-52-

"I must make a final request of you now that we are no longer bound together, Mshibzhiw."

"After finally freeing myself of you and your own errant magic, you would dare yet to beg my favor?" A growl, deep and insulted, filled the night air, and its owner narrowed its golden eyes, the pupils constricting to mere slits.

"I would," the cougar's company replied, and there was iron in the voice. "You know why I am here. You've journeyed through my mind just as I've traveled in your body."

"So I have," the puma agreed. "At one point I might have been sympathetic towards your plight, yet you destroyed the prospect of willful aid in your foolhardy attempt to dress in my skin as though I were a trophy taken by your people in the old days."

"That was never my intent."

"No, but it is what became of us none the less," the puma hissed. "If not for the mortal you would still be wearing my skin with me but a prisoner locked up and caged within my own body. You are no friend of mine. I am tempted to call you my enemy and cry to my kin of your presence, so that they may be made aware of your evil and chase you from their dens."

"I apologize," the voice said softly. "I did not mean for the spell to go awry."

"And had it not I would still be a prisoner, and you would come and go as you pleased with nary a 'thank you' or so much as a sacrifice for my labor." The puma's breath steamed the air, its curved claws flexing within the pads of its feet.

"Then how may I appease you?" the deity asked. "I acknowledge that I have done you a disservice, and wish to alleviate your grievances towards me."

"And in doing so request a boon?" The mountain lion sneezed, and to the deity it sounded like a scoff. "I would sooner see you eat poisoned bait than grant you any requests. You have done me, and my people, a great evil in your thievery of my body. I may not reside within the same realm as you, yet that does not make us any less equal." The beast sneezed again. "In some ways, I am older than you. Older than you by far, for I helped shape this world, this land, this country you now tread on, under the instruction of Raven and Coyote and the guidance of the Father in the Sky and the Mother in the Earth. And you? You have done nothing by comparison. I have raced through your mind, yes, and what I have seen has not inspired any fondness of you. All you do is kill. All you do is meddle. You guard no Direction nor pass on the lessons entrusted to you by the Old Ones. You are an insult to me and all I represent."

"You're comparing apples to oranges," the deity replied. "And while I freely acknowledge that I have wronged you, comparing me to those aspects you govern versus what I govern says nothing of what I have done to you. I am requesting what I must do in order to end this feud between us and, in doing so, procure a simple blessing from you before leaving you in peace."

"And I say you are a fool, Selfish One," the creature rumbled. "You have come to me when my anger burns brightest, and its target is you. What possible blessing would you dare request as I stand before you burning like the sun in the sky?"

For a moment the deity was silent, in that moment, recognizing the danger presented by the mountain lion. Even a peaceful cougar could be dangerous with one's back turned, and an angry puma would charge a man without half as much care. There was considerable danger here, and the god's next words might yet entice the spirit to violence. "I request to borrow your form for a little longer." The words came out in a slow whisper. "Not your body, just your form... that I might continue to travel in your aspect in this land." There were few creatures in North America that would bother a puma. Few creatures other than Man, and for them, the god could rely on other senses.

The puma's eyes constricted into a pair of thin black slits. "You would dare?!" it snarled, and for a harrowing moment it seemed the cougar might attack the deity right then. Its fur bristled, its muscles rippled, it claws flexed as if readying to propel itself into motion. Yet the deity didn't move, and was perhaps saved by that, for fleeing would surely have prompted the cougar to give in to its instincts, to hunt, pursue and kill. "You wish to bear my likeness!? That is your request!?" There was contempt in its voice now, contempt and rage. Like wood to a fire the mountain lion seemed to grow, its body expanding, lengthening, and shadowing the great, lumbering redwoods that was their meeting place. Great, curled horns expanded from its head, and hard, bony scales formed along its spine, nestled around a bed for feathers. Its fangs alone stood taller than the deity, and its eyes were two smoldering suns that gleamed with wicked intent.

A single thought occurred to the deity in that moment. This was a mistake.

"You wish to bear my likeness!" the puma roared, and though its words could not be heard by the ears of Man, birds scattered in shrieking flocks from the treetops. "Then you shall have it!" A massive paw similar in size to a pickup-truck came barreling towards the deity at an impossible speed, and though the deity retreated, it was too late; the paw was not aiming for the deity in question but in fact into the ground between them, and the great curved talons carved into the earth, sending a wave of dirt and debris that went higher than the deity's head crashing down onto the entity. The deity raised an arm in protection, yet the magic that should have afforded protection died as soon as the dirt washed over.

The cascade knocked the deity flat, and as the soil settled on top, a new form shook itself free. "Your boon has been granted," the puma Mshibzhiw rumbled, and its body began to dissolve like smoke in the air. "Live in my likeness. Hunt in my likeness. Die in my likeness. That is my curse, which I lay upon you, who would dare be so arrogant as to beg my favor." As the strange visage faded, that new creature, that new cougar, shook the dirt from its pelt as it watched the Great Spirit vanish.

A new, single thought traveled through the reborn puma's head. Oh... shit.

XXX

"So that's why you smelled like a campfire," Morgan mumbled, then pulled Aiko once more into a tight hug. Aiko almost felt her legs go weak with the relief that cascaded down upon her, and she leaned into the embrace, knocking Morgan off-balance and sending them both falling onto the bed they were pressed up against. Any other time the act would have left the two lovers in a fit of giggles, yet after Aiko's story; an abridged tale that made no mention of gods or pumas or monsters but made full use of the fire at the shipping yard, neither felt any humor.

Instead, Aiko rolled on top of her lover and kissed her deeply, as if in doing so could burn away the memories that were still too fresh in her mind- like the puma had burned away the monster's eggs- and felt some of the tension leak from her bones as Morgan's grip on her tightened.

She'd been scared. God, she'd been so scared. The idea that she'd never see Morgan again, that she'd never have- never have this- had been a terrifying prospect to try and accept, and the respite granted to her upon awakening in a car with Keiichi and the others had been overwhelming.

This was overwhelming too though. Overwhelming in a different, but not entirely bad way. Morgan hadn't prodded her about what the real story was but had instead allowed Aiko to open up to it in her own time, demonstrating a level of support and calm that Aiko hadn't realized she'd needed up until that point. Kei was good. Her parents were fine. Hell, even Belldandy with her angel were good but... this was Morgan. A person who had changed Aiko's life two years ago, and whom it now felt almost impossible to let go of. Morgan was her best friend. The person who shared her hobbies and had the same sense of humor, who managed to look at the world with wry wit and sarcasm, and who had demonstrated on several occasions her willingness to step up on Aiko's behalf. She was a realist who tried to keep herself out of picking sides but could jump anyone's shit if she got riled, who could make abominations out of foods and then have the audacity to call it art, and was currently clutching Aiko so hard and with such force that the young woman was starting to overheat.

She gasped, ending the kiss as she came up for breath. Morgan's response was to roll on top of her, plant her lips against Aiko's neck, and blow a long raspberry that left Aiko shrieking. "Lemme go Morgana!" the woman cried.

Morgan's response was to blow another raspberry against Aiko's neck in a firm refusal to let go. "No," she grumbled, her lips right next to Aiko's ear and somehow absurdly loud. "Not gonna let you go again until you promise not to get kidnapped anymore. I'm sick of you vanishing on me." Though her tone was light, there was hidden depth to it that weighed on Aiko like a physical presence. "Not gonna lose you again. You're the only person who tolerates me."

"Love you too, Mor-ga-naaa," Aiko drawled, placing emphasis on the syllables of Morgan's nickname and being rewarded with another long kiss instigated by her girlfriend.

They lay like that for a time, curled up in each other's arms with little, if any, talk between them. At this point there was little that needed to be said; the comfort each drew from the presence of the other was enough. Though the room's air conditioner was on full blast, the two remained warm and even cozy in their closeness. Aiko could hear Morgan's breath start to slow as the exhaustion of the day took its toll on her. A fond smile crossed her face, and with the excitement of the day passed- the good, the bad, and the ugly- Aiko considered that perhaps she might be able to rest a bit as well.

She made herself as comfortable as she dared while still wrapped in Morgan's arms, holding no desire to rouse her lover by accident, and closed her eyes, allowing her mind to drift as she willed her body to relax. She could feel herself starting to drift off as well and sighed. It would be good to return to North Carolina. To put all this business of gods and spirits and monsters behind her and return to her regular life as a college student working on her bachelor's degree.

