- 50-
Recent review of the Gidim'ku has revealed an error in its coding that threatens the continued development and even the existence of the entity and its line. Despite the advantage presented through the consumption of Gidim- those creatures created by the Din'Gir as secondary spirits that reside within their bodies and act as conduits for magic and spells- their manner of reproduction is problematic in the fact that the Gidim is reliant on a host body for reproduction. Early studies have revealed that the Gidim'ku most easily progenerate with a Din'Gir that is victimized by this creature, often a Din'Gir that has already had their Gidim previously devoured. The Gidim'ku will lay its eggs upon a host that has already fallen into a coma, and from there the eggs hatch downwards, the larval state burrowing into the host's body as an active parasite until the nymph has reached terminal mass and is able to survive on its own.
Yet while this has proven advantageous- in particular with regards to disposing of hostages, political prisoners, and enemy combatants- it also brings with it a tragedy that requires a work- around; the activation of the Doublet System and the resulting death of a Falkin of unknown status and identity.
In the past, measures had been put into place thanks to a joint effort of Falkin military forces sharing information about Din'Gir warriors: Their position, their true identities, where and when they joined their military branch, and narrowing down who could be a possible Doublet candidate based off those Falkin who underwent the Doublet ceremony in roughly that same time frame.
It used to be that the Din'Gir were spread across the far winds and held true to their own domains without regard for each other, and that our true enemies- those who serve beneath the Din'Gir Lugal title of Daitenkaicho- were limited and easy to predict. However, recent times have led to a large increase in traffic across the borders of Asgard (An- Gal) and an additional increase of Din'Gir who would become residents of this land. This sudden surge of personnel, all of whom are required to serve two full terms of military service in Asgard to become a legal citizen, has led to unprecedented circumstances that are beyond our control. The increase in Asgard citizens on an almost daily basis has led to a spike in our own people obtaining Doublets, and a recent census compiled by our intelligence branch has revealed that we, as an organization, cannot continue to process the increased number of individuals without additional personnel and resources. This limits our capability to track Falkin paired with Din'Gir servicemembers and limits our ability to predict the loss of Falkin in positions of power when the death of a Din'Gir soldier activates the Doublet system.
As a result of this issue and because of the Gidim'ku's need for a host, other, alternate methods of rearing this creature must be considered. We have been attempting to introduce other species to the Gidum'ku in the hopes that an entity not connected via the Doublet System may possibly act as a surrogate instead of a Din'Gir, thus minimizing the casualties in Niflheim while still allowing for the procreation of the magical race. So far, no magical races on the higher planes have shown any kind of compatibility with the Gidim'ku, however upon arriving on Ki- Gal, the Plane of Man, we have made an interesting discovery.
The Gidim'ku has shown an interest in a select few number of mortals who reside within this place.
We are currently investigating this strange phenomenon in the hopes of identifying what it is about these select individuals that has caused them to draw its interest.
It may be that we have found our work-around for the issue with the Gidim'ku's reproduction cycle.
- - An Essay on the Gidim'ku, taken from a computer found with Gashan Hagall upon arrest
XXX
Her head hurt.
That was the first thing she felt as her mind began to rouse. Her head hurt. It felt like a migraine, deep and vile, throbbing in the back of her skull as though someone had buried an icepick into her brain and then drawn it forward. Colors of bright reds and oranges pulsed in tune to the pounding in her skull; bursting stars that seemed to represent the pain in her head, in her brain, and with a moan, she opened her eyes.
Wherever she was, it was dark. Too dark for her to see, and for a second she wondered if she'd woken up back in her room. Yet the place smelled rank and metallic, a strange mixture of rust and ocean that awoke fresh stabs in her brain and made her stomach churn with nausea. "I'm going to be sick... " she mumbled, and her voice sounded raspy and weak to her ears. She grimaced at the sound and closed her eyes again, sucking in a slow, deep breath through her mouth. She could still taste metal, and a part of her wondered if perhaps that wasn't blood of some sort instead of iron.
But that's silly, a voice of disbelief slurred. You'd have to be hurt to taste blood, and you're just drunk, right?
Was she drunk though? What on earth had she had last night then? Vodka? Tequila? Some hard mix of both?
I don't remember going drinking. She winced as another pulse of agony stabbed into her brain, this time holding such strength that it traveled down her spine and all the way to her toes and fingers, which tingled uncomfortably. The whole of her body pulsed and throbbed before dying down into an uncomfortable tingle, as though her body was asleep, and with a grunt she tried to roll onto her back in the hopes of finding some kind of relief.
She couldn't move.
A sliver of sharp fear cut into her gut, and in that instant Aiko Morisato was engulfed in a memory.
She and Morgan in the bathroom.
Morgan freshening up and checking her makeup, realizing her brush was missing.
Morgan rushing out, Aiko chuckling, a crash from the far stall as the bathroom door swung closed behind her girlfriend.
Investigating...
A woman.
A pale woman.
A sick pale woman collapsed on the ground.
"Are you all right?" Reaching out, brushing the woman.
White eyes.
No. Red eyes.
Red eyes filled with pain.
Pain.
So much pain.
"You're not human... "
A hand, hot with fever and swollen and pink, grabbing her wrist. The pale woman pulling her to the ground.
Pain. Her own pain this time. Pain that painted the back of her eyelids red before fading into black oblivion.
"I was... kidnapped?" Aiko asked out loud, and this time her voice returned to her, garbled and out of tune as it bounced off the surrounding walls. The voice sounded lost and scared, and Aiko winced, wishing she'd spoken softer. She didn't like the sound of that echo. She didn't know if she was alone or not.
With a frown, the young woman squinted into the darkness, straining her eyes in an attempt to identify her location. Far off to her right she thought she made out a faint glow which might have been a crack in a door, but it was hard to be certain. Everything else, though...
It was just so dark.
She tried to move again. Slowly this time. Investigating. Using her senses to feel out her surroundings. She was lying on her side somewhere, in what felt like clothes or pillows or some kind of similar cushioning. The cloth smelled old and dirty and slightly rancid, like the scent that clung to clothes from a second- hand store or that perhaps had been thrown away in a dumpster. Aiko made a face, grimacing as she imagined what she might be lying on- a soiled mattress, bedbug- ridden sheets, clothes covered in mold and gunk from ages in a dumpster, bodily fluids. She shuddered and paid for it as another streak of agony soared from her head and down her spine to her toes.
That's not important right now. That was her elder brother's voice, the voice she'd always attributed with sound reason. Ignore it. You'll have all the time in the world to sanitize yourself once you get out of here. Focus on escape first.
Come on Bengal, think, Keiichi whispered. What's up with your hands and arms? Can you move them? A little, yeah, but not a whole lot. Her arms were in front of her, but while she could move them she couldn't pull them apart. Something was wrapped around her wrists... maybe up onto her forearms too. It was tight, whatever it was. Not exactly rope or cloth, but still bound tight enough to dig into her skin.
What about your feet and legs? Keiichi inquired. Are your feet bound? Can you get up and walk around? She tried raising her right leg to her chest and learned that her feet were bound too. Further experimentation revealed that it was only her feet though, and after careful consideration she maneuvered her hands to her ankles, feeling along the surface of whatever material bound her.
It feels like silk, she thought. But... sticky? It clings like... I don't know, spider webs?
Again, the sick, pale woman flashed across her mind's eye. You're not human, Aiko had told her that when they'd locked eyes, wasn't that right? Were you some kind of spider instead? Like Baby Mordred the Spider- Boy?
Her arms broke into goosebumps at the thought. Aiko didn't like spiders. She, like most people she knew, had a distinct fear of them, although there was nothing to indicate the possibility that the Sick Woman might have been some kind of spider- monster in disguise. A Jorogumo or Arachne maybe? The thought that she still might have been bound in something similar to a spider's silk still left her dismayed.
Forget about that before a spider really does come for you, Keiichi growled. Can you free your arms or legs? Are there any seams along the silk, any knots indicating a tie, any broken edges in the fabric? C'mon Aiko, work with me here! She searched her legs but came up with nothing outside of a network of layered silk that clung around them in chaotic lumps. It was harder to feel along her wrists, but given that the material felt the same, Aiko was willing to bet it was the same.
But you can crawl, Aiko, Keiichi reminded her. The situation isn't dire. Not yet. You aren't helpless. You can still crawl on your elbows and knees. You still have the chance to run even if you can't free yourself, understand? Remember that, but first check out the cloth you're on. Anything long enough to eat through the material? Enough friction will burn through anything, man-made or artificial, right?
Right, Aiko thought back. She felt around on the cushioning beneath her. There were multiple strips of what felt like different clothing material beneath her, and her hand wrapped around something that felt crusty, which she dropped, another thing that felt damp and slightly slimy, which she also dropped. Gross, gross, gross! she thought. Oh god this is so nasty! What am I lying in!?
