and I don't want to put any additional strain on Holy Bell if I can avoid it."

He tucked the pendant back inside his uniform. "I'm going back upstairs to check on Holy Bell. Lind, I know you got some of the good stuff packed away in your spells- think you can do a sweep for Belldandy in the local area? We may need to go searching for her if she ain't in the house no more."

"Right."

The man left in a rush, stamping up the stairs after Urd. With him gone, Peorth directed her attention to the Valkyrie. "Lind, what is going on?!" she demanded. "You saw what was wrong with Holy Bell, yes? What is it? What's happening?" The goddess was growing increasingly frantic. She abandoned her own potion without a second glance to join Skuld and Lind in the dining room. "I am sick of being left in the dark! Belldandy is my friend as well, rivals though we may be! I have no wish to see her or her angel injured, and as such I demand to know what is going on!"

"I don't know." Lind shook her head. "All I can do is speculate on what I've seen. I'm a Valkyrie, not a Tic- the most I know about medicine is the basic stuff they drill into our heads as acolytes."

"Yet you have seen all manners of injuries, have you not?" Peorth pressed. Lind flinched. "You have experience with many different types of wounds. And so I implore you, based off that experience, what do you 'speculate' is wrong with Holy Bell?"

Lind leaned away from her with a frown, her gaze darting to Skuld and finding the Norn watching her with a look of equal intensity to Peorth. "You know something," Skuld accused. "Fess up. What is it?"

"I told you, it's-

"Yes, yes, 'speculation'," Peorth snapped. "So bequeath us this speculation you hold so tightly to your breast. We would know what ails Belldandy's angel in the hopes we might assist her!"

Lind flinched again, then pursed her lips. "Fine..." she ground out. "Just... none of this is official, all right? Unless Nebo comes out and verifies my assumptions then take everything I'm about to say with a grain of salt. I'm not an expert on angels and I'm not a Tic. I'm a fucking Valkyrie." She glared at the two of them with hard eyes, and it was only when the two deities nodded in acknowledgement that Lind proceeded.

"It's neglect. Holy Bell is exhibiting signs of neglect... the deep-seated type that comes from being imprisoned in the soul: infection, starvation, she's even displaying signs of… what's it called when a bird plucks out it's own feathers?" She snapped her fingers before anyone could respond. "Pterotillomania! That's it. They're all signs I've seen in the past of neglect in the angel. For whatever reason, it looks like Belldandy at some point decided to bury Holy Bell so deep within herself that there was no chance of her resurfacing, and as a result..."

"She was trying to protect Holy Bell," Skuld mumbled off-handedly. "Must have been. She buried her angel so deep that Aoshima would never discover her-"

"But… but that is preposterous!" Peorth proclaimed. "To neglect her angel would be to neglect her own soul! To deny it freedom, to deny it pleasure, to deny it health!"

"Yeah, well... try living under the knowledge you have to play out a pedophile's sick fantasies for ten years on top of following whatever other instructions he... required of you," Skuld hissed. "I wonder if maybe she recognized the danger Holy Bell might be in if she was ever discovered... could you imagine what a sick fuck like Aoshima would have done if he ever got his hands on an angel?"

"He'd destroy her." Lind recalled the videos she'd seen. She felt cold. "And in doing so would have killed Belldandy."

Peorth paled. "Oh Sinyè..." she whispered. "I had heard rumors... but to such extent?" She looked at the two deities in horror. Lind met her gaze with a level one of her own. Skuld grimaced and looked away. The Rose Goddess shook her head. "Non non non non non!" she rattled. "We must find Belldandy before Holy Bell's condition worsens. Lind, why do you dawdle?" she demanded, zeroing in on the Valkyrie. "Did Nebo not request you search for her aura? Get on with it!"

Lind scowled. "You're a real pain in the ass, Peorth," she grumbled as she rose to her feet. "And not in a 'waste my fucking time' way like Urd, but an 'insulting to the point I want to punch you in the face' way."

The leather clad goddess shied away from the woman as though expecting just such a result. Given what had happened less than twenty-four hours ago, Skuld didn't blame her. Belldandy's punches had that effect on people.

