Belldandy opened her eyes and immediately knew something was wrong.

"Oh dear."

It was the only thing she could think to say that gave voice to the dread that was creeping up her back, embracing her in a cold sweat as the goddess observed her new surroundings. It was a cavern of some sort, one deep within the bowls of the earth. The air was warm and humid against her skin, and from somewhere outside her range of vision, a light source produced a deep, orange glow that illuminated the cave. Stalagmites and stalactites spread around her and over her like the long fangs of an Ancient One's skull, and self-consciously Belldandy rubbed her arms. Her hands pressed against cloth, and for that the goddess took a small bit of comfort; at least she wasn't as she'd fallen asleep, blissfully naked and content as she'd finally allowed the rhythm of Keiichi's heart to lull her to sleep.

And in that you find your answer. A cooler, more logical side of her mind whispered. It's another dream. Just as before, only now your waking body is truly with the one you love, and your family is no longer in any danger. "Then why would I dream myself to such a terrible place?" She asked that part of herself, looking behind her and finding a pit of darkness so deep and impenetrable that for a moment, she feared it might suck her up. "I've never been to such a realm, nor have I ever desired to visit such a place."

True. Her mind pinged up. But when have dreams ever obeyed their master's whim? You are lucid yes, but that has never stopped the dreams from progressing. Not like the tulpa with Keiichi, or—

Realization hit her like a ton of bricks, and in the sanctuary of dreams where no one else was privy, Belldandy uttered a lone curse, one she'd learned as a child from Urd in their many misadventures together. "Fuckmothering whoreson." Which was then preceded with a yell, "Kingu! I know you're here somewhere! Get out here right now!" This was one of his ideas, she was certain. Why, up until she'd poisoned herself stopping Mara in the shrine in what felt like a lifetime ago, Belldandy had never fallen victim to such dreams. Yet with each time following it, she'd always found Kingu in her presence, attempting to guide her in some way, some aspect, that still she did not understand. And now, in a cavern that reminded her of an Ancient One's esophagus, she waited once more, knowing he would appear just as the other times.

She was right. He appeared to her on a trail she'd not noticed previously, a thin one that weaved its way between the many stalagmites around her down towards the light. Yet he came not as a man, as she had always known him, but as a creature more akin to a beast. "You're getting better at this, I see." His voice had taken on a whispering quality to it, slithering towards her on the long tail of a serpent. His hide was dazzling in the light around it, catching and refracting the heavy orange back in a million colors, all so vibrant that for a moment Belldandy mistook the creature's lower body for a precious gem.

The woman blinked, finding spots in her eye from where the glam blinded her. "And I see you've changed as well." She said. "So is this the true you, then? Do I stand before an Ancient One now?" She tried to focus on his face, but even that was difficult; the face that she'd come to associate with Kingu had mutated, and where his eyes had once been instead nothing but a bridge of silver feathers remained, small at first before expanding from his eye line and up his forehead, where the plumage continued down his scalp in a manner more akin to a horse's mane. It ended at the base of his spine in long, thick quills, where his more human torso narrowed to that of a serpent.

Kingu smiled, revealing an odd, chaotic assortment of teeth stacked in rows along his jaws. Belldandy grimaced at the sight. "It is similar to my past incarnations." He revealed. "I recall being much larger though." The creature leaned back, his body propelling him high up against the cavern's ceiling as he looked down at himself. "My body didn't resemble a human's this much, either."

The goddess raised an eyebrow, taking in the Ancient One's broad chest and lean neck which, aside from his face, were the only 'human' aspects about him. Yet even those features were somehow at odds with Belldandy's definition of 'humanity'. The chest was too broad, the pectorals large and muscular like the structure of a bird's breast over a man's. His neck, by comparison, seemed overly long and thin against such a heavy chest, creating a fragile illusion that made Belldandy uncomfortable. When paired with his head which, while holding an almost aerodynamic look to it also appeared large and heavy, it created the image of a disproportionate chimera borne of the remains of a scientist's experiments. An ugly, lumbering beast that held no place in this world or the next, no purpose other than to die a painful death at the end of its short life, it's body incapable of sustaining itself after it'd been erroneously brought into the world and given life.

It was in that moment that Belldandy felt a large wave of pity for the creature in front of her. Kingu was from a world that had already run its course; one that had passed into myth as those that came to inherit it trampled over the old in favor of the new. Though he was an Ancient One, he was still only a spirit; one that had been ripped and shredded into a form scarred beyond recognition, beyond anything this world, her world, could ever recognize. What he'd been before had been lost in a period before time itself had started, and the essence that had once filled his soul in life was not present in the world he now trekked. The world has moved on. She remembered hearing that quote from somewhere before, someplace where time was soft due to the tower that governed the world. There are other worlds then these, and his world has moved on. There is no place for one like him any longer, yet here you stand, making demands of him while he's done nothing but guide you. The knowledge brought with it a new type of revelation, and to her surprise the goddess felt ashamed of herself.

"Forgive me." Belldandy bowed her head in humility, lowering her eyes in a gesture of respect. "Many topics have been unclear to me these past…" Yggdrasil, how long had it been since she'd been poisoned at the shrine? Days? Weeks? Months? It felt like years had passed since that horrible day. "…since my poisoning, my heart and my mind have been muddy, clouded with worry and pain and doubt, and I am ashamed to say that I have not acted my best while in your presence, Iak Kingu." She called him by his proper title then, the title held only by the great general who'd led an army to battle, one who'd laid down his life in an effort to protect the old, the sacred, and for him, the precious creature that had given birth to creation. "I hope you can accept my apology, poor though it may be, and that we might start anew."

The goddess held her pose there in a gesture of submission, one she'd reserved only for her father in the times when she and Urd had fallen into the greatest trouble. She felt something graze her shoulder with an almost feather-like touch and looked up. Kingu had drawn closer, the wings that took the place of his arms spread out like a waterfowl drying itself in the sun. In the cavern's light, they took on a rustic, coppery hue. Beneath them, tucked tightly against his sides where the wings had hidden them, two small, thin, rudimentary arms emerged, their shade a black so deep that they seemed to absorb any light that touched them. One of these limbs reached out to her now, a primitive, three fingered hand more reminiscent of a raptor's leg rather than anything human. A long, curled talon grazed her cheek, gentle and cool to the touch. "Cease your apologies." Though Kingu's voice was kind, it was firm. "You're blood is young, yes, but it is of the one which ended my world. Such words can never reach me, for my time has long since passed."

Belldandy stared at the creature. "I don't understand."

The demon nodded. "Nor is it your place to, for you are of the present, not the past. Such duties belong to those of the old blood and who hold ties to my world."