Her thoughts drifted. Words and images from earlier in the day ran a slow and foggy course through her mind, none of which held long enough to stick but just enough to acknowledge. She heard Urd's voice in her head- now a memory for the rest of eternity, and saw small, brief flashes of Belldandy as well. She heard and saw a shadowy and dim visage of Kei drift through her mind's eye, and at some point some half-awake part of her was convinced she conversed with a shadow whose form was like a coyote and whose voice was like Skuld's. What they spoke of, Aiko would never recall, and their time was so short it was negligible after the shadowy coyote melted into the golden eye of the mountain lion. Her mountain lion. Her puma-baby, that had come to her aid when she'd cried for help and had promised to stay with her until her death.

And that was no lie, Child, the puma said, and though its form was strange and frightening, Aiko was unafraid. This was closer to the cougar's true appearance, she knew, and the true image of a god could be a frightening sight to behold if one was ignorant to that fact. Yet Aiko had been in union with the puma. Aiko had been in union with the god, and her spirit had been touched by the divine. And so when the cougar came to visit her she beheld it in all its glory, with a coat singed by the sun and scorched into scales, blessed with feathers and horns as it took up its mantle at the threshold to the underworld. This it let her see, and it gifted her its secret name, which she promised she would remember but would likewise forget upon awakening. You belong to me, it told her. For you were chosen for death and escaped my claws by a hair's width. You who was born on the earth of Old Mother and beneath Father Sky's blanket, and who differ from your kin who hail from distant territories untouched by our many tribes.

"What if I don't want to belong to you?" she'd asked it, braving its wrath after having touched its spirit back at the shipping facility. "What if I want to belong to a different god? Like the god who forced our Union or Belldandy or someone else?"

The puma chuffed, and she could smell rancid meat on its breath. Meat and tobacco, and it was a strange and somehow comforting smell coming from the spirit. Its eyes danced with laughter like a candle's flame against a breeze. You may worship them, if that is what you wish. It changes nothing. Your life belongs to me, and in death, you will return to me.

"What does that mean for me?"

Nothing, for now, the puma replied. Go and live your life. Stay here in California or return to your territory in North Carolina, it makes no difference to me. When I have need for you I will come... and likewise, should you have need of me, I shall come. It walked to her, first on the four legs of a beast, and then on the two legs of a man, and the face it showed her then was one she would only recall in her dreams. It pressed something into the palm of her hand. This signifies the bond born between us, it said, keep it near so that I may know you, and know of me as you would your kin.

And then like all the other divine entities she'd come to know over the past three months, the spirit was gone, and her dreams became deep and black and unforthcoming.

Yet when she awoke the following day, her mind recalling only the dim fabrications of her subconscious, she felt something hard and jagged in her closed hand. When she opened it, she found the large, curled claw of some kind of big cat. She considered it in the early morning light for a good many hours, and did not move to pocket it until she sensed Morgan stirring as well.

After covering her lover's face with gentle morning kisses after Morgan began to rouse in full, Aiko asked her girlfriend a single question. "So, you know how I was thinking about getting a tattoo... what do you think about me getting a puma?"

XXX

At close to three forty-five in the morning, Belldandy awoke from a black and dreamless sleep. She awoke with a slight gasp, to the feeling of a pair of arms around her and a shadowy visage holding her securely to its side. For reasons her sleep-addled mind could not yet fathom, Urd came to her mind, and then just as quickly was dismissed. You never picked up, Skuld hissed in her ear. Urd is gone because of you.

She winced reflexively, and tried to adjust, her right arm tingling uncomfortably from where she'd fallen asleep on it in the bed. The shadow she was next to grunted at the act, then pulled her a little closer, where she caught a hearty whiff of Old Spice. In moments, the events of last night returned to her, and the goddess bit her lip, wondering when she and Keiichi had fallen asleep against each other.

I dreamt of Urd... she thought to herself, and again beheld Urd in her mind's eye; the human-Urd, the Urd she'd abandoned at the storage complex, her expression wounded as Belldandy snapped at her. Guilt followed it, and the Urd in her imagination shifted to the one of her dream: the Tendee Destruction-Aspect, with frenzied eyes that glowed with fury and violence. Guilt knotted in her chest, making it difficult to breathe. It's because of me, she thought. I never should have... Had I stayed with her... Her eyes began to burn with unspent tears, and with a grimace she bit down hard on her lip, denying herself the opportunity to weep.

Awake now, with all chances of sleep abandoning her, Belldandy looked over at the man resting beside her and wrapped her free arm around him. She hugged him tightly, grateful for his presence, and heard him grunt in his sleep, rubbing her back with the arm still wrapped around her as if in reflex. It was a comforting motion, and the sheer fact that the SEAL's first action even while asleep was to attempt to ease her pain was almost enough to make her break down and cry all over again.

She held back, however, instead kissing his brow in thanks before carefully unwrapping herself from their shared grasp. Part of her moaned at the act in protest, mourning the comforting weight of Keiichi's presence as she freed her right arm. The larger part of her began to moan as that same arm began to tingle with pins and needles, and shaking and flexing it to try and get the feeling back, Belldandy slipped out of the covers and off the bed. Keiichi seemed to miss her company in his sleep as well, and though he remained asleep, he groaned loudly and grabbed her pillow, hugging it close to his chest as if he were a young boy with a teddy bear.

It was an endearing sight, and for a long moment Belldandy stood at the bedside, staring down at him with a refreshingly vacant mind as she massaged the feeling back into her right arm. Then thoughts of Urd returned to her, and Belldandy turned away.

She went to the bathroom and locked the door behind her, then turned to examine herself in the mirror. Someone had been kind enough to remove most of the blood on her face and hands, but her nose had a trail of dried blood coming from it and the knuckles of both her hands were scabbed from where they'd been split open in her battles against Hagall and Thrymr. Her hair was back to its more regular almond-brown shade, but she was still dressed in her combat uniform, the clothes soiled with blood, sweat, and long smears of dirt. Like someone mopped the floor with my body, she thought, and rubbed her brow. Her head hurt, as if from eye strain.

She ignored it, then undressed and hopped into the shower. Keiichi had left his bottles of Head and Shoulders and Old Spice body wash in the shower, and ignoring the tiny hotel bottles of shampoo and soap, Belldandy washed herself twice with his products. In the heat of the shower, her injuries were made more visible, and the Norn winced reflexively at the heavy bruising that covered her body in painted splotches and the large assortment of scrapes, cuts, and scratches she'd obtained from her fights with the two demons. There was a particularly bad laceration along her inner thigh that she didn't remember getting, and which bled freely in the shower; so much so that she grew light-headed and needed to sit in the tub.

She left only after the hot water beating on her began to cool, by then in the process of washing her hair a third time, and stepped out and dried herself with one of the hotel's white towels. She looked down at her soiled uniform with a frown, but couldn't muster the energy or the effort to demolecularize it and return it to its gravity storage container. Instead she bundled it up with one of the face towels and carried it out of the bathroom with her.

She found a pile of clothes that looked to be around her size on a chair next to her bed, and wondered if it had always been there or if Keiichi had perhaps left it out for her to find while she was showering. A glance towards the sleeping man told her nothing, as while he'd turned his back to her in his sleep he hadn't left her bed, and so instead she grabbed the clothes and changed into them. The dark blue shorts were two sizes too large for her and hung awkwardly on her hips, and the matching blue blouse was one size too small, leaving it tight against her chest. She sighed but looked over at Keiichi with a half-smile anyways, appreciating the gesture, then crept over to his luggage bag and unzipped one of the compartments, stealing a belt she'd seen Keiichi throw in on a whim when they'd originally been packing to visit California.

The belt was too large, like the pants, but the clasp did the job of securing the shorts to her person. While it felt a little strange going commando, it wasn't the first time she'd done it; just the first time in... months now. A while. A long enough time where the sensation had ceased to be the norm and had instead become strange and unfamiliar to her. A strange revelation in those early hours, but one that brought her an absurd feeling of freedom, for it also meant that Aoshima's memories were becoming abstract and strange as well, which she welcomed with more warmth than the dream- the nightmare- of Urd.