A bubble of panic began to rise in her throat, and she bit down hard on her lip, a piece of herself warning her that if she let that bubble pop, then she'd dissolve into a stuttering mass of hysteria. She grabbed another item and felt something race across her fingers. With a whimper she dropped it and shook her bound hands, hoping that whatever it was had already vanished. Take a deep breath, the Keiichi in her mind coached. Thatta' girl, deep breath, in... and out... like when we have to meditate with Keima, remember? You're fine. Now try again.
She grabbed what she hoped was the dropped scrap of cloth and this time felt and heard things crunch and pop in her clenched palms. The woman grimaced and closed her eyes. Oh god, Kei, I can't do this. She didn't drop it though, instead maneuvering the strip around her palm. It encircled her hand once, twice, thrice, and then stopped half- way towards four.
You're doing fine, Bengal. C'mon, it's your turn to be tough as nails, okay? Keiichi asked, and she focused on his voice, trying to ignore the way her skin crawled as more tiny creatures skittered across her legs. She thought she felt something bite her, but couldn't be sure outside of a sudden sting on her left leg, and something long slither across her right; something large and with hundreds of legs, all feather- light against her skin, made all the more terrible by their non- existence. Don't focus on it, okay? You gotta get out of here, which means you need to be brave for me. Just like Megs. Just like me. Just like Bell, understand?
Right. She was a strong, independent woman who didn't need rescuing. She'd rescue herself because... because... Because you're a BAMF. Keiichi once more came to her aid. You hang out with literal gods like it's nothing, remember? You've got a Navy SEAL for a brother, a sister whose part of a biker gang, and you know how to fuck shit up between the two of them, yeah?
Right. Right... she... she wasn't some damsel in distress. She could get out of here. She was getting out of here.
More somethings crawled across her legs and she had to fight the reflexive need to squirm. Is it long enough? she asked the Keiichi in her head. Will it be enough to burn through the bindings?
You tell me, Keiichi replied.
She didn't bother with an answer. Instead, the woman slid her hand out through the wrapped cloth. She drew her legs up to her chest and felt down to her bindings, then slid one end up against her them. You know things will get tricky because you can't freely move your arms or your legs, right? Keiichi asked, What are you going to do to solve this?
Aiko pursed her lips, then rolled onto her back. She could still bend her knees, still move her legs- just not her feet, which meant she could still create friction through motion. Gripping both ends of the cloth tight in both hands, the woman began swing her legs together in long, steady strokes, raising them up to the ceiling and then letting them fall back to the ground. She did the action continuously, as if she was doing leg raises as part of an ab workout- it certainly felt like one with how her abs began to burn- and listened to the constant saw of cloth on... whatever her bindings were made of.
She felt something fall off her legs and thump against her shirt. She ignored it. She felt the panicked skitter of tiny legs race down her legs and into her shorts. She ignored it. She felt more tiny things crawl up her legs and dance across her fingers. She ignored it. She felt something crawl down the front of her shirt and scurry between her breasts. She ignored it. Even when she felt something crawl across her face, something tug at her hair, the wings of something hovering near her ear, she ignored it. Though it pained her, though it terrified her, though she wanted to break down screaming and swipe at her arms and squash what was down her shirt, she ignored it all, because she needed to. The stubborn will to survive had taken hold of her, and the terror that came from whatever surrounded her seemed somehow distant and far away in lieu of the focus on her bindings. The friction needed to be constant and steady to eat through the bindings, and to stop or slow at any point would mean to increase her efforts ten-fold, and right now she needed to free herself as quickly as possible.
The misery must have gone on for what seemed like five minutes before something gave. By this point, not only was her mind screaming, but her abs were screaming too, and her body had started to tremble and sweat with the exertion of pushing her legs up while bound. Then the sensation of something giving, a sudden slack as the cloth that had been used to burn through the binds fell on her chest, and Aiko could move her legs independently of each other. She let them fall to the floor with a pained gasp. Breathing heavily, tears seeped from the corners of her eyes as the muscles in her abdomen seized in a burning pain. I need to go back to the gym, she thought. The first thing I'm doing when I get out of here is buy a gym membership. Screw this.
This coming from the girl who runs marathons for fun. Keiichi's voice popped up again. Your legs are free. Save the cloth and work on your hands later. Next step is getting the hell out of here.
Don't have to tell me twice, Aiko told him. Grimacing, she rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself to her hands and knees. She got her feet beneath her and pushed herself off the ground, then immediately brought her hands up to rid herself of whatever creatures were running across her face and in her hair. She flapped her shirt in an attempt to dislodge whatever had slipped into her bra, then patted her shorts to get rid of the new denizens there. She felt a multitude of creatures fall off her and tried not to think about it as her hair stood on end. She shuddered, then carefully raised one foot and put it down, hearing a noisy crunch beneath her sneaker. She grimaced, raised her other foot, took a step forward and was granted a similar sound for her trouble.
Oh god, they're everywhere. Aiko thought, and in her mind's eye came an image: the ground, alive and moving with the sheer number of arthropods that lived in the room, their carapaces black and shiny, where cockroaches and beetles lived side- by- side with centipedes and spiders, and all of them bigger than her hand. Where only a small nest of soiled clothing rested in the room's center; an island of cushions for herself and that sick woman, who perhaps in her own way controlled the creatures. Perhaps they were her eyes and ears, or perhaps they were the things that filled her. Parasites maybe. Like tapeworms. Only instead of living in the stomach lining they live in your head, Aiko thought as she took another step, making slow progress forward and trying hard not to imagine what was caught beneath her shoes. They eat out the brain maybe. Like Deerworm in a Moose, and because the brain is wired differently from a deer's the parasite burrows through the wrong part of the brain, and the host turns into a zombie.
It was a terrible thing to think about given her current circumstance, and her imagination went wild with thought of tiny, microscopic worms slipping into her ears or burrowing up to her brain through her mouth or through her nose. Maybe you're already infected, and don't know it, some dismal piece of her whispered. Maybe that was patient zero and you're about to spread some new infection like in that game Keigo likes to play, The Last of Us. Only instead of fungi it's bugs in your brain.
Gah! Stop it stop it STOP IT!
She tossed her head as if to rid herself of the thought. It was too much, too much! She didn't want to imagine... that! Not when her life was already riddled with peculiar divinities as is! Aiko wasn't certain she wanted to dwell on what else might be out there when she was already interacting with literal gods. Especially when by all logic, if gods existed, then demons and oni and youkai had to exist as-
Plop, plop, plop.
Several small 'somethings' fell onto her head. She felt their attempt to burrow through her hair, and at that moment all manner of calm resolve vanished in place of sheer panic. With a wail, she ran forward, her bound hands running through her short hair and feeling hard carapaces and something sharp pinch and sting her fingers. It did not dislodge the creatures but instead incited further panic, and her next scream was met with a low, dead moan that seemed to emerge from everywhere at once. In its wake brought rise to another sound, a chittering sound, as if something else had been awakened by not only her cries, but the moan of whatever owned that voice. More things began to fall into her hair, and to her dismay Aiko realized it was raining in the room; raining bugs or spiders or creepy crawlies or something worse, and that what she was stepping on was not a floor covered in those same creatures but a floor that was slowly being filled with them. Every step now came with a slight rise, then crunch as her weight destroyed the hard shells beneath her feet. She would sink, feel things crawl over the top of her sneaker, and her next step found her up to her ankles in the creatures. The one following, over her ankles, and Aiko came to the grim conclusion that she'd be wading through them soon if she didn't escape her prison.
Don't fall. The voice of caution took the chance to raise its head. If you lose your balance they'll strip you to the bone while you're still alive. Be thankful you chose today to wear socks.
She'd been right about the light near what'd she'd theorized was the door though. The glow from the door's perimeter was growing brighter, a vertical seam of light now visible along what had to be the rim of the door. It was broken on occasion by the creatures inside with her crawling along its surface, but it was an exit, to be certain, and one she'd gladly risk her hands for if it meant freedom. She could feel the bugs crawling over the tops of her shoes know, some grabbing hold of the cotton socks and crawling up her legs.
Throwing caution to the wind, she pressed her hands up against the door and felt multiple creatures beneath her palms, all scurrying to get out from beneath her. She bit back a scream and instead brushed them off as best she could, but more seemed to settle where the others were knocked away. Eventually though, her efforts were rewarded as her hands felt cool steel beneath the insects. She groped for a handle or a lever as her hands were engulfed in the swarm on the wall, and she could not hold back a dismayed cry as the swarm found her arms and began the trek up to her shoulders. "Get off get off get off!" She cried, but didn't try to dislodge them- the door handle was too important. Freedom was too important.
She was rewarded for her efforts as her hands bumped into a vertical metal bar, and as the invaders reached her elbows above and her calves below, she wrapped her hand around it, searching for the lever that would disengage the lock.
There was nothing.
Fresh, raw terror seized her heart. There's no handle. She thought. No lever, no way to open the fucking door! It's all on the other side! "No, no no no no nonono!" she cried, and pushed on the door. The door didn't budge. The insects crawling up her legs and hanging on her arms, began a panicked scurry at her sudden movements. In several areas, she felt her skin pinched and bitten and stung as the hitchhikers attacked her.