"Like Hild?"

Kingu drew back, and from his spread wings Belldandy watched in amazement and perhaps a small amount of disgust as eyes emerged along the patagium of the wings. Eyes of all shapes and sizes, colors and types, many of which didn't exist in nature, mutated in a manner similar to an eldritch horror. It was a terrible sight to witness, and the hundreds of eyes focused on her with a horrible clarity that made the goddess shiver. One of those eyes is Hild's. She thought, and bit her lip as the strange thought entered her mind. One of them is Father's.

"Tell me Child, what gave you that notion?"

Belldandy's gaze surveyed the many eyes watching her and tried not to shiver when she caught sight of a blue orb the same hue as her own. "I'm not sure." She admitted, avoiding the eyes of those who were familiar to her. His eyes were gifted to the new world upon his death. The strange intuition that possessed her in this odd dreamscape continued. And through the eyes of those who inherited them, he watches in the shadows of Man. For it was through his blood that Man was created to serve the gods. She didn't want to be here, she realized. She wanted to wake up, to find herself back in Niflheim with her husband, cuddled against his body as Keiichi's heat warmed her. Instead her gaze happened across another eye, and it was there that her gaze froze. For she knew that shade. She knew that shape, that hue, that warmth, and now that she'd come across it, Belldandy could no more tear her gaze from it than a fly its wings from a spider's web.

Somewhere, in a far off corner of her mind Belldandy wasn't even aware of, a small piece of her raved in hot-blooded rage. Damn you! It shrieked. How dare you! Beast, wretch, blasted soul cursed to wander the corpse of your mother, how dare you! To steal mine own husband's eyes for your goal, to hold me hostage with Keiichi's own warmth! Despicable, vile worm, close your sight before I blind you myself!

Yet the larger part of her, two pieces of her in fact; one devoted to logic, the other empathy, joined together to stomp it flat. Like an insect they quashed it, and as her father once did with the wolf Fenrir, bound it tight with a fine chain of control. One day, perhaps, it would grow too large for such a chain. Perhaps on Ragnorok, like Fenrir it would escape its bounds and run amok, feeding off its captors until it eventually overwhelmed Belldandy and drove her mad. Should such a time would come, however, it was a long way off, and for now it went in silence, its cries ignored or unheard by Belldandy's conscious mind.

"I'm not sure." Belldandy repeated. "I…whenever we speak, it is of Urd, or the Old Blood." She no longer spoke directly to Kingu, but instead to the eye that held her husband's gaze. "You warn me of the madness that comes with the Old World and those affiliated with it, and how Urd is to fall victim to this plague. You've asked me repeatedly if I'm to support my sister through times of such madness, to trust her word despite the insanity so many others fear, and I am reminded of Hild and the stories I'd hear of her time at my father's side." She paused, and it took all her will power to wrench her gaze away from Keiichi's eye near the tip of Kingu's right wing and instead to Kingu's face. "I was told she suffered a bought of madness that led her to attack my father before fleeing to Niflheim, the both of them ignorant of the child she carried." Her gaze began to drift towards the right, and biting the inside of her cheek so hard she bled, the goddess kept her eyes centered on Kingu's face. "It was because she suffered the same madness, didn't she? The madness of the Old Blood, for when she came to the heavens, she was neither god nor demon nor any spirit recognizable to those who would know her, isn't that right?"

The demon's expression gave nothing away. "Interesting correlation." He proclaimed. "You are far more observant that I give you credit for. That is a misjudgment on my account, and I apologize for it. It will not happen again." Something in the manner he spoke, his tone perhaps, or the lack of expression on his face, caused Belldandy to break out in gooseflesh. "And while you're not wrong…you're not right, either." The demon leaned back, his lower body draping itself in loose coils on the ground. "Unfortunately Daimakaicho Hild is not the topic of this night's conversation. Perhaps another night, if you can again surprise me with the depth of your knowledge, we will speak openly about it, but not tonight. Tonight we have an agenda, one that may be your greatest challenge to date."

Belldandy pursed her lips, eyes narrowing in concentration. Her gut twisted with nervous anticipation. "And what," She asked, "is that?" What could be greater than what she'd faced already? Had she not dueled toe-to-toe with a tulpa as one herself? Had she not come close to losing her life in saving a demon's sanity? "Does this have to do with Urd's madness, as we keep discussing?" She demanded. "What would you have me do? Break into Hild's chambers and rescue my sister? Challenge Hild for Urd's return to Asgard, where she might be safe from this insanity?" Her heart thudded rapidly in her chest. What would she need to do? Would Keiichi be dragged into it? A shiver went down her back at the thought, and the goddess wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing arms alive with a fresh wave of gooseflesh.

Please no. She prayed. Yggdrasil, no. I just got him back. I can't lose him again after just one night together. The thought of losing him so soon made her tremble, yet Belldandy was nothing if not willful and stubborn. Though the traits were less prominent in the Middle Norn, still the woman stood tall and firm, swallowing her nerves as she awaited whatever task so sentenced to her.

Her father, from which the Norns had inherited these traits, would have been beamed with pride.

Iak Kingu sucked in a deep breath, releasing it slowly. "We're in the Realms of the Dead." He explained. "Currently, we're in the borderlands of Hades and Duat, two of the larger territories in the Underworld. The two neighbor each other, with Irkalla to the south and Gehnna to the far north." The demon folded his wings once more against his side, the primordial arms disappearing beneath a blanket of silver feathers. "Recently there was an incident between the two bordering territories of Yoma and Duat. A skirmish took place in Yoma close to Duat's borders, and a couple of Duat's higher gods ended up intervening in the incident." The eyes along the ridge of Kingu's wings began to close, and Belldandy felt a large amount of tension leave her body as the eerie orbs vanished into the feathers once more. The goddess wasn't certain how much more she'd be able to stand so many familiar eyes observing her.

Now, with the eyes passing, she frowned. "I see." She said, "But what does this have to do with me? I have no connections to any of Duat's or Yoma's residential deities. It is only through a distant relation that I can even claim kinship to one of the deities that inhabit Helheim." The woman's brows furrowed together in confusion, "Iak Kingu please…what does this have to do with what you want?"