Ah, but there she was again, like a long-time friend, and scowling to herself Belldandy grabbed Keiichi's sandals, which were several sizes too large, slipped them on, and stepped outside. She got herself turned around in the hallway, finding that the room she exited was not oriented in the same way or even on the same floor as the hotel room she'd previously occupied.

It was pushing close to five by the time she navigated to the elevator leading downstairs, this accomplished by following a fellow denizen who was leaving his room with a luggage cart and heading to check out. From there, in what was becoming an all too familiar lobby, Belldandy drifted, lost in her thoughts. She ignored those gathering in a slow but steady mass at the checkout desk, and wandered back and forth without purpose between the coffee machine and the lobby she'd had her initial conversation with Takano and Aiko in. Any hopes at sleep now seemed like a far-away dream, and so resigning herself to her fate, the Norn grabbed a cup of black coffee, ignored the cream and sugar, and proceeded into the lobby room area where the television was broadcasting a mixture of the local morning news and a weather forecast. Nothing but blue skies and sunshine for the whole week, and goodness, what a time to have no rain when there was not one, but two, count 'em two fires burning blazes in California? What a shame that someone's idea of a prank got so out of hand, and didn't people understand how dangerous fires were in California, surrounded by its forests with its great big redwoods as it was? A damn shame, I tell you, a damn shame.

Belldandy drifted back and forth between listening to the news broadcast and listening to people converse softly amongst themselves as they came and went. She sipped at her coffee and found it hot, but lacking in any flavor other than That Bitter Shit.

"You're up."

The goddess jumped at the voice, low and solemn, and almost spilled That Bitter Shit all over her shorts. She glared up at the speaker in question, but Debra looked neither amused nor irritated by the goddess. Instead she looked tired, and the woman plopped unceremoniously into the chair placed on the other side of the table she was at, a cup of her own coffee that smelled a little too strongly to just be coffee in her hand. Belldandy grunted something indecipherable and went back to her cup, her thoughts too black that morning to entertain the mortal woman before her.

Debra seemed content to let her be, for the moment, instead choosing to take a long sip of her own coffee as she watched the morning broadcast with uninterested eyes. After about five minutes or so she finally asked, "How long have you been awake?"

"An hour or two," Belldandy muttered, peering into the open cup of her coffee. Her reflection, tired and in pain, peered back at her. "You?" It seemed safe to make small talk. She had no interest in an argument, and it sounded like Debra didn't either.

"Didn't sleep much," Debra muttered. "Too many nightmares of... what happened. Too many spiders." Belldandy looked up sharply, but the detective didn't seem to notice. "Keiichi fill you in?"

"Still asleep."

"Ah." More silence. "We found Aiko. She's safe."

"Aiko?" Belldandy looked up at the woman before her with a start. The goddess realized with shame that she had forgotten about the young woman after the dream of her sister, and the college student hadn't even so much as grazed her mind in her waking moments. Now however, her mind took her on a race down memory lane, speeding back to her final waking moments as she shouted demands at Hagall for Aiko's return. And then those interlopers had appeared and-

"What happened?" Belldandy asked. "I... only remember up to the new pack of demons arriving."

Debra pursed her lips, observing Belldandy with sharp eyes. She leaned back in her chair as though in careful consideration of her words, before finally saying, "They were... law enforcement."

"Law enforcement?" Belldandy repeated, staring at the detective as though she'd grown another head.

Debra nodded. "They... came to arrest Hagall," she said slowly. "The one in charge promised to leave us alone if we cooperated with her and her men." The woman fell silent a moment. "She kept her promise."

There was more to it than just that, of course. Belldandy could see it in the woman's eyes. "What aren't you telling me?"

Debra stared at her, her fingers drumming the armrests of her chair. "You didn't know those demons, did you?" she inquired, which only further off-balanced Belldandy.

"No, of course not," Belldandy replied. "Up until just this moment the very idea that demons would have a law enforcement branch never even occurred to me. Hagall was the only demon I was familiar with and that was... not because we were on friendly terms."

The detective nodded, grabbing her chin as she observed the Norn, her fingers covering her lips. "Out with it," Belldandy snapped. "I'm in no mood for games."

"Were you aware that Urd had demonic associates?" Debra almost blurted the words out, and Belldandy wondered if she hadn't accidently pulled them from the woman in her irritation. It caught the Norn off guard, and she stared at the detective in open shock. "Those demons who came, those um, law enforcement demons. Their leader at least knew Urd." The blonde's lips twisted into a grimace as Belldandy continued to stare. "I'd... seen them speaking together and... Urd confirmed that they were... back-up."

The detective winced in reflection. "I'm... sorry," she muttered. "I-I shouldn't be bringing Urd up like this. Especially after she-" The woman lapsed into silence. "Sorry."

"No!" Belldandy exclaimed, perhaps a bit too loudly. Debra flinched, and a handful of people looked over at them. "No..." she repeated in a softer voice. "Please, don't apologize, it's... you are not in the wrong, I was..." She fell silent as well, her mind awash with what to do with this new information. She knew her sister. She knew Urd's past. She'd learned hints of the lengths Urd had gone through to discover and rescue Belldandy and what her sister had been willing to sacrifice to achieve that goal. It would be foolish to assume that Urd had completely turned her back on her heritage and the people she was connected to back there but... to use her position, her connections, to find Hagall? And law enforcement? Demonic law enforcement? Had her sister gone so far out of her way to see Hagall brought to justice, infernal though it was? Or had it been coincidence based off her own connections back in Niflheim?

The revelation brought more questions than answers to Belldandy, and the woman looked down into her revolting drink, unable to look Debra in the eye. Even now, Urd is watching out for me. A lump settled in her throat.

At length Belldandy spoke once more. "Urd was... is..." She trailed off, and her eyes flitted back to Debra's face. There was guilt there too, and it was a strange sight to behold; a woman, a mortal, who felt responsible for the fate that had befallen a goddess of whom she knew little of and worshipped not in the least. No, it's not that, Holy Bell whispered, she feels guilty over someone she perceives as another person. Divinity has nothing to do with it.

The goddess took a deep breath. "What will you do now that you have experienced what you have?" she asked. "Will you keep your memories or request that they be removed?"

Debra looked at her with some surprise and a whole lot of trepidation. "Why do you ask?"

"Humor me."

The detective stared at her, eyes imploring. "I'd request they'd be erased," she confessed after some time.

"May I inquire why?"

The mortal frowned. "How can I be expected to return to society as a functioning adult after this?" she asked. "After seeing the things I saw... doing the things I did... learning what I know now..." She shook her head. "I'm a detective, Belldandy. I'm required to question everything I see, everything I do, everyone I meet..." The woman pursed her lips. "What happens when I start questioning whether or not the murder that just happened was the result of some kind of feud between the divine and the damned? What happens when a suspect is brought to me, and their behavior kicks my instincts as a detective up to eleven and makes me wonder if they aren't some kind of demon or god or spirit in disguise?" She leaned forward, clutching her cup tightly as she stared down into the wood grain of the coffee table. "What happens when I start questioning myself?" she asked quietly. "When I have a breakdown because everywhere I look I see nothing but signs of the supernatural, and people start looking at me like I'm the crazy one? What happens when the shrink I end up visiting tries to convince me it's all in my head, that everything I went through with you and Keiichi was all one big dream trying to make up for some past trauma?" She looked up, catching Belldandy's blue eyes with her darker brown ones. "How am I supposed to keep on living when I start questioning my own sanity?"

Belldandy looked away. "I see," she said quietly, and inhaled deeply. "Then as you choose to forget regardless, I will reveal to you a small truth about Urd, which I will tell you only in thanks for your aid in combat against those demons and the knowledge you have provided me." She rubbed her brow, then took a long sip of That Bitter Shit. "Urd was once a demon. And while I will not go into the details... I suppose it should not surprise me that she would keep those contacts made in Niflheim nearby."

Debra looked at her with a face that was suspiciously neutral. "That would explain some things." Her voice was quiet. "She must have been pretty high on the food chain. When I first saw her with that demon... it was almost like watching a subordinate report to some high-ranking officer."

Belldandy said nothing.

"Does Keiichi know?"

"No," the Norn replied. "And I would prefer he not know. Urd was good to him, and I have no wish to see his image of her sullied by what she was and not what she became."