She could no longer hear Keiichi's voice of confidence. Hell, she could no longer hear her own thoughts; they were gone down the rabbit hole of fear, spiraling down into a cataclysmal abyss of despair and leaving her alone, alone with nothing but her voice and the bugs and the moans in the dark, and she'd be there forever, eaten away bit by bit, sucked dry and then consumed by those things that walked on six legs, eight legs, one hundred legs, until not even her skeleton remained.
The bugs were up to her knees now.
Another deep, long moan arose around her, and this time she could feel it through the metal. With it came a nightmarish consideration: that she was not in some cell but was in fact in the jaws of a chthonian creature whose jaws imitated steel. No, oh god, please no, she thought, and in a wave of desperation threw herself against the door, screaming. "Let me out, let me out!" She felt the metal rumble as she collided with it, felt more insects rain down on her head, and fell back before throwing herself against it once more. I don't want to die in here. Oh god, please, don't let me die in here! Keiichi, Megumi, Belldandy, anybody, please, get me out of here!
The metal gave another echoing rattle, and again, another moan encompassed the metal prison. No, no, oh god no, please no, just... get... me... OUT! With her weight pressed against the door Aiko thought she felt something give, thought she felt the door budge just a little, and dared to hope that there might be a chance. Planting her feet as best she could (and hearing shells crack beneath them) she shoved herself against the metal. Insects swarmed her, crawling up her arms and her shoulders and spreading up her chest and down her back, crawling across her neck and onto her cheeks and slipping under her shirt and down her shorts. She felt them crawl across her scalp, poke at her ear canal, pry at her lips and dig into her nose, and the fear that gripped her chest grew stronger, her despair greater. Worse, for all her efforts, the door wouldn't budge, the door wouldn't budge, the door wouldn't budge-
With a metallic groan the door budged open, and sunlight- burning, blinding, glorious sunlight- struck Aiko's face. A centimeter. An inch. Two inches. Three inches. Five.
It was slow, but the growing gap of sunlight gave her hope, filled her bones and muscles, and so Aiko ignored the bugs in her hair, ignored the bugs in her shorts, ignored the bites and the stings, the crawling and the buzzing, the prodding and the prying as the swarm hung about her nose and ears and eyes and mouth. It didn't matter. None of it mattered when freedom was a mere couple of inches away and growing closer by the second.
As soon as the crack was large enough she squeezed through, scraping a hefty portion of the invaders off in the process. Insects swarmed out of the room, which Aiko discovered as she fled was not in fact a room but a storage container. Beetles and roaches, bees and wasps, mosquitoes and flies, centipedes and millipedes and even more that Aiko had never seen before and couldn't hope to identify, came pouring out in a wave as if she had opened the floodgates, chasing her out as though missing her company. Aiko retreated from them in a rush, half running, half stumbling through the many creatures as she attempted to retreat to a safe distance, brushing those affixed to her person off as fast as she could.
Thankfully, with the doors to freedom opened, few of the insects held any lasting interest in her; though they swarmed, they swarmed away and around her, seeking shelter on wings and legs as they departed the area and leaving Aiko trembling in their wake. She watched them depart and tried not to squirm, instead braving back towards the door she'd slipped past and grabbing the outer door handle. She pulled it up and twisted it back with both hands, propping the lever that served as the door's 'handle' up against a jutting piece of metal. The vertical pole it was connected to, which acted as its locking mechanism, moved up and off the concrete it had been scraping against and had prevented her from opening it before. The door now swung open with ease. With a soft grunt, she pulled it open all the way, spilling the remaining mass of insects, and using the door as a temporary shield from the bugs she searched for a ninety-degree angle on the door's frame that might serve to sever the bindings on her wrists.
She found one in the form of the door's edge itself, and with the desire to free herself overcoming any fear of the insects she had awoken nestled up to, Aiko moved her bound wrists to the door's edge and began to saw them up and down. Now that she was outside in the light, the college student got a better look at what her bindings were, and they sight made her stomach roil. It looked enough like dirty cloth for her to suspect that at some point, the binding had been exactly that- a strip from a shirt or pants or even socks- but it was coated in some kind of strange, translucent material that reminded Aiko of mucus. Grimacing, she looked away, instead focusing on what she could gather of her surroundings. She could hear waves in the distance now that she was free, and was grateful for their sighs as they drowned out the sounds of the insects around her, and with it the smell of salt water was reassuring in that it gave her an idea that she was somewhere near the ocean.
A shipping yard? Aiko wondered, sawing patiently at the bindings while straining her ears for any signs that might indicate someone- or something- unfriendly or otherwise. It would explain the shipping container but... how did I get here? She'd been lucky; whoever had been kind enough to throw her in a storage container had been thoughtful enough to do it on the first floor. Now that she looked she saw more storage containers around her stacked five high in some places, and far off to her right she saw large, looming yellow cranes at rest. Had she been off ground level, it was very likely she would have slipped outside and plummeted to her death.
She felt something give in her bindings, and a moment later her arms were free. Wasting no time, she ripped off the remains of the bindings (and a layer of skin) and tossed them aside. She looked around as she wiped off the remaining bugs from her person and examined her surroundings for a way to leave the yard. She found that the only option presented to her was back towards the front of the storage container, heading right from there towards the yellow crane that might be near an exit. The container that she'd awoken in was pressed up in a corner of the shipping yard, and to her left and towards the container's rear was nothing but a long, ugly wall of rusting sheet metal.
She shuddered, muttered a curse, then carefully picked her way around the door and around the swarming mass that was still, still pouring out of the container. Why are there so many of them? she wondered. It's like somebody collected all the bugs in the state and threw them inside with me. It had to have something to do with that sick woman. Maybe... maybe the bugs were drawn to her somehow. Like bees to nectar. Maybe whatever had made her sick had drawn them to one location. She hadn't been human, of that the student was certain, and so... maybe whatever the sick woman was didn't sleep in a human residence either. Maybe this was her home, or meant to resemble something like it, and maybe she'd emitted some kind of... hormones? Pheromones? Something that drew insects to them like a smell, but not quite. Aiko thought there was a word for it but couldn't recall.
Regardless, she was free now, and the open doors must have aired the place out of whatever had drawn the insects. A second glance inside showed the storage container filled with so many bugs that the walls, floor, and the ceiling appeared to be moving as they made the slow pilgrimage outside. What they left in their wake was a long, filthy pile of tattered clothes and garments that looked similar to Aiko's bindings, laid out not only on the floor but along the walls as well, as if to provide some insulation against the steel.
And there was another person in there too.
Oh god... there was someone else inside too.
It was a man. Aiko thought he was a corpse at first given his emaciated condition. He lay in the center of the container, perhaps close to where Aiko had initially awakened. Another one of those long, eerie moans echoed through the storage container, only this time it didn't sound like the moaning roar of a monster. This time it sounded very much human, and in agony as the man writhed in pain. She'd mistaken the man's pained cries for the moans of a monster.
He needs to get out of there, Aiko thought, and eyeing the remaining swarm, braved the bugs and ran back inside. She could run now that the flood of the insects had ebbed, but decided against it. Her shoes pounded through roaches and beetles and onto the metal floor beneath, creating strangely crunchy, shallow stomps that in Aiko's mind, sounded a bit monstrous in their own right. As she neared him she saw just how decrepit a state the man was in; He was filthy, more so than Aiko herself, and dressed in an oddly bright, orange shirt and pants that in another time would have set off warning bells in Aiko's mind. Instead it went ignored in place of worry for the stranger himself. As she neared, she saw that every bit of exposed flesh looked somehow swollen, from his hands and arms all the way up into his face, pinpricked by dots of red that could have meant multiple stings or multiple bites from the insects holed up with him.
Oh god, how long has he been here?! Aiko thought. "Hey, are you okay?" She kneeled next to him and heard a muffled whimper in response. The man had his face buried in his hands as if to protect himself from the insects. A well thought out move, if Aiko was to judge; the man's hands looked absolutely shredded from the bites, stings, and claws of the many insects around them, with wounds ranging from swollen, simple pinpricks to larger, deeper gouges that either bled freely or had scabbed over. Some smaller, hungrier insects that Aiko couldn't identify had taken advantage of the injuries as a free meal, and sucked up the blood with long, curved proboscises that made Aiko's skin crawl.
"Come on, let's get you out of here," Aiko said, reaching out and touching the man's shoulder. "We need to leave before that... sick woman returns."
It was a mistake touching him. Not because of the insects, oh no, but because as soon as her hand touched him, the stranger began to scream. Not the cry of a man in pain, not the bellow of an angry man, but the harsh, despairing scream of a man faced against a nightmare greater than death. It was a horrible sound, and with a startled yell Aiko backpedaled, catching herself at the last moment before she could fall to the floor.