The demon fell silent, and though she could see no eyes from the being, Belldandy was certain he was observing her. "Walk with me, Belldandy." He turned and slithered farther down the trail, leaving Belldandy to navigate the cavern's jagged terrain in order to catch up with him. They descended deeper into the cave, leaving the goddess to wonder if they were traversing one of the lesser known backdoors to the Underworld, and the light of what she suspected to be Hades' flames grew more prominent. The air grew dry and heated the further they descended, and before long Belldandy found herself sweating. "Belldandy, the reason I'm telling you this is in part due to what I'm to task you with, and I feel it best you understand the full lengths of the situation so that you don't leave here blind. You'll need your wits about you, for it will be with logic that you'll be able to accomplish this task. Do you understand that? Logic. Not empathy. Not sympathy nor pity. You cannot allow your own feelings to guide you here."

Belldandy stared at the creature uneasily. Ahead of them, the cavern began to expand, giving way to a drop that signified the entrance of the Underworld. They stopped at the drop, and the goddess peered outwards, finding the ceiling had expanded high up into the shell of the earth, where only the tips of stalactites remained visible in the inky blackness above her head. Fissures that burst with fire and lava scarred the inner earth below them like seeping blemishes, giving light to barren and dead landscape. Singular forms roamed the wastelands aimlessly, human in shape but too distant to properly distinguish. "And that task is?" She repeated, sensing he was intentionally drawing the conversation out, avoiding the true topic as a child might in explaining how he'd scraped a knee in a fight with another child.

"Belldandy, the borderlands between Duat and Yoma are where Keiichi's soul was fought over." Belldandy looked up at Kingu sharply, eyes wide in disbelief. Kingu didn't notice. "It was in Yoma that Keiichi was to descend while his body passed away in Purgatory, yet Femme Marller interfered before he could be taken."

"Mara?" The name came off as a croak to her ears. "Why would-how did she, but Keiichi was-" the goddess bit her lip, her heart suddenly fluttering weakly in her chest as she recalled the tulpa and its lies, claiming Mara's body to be a corpse only for it to rise and ravage the cell in the form of an avatar. "When did she…but she's….why would Mara do something like that?" Despite her best efforts to see the best in everyone around her, Belldandy was no fool. Mara held little love for the goddess; had in fact shown a hearty dislike for Belldandy when the two had met as young girls a life time ago. The reasons behind the dislike had never been very clear to Belldandy, and though she'd always suspected it'd had to do with Urd, there'd never been anything to confirm her suspicions. And now, to find that the demon had actually gone out of her way to rescue the mortal liked to her, a man whom Mara had also never shown any kindness towards…

The woman shook her head, at a loss for words. What could have possessed the demon to seek battle with the undead for a mortal's soul? Especially Keiichi, of all people? While the goddess was certainly grateful for Mara's interference, it still made little sense to her. Was there a contract involved? Some sort of deal between Keiichi and Mara that she was unaware of? "Iak Kingu…" Her throat felt uncomfortably dry, and it seemed to take all her will to speak her next words. "…What happened to Keiichi and Mara while they were in a cell together?"

"That is something better asked of Femme Marller." Kingu replied, and Belldandy sent him an uneasy look. "For she is the one you'll need to speak with here."

"What?" The goddess stared at the demon in confusion. "But Mara is—"

"Here, where her higher self has decided to dwell while her baser self, that of Instinct, returned to Niflheim where you dwell." Kingu appeared to survey the landscape before them before turning his sightless head towards Belldandy. "And that is where we reach your task." The creature continued. "Femme Marller remains separate in mind and body, with neither half attempting to reunite with the other. The longer they remained separate, the harder it will be for them to reunite. The Higher Self, the Neshama that you know, has resigned itself to this plane, amongst the dead souls and the Underworld gods, whereas the Ruach, that beast you no not, resides in Niflheim." The demon shook his head. "This cannot continue as it is now…should the two halves remain separate for an extended period of time, they'll grow into separate entities and will no longer be able to unify in one mind and one body. One shall be forced to remain in the Underworld amongst the native spirits, the other a mindless beast, the last physical remnant of what once was."

Belldandy stared at the entity in horror. "Yggdrasil, how did she wind up like that?" She breathed. "What you're saying…it sounds like her very soul was split in two!" The goddess shook her head in disbelief. "For someone to…how is she even alive?! Such a trial should have killed her!" And then, in a softer voice, Belldandy whispered, "Poor Mara…"

Yet Kingu remained impassive. "Femme Marller is as dual natured as Urd, which is perhaps why the two of them function so well together."

"But then why me?" Belldandy protested. "Mara holds a grudge against me a mile long. Why not Urd herself? Forgive me if I speak out of turn, Iak Kingu, but I feel that of all the candidates to reunite Mara's two halves, I am perhaps the least qualified." Even Hild would have been a better choice than Belldandy. Mara would listen to Hild. Mara would listen to Urd. But Belldandy? The two shared a childhood more dysfunctional than Peorth's ill-perceived grievances towards the goddess herself, and was liable to attack the woman on sight. What in the high heavens made one so ancient as Kingu believe that Belldandy could reunite the two halves of a torn soul, something that wasn't even supposed to exist on its own?

"There are rules set in place that prevent me from speaking with Urd as she is now." Kingu admitted. "Rules that even I am not at liberty to disobey, as per the laws set in place by your forefathers, Belldandy." /The demon continued. "Yet even then, if the two of them were to meet, if Urd was to see Femme Marller as she is now and speak with the Neshama on why she remained here in the deadlands, the chances are high that she would cease any act to bring the Neshama back."

Light brows furrowed together in confusion, and Belldandy peered at the creature in curiosity. "How do you mean?" She asked. "Urd and Mara are close. They've always been close, and they've always looked out for each other, ever since we were children."

Kingu nodded, "And that is precisely the reason your sister would leave Femme Marller…no, Neshama Marller, to her business here. "

"And why is that?"

"Because the Neshama has started a new life here." Kingu finally revealed. "Neshama Marller has found something in this barren land that gives her a new purpose, and it is imperative that she return to Urd's side." The man was silent for a moment, as though debating on how much more to tell her. A long, uneasy quiet fell upon the two, and just as Belldandy was about to urge him on the Ancient One spoke once more. "Urd will need Femme Marller in the future…all of her, Femme Marller, not a simple Ruach or Neshama, but Femme Marller as a complete being. She'll need the Ruach's power, but also the Neshama's knowledge the longer she stays in Niflheim."

Belldandy bit her lip, a sudden, deep premonition overcoming her. "Urd's staying in Niflheim, isn't she." She said quietly. "She's not returning to Asgard, nor even the Assiah. When we leave—when Keiichi and Skuld and I leave, she'll be staying with Hild. To learn how to rule as the next Daimakaicho, isn't that right?"

Kingu said nothing, but his silence was answer enough.