XXX

As Lind began her incantation to lock onto Belldandy's magical signature, upstairs, Urd was nearing the edge of her limits.

"She's not here," the Norn whispered as she stared into the room her sister was supposed to be in. "She's not fucking here!" The goddess growled in frustration, her fist colliding hard enough with a wall to punch through it and into the insulation that lined the inside walls. "FUCK!" she cried. "Where the hell could she- and with Holy Bell still-" She leaned in the doorway, cradling her head with one arm as she sucked in one deep breath after another. Hold it together. Bell needs you, hold it together, Urd. She let her arm fall away from her face. Breathe. Keep breathing. Keiichi's alive. Holy Bell is alive. Belldandy by default has to be nearby. It took her a moment to realize the words weren't her own but World of Elegance's. This close, it was easy for the angel to pick up on her host's feelings, and regardless of any grievances she had towards Belldandy, the angel wasn't about to abandon Urd while the Norn was distressed. Head back downstairs. She couldn't have gone far without Holy Bell. She's still in the immediate area. Find her.

"Find her." Urd squeezed her eyes shut with a grimace. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Right. Find Bell. Next course of action. Let Elegance handle Holy Bell, you need to do your part and find Belldandy." A game plan in place, she turned to head back downstairs.

"Urd...?"

The silver haired goddess almost jumped out of her skin. She wheeled, eyes wide, and found Keiichi standing behind her, watching the goddess in open concern. "Are you okay?"

"You're awake," Urd said dumbly. "You're-why are you awake?"

"Are you kidding? With you yelling and punching through walls… again I might add, how could I sleep?" The dark haired man looked around inquisitively, then back to Urd. "Umm, where's Belldandy?"

Urd eyed her friend critically. "Jank, what do you remember from last night?"

Keiichi furrowed his brows as he thought back to the previous night. "I remember Bell coming to get me and bringing me to the bedroom, we talked, we kissed… I made it to second base…" A small smile formed on his face for a moment, but then it changed as he gave Urd a confused look. "Wait. I don't remember anything after that." The man slapped his forehead, then slid his hand down across his face. "Ah shit, don't tell me I fell asleep in the middle of… you know…"

"You didn't," replied Urd as she slapped her hand down on his shoulder. The gesture had two purposes. First, she wanted to reassure the man that everything was ok. Silently, she thanked Yggdrasil for the fact that Keiichi seemed to not remember what Belldandy did to him last night. It still remained to be seen what kind of damage had been done to their relationship. But the fact that Keiichi did not retain memories of what happened would at least help. She had every intention of making Belldandy tell him, but at least the scars of the event had less of a chance of lingering.

The second, and more important reason was to keep the man from turning back into his room. Somehow Keiichi, while moving to the door to investigate Urd's actions, had missed the general condition of his room. The goddess had never had a chance to clean up any of the mess she had left behind, had never even thought about it under the circumstances. The hole in the floor where she had blasted Belldandy back, the charring on the wooden panels from where she had used her magic to resuscitate him, all still there.

Urd looked at him earnestly. "Look… um… Belldandy needs your help. She's… kind of freaked out a little about what happened."

Keiichi furrowed his brows in confusion. "What do you mean? Why would she-"

"It's… complicated, ok?" interrupted Urd. "More of that weird god shit you always talk about. I promise that we'll tell you everything later on. But right now, we need to find her." Keiichi opened his mouth to say something, but Urd shushed him. "Belldandy first, explanations later. Your clothes and stuff are still in the living room."

"Fine," said Keiichi as he stepped past Urd. As he walked down the hall, though, he froze when he saw the door to Belldandy's room. It was opened a crack. That, in and of itself would not have garnered the SEAL's attention. What did was the red eye that was peeking through it. Keiichi had just enough time to register that the owner was small and child-like, with a shock of the blondest hair he had ever seen. As soon as it realized that it had drawn his attention, the door was slammed shut.