In front of her the man continued to thrash and scream, fighting off whatever nightmarish entity had been so awakened by her touch, his fear so great that words failed him, leaving him unable to even speak upon what seized him. His eyes bulged in their sockets, spittle foamed at his mouth like a rabid dog's, his fingers clawed the air in gnarled hooks, and in that moment Aiko realized she knew the man.
Aiko knew Stuart Holzkopf very well, unfortunately.
Sheer panic seized Aiko in that moment, as she stared down at the writhing man before her, both of them covered in insects, abducted, and locked away in a storage container together. He'd been within touching distance of her in the dark. The realization circuited her mind like a horse on a track, and though she tried to move Aiko found she could not. She was frozen, like a deer in headlights or a rabbit encircled by a snake, and he'd been within touching distance of her while she was unconscious and he was bound, but that didn't change anything, he could have touched her, could have done anything to her while she was knocked out, and-
Nothing happened, Aiko. She was surprised when the voice that came to mind was not Keiichi or even her own voice but instead Belldandy's. Calm yourself. He is bound and cannot hurt you unless you approach him. The woman's voice was stern but not without kindness, and Aiko felt she could have wept as she looked at Stuart again and saw that he indeed could do nothing. He was bound as she had been, and though he thrashed it was like the squirming of an unburied earthworm. He could not move his feet, nor free his hands, nor did he even seem to notice that Aiko stood over him.
Some of the panic began to ebb with Belldandy's voice, and for that Aiko was grateful. Yet it also presented to Aiko a new predicament. What was she supposed to do? The door was open and Aiko was free to leave at any time, but what about Stuart? Could she justify abandoning him when he couldn't defend himself? When there were signs that he had been abducted in the same manner as Aiko herself?
That sick woman might come back while I'm gone, she thought. Even if I call the police and get somewhere safe... would she have already returned and moved him by then?
That sick woman wasn't human, Aiko reminded herself for the umpteenth time. She didn't know nor want to know what that woman had in store for the two of them, but Aiko was certain that, when waking up in a nest swarming with insects and bound to prevent escape, chances were high it wasn't a good thing.
Leave him. That was her own voice, not Belldandy's. Just turn around and forget you ever saw him. Get out of here before that woman returns and sinks her claws into you again.
But...
Just leave him, the voice repeated. This is karma for what he did to you. Let him rot. She stared down at him. You need to worry about yourself first, she thought as she knelt down beside him again. That sick woman is going to come back and catch you. She grabbed his flailing arms, still bound hopelessly together, and began to pull him back towards the entrance. He'll rape you again when he gets free. The man heaved a broken sob and stopped his flailing, weeping openly as if coming to terms with the idea that he was about to die or perhaps suffer some fate worse than death. "Leave meee," he sobbed at one point. "Just let me die..."
Aiko tuned him out, though it was hard. Part of her was too comfortable with the idea of giving in to his request.
He was surprisingly easy to drag. Perhaps the bugs beneath him helped with their glossy shells, acting like as a biological slide without intending to, or perhaps Stuart was just malnourished; his bones seemed to push against his skin, swollen though it was, and in the areas where his shirt was starting to ride up Aiko spied ribs that protruded against his skin. Again, part of her wondered how long he'd been imprisoned there in comparison to Aiko herself, however it was a passing thought; to dwell on it would bring rise to other, more uncomfortable questions that she didn't want to entertain at that moment, like why it was only Aiko and her rapist who'd been thrown into a storage container together and why.
It wasn't until Aiko reached the door that things began to take a turn for the worse; that Aiko realized that there was something wrong with Stuart, and something very wrong indeed. As Aiko dragged Stuart into the patch of sunlight given birth by the opened door, the man began to spasm, and then began to scream. "Get away from me! Get the fuck away from me you cunt!" Frightened by the sudden fit, Aiko released him, retreating to the threshold in fear for her own safety. Her heart pounded in her chest in such heavy beats she feared it might burst, and readied herself to run at the first sign of danger.
"My head is filled with holes you bitch!" Stuart raved. "You filled my head with holes, and my life is slipping out! Get away, get away, get away or kill me!"
Perhaps that was her first mistake, or maybe her second after going against instinct and aiding Stuart. For in that moment, as she stared at the writhing man, she saw him in a new light. As the sunlight touched his body, Aiko saw the true extent of the damage done to Stuart. Here she saw all the bites, all the sores, all the open wounds in their infected, swollen horror and more. She saw insects attached to wounds, crawling in wounds, crawling out of wounds, his flesh rising in tumorous lumps that traveled up and down the length of his arms, his legs, his body as the creatures moved beneath his skin.
And his back...
Oh god, how had she missed that? His back... it was alive. Alive and pulsing with eggs. Some small and round and translucent, more large and white and oblong, all of which had torn through the back of the dirty orange prison shirt Stuart was wearing. It was a disturbing sight. One that made her skin crawl and she could not hold back the scream that came at the sight laid out before her. Terror of a fresh sort filled her to the core, and a thought occurred to Aiko in that instant: That could be me. That might still be me.
I need to get out of here.
Unable to bear it any more, Aiko turned and ran, abandoning Stuart to his injuries and his insects and his eggs, panic for her own well-being- and what might be on her, hell, inside her- sending her further into the storage yard without thought as to where she was going. All that was important in that instant was that she get away.
"Kill me!" Stuart's voice chased after her, desperate and afraid. "Just fucking kill me already! Don't let the babies hatch!"
She didn't stop running until the sound of Stuart's screams- and any indications of the bugs from the container- were well out of her range of senses. Only then could Aiko say with any confidence that she was good and thoroughly lost; the storage containers that resided within the shipping yard rested in disorganized and disproportionate piles around her- perhaps made that way to secure ease of access to specific areas while maximizing the amount of space for those metal tins designated to go overseas. For the local worker, it was probably an easy maze to navigate, yet for someone like Aiko- alone, afraid, and lost even before finding her way out of the storage container- her surroundings proved daunting. Fear made it more so, and the scent of rust, metal, and salt water was almost overpowering, and Aiko could feel the return of her headache as it began throbbing in the back of her skull again.
Yet it was a negligible issue, and went ignored, the scare from Stuart's condition still pumping adrenaline throughout her body. Her senses were alive and screaming, making even the crashing waves off in the distance seem near-by. And that brought with it its own predicament: there were no people around. Stuart's screams had been loud, as had her own, yet even now Aiko could hear no signs of life, no signs of activity... no construction, no cars on any nearby roads, no people shouting orders or any other general signs of life that she could run to for help.
Aiko was alone.
The college student ignored the thought and the possibilities made real because of it. Instead, with no one to watch her, Aiko tore her shirt off, tearing off and crushing the remaining insects while examining her shoulders, her chest, her waist, for any open wounds that might imitate those visible on Stuart. She found her shoulders covered in a red rash that might have been an allergic reaction to a specific venom, and her breasts and belly both were dotted with red pinpricks from various other bites and stings. She identified flea bites and mosquito bites and even several spider bites among the lot of them, interwoven amongst even more markings she couldn't identify. None of them were serious, however, and none of them showed the potential for opening up into sores or open wounds. She dropped her shorts, then her underwear, and repeated the process, taking extra care around her pubic region, while images of the insects lying beneath Stuart's skin haunted her mind's eye.
All free of sores, give or take the bites and stings that covered her body.
A relieved sob snuck its way out of her throat, and the woman leaned up against one of the steel container walls, her strength abandoning her in that moment. I'm okay, I'm fine, I don't have any bugs inside of me, oh god, oh thank god, I'm okay. Sucking in a trembling breath, she began to redress, her hands shaking with relief.
Your back. A voice of doubt rose in her mind as she began to pull her shirt over her head. What about your back?
The sudden and intense relief vanished in an instant, and Aiko froze, her eyes widening as the voice grew stronger. Are there any eggs? Any eggs like Stuart? Check your back. You need to check your back.
I don't want to.
There might be eggs on your back.
There's nothing there. There can't be, I'm sure of it.
You don't know that until you check.
A hand slowly moved behind her, and Aiko could feel her heart jump into her throat as she touched the skin of her lower back. She felt bumps of raised flesh- more bites, because she felt skin and she felt her finger tips, and when she pressed into it she could feel her muscles beneath. And yet... there's nothing there. She told herself. Oh god, please, let there be nothing there. Her hand worked its way up, feeling, touching, pressing, massaging, Please, anyone who's listening. Belldandy, Urd, please don't let anything be there. She felt skin as her fingers crawled higher. Skuld, Lind, Nebo, please, PLEASE don't let there be anything there. She felt something hard and smooth and slightly round. Oh god. Oh god no. Please no. Izanagi, no. Izanami, no. Please no. She picked at it, but found it would not move, she pressed down on it, and felt something dig into her skin between her flesh and her finger. The hand crept higher and she found another lump of the same type, and another, and another.
Somebody save me. Please. I know you're out there. Belldandy, please tell me you can hear me. I need help. Please. I know you're out there. Help me. Belldandy, Urd, Skuld, somebody, I know you're out there, please help me, Belldandy, I need your help, please, please, please!