The goddess sucked in a slow, deep breath, closing her eyes as a sudden wave of sadness overwhelmed her. She bit the inside of her cheek when she felt tears threaten at her eyelids, and tasted blood as payment. A life without Urd…with everything that had happened as of late, the thought had never fully entered her mind, though a small shadow of it had gathered in the back of her subconscious. Now though, to finally be presented with the possibility… "Urd's always been there for me." Belldandy whispered. "Ever since we were first introduced…no, perhaps before even that, we'd always simply clicked. Mayhaps it was due to our personalities—the two of us were as different as night and day, and…and I think we both drew strength from that. Whenever something went wrong, I could always count on her to watch my back, to—" the woman bit off her sentence before she could complete it, and the words "to lie for me" went unspoken in the cavern. And hadn't she done the same? Revealed little half-truths to help cover whatever mischief Urd was up to at that time? To keep in her possession those items so many expected of Urd to hoard, even as they raided her sister's room in search of those blacklisted materials? Had not the two of them (three, her mind whispered. Marller always made three.) shared one horrible adventure after the next, risked their lives for eachother, and cried in the arms of her sister?

The woman grit her teeth, jaw visibly clenching as her hands curled into stubborn fists. I will not cry. She told herself. Not here. Not in a world comprised of loss. Not in front of a creature that has already lost his entire world. She'd known this time would come. That Urd would one day return to Niflheim had been a suspicion many in the Heavens had held, something she thought that even Urd suspected as well. Skuld is probably the only one of us who never thought Urd would return to her homeland…and then stay there.

Oh Yggdrasil, she'd not even thought of how Skuld would react…

No, now's not the time for that. Now's not the time! Scowling to herself the goddess shook her head, rousing herself from her thoughts as she redirected her attention to Kingu. There'd be time enough to dwell on such matters later. "What must I do regarding Marller?" She asked, and despite herself, a small piece of her took a bit of pride in the fact that her voice did not shake.

Kingu nodded, and his next words were those that would haunt Belldandy until the onset of Ragnorok. "You're going to ruin Neshama Marller's relationship with Duat'sGuardian of the Dead, Anubis."

"…I'm what?!"


Keiichi awoke with a start, his mind vividly recalling a battle of demons and tulpa, of cold cell cages and battles in cells and underworld deities trying to drag his soul to Yoma. Panting loudly, he stared up at the ceiling above his head, a piece of him comparing it's darkness to that of the prison, of the fortress that the tulpa had overrun, and with it came the faces of those who'd fallen to the many thoughtforms claws. The man hissed out a curse and closed his eyes, yet even that held no relief from the fevered memories. Instead the tulpa, it's form like that of the spiny queen in all her horrific glory, forever bearing silver teeth at him in a manner that might have been a smile, might have been a snarl. Give me a purpose, damn you. It hissed at him, and with a shudder he opened his eyes once more. For a brief moment, the creature did not disappear as he so hoped but instead remained before him, an afterimage seared into his eyes. I am yours now, Mortal. Your demon or your angel, your conscious or your nightmare. You defeated me in battle and won me to your side, and now you must deal with the responsibility that comes with my existence. The words flowed through his head in a steady, voiceless hiss. Do with me what you must, but give me a purpose. Give me a reason to exist, you ignorant fool-borne lout.

The image vanished, and Keiichi sucked in a shuddering breath. Maybe I can speak to Belldandy about it later today. He thought to himself, and then looked to his side. The goddess in question lay curled up in the crook of his arm, her body hot against his in the already warm room. For a moment he simply gazed at her, and all other thoughts vanished in place of a simple feeling of adoration. Rolling to his side, Keiichi wrapped his free arm around the woman and spooned up against her, smiling softly as the goddess mumbled in her sleep and pressed into him. "I love you so much." He whispered, and to him it seemed almost as if Belldandy hummed at his words, though she showed no signs of rousing.

Goddesses, it was hard to believe he was back with her. Harder still to believe they finally—he smiled broadly. I can't wait to go home after all this is settled. He thought to himself. We can finally move on with our relationship, hopefully in peace and without having to worry about goddesses or demons or Skuld threatening to kill me for so much as looking at Belldandy the wrong way. Of course, that still brought into question where he was right now. It wasn't the shrine, and Keiichi could not help but recall the demons who'd accompanied Skuld and Urd. Niflheim, maybe? He wondered. It would have explained the warmth of the room, if nothing else. More things to discuss with Belldandy when she wakes up.

His body took that moment to suddenly burn with a need that hurt, and grimacing Keiichi carefully pried himself away from his spouse. Belldandy murmured softly as if in protest, yet as he'd expected, the goddess was a deep sleeper and did not rouse. He almost jumped when his feet touched grass instead of carpet, and as the mortal stood he gazed around the room. "It…it looks like someone built a room on top of a field…" The floor had vanished in place of long, sweet-smelling grass and flowers. "Did…we didn't do this, did we?" Daisies sprouted near daffodils, violet irises stood tall near lilies ranging from yellow to orange to red. Orchids of all types and colors sprouted in patches intermingles with snap dragons and baby's breath. There were even flowers that never should have grow together, such as sunflowers that sprouted long and tall along the walls near birds of paradise, all in full bloom. Tulips and dandelions, pear blossom and peony and roses and so many more flowers he couldn't even name.

It was a breathtaking sight, even in the dark gloom that so doused the room, and Keiichi took a moment to take it all in, the sight so beautiful, such a representation of Belldandy that he was left speechless. "We're really back together." He whispered aloud, a feeling of peace settled over him like a warm blanket. Then his bladder reminded him of why he'd left the bed in the first place, and with a smile the man shook his head. Making his way through the long grass, he approached one of the dressers.

The man opened one of the drawers and made a startling discovery.

"Shit."

The drawer was empty of any sort of clothing. Instead what greeted his eyes was a thick layer of grass, on that sprang up in a sigh as he pulled it open. Startled, he stared at the green blades for a moment, then attempted to rummage through the grass to see if, perhaps, there was a shirt or some pants somewhere beneath. He was greeted with no such luck, however, and scowling to himself the man shut the drawer and moved to its neighbor. Instead he was greeted with a similar compartment filled with grass and empty of clothes. Keiichi's scowl deepened. "There must be something here…" He muttered to himself, once more shutting the drawer and moving to the third one on the dresser. This one was a little different. At least this one held a flower. "But no pants?" Keiichi whispered to himself, "No shirt that I could use? Not even a towel?" Shoot, he'd be happy with flower-covered pants if that was what it took, the man just wanted something to cover himself with before leaving the room.