"I understand." Debra sucked in a long breath. "So then is it the same for you? I thought you two were sisters."

Belldandy shook her head. "We are half-sisters. Urd's mother is a demon, my mother is a goddess. We share the same father, who is a god."

The detective grunted. "Guess that explains Keima's 'Jigoku no Musume.'" She picked up her coffee and took a deep gulp of it. "We tried going back for her, you know. Urd and her friend. To recover... anyways... there was a fire that prevented us from getting there." She sent a side-long glance at the Norn. "Just... in case you wanted to go back. Needed to go back." The woman hesitated. "Keiichi wanted to tell someone called 'Skuld' about what happened too."

"I see," Belldandy murmured. "That is not his responsibility. I will be the one to contact Skuld, though I fear she already knows." Her hand reflexively reached for her pocket before she remembered the phone had been de-molecularized with her original outfit during her fight with Thrymr. She'd have to retrieve it later.

The two lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

"Watch out for Keiichi."

Belldandy looked up at Debra, but found that the woman would not meet her eyes, her attention instead focused on the black plastic lid on her coffee cup. There was a small, disquieted frown on her face. "I'm not... I'm not just saying that to-" She fell quiet once again, and Belldandy waited, curious as to what the woman might say. "Keiichi is... he's a good man," Debra continued, and her brow knitted together as she fumbled with her words. "It's just-he's just..." She sighed, frustrated with herself. "He tried to kill me Belldandy." The woman spat the words out as if they were poison, and then appeared to regret it as she looked up at the goddess from beneath her brow.

"Yes," Belldandy said slowly. "I have heard... snippets... mentioned." She chose her words carefully, wary of what the detective was getting at. "I was told he was not of a healthy mind at the time."

"He wasn't." Debra looked away, her gaze drifting towards one of the windows that was showing the approaching sunrise. The world outside was dark still, a dark blue that was starting to lighten, and would soon elevate into brighter hues of pink and yellows.

"He's changed since then, you realize."

"Of course I do!" Debra snapped, and then looked chagrined by her own outburst. "I know," she repeated. "That's why I came..." She trailed off with a grimace.

Belldandy watched her with keen eyes. "What point is there in bringing up such old wounds?" the Norn asked. "Keiichi has grown in the time since you abandoned him. He has improved himself as a person. He is a better man than the man you once knew.

"Aband-" Debra straightened in her seat, staring at the goddess with shocked eyes. "Is that what you call it? Abandoned? As in, I left Keiichi hanging after he tried to murder me?" Her voice began to rise, drawing the attention of one or two denizens who looked towards the two women in irritation.

Belldandy held her calm, staring at the woman with no small amount of accusation. Perhaps it was the stress of the past twenty-four hours that sharpened her tongue, drawing ill-held misbeliefs to the surface and maybe even feeding a bit on that familiar old insecurity that Belldandy still bore in her chest. Whatever the reason, her next words cut deep. "Is that not what you did though?" Belldandy demanded, and though Debra's voice rose Belldandy's remained soft but firm. "Did you not abandon him when he needed you most?" There was accusation in her eyes. Accusation and fire, and Debra recoiled from it as though it held a tangible presence.

The woman stood but did not face the goddess, would not even look at her. Yet Belldandy could tell she was seething in rage. "So," she bit out. "After all that we went through in the last couple of days, it's back to that." She clenched and unclenched her fists as if she were contemplating whether to just walk away, or turn and ignite a brawl. A moment later, the goddess had her answer. "You weren't there, you don't know what I endured," she said simply, then turned to look at Belldandy. "I'm done with this and I am done with you." Abruptly she turned and stormed away.

Belldandy sat there shell-shocked, not knowing what to do. She glanced around, and noted other people in the lobby turning their heads to hide the fact that they had been eavesdropping.

It was Holy Bell who broke her out of her daze. You fucked up again, Carrie.

"I know," Belldandy hissed through clenched teeth. Her chest felt tight as tears continued to fall. She felt ill. "I know."

Go after her. You need to make this right.

The goddess nodded, and nearly sprinted after the woman who had gone out the lobby's front doors. She stopped at the entrance, not knowing which direction she may have traveled. Since she had been unconscious when they had returned, she had no idea where they may have parked. Frantically, she ran in the direction of the main parking lot, but did not see her quarry. She stopped, glanced around to ensure that no one was looking, and then chanted. "Make thyself known to me o person of interest. Heed my voice and show me your direction of travel!"

There was a chirp behind her, and she turned to see a small sparrow sitting on a branch. She listened for a moment as it sang to her. For some reason she found it difficult. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" She asked it. The tiny bird turned its head to observe her with one beady black eye, and then chirped again at a slower pace. "I apologize again... something about seeds? No, worms?" She looked at it, squinting. "No, not that... cars! Ah, I see now! Thank you!" she replied, and rushed off in the direction of the parking garage, which was on the opposite side of the hotel. She passed a small, black cat that was sitting next to the side entrance. It meowed at her, and she nodded her thanks as she raced past the parking garage entrance, paused, and then raced back to the cat. "...Which way did you say? I fear I might have misheard you." The cat's tail flicked in irritation, and with a yowl it moved to its feet and trotted off inside the parking garage. "...Oh." Belldandy said, and then chased after it, muttering under her breath, "How did I mishear that?" She ducked inside and to the stairwell, where she rushed down to the second sub-level. The goddess scanned the area and saw who she was looking for, and started running towards her. "Debra!" she cried as she approached.

The woman turned. The rage was still there in her eyes, tempered only by the hurt that she must have also been feeling. "What the fuck do you-"

Debra came up short when Belldandy stopped and immediately offered a deep bow. "I'm sorry!" she wailed without rising. "I… I chose my words poorly, and because of that, I have deeply offended you. I wish for this poison between us to be cleansed."

The woman stared at the goddess for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh. "Get up, please. You're making a scene."

Tentatively, Belldandy straightened and glanced around. A group of men off to one side of the parking structure were staring, and the goddess turned red from embarrassment. Debra turned, and started walking, and for a moment, it seemed as if she was going to ignore the apology. But then, after a few steps, she opened the door of the car Belldandy recognized as her rental, and beckoned the goddess to get in, which she quickly took her up on.

After getting into the passenger seat and closing the door, Belldandy watched as Debra did the same on the driver's side. Together, the woman and the goddess sat in tense silence for what seemed like an eternity. It took some additional prodding from Holy Bell to spur Belldandy to break it. "I'm sorry," she repeated. "I… I didn't used to be like this. I went through a very traumatic time in my life that I was only recently able to get away from thanks to Keiichi."

"You mentioned that before," said Debra before turning and looking at the goddess. "Look, I don't want to get into a dick measuring contest over who's more traumatized. I'm glad that Keiichi is…" She trailed off when she saw a worried look on the goddess's face. "What?"

Belldandy looked ashen as she bit her lip. "I'm sorry, but I don't have a dick to measure," she said as she poked the index fingers of her hands together nervously. "And… I would certainly hope that you don't either, otherwise I may have to have a talk with Keiichi about his… preferences."

All Debra could do was stare at Belldandy in bewilderment. After a moment, she burst out laughing, pounding the steering wheel in her mirth. It took her a moment to compose herself before she could say anything. The goddess remained silent. "I don't know if you are serious or not," said Debra finally. "Look, I know that when you go through things, especially when they are fresh, that they can seem so big, so awful that you can't imagine anybody ever going through anything even close."

Belldandy gave her mortal companion a wan smile. "Thank you." Her look grew more somber as she turned and stared out the windshield. "I have to apologize again for what I said. I am sure you felt that leaving Keiichi was the only thing that you could do to be safe." She sighed and shook her head. "But my experience was different." She turned and looked to Debra again. "You see, Keiichi did not leave me under similar circumstances."

The woman's mouth fell open as she stared at the goddess in shock. Her look turned to worry. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that Keiichi suffered a similar incident," Belldandy said, almost having to choke the words out. She glanced around as if searching for the right words to say, then turned back to Debra. "I… I have not spoken of this to anyone. Keiichi knows what happened not because I told him, but because he saw the evidence, and… experienced it firsthand." She took a shuddering breath as she turned away again, no longer able to meet the detective's eyes. "I… I was chained to a mortal that I was powerless to oppose. A wretch whose depravity knew no bounds. He… he raped me. For ten years, he raped me and tortured me and made me do things that…" she shuddered, unable to complete her thought. She turned again to face Debra, now with tears staining her cheeks. "Keiichi saved me. With the help of my sisters, and at great personal cost to Urd I might add, he saved me." She let her head fall, and her tears began to fall into the cup holders between the two seats.