She can't help you now.
It was a strange thought, one that, while in her own voice did not feel like one of her own thoughts.
And it was through such a surreal sensation that Aiko came to realize that she was no longer alone.
Hello?
The student heard nothing else in her head that might represent the new, strange presence. However, that did not mean she heard nothing. From high above her head came a strange wharp as something heavy came down on top of one of the steel containers. Aiko's head swung up towards the noise by reflex, and the woman grimaced as she was blinded by the light of the sun. Shielding her eyes, she looked away, but not before seeing the human- like imprint left behind by the sun's glare.
It's Stuart-
No. Again, not her thought but someone else speaking in her voice. Blinking through the sunspots, Aiko became aware of something landing near her. Again she was reminded of a human, yet as she looked towards the shadow Aiko realized just how mistaken she was.
The puma was enormous; at least the same size as Aiko herself from shoulder to paw. It stared at her with eyes that blazed like the sun from within a wedge-shaped head, and in those burning eyes Aiko saw an intellect that went well beyond human and into the realms of something indefinable. Its coat was a tawny, almost burnt brown, as if the powerful muscles in its legs had sent it sailing too close to the sun and it had returned to the world scorched. And it wore jewelry. Earrings were clipped to its short, round ears and beaded necklaces of turquoise and silver dangled from its neck. It stared at Aiko, stared down at Aiko, its long tail swaying as its tip twitched on occasion.
Aiko stared up at the creature, frozen by its majesty. It's a god, she thought to herself. It's Amaterasu, come down from the sun and guised like one of this land. She didn't know where the thought came from nor why it was Amaterasu she thought of; the sun goddess from her parents' homeland was all the way on the other side of the ocean, and the woman had never devoted any time or devotion to the Shinto deity beyond that of any other mythical character from her childhood.
Yet as she stared upon the great puma with its dark coat and blazing eyes, its jewelry and its size, that was all Aiko could imagine: that the great cat before her was Amaterasu disguised as a puma or at least a god similar to her, and that maybe there was some truth to the stories of old and their shapeshifting deities.
She did not speak this thought out loud. In the presence of the overpowering figure, Aiko found herself rendered mute, meek, and shy. Instead, her hand went to her chest, where the small pendent Keima had crafted for her in her youth dangled by its silver chain. Her puma baby.
You called for aid. I am here. The voice once more rose in Aiko's mind, still in Aiko's own but not of her own thoughts. Aiko swallowed, then licked her lips, nervous as she looked up at the creature and finding herself unable to hold its gaze. She looked down and saw that its paws were light and somehow transparent, as if the creature was not fully present on Aiko's plane of existence.
"Are- are you a god?"
The puma didn't answer her. You are contaminated, it said instead, in that same not-Aiko voice. Aiko's hair stood on end. Like the other one.
"What- wait, what?!" Aiko stammered. "What- what do you mean con- contaminated? Contaminated with what?!"
You know the answer to that already, came the puma's response.
"No I don't!" Aiko cried, yet she could feel now, literally feel the eggs weighing down on her back, their weight tugging at the skin they were attached to in a way they hadn't minutes before. Had they grown somehow? Just how deeply were they embedded in her flesh? She bit her lip, and before her the puma did not move, observing her with a patience that seemed at odds with its blazing eyes. "I—can't I get rid of them? The eggs?"
They have already begun feasting on your life's essence, said the puma. Soon you will waste away like the other one, and then you will die.
"Like Stuart?" Aiko cried, and felt her heart beat quicken. "I- I'm going to waste away like him? Can't you do something?!"
I am here to halt the spread of the foreign contaminant across the Third Plane, the puma replied, and Aiko felt a well of fresh dread- and fear- twist inside her gut. This land must be purified before the creatures inside those eggs hatch and find new hosts to spread to. And you will aid me.
Aiko took a step back, the hair along the nape of her neck raising in alarm. "Me?!" she asked. "But why- what if, what if I don't want to?!"
You are destined to die regardless, the puma reasoned. And this form of mine can only do so much on the material plane. I need a vessel, and I have determined that to be you.
"But-"
Would you rather die cowering in fear like an animal that runs from its death? the puma interrupted her. Or would you rather die on your feet preventing the spread of an infestation that would destroy your race?
"I don't want to die at all!" Aiko shouted, her hands flying to her ears as if to drown out the voice. "I want to live! I want to get out of here!"
Then you would damn your race? The puma's voice still rang through her head, as clear and crisp as ever. Must you be so idiotic? The puma bared its teeth at her in a snarl, and Aiko cringed away from it, terrified by the danger those long fangs presented. You will fester and you will rot on the inside as those eggs develop. They will steal your life from you, feeding on not only your body but your life force as well. You will leave here infected, and return to your family, and when those eggs hatch, you will infect them as well. You will die screaming, and in your last moment you will watch as they will fall screaming in turn: your mother, your father, your brothers and your sister.
An image enveloped Aiko then, as clean and clear as the waking world around her: that of herself, her body twisted and contorted and swollen with the parasites on her back, surrounded by her family as she was rushed to a hospital's ER. Of her body bursting as she screamed, releasing those monsters held within, and watching as shadowy creatures- these and only these blurry to her mind's eye- emerged only to attack those closest to her. "No…" She watched Takano go down first, screaming and crying as she reached for Keima, who turned to his wife's shout and followed her into death. "Stop it…" She watched Megumi fall next as she, and the life growing inside her, were blotted out by the shadowy creatures. "Don't show me this…" Keiichi was next, grabbing Keigo, still a pre- teen, and throwing him across the room to Morgan before the SEAL was consumed. She watched Morgan grab Keigo and run, watched Keigo trip and drag them both down, and watched as their lives were lost as well.
Do you understand now? The puma demanded, and the vision changed, expanded, sending Aiko out of the room that was her death and into the hospital that had admitted her, watching as the shadow- beasts grew and expanded as they victimized patients, nurses, doctors, and guests. She watched their numbers grow as humanity fell, and as they encompassed the hospital her view expanded again, leaving the hospital as it was consumed and neighboring buildings were infected. Do you understand what is at risk? The legion grew to encompass the city, the county, the state. Her vision expanded further and Aiko screamed, watching as the black plague of monsters devoured the nation, the country, the continent and more.
"Stop it!" Aiko begged and closed her eyes, her hands digging into her hair as she shook her head in denial. "Please, make it stop! No more!" Yet the cougar wasn't done yet, wouldn't be satisfied until the plague traveled south to South America, to Antarctica, traveled north to the Arctic, then east and west to Russia and Greenland and all the neighboring countries. It consumed China, the Koreas, India, Japan from the west, Italy, the United Kingdom, the Nordics from the east, and spread further north and south into the middle eastern countries Aiko could only identify from Keiichi's visits there: Afghanistan, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Yemen. Down into the African counties of Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya down to South Africa, west across Libya's deserts and through Mali to the coastline of Liberia, one of the last areas to fall.
All of them will be damned by your foolishness, and because of your willful ignorance there will be nothing for you in death: no afterlife, no incarnations, no successors. Your ancestors will shun you, for you will bring ruin in your wake. Your soul will be twisted into a thing black and unrecognizable, and you will be banished into the depths of the Void with nothing but dirt to fill your aching belly. The puma's eyes, golden and raging and burning, appeared through the blackness of the desolate planet. You shall be the one to end your race if you do not decide. We must all meet our end someday, but few of us are given the opportunity to decide how.
Now tell me once more: How do you want to die, Child of Man, Aiko Morisato? By cowering and crying like a scared animal or on your feet fighting?
"I'll fight, I'll fight!" Aiko shrieked, and was saved from any more visions of wretched plagues or burning eyes as the image that haunted her mindscape vanished. She found herself instead on the cement covered ground of the shipping yard, her body curled in a tight little ball on its side. Her hands were balled in tight fists against her skull, and her scalp pounded with pain from where they'd tried to rip the hair out of her head. Her heart pounded with such urgency that her vision pulsed with it, and as the college student looked once more up at the puma, it seemed to her to pulse as well; pulse with an energy she could not see, but which rippled the air around it to the rhythm of her heart.
She was afraid.
"I'll fight." The words came out in a broken sob, and terrified by her own decision, Aiko burst into tears. "God help me, I'll fight."
And I will give you all the help I can, said the puma, and for a moment it almost sounded as if the creature pitied her. On your feet, Aiko Morisato. We are to Union.
The words made little sense to Aiko, yet she followed them none the less, scrubbing her eyes with the back of one scratched, bitten, and stung arm and crawling to her feet. Her legs felt like jelly, and gave out beneath her on her first attempt; the raw fear that consumed her having robbed her of every bit of strength left to her. She fought through it. She thought of Keiichi and tried again, failed again, then thought of first Belldandy, and then finally of Morgan. The idea of abandoning her girlfriend to the fate that awaited her left the college student angry and dismayed, but it lent her enough resolve to get her on her feet. She wouldn't let that plague get Morgan. Even if they did overtake Aiko… so long as Morgan was safe. So long as Morgan could live and move on and find happiness… could find…
The woman squeezed her eyes shut, feeling fresh tears overtake her. She took herself off that path. Morgan and her family would be safe. That was what was important. They'll never know… A voice echoed in her skull, and Aiko grimaced.