The man shut the drawer a little more forcefully than the others and moved to the second row, finding much the same in each drawer and even more of the same in the final row. "This…this is some bull right here." He grumbled, shutting the final drawer a little harder and scowling at the wood in irritation. "What's the point of having a dresser if there are no clothes in it?" He growled. "And who stole my clothes?" And Belldandy's, for that matter? Was this some kind of sick joke? "They can't expect us to wander around the room buck-ass naked, do they?" The man scouted the rest of the room, going even so far as to search under furniture and finding nothing but roots and stems sprouting from the wooden floor. After fifteen minutes of searching and a bladder that had reached past the point of aching and had reached the point of burning, Keiichi threw his arms up in surrender.

"Fine, screw it, I'll figure it out later." The man growled before heading towards the door. "I swear, if this is someone's joke, I'm going to punch them in the face." Ignorant of how un-Keiichi sounding his words were, the mortal cracked open the bedroom door and peered outside. It's a jungle out there. Some insane piece of his mind teased. And indeed, the thought wasn't too far off from the truth; the hallway the bedroom opened up into was lined with everything from tall grass to flowers to bushes, many of which blocked his view of anything too far from his left or right. On his left, he could make out more rooms along a hallway, one that ended with a closed door partially blocked by a large bush. On the other side, the hallway expanded into what appeared to be a small kitchenette, though he found it difficult to fully distinguish due to the fact that a full-fledged tree had erupted through the center of the room. Keiichi stared at the tree in shock. Some of its branches were on level with his face, and if he looked carefully he could see bits of wood and plaster on the ground from where the tree had continued its growth through the roof. "Holy shit!" He whispered hotly. "We grew a goddamned forest last night!" Doesn't matter, had sex! That same piece of insanity sang loudly in his ears, and the man covered his face with one hand, biting back the sudden urge to laugh.

Instead the man closed his eyes and listened, ears straining for any signs of other inhabitants in the area. Nothing but Belldandy's soft breathing behind him reached his ears, and breathing a sigh of relief the man opened the door a bit wider, stepping out into the hallway and shutting the door quietly behind him. "Bathroom, right." He muttered under his breath. "This place has to have a bathroom somewhere, right? Which room is the bathroom?" The man ventured further down into the hallway, maneuvering around cool-leaved bushes, some of which had thorns on their stems, and quietly opening one door after another. For the most part the rooms were empty; a storage closet, an empty guest bedroom, and a closet of shelves which, to his luck, held several extra blankets and towels. He grabbed the first one of the pile, a dark, red sheet, and wrapped it around himself like a toga.

The man made a face. "Well at least I have something to cover myself with now." He grumbled to himself. By now his bladder was sending sever spikes of pain up his body, causing Keiichi to grit his teeth. "I swear, if the gods or demons or whoever don't have a freaking bathroom I'm going to piss on that tree that decided to sprout through the floor." Muttering curses beneath his breath, the man stumbled towards the next door, now going out of his way to ensure his sheet didn't tangle itself in a bush. His mind interrupted more and more by the bolts of pain from his groin, the idea that there might be other people in the apartment had fled his mind, and as such the next door he came to was thrown open with a bit more force than the others.

Which was quite a shame, because the door he threw open was none other than Skuld's and was currently occupied by a giant wolf demon and a goddess suffering from a combination of light sleep and horribly real nightmares. As the door crashed into the wall it was connected to both occupants awoke, one with a beastly snarl and the other with a panicked scream. Keiichi barely had time to acknowledge the fact that he'd screwed up somehow before Amon was upon him, the wolf's weight slamming into him with all the force of one of Tamiya's tackles. He went down with a rather un-manly scream as over two-hundred pounds of wolf came down atop him, and somewhere farter in the room he made out an equally panicked, familiar voice screaming for a pervert's death.

"Skuld?!" Keiichi screamed, "Skuld! Oh god, help! Get this thing off me!"

Yet his cries fell on deaf ears as Skuld scrambled to a corner, as far away from the wolf and whatever stranger had burst into her room as possible. "Kill him Amon!" She instead screamed. "Don't let him get away! Make him hurt!" She rooted for the wolf, "Teach that asshat some manners!" Thankfully Belldandy was still asleep at this time, for surely, had she stumbled upon her sister screaming such profanities in the air, she would have been forced to confront Urd on her use of language in the house. Which would have been ironic given her earlier use of language in the Underworld.

Thankfully however, Amon was a highly intelligent demon and not merely a demonic wolf. The beast had known who Keiichi was as soon as the poor fool had thrown the door open, and while he knew better than to kill the mortal, that did not excuse the man's poor manners on entering a room not his own. Especially when dressed in nothing more than a sheet. And so, while Skuld shouted for Keiichi's death without actually realizing it was Keiichi's blood she wanted spilled, Amon settled his massive frame down atop Keiichi Morisato, pulled his lips back to display the curve of his fangs, and let loose the deepest, most threatening growl he could utter. It was an eldritch sound; one so abominable that demons who held his same rank were liable to run, an utterance filled with such murderous intent that even Valkyries would hesitate to attack, and one filled with so much doom that the mortals which heard it wet themselves with fright.

Which really was quite unfortunate for Keiichi.

And for Amon and Skuld, too.

"Wait, Keiichi is that—OH MY GOD!"


Lilitu glared at the door in front of them vehemently, shifting her weight from one foot to another. "I hate this place." She hissed, then sent an evil glare to her partner. "Why am I here with you?" She growled. "I've already got more than enough work on my plate. I can't be bothered with a task to go place 'fetch' for a bunch of goddesses and their pet mortal."

Beside her Valu ignored her glare, shrugging it off like one might brush debris from their pants. "I needed help with all these clothes and you're the only other person who knows these guys are here." He replied. "You know the Daimakaicho wants to keep their location under wraps. There are too many god-haters in the castle for open knowledge of where they're sleeping to be safe, and after the hell I watched the Bright Lady unleash just trying to get to her little sister, I don't even want to imagine what nightmares would rise if she found out some idiot thought the world needed two less gods in the world."

Lilitu grimaced. "As if they didn't just give their position away with that sudden overgrowth." She grumbled. "I was in the middle of dinner when our table suddenly decided it wanted to grow leaves for shits and giggles." The woman's face darkened exponentially. "I had to burn the entire thing before it destroyed the room, and when I got called in just to deliver some jackass's clothes, the Gitlam and I were in the middle of cleaning the food off the walls." She glared at the bags in her arms in distaste, half-tempted to spit in them.

Valu laughed. "I was in a bar." He said. "Ya' know, just trying to relax and what not after a long day of training. The guys won't let me live down getting poisoned by a goddess, and they've been running me ragged the past three days because of it. 'Only way to clean you up is work you 'till you vomit', they told me, and boy did they succeed."