"And do you know how I repaid him?" asked the goddess without looking up. "In a moment that should have been the most intimate expression of our love, I…" She stopped and raised her head while she sucked in a deep breath as if she needed to ready herself. "I killed him Debra!" The tears, which had been coming as a trickle, now streamed out in force as she was wracked by sobs. "The man I love… The man who saved me… I killed him!"

Beside Belldandy, Debra recoiled in shock, her hands coming to her mouth. "But… but he's here!"

"Only because of Urd," replied the goddess after taking a moment to recompose herself. She bowed her head as she could no longer bring herself to look at the woman. "I held him by his throat, and I felt his life force leave him. If it were not for the intervention of my sisters, Urd especially, he would not have made it."

Finally now, Belldandy raised her head and looked at Debra. "I… I am Goddess First Class Belldandy, and I am not worthy of this mortal." She sniffed to clear the snot that was gathering around her nostrils. "I am not worthy of him because in spite of what I did to him, in spite of the fact that I literally killed him, he has not left me!" She leaned back in her seat and wiped the tears out of her eyes, which proved to be a futile gesture as more came in their place. She turned and looked out the passenger window. "So you see, my views of what happened between you and Keiichi are colored by my own experience of what happened between him and myself." She shook her head disdainfully, embarrassed by what she had said and what she had done before. "And for that, I apologize."

For the longest time, there was silence. It was uncomfortable, almost unbearable. Belldandy debated on whether she should get out and leave, or allow Debra the satisfaction of telling her to. So thoroughly had Toshiyuki Aoshima beaten and raped the trusting nature out of her that even now she waited for the ax to drop and for Keiichi's ex to throw her out on her ear. Certainly she deserved it. Her actions had not been befitting of a goddess of her stature, traumatized though she was. So, when she felt Debra's hand reach out and take hers, she flinched.

"I accept your apology, Belldandy."

Even after so many months and after receiving so much kindness and acceptance from not only Keiichi but his friends and family, it still came as a shock to the goddess that someone would simply forgive her for her transgressions. Tentatively, she turned back to Debra. The woman had a stern look on her face, but there was no animosity that she could detect. The woman only shook her head. "That… that sounds so much like the Keiichi I married," she said after a moment. "You're lucky. When we were dating and when we were married, he would always take the blame for anything that happened between us. Any argument that we had, the big bad Navy SEAL would say 'I'm sorry', and that would be that. Even when it was my fault."

Belldandy turned back to Debra as the woman looked off in the distance as if reliving some memory. "I loved him for that," she said. "Loyal to a fault." She turned and looked Belldandy in the eyes. "But that man was lost to me after Afghanistan. The man that came back was a shell of his former self." Debra reached up and pulled down the collar of her blouse. "He chased me through the forest behind the house and hunted me down like I was some kind of baseball card terrorist." Belldandy could make out a long, pink scar across the top of her left breast. "He did this with a pocketknife. Not even a big one. A tiny little Leatherman with the pliers you can put on a key ring. He sliced me there," she released her collar, then hiked up the blouse to show another, smaller, pink scar on her abdomen, "and stabbed me here before I managed to get the knife out of his hands."

The goddess watched with dawning understanding as Debra continued. "Then he started to choke me." Belldandy remained stock still as an image of the utter betrayal on Keiichi's face came to her as she had done the same. "I could see the back door to the house when he put his hands around my throat," she breathed. "Keiichi would have killed me twenty feet from the home we'd bought together two years before, and I wouldn't have been able to do anything about it."

Belldandy could only watch the woman, unable to reconcile the image of the kind and forgiving man she had come to know with the image of him that Debra portrayed. Would you have done the same? asked Holy Bell. The goddess thought about that for a moment, and decided that she would not. But at the same time, she would no longer begrudge anyone who did. "Thank you," she said. "That… explains a lot. I feel that I must once again apologize for any and all of my actions that may have caused you grief."

Debra snorted and nodded. "I did not come here with honorable intentions," she replied. "So I feel that I must also apologize as I should have backed off when I realized that you and Keiichi were together."

Belldandy smiled. "It seems that we have wronged each other. Thank you for accepting my apology, and I will accept your own."

Debra reached out and offered a hug to the goddess, who gladly leaned in and accepted it. "I am so glad he seems to be back to the way I remember," she said in Belldandy's ear. She released the goddess and sat back in her seat. "Now, I need to take care of the clothes and stuff in the back of this car before I return it to the rental company."

"Right," said Belldandy. Taking the hint, she opened the door and stepped out, closing it behind her. She smiled and waved at Debra as she started the car and put it into reverse.

The woman backed out of the parking space and started to drive off, but stopped next to Belldandy and rolled down her window. "Be good to him," she said with a smile.

Belldandy returned it. "I will," she replied.

Before she rolled up the window, the goddess caught a mischievous glint in the woman's eye. "And if I hear that you killed him again, I will be back to take him away from you. Kicking and screaming if I have to!" With that, she rolled up her window and drove off towards the parking lot exit. Belldandy watched her go.

"If I ever do that again, I will gladly hand him over to you," she said as the car disappeared from sight.

XXX

Pulling out of the hotel, Debra turned her rental south towards Highway 82 before merging onto the larger Interstate 280. She ignored the route that would have led her to the San Francisco Airport and instead headed towards San Mateo. The detective still had one final thing she needed to accomplish before she could leave for home, and the bag of soiled clothes from yesterday's battle still sat in the trunk of her car, resting separate from her smaller bag of luggage she'd brought with her for travel.

She yawned largely, blinking her eyes rapidly as she fell into the swift current of California's five-thirty traffic. By now the sun had peeked over the horizon, and its rays were a bright and painful presence on her left-hand side. The woman ignored it as best she could. The obtrusive rays hurt her already burning eyes. The detective had gotten little sleep last night, as her dreams had been nothing but a replay of the battles she'd been in against those demons. Keiichi dying and not being saved, of the looming darkness and the horrid sensation of being pursued by (spiders) something she couldn't see. Of that demon, Mara, and her beastly crew in all their wretchedness not holding to her word and instead slaughtering and eating all of them. Of the spectral puma that had possessed Aiko, first attacking Keiichi and then mauling Debra, and then (spiders) shadows emerging from the wounds to consume their remains.

It had left her tossing and turning all throughout the night, and at one point Megumi had even roused her to see if she was okay. Debra had awoken almost screaming at that point, for the nightmare she'd been trapped in, though foggy now, had been of the eternal darkness first brought by the 'bat-girl', with the (spider) monster that had dwelt within it having finally discovered her. The dream had been real, too real, and even now she could hear its chittering, its scuttling, its fangs rubbing against each other as it readied to leap and-

She blinked and shook her head, rubbing her eyes with her free hand. For a moment she'd almost felt like she was dreaming again. "Should've gotten stronger coffee," she mumbled, blinking her eyes rapidly. Her thoughts still felt thick from the poor sleep, and it was difficult to concentrate on the road in front of her. Yet it was far from the first time she'd been on the road while sleep deprived, and it wouldn't be the last either, and so she took a deep breath, sat a little straighter, and forced herself to pay better attention to the road in front of her. It wasn't congested yet, but it would be in an hour or two, and there were already signs of that upcoming traffic starting to spawn as more and more cars appeared on the road.

"Rough night, huh?"

Debra jumped, and shot a quick glance over to the passenger seat, which was empty, then a quick look into the rearview mirror, which also displayed a pair of empty seats. She returned her eyes to the road, and passed the event off as some kind of auditory hallucination. She got those from time to time, when the nights were long or the meetings were overly boring, but nonetheless it unnerved her; auditory hallucinations meant she was hurting for sleep much more than she'd initially thought, and were often a precursor to visual hallucinations as well. Staying on the highway any longer would be dangerous; she had to either get off the road or find some other way to wake herself up.