Instinctively, Keiichi reached out to the door. Before he could grasp its handle, he felt Urd grab his arm and turn him away from it. "Even weirder god shit, Jank," she repeated. "Explanations later, Belldandy now."

Urd could tell Keiichi was starting to grow frustrated. "Fine, but I better get a full accounting of what's going on."

"You will, trust me you will, one fire at a time, let's go."

"Alright... so then where's Belldandy if she's not in her room?" Keiichi looked back over his shoulder to Belldandy's room, where he'd seen the child-like apparition before the door had closed on him with a click.

"That's the thing, we don't know," Urd replied. "We need to find her."

"You don't-" Keiichi stopped. "What do you mean you don't know? Urd, what is going on? Bell left? Why?"

Urd glanced back at him. "Probably for a whole lot of reasons I don't want to dwell on right now. But we need to get her back because..." She grimaced, and Keiichi saw her eyes drift back to Belldandy's room. "Fuck, how do I explain this..."

"Belldandy's not whole right now." For the second time that morning Urd was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she jumped, this time at Nebo's voice. Judging by the expression on Keiichi's face, the deity had caught him off guard as well.

"Cheech Marin?" Keiichi whispered.

"Who?" Nebo asked.

"What?" Said Urd.

Keiichi threw an accusing look to Urd. "Urd, what the hell is going on? Really? I can't remember anything past getting to second base last night and all of a sudden I wake up at fucking half past six AM to you punching holes in walls, Belldandy missing, some creepy kid is in Bell's room, and now fucking Cheech Marin's twin brother shows up in my house?"

For a brief moment both Urd and Nebo stared at the mortal before them, neither certain what to say. Urd looked at Nebo. Urd looked at Keiichi. Urd looked back at Nebo, and then clutched her head. "Damn it Jank!" she moaned. "I did not need to hear that comparison right now."

"What?" Nebo asked.

Keiichi drew in a breath. "Okay. So he's not Cheech Marin. Who the fuck is he and what's he doing in my house this early on a Sunday morning?"

"I'm... Nebo?" the deity said hesitantly as he looked between the two of them as though he were suddenly unsure what his name was with Keiichi's accusations. "Who is..." He caught Urd shaking her head. "Never mind. I'm a Tic."

"For Belldandy?" Keiichi brightened.

"No, for her angel," Nebo replied.

Keiichi stared at the god blankly. Urd looked like she wanted simultaneously to smash her head against a wall and strangle the both of them. "...her what?"

"Later, Keiichi," Urd said through gritted teeth. "Bell first," she growled. "Nebo, tell me you know where Belldandy is."

"Not yet no, but Lind's searching the surrounding area for her," the man replied. "Come downstairs. As soon as we get a lock on her, we're heading out."

"Wow, wait a second here," Keiichi called out. "How can you just say something like that so easily? I mean, isn't she a goddess?" he queried. "She could be anywhere, right? How can you expect us to just head out after locating her? She could be in the North Pole for all we know."

Nebo shook his head. "Not right now," he said. "Belldandy is-"

"Mortal, Nebo," Urd interrupted.

"Mortal?" Nebo looked at Urd in confusion, then back to Keiichi. "Oh-oooh... okay, so perhaps that complicates things. I never had to explain SSaratu to awilum before."

"The fuck you just call me?" Keiichi snapped.

"He called you a man, Jank." Urd massaged her brow with one hand. "Please, can we just go and find Belldandy?"

The man glowered at the two deities but in the end relented. "Fine," he growled. "But you owe me answers, Urd."

"Yes, fine, we've established this already!" Urd snapped, exasperated. "I'll tell you the mysteries of life and all truths hidden by the secret names and the secret numbers of my ancestors, all right? Now let's go!"

XXX

She didn't know where she had wandered or how far she had strayed from the house.

A simple teleportation spell had left her in the middle of the forest, far enough where she could no longer see the house but close enough that she could still sense the massive conglomeration of holy energy produced by the many divinities who'd taken up temporary residence within. She moved away from it, wanting to lose herself and lose her thoughts in the peace of the forest.