Lilitu sent him a disgusted look, one that also went ignored. "So I was relaxing after the latest violent session in work, you know? And then all the tables started sprouting like someone pulled a dung-heap of miracle grow on them, and all the other demons in the bar started freaking out because of it." The Goetia grinned raucously. "I can't remember the last time I had so much fun. A bunch of drunken idiots all freaking out over this weird magic cast in the bar, when everyone knows you aren't supposed to use magic in there, and then everyone started blaming each other for it." He sighed wistfully. "Too bad I got called in when I did. It's been a while since I could just cut loose like that."

Lilitu stared at the demon flatly. "Valu, you're a fifteen eon old demon upon which the blood of the last great dragons flows through your veins. You can't drink because you're too young, and if you were to get drunk, chances are high that you'd turn into a dragon and eat everyone in the bar. What the hell were you thinking going there to relax?"

The demon huffed, obviously insulted. "For your information, I play in a band on my days off. There's nothing more soothing than creating beautiful music and watching the crowds dance in glee to the sounds you produce." He eyed the woman from the side with one blue eye, taking in the stress lines that so marred her face. "You know, maybe you should try taking up an instrument. It might do you some good to relax every now and then."

"I do relax." The woman growled out. "I was relaxed. Relaxed and happy with my gitlam about to eat some wonderful food before a fucking ash sprouted into being." The woman rubbed her face with a long suffering sigh. "Shit like that happens, I get called in, reports start coming in off the hook of similar incidents happening…" She let her hand drop. "What I need to do is find out which one of these dickweeds is responsible for this and punch them in the throat."

Valu snorted. "Bright Lady won't take too kindly to that."

This time Lilitu snorted. "Your Bright Lady can kiss my ass, for all I care." She growled. "It's bad enough her little sister poisoned us on our first meeting, but now one them decides to cast some heavenly spell in my off time as well? Fuck that." She shook her head. "Ain't like the woman holds any sort of authority, anyhow. She's got to answer to the Daimakaicho just like the rest of us, and given the amount of shit her sister is putting me though now, I think my punching that woman in the face would be justified in Hild's view."

Valu chortled loudly. "I'll be sure to let Urd know you said that!"

"Do it!" The brunette snarled. "And tell her if she's got a problem with it to come to me, so I can punch her in the face too!" The demon dragon burst into a fresh bought of laughter, and Lilitu planted her hands on her hips, causing the bags hanging from her arms to sway nosily. "I ain't afraid a' no upshot!" She snapped. "This girl don't know shit 'bout how it works down here and I ain't just gonna roll over for some broad fresh outta some heavenly elitist's ass!"

Valu laughed harder. "S-stop it!" Tears were streaming down his face now, and he needed to lean up against a wall so that he could wipe them away. "Oh Nidhogg, oh you're killing me Lilitu!" He cackled, bent over and near-spilling his own bags. "Listen—" He looked at her face and collapsed into another fit of laughter, causing Lilitu to growl and stalk towards him. This served to only further his laughter. "No, seriously, listen!" He tried again. "You'll lose if you do that!" He cried, and the woman paused from where she'd been about to kick him. The man sucked in a deep gulp of air, trying to calm himself and only partially succeeding. "You don't just fight a Norn." He explained. "Those girls are a package deal! You fight one, you fight them all!"

"So?!"

Valu snorted and straightened, wiping the last of the tears from his eyes. "For Niflheim's greatest intelligence collector, you certainly are dense, aren't you?" Lilitu bore her teeth at him. It, like all the other times she'd made threatening gestures to him, went ignored. "Listen, why do you think Niflheim's court is always making jokes of mine dear cousin?" He asked. "It's because she was always bested by the Norns. Not a Norn, but all three of them. And what none of those fools ever stop to think about is just how powerful those Norns are: you've got a full-fledged goddess first class, Unlimited, which could already go toe-to-toe with Marller in a fight based off their power alone, but then you also have the Bright Lady Herself, the Daimakaicho's dearest daughter, who's power stil rival's mine cousins even with a second-class restricted license! And the kid, Skuld? She may not be the strongest of the bunch, but she's wiley like a coyote! You read the report on her! IEDs against tulpa and demons alike? How many demons would come up with something so devastating in mere minutes?" He snorted. "And you want to challenge that? Pray tell, what would you like written on your casket?"

The woman stared at Valu levelly for a long moment, then sighed. "Get bent." She muttered. "Fuck this, I just want to go home."

The dragon-man nodded. "Then let's hurry up and drop off these clothes and book it. I still need to see what sort of damage was wrecked on my own place." Shifting the bags to one arm, the Goetia approached the door to the Court's VP suite and knocked loudly.

For a long time, nothing happened, and Valu knocked again, this time pressing his ear to the door in the hopes of hearing anything inside. It was a useless gesture; the VP suites were warded against eavesdropping, and so the man tried again, hoping that someone was awake within. "What the hell? It's not even that late! They can't all be asleep, right?"

Lilitu rolled her eyes. "Good question, Valu. I mean, it's not like you dropped a sick goddess and a kid suffering malnutrition off in the same room without a doctor to watch over them, right? It certainly wasn't our decision to drop a mortal still recovering from his injuries off in that same sick goddess's bed, after all, despite the doctor looking over the human saying it was a bad idea."

At that Valu sighed. "Yeah…sometimes the Daimakaicho's sense of humor isn't the best." He admitted.

"Here, hold these and back up. Imma try something." Lilitu handed her bags off to Valu, who took them with a questioning glance before stepping away from the door. The female demon approached in his place and took a deep, cleansing breath. "ROOM SERVICE MOTHERFUCKERS!" She roared, then kicked the door with suck ferocity that for a moment Valu feared her foot would tear through and catch in the door's frame. Instead, the door rattled thunderously, trembling under the force of the demon's kick.

Valu winced. "Jeeze Lilitu, what was that for? Are you deliberately trying to wake everyone on this floor?"

Lilitu huffed, then launched another rattling kick at the door. "These motherfuckers the only ones on this floor." She muttered, then in a louder voice proclaimed, "WAKEY WAKEY CLOTHES AND BAKEY!"

Valu squeezed the bridge of his nose. "Of all the ill-tempered demons to be sent out with." He muttered under his breath, for once grateful the demon was making too much a show to hear his words. Ardat Lilitu had something of an infamy for her attitude when things didn't go her way, however this was the first time Valu had ever seen it come out full swing. "Lilitu, calm down, you aren't making things easier for anyone."