"But it wasn't a hallucination." The voice came again, and in some ways that made it even worse. Because that meant that it was playing on another subtle fear; one new in origin and which she'd hoped to be rid of during her final goodbyes to the Morisato Clan before hopping on the plane home.

"I'm not hearing this," she declared, and buried the voice and everything associated with it; the masculine tone, the sound of it coming from the passenger seat, the sudden feeling of (spiders) eyes watching her every action-into the farthest recesses of her mind. "I'm tired is all. It's not because there's anything else in the car with me. I'm just tired. Just. Tired."

"That's a cruel thing to say," the voice continued. "You've seen gods and demons and even spirits, and you choose not to acknowledge one as small as me?" The voice sounded wounded. "I suppose I should have expected that, however. After all, I was the cause of your poor sleep, so perhaps it was natural that you would choose to ignore me."

"There's no one else in the vehicle with me," Debra continued this time in a louder voice, as if hoping to drown out the disembodied voice in the car. Because the more the voice spoke, the more she could pinpoint its location, and it scared her that she could hear the voice moving, that she could see something small and brown, perhaps the size of her hand, moving from the corner of her eye, something she didn't dare look at for fear of what she might see. She focused on the road with fresh intensity.

The voice sighed. "Listen... I'm sorry about this. I really am. I've been creeping through your memories while you've been sleeping and... you've done a lot of good. You helped a Norn out, which is something that deserves rewarding, not... this. I mean, sure, you two had your disagreements, and you jumped to the wrong conclusion about Na'ashjéii Asdzáá's acolyte, but even that could be forgivable, given how you changed your opinion of her after learning more about her. That's an admirable trait. Not many people, even in Asgard, have the humility to do that."

"I don't understand what you're saying," Debra admitted, and then recoiled at her own words, for in speaking them, she had unwittingly acknowledged the voice as real.

"You understand some though, and that's enough," the voice continued. "And I guess really, that's the problem. You understand some of how the gods work. You even understand some of how the demons work, which is even worse. You cooperated with demons, and while I personally understand why you did it- I walked through your mind, after all- it doesn't change the fact that you were willing to work with them."

"I had to," Debra argued. "Belldandy was unconscious and they would have killed Keiichi and me if we didn't cooperate."

"I know," the voice continued, and its point of origin was drifting... coming closer, and she spied one long, hairy, brown leg drift into her peripheral view on the dashboard. The urge to scream overcame her, yet the fear she felt left her paralyzed, and so it remained lodged in her throat. "Please, concentrate on the road. You'll crash."

"Isn't that why you're here though?" the detective whispered tightly. "To tie up loose ends?"

The voice was quiet.

"I'm not a fool. I know you were in my dreams. Pursuing me. Chasing me. Hunting me." Christ, she was trembling now. She could feel her whole body shaking in terror. She didn't want to look at the thing on her dash- the spider on her dash- and know what it was. Some kind of god or spirit or something else come to clean up what had been left behind, like a witness to a crime scene with a target on her head. "I'm going to forget, you know. I'm not stupid. I'm choosing to forget all of this." God, she sounded so pitiful. Like a woman begging for her life in front of some kind of kingpin. "I don't want anything more to do with the divine or the damned, if that's what you're worried about."

"I know." The voice sounded tragic now. "It's not fair, because you're requesting to forget that you ever had any interactions with us, and I acknowledge that it's unfair as well." It even sounded regretful, and its tone was believable, which Debra hated. Because that regretful tone made her want to hope, made her want to pursue, made her want to beg, and she knew that no words would sway the thing speaking to her right now. They were artificial tones; constructs designed to reassure her, to think that there might be a chance to escape this hole she'd dug herself into while all the while there was a gun aimed at the back of her head. "I know," the voice continued. "But you remembering isn't the problem here, unfortunately. It's your willingness to work with those demons who you bartered an agreement with."

"I didn't have a cho-"

"And as I said, I'm aware of that," the voice said, interrupting her. "And it does not matter if you forget, it does not matter if you never see another god or spirit or demon again. What matters is the possibility of a demon being indebted to you. The one you spoke with... your memories insinuate that is the case for the information you provided the demon and your willingness to cooperate. That insinuates a contract for later down the road... a contract that that was never formalized, but will be crafted regardless of whether you remember the demon or not, and will be carried out between you and her or perhaps a demon of similar power. That is the problem at hand. That is what cannot be allowed. And that is why I have been tasked with approaching you. You fall into the medium threat category rising to high, and given that the energies spawned from you by that implied contract would return to Niflheim, you are a problem that needs to be addressed. And for that, I apologize, for all of your efforts in dealing with that demon were in part on the desire to aid a Norn with ties to the Daitenkaicho." The voice paused for a long moment, and the words it spoke next were quiet and spoken not in consideration of Debra. "This is not how we should be treating those who would help us."

"Then don't!" Debra cried, and her words were shrill even to her own ears. "For Christ sake, don't! I wanted to save Aiko! I wanted to make sure Belldandy didn't do something she'd regret! I wanted to make sure the three of us came out of all those fights alone-don't kill me over a demon!"

"I'm sorry." The owner of the voice wandered into view upon her dashboard, right in front of her where he was impossible to miss. And oh, how she'd wished he'd stayed hidden. He was huge, a monstrous brown spider with two bulging, red chelicerae that housed a pair of massive, curved fangs. She recognized its species in an instant, the Brazilian Wandering Spider, or the Banana Spider, as it was sometimes called, held a deadly bite and was known for its aggression. She had been called in her younger days as a cop to deal with just such a creature. The one before her now raised the front two pairs of its legs together, giving Debra a healthy view of those wicked fangs, and to her it seemed to grow... to grow on the dash, to grow in the car, to expand to encompass everything before the creature seemed to lunge at her from a place outside of her world-

-And she was screaming, jerking hard on the wheel and-

-This is a dream. She thought to herself. I must still be asle-

-An explosion of glass into her face, the blare of a horn in her ear, the metallic crinkle of metal as it was crushed like a can-

-The steering wheel pushing up to meet her face-or was it something pushing down on her to meet the steering wheel?

The world spinning.

Pain. Fire. The smell of gas and metal and blood.

A final thought.

I'm not dreaming.

And finally, darkness.

XXX

Keiichi awoke to a strange sense of dread in his gut and a voice following him into the waking world. "The message will be passed, or you shall suffer for it." A rasping female voice whispered. It left Keiichi's hair standing on end, and despite the warmth of the bedroom, he shivered. Unconsciously, his hand went to his pocket, feeling for the item that his conscious mind refused to acknowledge and feeling the flat, rounded edge of it press against his leg. He sighed with a relief he didn't understand, and then picked himself off the bed, searching the bedroom for any sign of Belldandy.

The room was empty, however, though there were signs of her presence. A bundle of strange soiled clothes sat upon a dresser, and the spare change of clothes Debra had bought for Belldandy was missing. Rubbing his eyes, the man rolled out of the bed and investigated further, finding the fan was on in a bathroom that had long since been cleared of steam. He switched the fan off, turned around, and went to recover a pair of fresh socks and his shoes. His body protested any kind of bending, and with no one to see him, Keiichi groaned mightily, his body feeling like one large bruise after the injuries- and abrupt healing that had saved his life- from yesterday.

PT is going to be a bitch going home, he thought absently, and then winced. He'd never called McGuinness back after trying to reach out to Urd, and the thought that Mac might still be waiting for that phone call left him feeling guilty. And just what was he going to tell his CO when they spoke again? That Urd had died valiantly against a monstrous 'Ultimate Destruction Program'? That they'd battled demons? That he'd almost died- again? They were dark thoughts, thoughts Keiichi didn't want to dwell on so early in the morning, and it bothered him that he couldn't think up anything that might placate his boss.

Urd always was better at lying, some part of him whispered, and for a moment Urd as he'd last seen her- smiling and confident and promising to meet up with him- came to his mind's eye. "I promise." Wasn't that what she'd said? Straight to his face? Had it been sincere, and she'd just been overconfident with Lind? Or had she known that she couldn't beat it and had lied to his face?

It was an infuriating thought; a painful thought, and without thinking the man wheeled and smashed his fist into the wall. "Damn it Urd," he growled, and the fresh pain in his knuckles woke him up a little more. "We could have stayed back. We could have all come out of it together if you hadn't... if I hadn't..." He felt a fresh knot of grief seize in his chest, stealing his breath and making it hard to breathe.