Gradually, the sensation of energy, the combined aura of her sisters along with Lind and Peorth, began to dissipate into nothing. Yet in its place came a tug. Weak at first, but one that grew more and more prevalent the further she wandered. It tugged at her like a leash on a dog. Several times she caught herself looking over her shoulder, expecting to find something, sensing something watching her from the path as the leash tried to yank her back. Each time she found nothing.

She ignored it, though it was difficult. She could no more pass the tug at her senses than she could ignore the thoughts in her head, all of which circulated back to her moment of violence, her loss of control, her spontaneous assault that left a man near death's door. It nagged at her. Drove her mad with grief, and like a pack of demons at her back they chased her deeper into the woods.

Virginia's forest was different from the woodlands of her homeland. Several times she came across swamp lands, ripe and filled with duckweed. Asgard didn't have swamps. Its forests were more condensed, the evergreens pressing close together in comparison to the twisted and gnarled deciduous trees that intermingled with tall, straight, pine. Her head began to ache. The further she walked, the more she saw signs of wildlife; foxes and deer that she recognized, turkey and coyote which she didn't, and on one occasion even spied a log dragging something into a lake in the far off distance. Belldandy didn't think it was a log. She didn't stop long enough to investigate.

None of the animals approached her. Even when she stopped to call out to a bobcat hidden in a tree, it did not come. Instead it fled, leaping from the branches to the ground twelve feet below it and racing off into the underbrush. Her head now throbbed with a dull but growing pain as she watched the feline vanish. It was a depressing sight. Ten years ago her presence alone would have brought creatures of all shapes and sizes to her side. Her aura of that time had been one of such peace and tranquility that falcons would perch next to songbirds, foxes would lie beside moles, and even packs of wolves would rest next to herds of deer just to be in her presence. It was a peace of mind that she'd treasured in that past decade; few deities, even those who ruled over the domain of peace, could bring predator and prey together as she could. To find such a gift, so simple in nature, now denied to her. It hurt.

The pain in her head grew deeper, sharper, clearer. She pressed on. The pain muddled her thoughts. It hurt to think. Hurt to remember, to try to remember, and some part of her thought she might want that. She pressed further into the forest. Her vision began to pulse with the thrum in her head and in her heart. Once she... once she had...

What...

What was she...

She squeezed her eyes shut and stopped to rest against a tree. She pressed a hand against her temples, yet the pain did not abate. She moaned and rubbed her face. Thinking became a chore that made her head pound. Walking became an effort in futility. Her hand came away smeared red when she removed it from her face.

"Wrong," she muttered. "Need to... home..."

With effort she pushed herself off the tree, and the world began to spin and dance around her. In the farthest recesses of her mind she thought she heard a voice calling from afar, yet its words fell on deaf ears; little more than a voiceless cry from a void somewhere within herself. She swayed and turned, yet could no longer distinguish where she'd come from; everything hurt too much, and lethargy was beginning to set in with the rhythmic pounding that drilled into her skull. A noise, a whimper, rose in her throat, and some small piece of her recognized she was in a bad spot. To advance further would be to lose a piece of herself. Yet she could no more return home than she could summon the will to face Keiichi after almost killing him, so perhaps losing that piece of her was worth it, in the long run.

That thought, muddled and unclear though it was, terrified her.

And then came the scream.

It sounded like a woman being murdered, and then the beast was in front of her, ears laid flat against its skull and teeth bared in a vicious snarl, yellow and gleaming in the morning light. She stumbled back, retreating from the beast's cruel teeth. The mountain lion screamed again, darting to her left and forcing her back further. It swiped at her with claws curled like wicked scythes, and terrified of the violence it brought she fled in a hail of instinctual panic like a sickly deer. The puma chased after her, releasing another scream like that of a dying woman that left her screaming with one that almost matched. A cold blanket of fear descended on her person like she'd been drenched in water, and all at once the pain was overridden and forgotten.

Once, twice, three times the puma cut her off, chasing her, herding her in a direction she could not establish. It displayed a level of intelligence that surpassed animal instinct and bordered on human, and when combined with the display of fangs and reaching claws it created a terrifying creature of nightmares. She needed to... to escape! To… to outrun, outsmart the creature before it could get to her throat.