Belldandy would. She told it, and wondered why she was so certain in that claim. And she'd remember. Maybe she'd tell them I went down a martyr. A martyr for humanity. A laughable thought. Fuck, what a crock of shit. They can keep their martyrs. I just want to go home with Morgan.
I don't even get to say goodbye… not to her, not to Kei, not to Carrie… a wave of sadness hit her all at once, and a whimper crawled out of her throat as she finally made it to her feet. I'm sorry guys. God, I'm so sorry.
For a brief moment her thoughts came back to the goddess she'd met. The woman who had changed not only her brother's life, but her life and her understanding of the world in general. She wondered if Belldandy would be as frightened as she was if presented with this same dilemma and came to an understanding of herself in that moment: Aiko admired Belldandy. She admired the Norn's strength and the Norn's character, and in that instant wanted nothing more than to imitate the deity's steel resolve.
For the first time since her rape as a child, Aiko prayed. Belldandy, give me the courage to face my end. The college student looked the puma square in the eyes.
"I'm ready."
The puma leapt. She saw it sail at her, and to Aiko the world seemed to slow to a crawl where she saw everything at once: the shine of the cougar's coat against the sunlight. The wicked gleam of its claws, curled and extended as its forepaws reached for her. She saw its raging eyes and saw within them the core of the sun above her head; molten plasma that looked stationary only from a distance, but whose inner depths churned and coiled with energy, with power, with life. She saw the great muzzle of the beast slowly open, saw the long fangs draw near, and unable to bear it the woman closed her eyes. She felt the tips of fangs touch her throat… and then felt something tear into her.
Not her throat, not her flesh, but something else. Some basic, primal essence of Aiko that she could not give name to but suspected might be her soul, her spirit, her life.
Then came pain.
Pain.
So much pain.
It was excruciating, like nothing she'd ever experienced in her life. Not even Stuart, nor the trauma that followed it, came close to comparing to the pain that seized her body. Her blood boiled, her eyes smoked, her flesh bubbled and blistered as her breath blackened the air. She smelled fire. Fire like a volcano, fire like the sun, fire like she'd been plunged into the earth's core and sentenced to burn for eternity. She knew she was screaming, her cries harsh and ragged, yet it all sounded distant and unimportant in the wake of such fresh agony. It was energy, power, pure and simple and on a level of a god. No human was designed to withstand such abuse, no mortal could hold such might within their weak flesh, and Aiko now realized that it was this that would kill her, not the eggs attached to her body. Suddenly she wanted to die, wanted to very much, if only to end her suffering and knowing already that it was too late, that she'd made her decision and that the puma was moving in, engulfing her as it took over her mind, her body, purifying her very soul as it seared off the eggs attached to her spirit and-
And she is trapped. She'd made a mistake with the puma and now they are locked together, wandering the landscape as the cougar's instincts try to fend her off and… it isn't a regular puma, it's a spirit, and the Union between them had been made for a mortal, and is not strong enough to bring the puma to heel... forests, so many forests, and the natives hold no love for Aiko. She is too different, though the puma hides it well, but the natives still see through it, and everywhere she wanders she is chased away… a man in the woods, his aura is strange… there are non- native gods in these woods… the west wind blows a somber breeze. It smells of death and disease… And Aiko follows and finds the source of the disease, and she watches from a distance as two women confront it, urging the puma she's locked in Union with to approach but the cougar's instincts stop her at every turn. 'This creature is death', says the cougar, and though she pushes and shoves and fights, the instincts of the mountain lion win out, and she watches from afar as first one, then the other woman falls before she allows her host to turn away. 'This cannot continue' she thinks to herself, and against the lion's will tracks down the nest of the monster. She sees herself looking up at Aiko looking down, and now the puma's instincts have joined with Aiko, with the symbiotic presence, this Will of God that has taken over first a cougar spirit and now Aiko herself, and for a small eternity Aiko is the lion, Aiko is the god, Aiko is herself, and none of them, and all of them at once and she can no longer define who or what 'Aiko' is or the boundaries where 'Aiko' stops and the puma, the god, begins.
The pain was gone.
The screaming abruptly stopped, and in its place the woman stood stock still, her hands still buried in her hair, her head craned back, mouth yawning open as if in agony or ecstasy, a determination impossible to make by a simple observance alone. The glazed look, the crazed look, faded from her eyes, and for a moment the light played with her irises, making her brown eyes for a moment appear golden in the light. Yet it was merely a trick of the sun, and with a deep, cleansing breath the creature that had once been Aiko Morisato unclenched her hands from her head, loosening the curled digits and letting her hands drop to her sides. The pain was gone. The fear was gone.
All that was left was resolve.
Her head fell forward, and for a moment her vision blurred, the edges tinted red. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision, and felt moisture trickle from the corner of her eyes. She wiped them and saw it was blood. Need to move. Won't last long. A voice whispered. Perhaps it was the presence once known as Aiko. Perhaps it was the god that was the glue holding her together. More liquid began to drip from her nose. This she ignored. It's time to hunt.
She took a step forward… and fell flat on her face.
Two- thirds of her was unaccustomed to walking on two legs after so long on four. Hell, one- third of her couldn't walk on two legs at all.
Thankfully, not even the gods were around to see her lack of grace, and so the blue-haired woman once more picked herself up.
Hunt! Screamed the cougar part of her.
And so that was what she did.
The smells and sounds of the area were sharper now in a manner they hadn't been before. She heard groans that were inaudible to the human, alien to the cougar, and what the god assured them was metal moaning in wind. She smelled the sharp scent of… rust, blood, Man, and oil. Beneath it were other smells, older smells that the human and the cougar couldn't place but that the god identified as spiritual residue; not from the monster they hunted, but from those native creatures who'd come and gone before Man had built his land on top of the old. That's why this place appeals as a nest to the monster, the god reasoned. It rests on a Ley Line, where the rules may be bent to suit its needs.
A growl emerged from her throat. Her hackles rose. Bad, said the puma. Dangerous. Need to leave. Want to go, bad bad bad other part of the woman stirred at the mantra, the Human's very real fear of what they were about to walk into, and she felt her stomach cramp with fear. It's bad and evil and scary. I'm scared. I want to leave. I don't want to face it. Please don't make me do this. Oh please oh please oh please oh please.
Yet face it she would, as the deity that ruled atop both the puma and the human urged the body on. The first steps were clumsy and unsure, yet as the three personalities settled into their respective places within the body, the entity gained grace, and by the tenth step broke out into a run, sucking in easy breaths and feeding oxygen to a heart conditioned for marathons. She loped through the maze of shipping containers as if the path was mapped out to her, retracing her steps with an ease that would have defied the Aiko of old.
She found the nest easily enough, greeted by those insects still fleeing the shipping container. She ignored them, though her skin crawled as they began to gather in mass- a reflexive response from Aiko brought on by her most recent memories. They fled around her now, as though sensing through some insectoid sixth-sense that she was a creature to avoid.
Stuart was as she left him, bound and in pain, though he'd managed to crawl to the shadows of the nest in her time away from the container. The man looked even worse now than when Aiko had first left him; evidence of the eggs, the disease inside of him devouring his life force. The parasites don't like the light, the god whispered. They respond negatively to it.
And that is how we'll defeat them.
She walked forward, and Stuart must have sensed her presence. Not Aiko but whatever chimera Aiko had become- god, spirit, and mortal all wrapped up in one tiny little package. He raised his head to look at her from where he'd dragged himself out of the light, and despite the distance between them Aiko could see his eyes easily. They were bloodshot and red from weeping. One of the vessels in his left eye had burst, painting the white sclera a watery red.
He burst into fresh tears at her approach. "Don't..." he warned. "Please, my head is filled with holes. I'll kill you, my head is filled with holes, I can't, I can't..." He squeezed his eyes shut, lips pulled back in a snarl of pain. "I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll kill you!" he raved. "They're coming for me, she's coming for me, they're in my head and in my mind and I want to die, I can't die, they won't let me die!
Does he see me? the mortal in her wondered. Does he know who he's speaking to? Or does he see something else?
It doesn't matter, whispered the god. He's beyond saving. All that awaits him is death.
Kill it! It's a threat! Screamed the puma.
She approached the entrance to the nest, eyes gleaming, and still bound, Stuart crawled away from her. "Stay back, stay back!" he shrieked. "I'll kill you, they'll kill you, I'll kill you!"