"Please come home," he whispered hoarsely. "Please Urd... you and Lind both. Please come home." He let his fist slip off the plaster of the wall, where small, hairline fractures scattered in a spider web around the area of impact. He rubbed his fist, rubbed his wrist, and sighed mournfully. Belldandy needs you. He left this final thought unsaid, unable to work up the courage to speak it out loud and perhaps fearing the ramifications of what might come should he put it into words.

Instead, pulling on his socks and then his shoes, Keiichi grabbed his keys, grabbed his wallet, grabbed his phone, and left the small hotel room with all its ghosts and dead gods.

He found Belldandy downstairs in the lobby, her expression distant and thoughtful from where she sat in a chair. She sat alone and undisturbed, the surrounding couches and tables in the small room having been vacated in favor of check-outs or the sudden rush to the now-open breakfast buffet. The man felt his heart wrench as he looked at her. The fierce woman he'd fought side-by-side with was gone. In place of the Norn sat a child, curled up in a tight ball of discomfort and looking as lost, or perhaps even more so, than after she'd almost killed Keiichi.

Course she does, Boyo, his consciousness whispered, and it was bitter. Bitter and cold and hurt. Back then she already knew what she wanted to do. Leave. But now her big sister is gone- that same person who helped rescue her from Aoshima and helped her readjust to a regular society- and all of a sudden the world is a big and scary place, just like it was for Aiko. But you came back eventually. Urd won't.

He walked over to her, and found Belldandy so lost in thought that she did not immediately acknowledge him. "Hey Bell."

The goddess started at his voice, then looked up at him from her seat with a pair of wide, blue eyes. Again he was taken by how young she looked in that moment, how lost she looked, and found himself filled with the immediate need to comfort her. Instead he asked, "How you holding up?"

"Miserably," Belldandy muttered without thought, then seemed to realize what she'd said and scowled. "Stupid unrestricted..." She trailed off with a heavy sigh, then rubbed her eyes with a groan. For a long moment she said nothing, then sucked in a deep breath, released it, and said, "Debra told me what happened. I'm glad Aiko is safe."

"I am too," Keiichi replied. "About Urd-"

"Stop," Belldandy said. "Please just-stop." She paused, then sent him a sidelong glance. "She's- I dreamt of her. Last night. She was... she was alive." The Norn inhaled sharply. "Injured, but alive, and... she... Urd was..." The goddess bit her lip, and her hands curled into a pair of tight fists that slammed the arm of the chair.

"It was just a dream, Bell." Keiichi's voice was gentle. "Don't let it get to you."

"No." She shook her head. "It was not 'just a dream'. Of that I am certain." She bit her lower lip again, as if contemplating the wisdom of speaking further, and did so. "It was more than that, I am certain. I am a Norn, Keiichi. The Norn of the Present, and I was unconscious for a good many hours... what is to say my consciousness did not wander in that time? What is to stop me from proceeding to the place where my sister last stood and witnessing her final moments? What was to stop me from following her?"

"That's quite a leap to make over a dream." Keiichi remained dubious.

Belldandy frowned. "You don't believe me."

"It's not that." Keiichi shook his head, his lips pursed in a tight and thin line. "I want to believe you. I really do." He hesitated. "I want to believe that Urd is alive. But I'm hurting too... and so maybe there's a piece of me that is afraid to hope, afraid to dream, afraid to believe that Urd might be alive only to find out later that she's really gone, and then be hurt all over again." He paused once more, his expression bordering on discomfort. "It's... I don't feel like I'm strong enough to believe that right now, Bell. Maybe tomorrow, when some of the pain has ebbed. Maybe in a month, when I've had time to accept the possibility. But right now?" He shook his head. "Right now it's all too fresh, Bell. After losing Urd and almost losing Aiko, after almost dying again by some kind of supernatural means... I don't think I can be strong like that right now."

Belldandy was silent for a long moment, and with it Keiichi began to fear the worst; perhaps he'd said too much, had spoken too heavily of his feelings or perhaps of his own fragility in a moment of loss. He became afraid then, some small and decrepit piece of him fearing the Norn would laugh, or perhaps even go so far as to mock him after laying his feelings bare to her. The worry made him bristle, made him tense, made him search for some kind of excuse to throw back into Belldandy's face if his latent fears became reality, and was instead surprised when Belldandy stood and stepped towards him. She caught his eyes with hers, and in them Keiichi spied grim empathy before he found himself pulled into a tight hug.

"It's okay," Belldandy murmured. "You don't have to be strong all the time. Just for now, let me be your anchor, for a change."

He stiffened if only for a moment, more surprised by the sudden and unexpected display of affection more than anything else. And then the tension that had settled into his bones like a winter's chill on a branch began to melt away, and Keiichi felt his body relax. With some caution he wrapped his arms around her as well, and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. Belldandy's scent was a familiar smell, one of strawberries and chai hidden by the more urban perfumes of Head and Shoulders and Old Spice. It surprised him with how welcome the hug was; an embrace borne not out of love or passion but of empathy, and some part of him took comfort in the idea that another person might understand his own pain.

They stayed like that for a small eternity wrapped in each other's arms, blind to the passing glances of strangers or familiar faces alike, and for all they knew a generation could have come and gone without either person noticing. For the first time in what seemed like too long, things felt a bit better, a bit less-painful than the disastrous sense of stress and grief and depression that seemed to weigh so heavily on them both. And that perhaps maybe, maybe, with the two of them leaning against each other, they might support the weight borne by the other and stand a little taller, stand a little stronger, and perhaps even stand to see the new dawn a little brighter.

Keiichi pulled away first, and Belldandy released him with some reluctance. Keiichi sent her a wan smile. "What did you see in your dream?" he asked.

"Urd," Belldandy replied, and appeared both delighted and saddened that the man would bring up her dream again so soon. "She was alive but... now, I do not know for how long. She was injured... gravely by-" at once she stopped herself, then shook her head. "I am torn. Some part hopes the dream was real, and that Urd might yet live. The other part... wishes it was just that- a dream- and that Urd passed away without going through- going through what I witnessed."

"It was bad then?"

"Yes."

Keiichi fell silent for a long moment, then offered another hug to Belldandy, which the Norn took without reluctance. "I just hope she's alive and okay, wherever she is," Keiichi mumbled. "I want Mac's instincts to be wrong... and I hope that wherever that silver-haired asshole is, she's laughing over us worrying about her.

"Silver-haired asshole?" Belldandy's words were somewhat muffled, but amused. "Yes... I think I want to believe that as well... if only so that when we should meet again, I might call her by your exact words."

"She'd laugh."

"She would," Belldandy agreed. "And I feel that would be what she would want. For us to remember her as a silver-haired asshole who knew when to laugh at herself." The goddess tilted her head to meet Keiichi's gaze, then leaned in and gave him a light peck on the cheek. "Thank you, Keiichi," she mumbled. "I believe you've pleasantly distracted me from the nightmare that has haunted me in these early morning hours."

"I'm glad," Keiichi replied, feeling a small smile tug at the corner of his lips. "And I..."

At once a strange feeling overcame Keiichi. "I have..."

An alien feeling of disembodiment, one like and yet wholly unlike his supposed 'link up' with Yggdrasil with the Norn sisters long, long ago and far, far away. "….something I..." A foreign feeling of his own consciousness slipping out of the reins as something else- something dark and sinister and evil- slipped into the driver's seat, "need to..." With the ego that was Keiichi Morisato stuck and imprisoned and watching from a distance. He felt his right hand dig into his pocket, but recognized it was not Keiichi digging in his shorts, it was (evil) something else, "give you..."

He saw Belldandy's eyes widen from some place in the deepest recesses of his mind, and grew dimly aware of his right hand wrapping around something and drawing it out. His immediate thought was to stop it, for surely the object was demonic in nature and would do nothing but bring grief, yet try though he might, his body refused to acknowledge his commands. "What is it, Keiichi?" The Norn's voice sounded distant and broken, like the voice over a static radio or a phone with bad coverage.