Lilitu thrust her foot up against the door in response. "I know you in there!" She cried, growing less and less articulate by the moment as the demon surrendered to her temper. "Come on out, twat!" Behind her Valu groaned, snagging the woman by the arm and pulling her backwards as she aimed another kick at the door.

"That's enough already!" The demon snapped, causing his companion to scowl at him. "By Nidhogg's left fang, the Norns would wonder and which of us was older with how you behave!"

"Motherfucker don't think I can't lay you out! I've eaten dragons bigger than you!"

And of course it was when the female demon brought up his now-extinct ancestors that Valu lost his temper. "More like you eat dragon as—" The door swung open and Valu bit his words off before they had a chance to damn him. Skuld glared at them from the threshold.

"What's the matter with you two!?" She hissed in a loud whisper. "What are you even doing here? What do you want?" Beneath her Amon thrust his head out the door, looking up at the two demons pensively.

"We're here to deliver some clothes for you guys." Valu said. "After the chaos that happened with our return and the rush to get you and your sister out of the eyes of the public, it never occurred to anyone that you'd not been given any proper clothes." He offered the bags to Skuld, who looked at the packages as though fearing they might explode.

"You brought clothes." Skuld said flatly. "Is that why you two were having a screaming match in the hallway? You know, some of us were sleeping before you decided to start howling like a pair of coupling cats!"

Behind him, Lilitu murmured "Good one."

Valu's face flushed red at the girl's words. "Sorry about that." He apologized. "We're both a bit snappy right now. Things have grown a bit chaotic since the sudden outgrowth of vegetation that started a couple hours ago and it's left many of the locals rather crabby." He glared at Lilitu, who thankfully kept her mouth shut and seemed happy enough to allow him to do all the talking.

"Skuld? Who's at the door?" A male voice, one that sounded vaguely familiar, called from further inside the suite.

Skuld grimaced and turned to address the individual. "It's Goetia Valu and Adir Lilitu." She said. Valu's brows shot up in surprise. He'd not expected the girl to actually introduce them by their proper titles. "They came to drop off some clothes and—" she paused, and the girl's brows furrowed together in confusion. "Keiichi, what are you do—no, stop, what are you doing? Keiichi, don't come over here! You're half naked!"

Valu tilted his head to once side in curiosity, watching as a wide range of emotions danced across the girls face ranging from distaste to confusion to anger to worry. Near him, Lilitu whispered in his ear, "hey, do you smell that?"

"Yeah," he whispered, watching as Skuld fell into an argument with whoever was on the other side of the door. "I noticed it when Skuld opened the door. It smells like ammonia."

"Smells like a bucket of piss you mean. Goetia Amon reeks of it."

"Ardat Lilitu, please, for the love of your ancestors, shut up."

Skuld glanced back at him suddenly. "Sorry, excuse me, I need to take care of something really fast." Without another words she slammed the door in the two demon's faces, causing the duo to look at each other in confusion.

A minute passed before the door suddenly swung open, revealing a man garbed in nothing but a sheet. Valu blinked owlishly at him, dimly recognizing him as the mortal Urd had dragged out of the Chakras base with Skuld. He also smelled highly…unpleasant. "Hey," The man glared at him, and the Goetia wondered why he was in such a fowl mood. Probably because he smelled like ammonia. "Are you the guy that has my clothes?"

Behind him Skuld grabbed the man's hand, yanking it as she tried unsuccessfully to get him away from the door. "Keiichi, come on! Would you stop it already?"

Yet the man ignored the young goddess, staring expectantly at the blonde Goetia. Valu narrowed his eyes, sensing a large amount of anger radiating from the mortal. "And if I said I was..?" He asked cautiously, carefully observing the man's body language for any signs of oncoming aggression. Yet the mortal, Keiichi, displayed no outwards signs of hostility other than a glare, his hands too busy holding up the sheet that covered his body.

The man smiled tightly. "Hey, thanks for delivering them to me." His voice sounded strained, and he offered the demon one hand. "Ah…think you can just slide the bags onto my arm?" He asked. "I'd take them myself, but," He shrugged helplessly, nodding down to his odd choice of wardrobe. "Well, I don't want to blind anyone, you know?"

Valu nodded slowly. "Yeah…yeah, I understand. Can't be scaring the ladies now, can we?" Shifting his cargo to better maneuver, the Goetia stepped inside the threshold. He slid first one bag, the another onto Keiichi's arm, and when the man did not outright attack him as he'd initially suspected, the blonde began to relax. The mortal was probably stressed he had nothing to cover himself with in front of a young girl. Yes, Valu thought to himself, that must surely be it.

Which proved to be Valu's downfall as, while slipping a fourth bag onto Keiichi's outstretched arm, the mortal in question suddenly grabbed him by the wrist. Still weighed down by a great many bags holding clothes for the other two residents of the suite, Valu could only stare at the sudden action in confusion before Keiichi suddenly yanked him forward. Unprepared for the motion and overbalanced by his burden, the Goetia stumbled towards the mortal. And that was when Keiichi cocked a fist back and sucker punched Mara's cousin right in the face.

Somewhere in the back of Valu's mind, Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik began ringing in his ears. Bags flew through the air, distributing their goods to the sky as time seemed to slow. Screams came from somewhere far away and from two females, one of which cried 'Keiichi!' and the other one howling, 'You son of a bitch!' He felt his body his the ground at a snail's pace, stars dancing across his vision as he looked up at the mortal who'd scored a lucky hit on him. Saw Lilitu rush towards the man with her own fist cocked, a snarl slowly spreading across her features and thinking to himself, That man won't survive her blow.

A burst of adrenaline filled Valu in that moment, and as Mozart continued to play his symphony in his head Valu found himself back on his feet without even realizing it, racing towards the mortal and demon even as Keiichi turned to face her, the sheet that covered him sliding to the ground. Skuld screamed in a voice deep enough to sound like a man and stumbled back farther into the suite and Amon snarled, teeth flashing, tongue rolling, and eyes burning in his skull.

The Goetia reached for his partner, "Stoooop!" He cried, and through his eyes it appeared as though his own body had slowed as well; as though the air had turned to molasses, and despite his struggles to move faster, the man would be unale to stop the incoming blow. "Yoooou'll kiiiiiiiill hiiiiiiim!" The man cried, thinking to himself, there's no way the Daimakaicho will allow us to live if this guy dies.

And then the unthinkable happened. Something so preposterous, so unexpected, that by the time things had calmed down and were retold, Valu still would have issues believing it.

Keiichi casually stepped behind Valu.