The lethargy vanished in her fear. She no longer noticed the pain in her skull as she turned to face her pursuer. "Stop this now!" Belldandy bellowed, and the puma bristled, its fur standing on end, and released such a mind-numbing shriek that the Norn's arms broke out into gooseflesh. It prompted her into another run, as now the scream no longer sounded like a woman. Now it sounded like something from the pits of Niflheim, an Ancient Enemy, and Belldandy began to fear that in her current state she could not stand against it.

Faster and farther, and still the beast outpaced her! She darted to a deer path, and there was the beast. She ran to the lake where she'd seen the log-that-was-not, and there was the beast. She felt the tug within her mind spring anew and let it guide her, running with all her might. The mountain lion kept on her heel, jaws snapping and claws swiping, and it was only as she grew aware of voices calling her- not the whisper in her mind but physical voices, that the cougar ceased its chase.

Belldandy stumbled away and turned to face it, now on guard, observing its actions as if sentenced to a duel. "If that is what you wish..." The Norn pressed her back to a tree, guarding herself from attacks from behind. Far off in the distance, just on the edge of her range of hearing, the goddess thought she heard Keiichi's voice but dismissed it. Perhaps it was merely her mind filled with wistful thoughts. It mattered not at this moment. "Come then!" she challenged. "You have hunted me for the long miles where my thoughts were dull and my reflexes slow. Yet know this: you face your death at the hands of Belldandy Tyrdotter, Second-Born of Daitenkaicho Tyr, First born of Ansuz of the Bloodborn and Establisher of Gates, Norn of the Present, and Keeper of the thirty two secret names."

The puma, somehow unimpressed with this grand and terrifying title befitting a goddess of such class and potential, yawned and sat down. And I am Sir Snufflbutts! That image proclaimed to Belldandy. Feaster of mice and shitter in litterboxes! Fear me, for I shall stick my ass in your face!

The goddess furrowed her brows in confusion. The voice assigned to the image sounded familiar. She wondered when her mind had grown so sarcastic in the past ten years that such thoughts would come to her, or if it was somehow the inner thoughts of the puma speaking to her. She was leaning more towards the sarcasm. It reminded her of Skuld.

"Belldandy!"

Or perhaps it was the voice in the distance calling her name that was familiar. In her addled state, she was losing track of which. The Norn returned her attention to the puma. The beast had started to calmly lick one of its paws. Slowly, she turned her head to see where the voice was coming from, using her senses to keep track of the puma. It seemed content to simply watch her for the moment as it groomed itself, but one could never let their guard down when it came to wild animals. Resident spirit or not, they were slaves to their instincts. If Belldandy came across as potential prey, it would leap, and looking away might trigger those instincts like a tiger in the bush.

"Belldandy, where are you!"

The voice was closer now, and as it grew clearer, it became even more familiar than before. She knew who was calling her. Belldandy turned back to address the puma. She needed to do something about it before the one seeking her arrived. Queerly, the Norn felt that she could ask it to leave and it would do so willingly.

The cougar was gone.

Nervously, she stepped away from the tree she was against and looked around for it. A predator such as that did not just up and leave prey for no reason. Yet there was no trace of it, not even tracks to indicate it had been there and fled. Not even a residual aura to mark its presence before her. "Surely I wasn't imagining it," said the goddess in confusion. Yet there seemed to be no other explanation.

Belldandy eyed the area where the puma had been before finally facing the direction that the voice was coming from. In spite of everything that had happened over the past several days, she welcomed the owner's approach.

Peorth stumbled into the clearing. There were a number of scratches on her skin as well as some of the newly sprouted spring foliage stuck in her leathers. Both goddesses' eyes locked on to each other for a moment before the brunette woman fell to her knees in relief. "Oh thank Yggdrasil, I found you!" she moaned, tears streaking from her eyes. "Oh by the three great roots, I am so sorry Belldandy! This is all my fault!" she cried. "If I hadn't pushed you so hard... oh comment le coq chante pour Ragnarok!" She shook her head in despair. "I never should have come here... I only wished to help!"