Yet Aiko ignored his warnings and approached him. Stuart grew quiet, and gazed up at her with eyes that bulged in terror. Terror of her. Terror of Aiko. Terror of the child who, once upon a time and long, long, ago, he had raped in a moment of opportunity. It made her pause, and she drank in his fear, some part of her- some sick little part of the mortal that the human personality never wanted to acknowledge- felt a substantial amount of glee in that fear.
Stuart Holzkopf then uttered a single sentence.
"I'm sorry."
Something ruptured from his body. A long, tumorous tendril of flesh, its tip ending in a gory, chitinous scythe like that of a mantis. It lashed out at Aiko faster than the mortal's eyes could follow, but to which the puma reacted instinctively. Aiko sprang backwards with liquid fluidity, landing lightly on her feet outside as the tendril impacted the storage container's floor. A metallic shriek rose with it as the metal was punctured and torn, and the fleshy tendril recoiled back to Stuart like a whip.
Stuart buried his face in his hands. His body shuddered as he sobbed noisily, and from his sides, from his chest, from his shoulders more of the cancerous tendrils ruptured from his body. He wailed in agony, then clawed at his throat. Something bulged along the seams of his neck, crawling up his throat and forcing the man's head backwards at a sharp ninety-degree angle. A new monster, different from the cancerous appendages emerged, its head long and cylindrical like that of a leech. It had no definable eyes; its head was instead composed of nothing but a long, circular mouth lined with teeth set like an iris. They gnashed at the air. Stuart began to seize as more grotesque growths tore apart his body. More of the heads, more of the limbs, and to Aiko and all the entities trapped within her it was a sight that pressed the need for flight; this creature was wrong, this creature was an abomination, a horrible mishmash of the larval insects growing within Stuart and the mortal himself.
It seemed the experiment of progenerating with a mortal host had failed spectacularly. The eggs, and the larvae held within, had merged with their mortal host completely, incapable of separating themselves from the third- dimensional body that had housed them. Without the higher-dimensional borders provided by an Asgard host, the shared DNA between the host and the parasite had fused together, leaving the creatures trapped and underdeveloped within Stuart.
Now though, those creatures seemed to sense a threat in Aiko's presence. As if somehow connected to Stuart's thoughts and sensing that the woman's presence portended death, the creatures had emerged before they were ready. There had to be five of them in total, all in a range of various sizes and stages of maturity, and as if sensing the presence of the deity within Aiko they screamed as one. It was a horrible sound, one that made Aiko flinch, and one piece of her (the god? Why the god?) even felt close to falling into panic at the sound, where imagined fingers clawed at the walls of her mental landscape.
For a moment it left her paralyzed. Paralyzed with horror and shock at this affront to Life, and it was only the cougar that kept her from Death's embrace as once again a fleshy tendril of chitin and skin whipped out towards her. This time she retaliated, leaping out of the tendril's path and out of the shipping container, where her hands, curled into talons and glowing with an inhuman red light, shredded the chitin scythe into ribbons.
The energy cut through the limb like it was Papier Mache, and within the shipping container Stuart let loose a bellow of pain, the monsters, the deformed nymph rabishu shrieking alongside him as if sharing the pain amongst themselves. Kill it! Rage blossomed in her chest, in the chest of the puma, and Aiko's lips peeled back in a snarl of such savagery it could not be called human. Kill it! Monster. Abomination. Enemy of my land and my people! This is my territory, not yours! You prey on my prey, you nest in my nest, you invade and steal that which has been under the watch of my family for generations, and for that you will die! Not the deity but the puma spirit, who surged forward and kicked the trembling, cringing deity out of the driver's seat as the mortal cowered away, leaving the cougar in full control. A red aura, filled with deadly intent, gathered around her, and Aiko screamed, the sound akin to a woman being murdered.
She charged back inside, hunched over, almost charging it on four legs instead of two, and the rabishu nymphs screamed once more in unison. Yet for all the wretchedness of the scream, it did nothing to the puma. The puma was not mortal and terrified by monster before her, was no deity victimized by the creatures' screams. The puma was Rage. The puma was Courage. The puma was the weapon that would end this thing on its own terms if those it was imprisoned beside would not aid it in battle. More tendrils shot at her, and she avoided each with the deadly grace of one who played with snakes for a living. She severed each with a swipe of her (hands) paws, and with each limb loss a chorus of shrieks met her ears, while the deity and the mortal retreated further into the recesses of her mind.
Yet the puma spirit screamed right back at them, stealing the deity's power even as the deity had once stolen the cougar's body. Three outgrowths swept towards her. She ducked beneath one, ripped through another, and dodged the third. A forth smashed into her before she could slip past it, and it hit her with such force that the mortal body she was in crashed through the sheet metal of the shipping container. The blow should have killed her, should have broken every bone in her body and destroyed her organs, yet the woman climbed back to her feet with no sign of injury.
She emerged from the destroyed wall, and found the monster had abandoned its nest in fear of its life, the multitude of limbs dragging its thick ruined body out into the open. It was crawling towards one of the walls, fleeing the woman whose presence meant its death. No, the puma growled, Aiko growled, and perhaps her teeth looked a little less human and a little more feline against the fearsome aura that engulfed her. No, you don't get to run away, she snarled, and the thing that had emerged from Stuart's mouth twisted his head to look at her. She saw he was still alive. Alive and conscious and aware worst of all. His eyes bulged in their sockets, huge and begging for an end to the nightmare that had taken his life. Something stirred in her chest looking at him- the mortal's pity, she presumed, and another voice rose in her mind. He's suffering. No one deserves this, not even a rapist.
He dies like the monster, the puma told it. Everything must die. Not a scrap of it must escape. I won't risk it spreading.
Then let's kill him first, the voice, which she was only starting to distinguish as the mortal's, agreed with her. Those things are attached to him, right? They need him to survive. If he dies, logic dictates that they'll die off soon afterwards.
A peculiar idea, and one that had never occurred to the puma. Ignore the tumor-things, the mortal continued. They're just distractions. Just... like... feathers. Feathers that look like eyes to hide the actual head. You're a puma, right? Then stop going for the legs and crush his throat instead!
It was surprisingly sound advice, especially coming from a consciousness that had been on the verge of hysteria moments before. Kill the man, the rest will follow him. It seemed better than merely snapping at the quills of a porcupine, as she'd been doing with the outgrowths, and so putting that logic into play, Aiko rushed the monstrosity once more.
Again, the tendrils came sailing at her, and in the light of the sun they gleamed wet and red with their host's blood. The nymphs screamed, the deity screamed, and the puma felt a peculiar sensation as the mortal who was her head-mate reached past her and grabbed the spirit's aura. She felt power surge through her, the deadly aura soaring to such levels that even the puma was left afraid, and then watched as the limbs disintegrated as they touched the energy. A fresh chorus of screams sang to the heavens, all wild and mad with agony, and the puma- or perhaps the mortal- felt a thrill of excitement jump in her belly. This was how they would defeat him. Through the power of a god, the speed of a puma, and the madness of a human.
She drew closer and the monster scuttled faster towards the wall, recognizing the disadvantage it was facing against the entity that was Aiko. One of the long leech-heads lunged towards her as she drew close, and it, like the other limbs, was disintegrated in an instant. In its wake was a seeping stump of flesh, and seeing the advantage in her new state Aiko leapt at the thing. The aura worked its magic like a charm, destroying Stuart's right leg, two of the appendages that had erupted from it, and a head that had ruptured from his hip in a mass of gore and blood.
The monster recoiled, letting loose a peal of shrieks so outrageous that the clamor made Aiko's ears ring. It attempted another attack, anything to get her away from it, yet with the aura at its peak the monstrosity couldn't touch her, couldn't even slow her down, and with a roar Aiko began tearing into it, ripping into the abomination's (Stuart's) soft belly. More tumorous growth surged as if in defiance to her action, and just as many were destroyed as they impacted the aura. She ignored them, no longer concerned by any threat they might have once presented. The mortal had seen to that, and now all that was left was to cut off the head of the monster, to end it before the creatures fused to him could gather in mass and try again.
Her hand reached for his throat, and in the last second Stuart- not the nymph stuck in his throat but Stuart- turned his head to look at her. Do it, his eyes begged. Please, let it end.
I'm sorry I couldn't save you, Stuart. Aiko's voice, sad and filled with regret, rang in the puma's head. No man, regardless of his crimes, deserves a sentence like this. Her hand wrapped around his throat, and the aura's energy sliced through it, ending Stuart's life- and the life of his misbegotten children- in an instant.
Aiko- the spirit, the mortal, and the deity- watched in silence as the light went out in Stuart Holzkopf's eyes. Attached to him, the nymphs began the final assault- one dredged up from desperation and fear, like animals fighting their death- and each fell dead as they battered themselves against the aura, ending their lives before the connection made real by their surrogate bled dry.
In the span of seconds, Stuart Holzkopf, Patient Zero of the infectious parasites of the rabishu, lay dead at Aiko's feet, barely recognizable from the human he once was.