And so it was, that rather than a mortal having his head caved in by the blow of a pissed of female demon with a short fuse, for the second time in the span of five minutes Goetia Valu got hit in the face. A wave of surprise enveloped him, and blue eyes widened in shock, staring at a pair of golden eyes that were widening in horror. He felt her knuckles dig into his cheek, felt something pop in his jaw—

And then time returned to normal. A fresh wave of pain blossomed in his face and his vision took on a red hue that he recognized as bad. His feet left the ground from the sheer force behind the punch, sending the unfortunate blond flying into the suite. The man heard a yelp, caught a glimpse of Skuld's startled face and Amon's cocked head, and then heard a large and prominent crack from where he collided head-first with the residential tree. His vision greyed as a sharp burn of pain worked through his neck, and Goetia Valu's final thoughts before passing out were, I hope she didn't break my neck.


"Oh shit!" Ardat Lilitu screamed. "Oh fuck! Oh no, of shitsicles!" Her hands flew to her mouth as Valu was sent flying, and as the blonde collided with the tree the woman ran inside, barely even noticing the naked Keiichi or the horrified Skuld. "Oh no, Valu! Fucknuggets, I'm so sorry!" She cried, kneeling beside the demon and finding him slow to respond. "Shit, are you okay?!" The man muttered listlessly and his head rolled to one side weakly, and the woman bit her lip.

Beside her Skuld kneeled as well. "You knocked the crap out of him." She whispered, a little bit of awe in her voice. "Where'd you learn to punch like that? I never even saw you swing!"

"Gitlam's a boxer." The woman muttered offhandedly, working deft hands over the unconscious demon's body as she searched for any signs of broken bones, spinal injuries, or brain injuries. "Oh thank Nidhogg." The Ardat almost whimpered. "I think he's okay, come on, help me move him away from the tree." The demon gestured to the Goetia's shoulder. Skuld grabbed him by the shirt. "Okay, easy now, let's do this." Together the duo gently maneuvered Valu away from where he'd collapsed in a crumpled heap on the ground, shifting him to a more comfortable, straighter position in the grass.

"I can't believe you punched him like that." Skuld remarked, staring down at Valu and watching with an invested interest as his cheek began to swell like a balloon. She then looked up at the female demon. "Could you teach me to punch like that?"

"What?" Lilitu stared at the youth in confusion.

From the threshold Keiichi approached, now adorned in a fresh pair of pants and a dress shirt. It did not take away from the smell of ammonia radiating off him, and too startled by Skuld's sudden request, it never occurred to Lilitu to quip about him dressing in a woman's garb. "Why would you even throw a punch like that?" He asked, "You could have killed someone!"

"That was my intent." The demon snapped. "You punched Valu in the face for no reason! He did nothing wrong!"

"You punched him in the face too, you know."

"Only because he got between you and me!"

"You were going to kill me!" Keiichi cried. "I just came back to life! I don't want to die again after everything I went through!

"Oh, is that why you smell like something that'd knock a maggot off a gut wagon?"

The mortal gaped at the woman. "What'd you just say?!"

"I said you smell like a bucket of piss, shit-for-brains!"

Forgotten by both demon and mortal, Skuld watched the display in interest. "I gotta remember that one." She muttered to herself. Then Lilitu crawled to her feet with a snarl, and Skuld recognized the same malicious glint from before enter her eyes. "Oh no, not again." She looked around, "Amon, do something! Don't let them kill eachother! I'm gonna get Belldandy!"

Quickly the girl scrambled to her feet and ran into the other room, even as Amon released a heavy-sated growl and released a burst of flame between the two would-be combatants. "Belldandy!" She cried, racing into her sibling's room, "Wake up! A demon's gonna kill Keiichi!" She paused for a moment, then uttered, "Again!"

Yet her sister remained blissfully asleep, much to Skuld's chagrin.

"Curse it, of all the times for you to sleep!" She muttered under her breath, then stormed to her sister's side. "Wake up!" She shouted once more, shaking Belldandy's shoulder hard enough to wake the dead. "KEIICHI'S GONNA BE MURDERED!"

Belldandy's response was to roll away from her sister with a sigh.

Skuld screamed in frustration.

"Why…" She mourned. "Why couldn't it be Urd who sleeps like the dead after a hard night of shots and binge drinking?" Biting her lip, the girl looked around, searching for something she could use to stir her elder sibling into wakefulness. Yet the room was as barren of objects as it was filled with grass, leaving the girl at a loss. "Damn it." She growled, then raced back out the door, finding the living room with its large tree was now on fire.

"Oh come on!" She screamed, taking only a moment to watch as a panicked Keiichi dragged the unconscious Valu away from the deepest of flames, which just so happened to be the tree the Goetia had collided into. Lilitu was yelling at Amon, who's ears were back and teeth borne in a manner that would have been threatening to an outside viewer, but to Skuld appeared to be attempting to argue with the demon. "By Yggdrasil's roots…" The girl ran towards the kitchen, only to realize at the last moment that the flames had left the metal sink too hot to approach, forcing her back. "…Can I not get a break here?!" The air was thickening with black smoke, and the girl felt tears spring to her eyes as it grew more difficult to breath.

"Just STOP already!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, and then, to the surprise of everyone conscious, a cascade of water formed around her before exploding outwards, extinguishing the flames before the fire even had a chance to fight back.

A fresh chorus of shouts and howls arose as the water drenched everyone present, and as the water flushed out the open door and down through the hole that had formed from the now-black tree, Skuld was left with a fresh bought of glares from those currently conscious.

"I'd strangle you if you weren't a child." Lilitu ground out through gritted teeth, black soot smeared across her face as the water from her hair streaked through it.

Amon, looking more like a half-drowned rat rather than the ferocious snake-wolf Goetia he was, growled half-heartedly at Lilitu. No one cared.

Keiichi, his second outfit of the day once more soaked through, merely sat where the torrent had knocked him over, crossed his arms over his chest, and pouted. "I hate this." He muttered.

Valu, who'd yet to regain consciousness, laid where the water had pushed him against a wall, looking more like a discarded doll than an actual person.

"MARA! YOU DONKEYBISCUIT!"

Everyone present jumped, their heads swiveling towards the direction of Belldandy's room from which the curse emerged. For a moment there came nothing but a sodden shuffling and the slap slap of sodden cloth smacking against eachother. Then came the recognizable thump of something falling out of a bed, followed quickly by a feminine yelp of surprise and confusion.

A soft groan and then Belldandy exited her room, drenched like the others and looking strangely haggard. "…Why does everything smell like urine?" She asked.

No one, not a single soul present, said a single word.


Comments of a Madwoman: Been a while so here's an extra-long chapter filled with rediculousness.