Belldandy watched her rival in silence. The sheer fact of the matter was that the goddess was right; had she never arrived, never pushed, never shoved, and never backed the still-injured goddess and wary mortal into a corner, then the events of the present would have never occurred.

Regardless of circumstances, the fact remained that things had transpired as they had, and had done so in such a way that Peorth was the root cause of it. Belldandy could tell it was destroying her. "Please Mademoiselle. Please, I beg your forgiveness, though I deserve none of it. Please! I implore you! I meant no harm in this house. I meant no harm to you, no harm to Keiichi, no harm to your kin." Peorth hid her face in her hands and sobbed. Belldandy, her heart aching to help ease her friend's suffering, rushed over and gathered her into a hug.

"Please don't," soothed the almond haired goddess. "I don't deserve your apology. I fear that you have only brought out sooner what would have happened eventually."

"No!" the deity cried. "I wished only to help you after news of what transpired reached me! I wished only to help my friend!"

Peorth's confession touched Belldandy. From her perspective, Belldandy had always felt that the rose goddess was stand-offish, calling upon her only if other options were unavailable. And on the few occasions that Peorth had blessed Belldandy with an invitation to something, the almond haired goddess always felt as if she were extraneous to whatever social gathering that they went to. A fifth wheel, to use one of Keiichi's metaphors.

But now she knew. Peorth did actually consider her a friend, and in spite of what had happened earlier, it lifted Belldandy's spirits. She pushed the rose goddess to arm's length and looked at her earnestly. "Thank you, it makes me happy to hear those words. As my friend, I need you to do something for me."

Peorth blinked at the goddess in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I want you to promise me that you will do something for me," repeated Belldandy.

A smile, one of relief, formed on Peorth's face. "Anything!"

"I want you to go back to Keiichi. Tell him to use his wish to annul mine."

Peorth's expression darkened as she batted Belldandy's hands away. "No! That is not something that I can do, and you know that!"

The almond haired goddess frowned angrily at her companion. "You promised!"

"And you said nothing of me forcing Keiichi to profess anything but his heart's desire!" exclaimed Peorth as she got to her feet and stood over Belldandy. "Such a request is against the very nature of our business!"

Belldandy stood as well. "I am a danger to him!" exclaimed Belldandy, her voice pleading. "I just tried to kill him because some part of me is still living in that hell that I was in for the past ten years!" She turned away and hugged herself. "I cannot be around Keiichi again until I get help."

"I am such a fool," Peorth scoffed, causing Belldandy to turn and stare at the rose goddess in confusion. "All those years, Belldandy. I was so envious of you. Everything came to you so easily." When the almond haired goddess opened her mouth to retort, Peorth raised a hand to shush her. "Yes, I know how you shunned all the benefits and assistance that came with being the daughter of the Daitenkacho. That's what makes your accomplishments all the more impressive. You made your way on your own and you still excelled while I had to scrape and claw my way to barely passing. Without you, I don't think I would be where I am at now."

Peorth put her hands on her hips. "And now look at you. You have one little relapse and you are ready to throw in the towel. Yggdrasil bless it Belldandy! You fought through all that shit to get where you are now, sometimes dragging my sorry ass along with you to boot, and now you want to run and hide like some Kawa-zaru?"

Belldandy flinched and looked away. "How can I trust myself around him anymore," she lamented.

Peorth blinked as she had something of an epiphany. "You don't know, do you?"

"Don't know what?"

"Bell, what do you remember?" asked Peorth earnestly.

The almond haired goddess turned away. Her shoulders shuddered in anguish. "Everything."

Peorth smiled. "Then who pulled you back? Who prevented you from dealing the true killing blow you had for him?"

Belldandy turned her head towards the rose goddess and purses her lips as she considered this. "I… I don't know," she said finally.

"Holy Bell!" exclaimed Peorth. "It was Holy Bell that stayed your hand!"