Burn it. For the first time since the rabishu's nymphs had begun screaming, since the true battle had begun, the deity raised its voice in something other than a shriek. Burn it all. It sounded exhausted. Weak almost in aftermath of the fight against the abomination. Let not a single strand of DNA survive this place. Burn the corpse, burn the nest, burn this place. Cleanse the land so that nothing can be recovered, either by man or beast or demon. Nothing must remain.
Energy gathered in her left palm, and Aiko- puma or mortal or god- looked down at it. It was awash with fire, though the flames did not burn her. It was warm though, and held a tangible presence. She looked back to the corpse at her feet, then tossed the magical flames on the corpse experimentally. They took hold of the body in an instant, and within seconds the small handful of flames engulfed the remains completely. A pungent, burning scent began to fill the air, and black smoke rose in heavy plumes from the body. Aiko made a face, retreating from it and turning her face away from the body. Tears came to her eyes, and she blinked through them, then proceeded to the nest that had been her cage and repeated the process. The flames consumed the matted nest like a wildfire in the brush, and the woman needed to retreat from it quickly lest she be caught in the flames that arose from it.
The fire took hold of everything with a will that otherwise shouldn't have been possible. It spread up the walls of the shipping container, spread up to the second level, and then the third, where the metal grates began to bend and warp beneath the heat. It jumped to the next row of shipping containers as if the entire yard was doused with gasoline, and sensing the danger housed in the magic Aiko quickly made her exit, leaving the scene at a sprint as the flames chased after her.
It was a mystery how she managed to escape the facility. The black plumes of smoke were billowing in huge, thick clouds now, making it almost impossible to navigate, yet navigate it she did, guided by some sixth-sense that might very well have been magical in nature, to the entrance for the facility. A huge, black gate barred the way to freedom, yet she somehow managed to scale it, shimmying up the black bars with an ease that would have escaped the mortal any other day and leaping down to the other side with feline grace.
She ran then. To where or how far she couldn't be certain, for it was without direction or thought- just enough to get her away from the burning facility and the poisonous smoke that consumed it. She ran through a chunk of woods, and in the distance, she heard sirens screeching as first responders made their way to the abandoned facility. She continued her flight, and didn't slow until the air smelled clean of the smoke she'd left behind, where she slowed her pace to an easy jog. She heard a car approaching nearby, its engine revving with an urgent speed, and with a nudge from the mortal the woman made her way towards it. The forest cleared, and a road took its place next, a single lane road empty of traffic running parallel to the route she'd been jogging. The car was hidden from sight by a bend along the tree line, and Aiko waited patiently for its approach, taking her cues from the mortal in her head to signal for a ride back to the city.
With the abomination and its nest destroyed, the aura and the magic that had fueled her up to that point had abandoned her. With it came a wave of exhaustion so mighty that it blanketed the adrenaline that had initially kept her alert. Her head felt heavy, and so the woman sat on the edge of the road, holding her head up with both hands as she closed her eyes and breathed. Spent too much energy. The deity grumbled. Foolish. Excessive waste of power.
You weren't exactly helping, the mortal retorted.
The puma spirit seemed to agree with her. Welcome to my life. It grumbled.
The car was getting closer, but at this point Aiko as a whole was beyond caring. Black spots were appearing in her gaze now, and when she closed her eyes those spots flashed a bright red, pulsing with an erratic pounding of her heart, which beat an uneven tempo that left her breathless. She could taste blood in the back of her throat, and smell it on her person against the crisp scent of the forest, and knew that she'd pushed this body too hard. Her chest felt unusually tight, like a vice was constricting around her ribcage, and the woman grimaced, uneasy. Her heart was starting to fail. It won't be long now, one of the voices mumbled.
It'll be peaceful, another voice muttered. Like going to sleep. You just won't wake up again.
All things considered, it's preferable to going how Stuart went. The voices were all starting to blend together now, and it was getting harder and harder to differentiate between the god, the spirit, and the mortal. What happens when this body fails? Are the puma and the deity going to leave before then?
We can't, said another voice. Too much energy was expended during the battle. We're all stuck in this fading body together.
What happens after it passes?
Then the mortal moves on and the deity and spirit separate. The Union dissolves.
So the mortal won't face its death alone?
No. And even if we could separate, the deity at least would remain to see the mortal off. It is the least that can be done to honor the life sacrificed this day.
The puma would stay as well. The voices continued. The Man-child was like a fox, sly and clever. This one would see it pass in peace as well.
I see. Though she didn't realize it, Aiko was smiling. It was a peaceful smile, one filled with ease despite the fatigue that weighed so heavily on her face. Thank you. She sucked in a deep breath, noting how it took effort just to fill her lungs with air. Maybe if she just closed her eyes for a little while...
"A... "
"... ko... "
Her ears twitched- something brought on by the puma's reflex than the mortal's.
"Ai... ."
"... iko!"
Is that you, Child?
One of the entities in her head forced her eyes open, suddenly alert to any signs of danger. The puma then. She saw a car parked on the side of the road, and two people were racing towards her. One she thought she recognized- the man, though the smell of blood and demonic energy was almost overwhelming on his person. It made the woman's hair stand straight, putting her on guard as memories of the storage facility and its mixed scent of demon and rabishu filled the complex.
Threat?
No. No, that's not- one of the voices began, and was ignored as the woman rolled to her feet.
The other person racing towards her, a woman the puma at least didn't recognize, came to a sudden and complete halt, grabbing the man by the arm as he continued to run and almost knocking them both off their feet. "Kei, stop!" the woman shouted.
"Deb, what are you- let me go, it's Aiko!"
"Keiichi, that's not Aiko."
"Bullshit it's not!" The man was screaming, his voice on a level of panic that did little to soothe the puma's nerves. "It's Aiko, right as rain! Who else do you think it is?!"
"I don't-" The woman pursed her lips, then looked back at Aiko. "Kei... there's something... that's a mountain lion, Keiichi."
"Are you fucking high!?"
"Are you fucking blind!?" the woman retorted. "That's not a human, Keiichi."
"Deb, let me go." The man's voice dipped into a low and aggressive tone. Aiko bristled. So did the woman. "That is Aiko. That is my baby sister. Where the fuck are you getting the idea she's a god damn mountain lion from?"
"Keiichi, I'm serious!"
"So am I. Let me go Deb."
"No."
As Aiko watched, they continued to bicker until the sound of a car door slamming drew everyone's attention. They saw a platinum-haired woman who looked like she'd seen her own fair share of combat stagger away from the vehicle. She stumbled and swayed, almost as if drunk, her eyes half-lidded and strangely glazed in the light of the late-afternoon sun.
Belldandy?! exclaimed two of the voices.
"Belldandy?" the man called. "You're awake!"
Yet the woman didn't answer him, did not so much as spare him a single glance as she walked forward. Something in her strange, platinum hair and unsteady walk set Aiko further on edge, yet the puma recognized her. The deity recognized her, and sure as sin the mortal recognized her, and all three of them kept Aiko stock still, staring in confounded curiosity as the Norn stumbled towards her.
What is she doing? one of the voices inquired.
She's not awake, said another.
Why is she approaching us then? The woman stumbled past the arguing couple and towards Aiko, who observed her and, in a rather feline gesture, chuffed at the goddess.
She does not look well.
None of them do.
The goddess came to stand before Aiko, and for a brief moment in time Aiko was made aware of just how much taller the Norn was compared to her. She had to crane her head back to meet the woman's eyes, and found that they were still half-lidded and glazed, a sure sign of a sleepwalker.
The woman swayed unsteadily, muttering something under her breath.
And then she said two words.
"Go away."
Aiko stared up at the deity in confusion... and then the Norn twitched. Before Aiko, hell, before even the cougar could react, something slammed into her solar plexus. The wind was pushed from her lungs, and with it Aiko felt a strange sensation of something else being pushed out of her body... something invading her from the gut and shoving something else out, and oh... god... her body was burning again, her skin was on fire, and she could feel more energy than she thought she could stand pouring into her from where Belldandy's left fist had buried itself in her stomach.
Behind Belldandy both Debra Johansson and Keiichi Morisato screamed. "Is that a fucking cougar?!" screamed the dark-haired man. And Aiko- Aiko, the mortal, the woman, the lone college student who'd been first kidnapped and then bound to gods and spirits, felt the world spiral back to her as those entities who'd come to dwell with her spirit were forced from her body.
"Jesus Christ, Keiichi!" Debra screamed. "She just punched a puma out of Aiko!"
Yet Belldandy didn't respond. Instead Aiko had just enough time to note the woman's hair changing from silver back to brown, the world spinning around her, and then first Belldandy's collapse, followed by her own as Aiko's legs gave out beneath her.
A final thought came to Aiko before she slipped into unconsciousness. One hell of a way to go, I guess. And then she knew no more.
A/N: Hopefully once the holidays are done we can get to a more even cadence on the chapter releases. Still a long way to go with the overall story. Not so much with this arc, though.
Comments of a Madwoman: The moral of this story: Don't let gods or spirits or rabishu possess you. It's bad for your heart.