At first, it looked like Belldandy didn't believe her. But she said nothing. Instead, she stood there and concentrated, looking inside herself for that faint spark that had started to manifest of late. After a moment, the goddess brought her hands to her mouth in shock. "She's gone!"

A bubble of panic rose in her throat, and the Norn looked at the rose goddess in horror. Before she could grow further distraught, Peorth stepped forward and grabbed her by the arms. "No, she's not! Belldandy, she's back at the house. And just like Keiichi needs you, she needs you as well." The woman searched her face. "You're bleeding," Peorth whispered, and Belldandy flinched. "Hold still, this won't take but a moment." Before Belldandy could protest the deity pressed her brow against hers and muttered a quick spell beneath her breath. The Norn felt her nose clear. When did I get a bloody nose? What was left of the small ache in her head vanished.

Peorth leaned back. "You need to return home. Please return home, Belldandy. Holy Bell needs you so much right now. More so than even Keiichi, who is out and searching for you along with the rest of us."

"Searching for me?" The Norn was taken aback. "Even after I..."

The Rose Goddess nodded. "Will you come back with me?" she asked. "I don't know what caused you to flee, but we can work it out. All of us, I promise. But whatever it is... it's not worth the risk of losing your angel, Belldandy. Not your soul. Please come back, if only for Holy Bell's sake."

Belldandy bit her lip, then wiped at her upper lip. Dried blood flaked off under her nails, and as she stared at the specks of red, the woman's shoulders slumped. "It was... the link. I was so focused on trying to run away that I... I almost severed the link to my own angel."

All at once her eyes were drawn back to where she'd last seen the puma, still gone and with no trace to mark its presence. Did that beast...

"Belldandy?"

The Norn looked back at Peorth. "Yes, I'll return home with you," she said quietly. "I... I wish to see my angel again. I've... not seen her in a decade."

Peorth brightened, and a large, relieved smile spread across her lips. "Oh, bless you," she breathed. "And Keiichi?"

Belldandy winced. "One thing at a time," she decided. "But yes. Yes. I'll- I'll speak with him. I... must apologize, if nothing else, and perhaps..." She trailed off and shook her head. "Let us return to the house."

"Yes, absolutely." Peorth nodded in agreement. "Come, the house is this way..." She turned and paused, her eyes drifting to a hollowed out tree off near her left shoulder. "Belldandy?" There was a note of hesitation in her voice now, and caught off guard by the sudden shift in tone the Norn looked to Peorth in fresh curiosity.

"What is it, Peorth?"

"You are familiar with the creatures of this region, yes?" she asked. "As is policy when fulfilling a wish that enforces the granter to stay on a specific section of Midgard for an extended period of time?"

Belldandy blinked at Peorth in confusion, then looked back towards the tree. "Yes... I suppose I am, though it takes a moment for the information repository to go into effect. Why? What are you..." She trailed off as her eyes landed on the beast in question.

The beast that dwelled within the crook of a tree uncurled as though awakened by the conversations of a pair of deities. It stared at them with tiny, beady eyes filled with rage and hate.

The beast began to hiss.

And so it was, that the forest behind the house of a mortal deep within the woods of Virginia were filled with a new cry, an alien cry, a cry that sent both man and beast that heard it fleeing for dens and covers. The scream of a pair of cougars, perhaps? Both rising in challenge against each other to the tune of a pair of women being murdered? Or perhaps some new creature that could imitate its voice?

Or perhaps it was merely the sound of two terrified goddesses as they fled the forest for the safety and security of what was familiar and what was safe, where they were amongst their own people and safe with their own angels, high tensions though still existed.

And as they fled the creature curled back into its den from whence it was disturbed and returned to sleep. Perhaps, if one had been close by they might have even heard it speak as it returned to its slumber. "Damned kids these days. No respect for their elders."


A/N: It's not always the best thing to run away from the things that you did.


Comments of a Madwoman: On no! Whatever could it have been that the girls stumbled across? It's American, I'll give you that. The answer will be in the next chapter, along with the inevitable conversation between Belldandy and Keiichi.