Don't open your hand, Jank, he told himself and knew he was doomed to fail. Don't do it. Whatever it is, put it back in your pocket, put it back in your pocket, you dope! Yet instead his hand drifted out in front of him and offered it to Belldandy as if he was about to open his hand and reveal a ring meant for her hand. He caught a flash of alien, poisonous red flesh across his vision, and for a second feared that someone- whoever it was who'd kicked him out of the seat- was peering out of his head as well, and that frightened Keiichi on a level he couldn't begin to explain. Bad enough with Hagall and her mind tricks, but this madness, this curse, took over his body, gazed through his eyes, and perhaps even heard his thoughts and laughed from somewhere across time and space.

That's right Soldier-Boy, that's right Seal-Boy. A voice, vague and unrecognizable, rose in his head. Had you been faster, had you not dawdled, you would not find yourself in this predicament. Something like blonde hair-or perhaps blonde fur- drifted through his mind, and again that flash of red appeared. But you have wasted my time, and my mood is foul with your talk of Zamani. So now you sit, like the useless sack of flesh you are. Now you wait, now you watch, and now I will do what you could not.

And in that moment Keiichi began to fight. He screamed and thrashed, swore and struggled, yet despite his best efforts, he could not unseat the demon in the pilot's seat. Instead, as the demon had dictated, Keiichi sat, and Keiichi waited, and Keiichi watched as his hand uncurled, as Belldandy's face slackened with first shock, then confusion, and finally disgust and even some worry before she turned her eyes on him. This time, when the demon spoke the words of the holy tongue, he understood what he said, just as the demon knew Belldandy would, for it was of her native tongue. And the words were thus:

"A gift of retribution yet un-finalized, for the sibling of She Who Writhes in Thunderstorms." An ear. It was a human ear, red and stiff and covered in blood and gore. A right ear, small and petite in Keiichi's hand. Perhaps a female ear, a woman's ear, a demon's ear, given as a placeholder for a justice not yet served. "As promised by the Eternal Battle, you shall be compensated for the suffering of you and your kin. This is the Damkianna's promise, from her, to me, through your man and to your ears."

"Let Keiichi go, Demon." The ice in Belldandy's voice was terrible; no longer an unspeakable fury but a deadly and silent icecap, ready to break at a moment's notice.

Keiichi felt the demon draw his lips up in a long and sinister smile. "Then take the Damkianna's gift, sibling of She Who Writhes in Thunderstorms. Take it and smile, knowing that Gushan Hagall yet suffers at the hands of we Wilder."

Belldandy gritted her teeth, the expression on her face murderous and terrifying, especially while directed at Keiichi himself, though he recognized that he personally was not the subject of her anger. Yet she held her temper well, perhaps recognizing the danger Keiichi was in, and instead reached out and wrapped her hand around the ear.

No! a part of Keiichi screamed, expecting a trap. Yet as Belldandy pocketed the ear and nothing of significance happened, the initial fear began to fade. The worry remained though, even as he sensed the invasive presence fade from his person. The worry for Belldandy's safety as well as his own.

He felt Belldandy grab him by the shoulders, and was relieved when the grip felt real and tangible. "Keiichi, are you all right?" The fear for him was real too.

Keiichi gripped the Norn by the arms and sucked in a deep breath, and the relief spread when he felt the action come naturally and normally and without any sense of a foreign presence. He gulped in the air and nodded, still rattled by the experience. "I'm-I'm okay, I think." There was a tremor in his voice. "Getting real sick and tired of these demons though," he tried to joke, and was rewarded with a wavering smile from Belldandy, who nodded in agreement. "You okay?" he asked. "That-that thing didn't have some kind of curse on it, did it?"

Belldandy shook her head. "No," she admitted. "It would seem the demon remained honest, despite her... sinister method of speaking."

"I am not a god damned telephone," Keiichi muttered.

"I know," Belldandy agreed. "Still, I am glad you're unharmed."

"Yeah..." Keiichi trailed off, looking down at his hand. Small flakes of dried blood covered it. He sucked in a soothing breath, then wiped his hand on his shorts. "Was that from…"

"I believe so."

Keiichi frowned in distaste. "You should get rid of that," he said. "Nothing good can come from it."

Belldandy's hand moved to her pocket, yet she did not remove the item in question. For it was in that moment that Keiichi's phone began to ring, giving the goddess reason to pause.

It was a ring tone Keiichi kept for standard numbers that weren't on his list of contacts. Aiko had Circa Survive because of her love for Indie. Megumi had ZZ Top because of an old joke from their childhood. Keima and Takano had some old Enka song that he grew up listening to. McGuinness had the Beatles because he was old as shit, Jackson had some Lo-fi tune, so on and so forth with the others.

The man pulled out his cell phone, staring at the number and recognizing the area code as Californian after spending so many years growing up in the state. It only confused him further, given the fact that he had a ring tone for all his friends and family in Cali. Suspicion rose up in his chest, suspicion that rose too quickly and came too strongly after the battles he'd fought over the past twenty-four hours. He looked at Belldandy, who watched him in puzzled curiosity, the confusion on her face growing as her eyes darted between the phone and him, perhaps wondering why he wasn't answering it.

His frown deepening, Keiichi slid his finger across the phone's screen, answering the phone and raising it to his ear. "Keiichi Morisato speaking." He fully expected to hear a female voice on the other end. Maybe Urd or Lind, calling to say that they were safe and sound. Perhaps Skuld asking what had happened to Urd and to cuss him out for leaving her sister to fight a monster with only a Valkyrie for back up. Maybe even the voice of that demon who'd possessed him, or the voice of another demon about to pass on some kind of message to him.

And so he was unprepared for the male voice that met his answer. "Keiichi Morisato?" the man on the other end asked. "This is Officer James Hernandez with the San Francisco Police Department." Keiichi stiffened, and he could feel his stomach drop into his bowels as the man on the other end identified himself. A strange and peculiar thought came to him in that moment, and from whence it came he could give no answer.

Something happened to Deb.

He didn't know why the thought came to him, nor did he understand the ball of dreadful certainty that planted itself in his chest. "Yes Sir, what can I do for you?" It could be anything, he tried to reason. It could have been something about Stuart or maybe them touching base to hear the status on Aiko. Yet the thought circled back around, stronger and with more certainty. Something happened to Deb.

"Mr. Morisato, can you confirm with me that you are the husband of Debra Morisato?" the officer requested.

Something happened to Deb, oh fuck, something happened to Deb, what's going on? What happened? Why isn't she in her room here at the hotel? "We split years ago," Keiichi replied. "However we've been in good contact. Officer, did something happen to her?"

"Mr. Morisato, our records show that you and Debra Morisato are still married and she still has you on the list for her emergency next of kin-"

"Never mind all that," Keiichi interrupted. "What happened to Deb?" He looked at Belldandy and saw her eyes widen, then saw her turn towards the door leading out into the lobby. She looked concerned.

"Sir, I'm calling to inform you that Debra Morisato was involved on an accident on Interstate two-eighty."

Oh god, she's dead. She got in a wreck and she's dead, oh fuck, please dear god no- "Is she okay?"

There was hesitation on the other line, as if the officer was reluctant to speak further to a man who was no longer married to a crash victim. Yet after a moment the man seemed to come to some kind of conclusion with himself, and so spoke further, "Sir, she's in critical condition. Eye-witness reports claimed her vehicle swerved into the opposite lane of traffic before colliding with a semi. Medical first responders are doing what they can to keep her stable and are sending her to the San Mateo Medical Center now-"

"I'm on my way." He hung up before the officer on the other end could get another word in. "Bell, Deb was in an accident," Keiichi said. "I need to ask a real big favor of you. A huge one."

He was surprised when Belldandy nodded. "Yes, what can I do to help?" she asked. "Where is she? I can take us there right now."

"They're taking her to San Mateo Medical Center," Keiichi said, relieved by the Norn's willingness to help her short-term rival. "I... we need to hurry, Bell. It doesn't sound like she's got much time."

"Then let's not waste any more." Belldandy offered her hand, and Keiichi grabbed it.

"Outside," he said, his tone urgent. "Away from anyone who might see us." At Belldandy's nod the two of them ran for the doors, hand-in-hand with a grip like a vice and looking for all the world like a pair of lovers running for their lives- or perhaps the life of another.

Outside, Keiichi pulled Belldandy off in the direction of the rental. "Can you get us there from inside the car?" he asked. "No one will notice us there, and..." And fuck any other consequences. He could worry about that shit later.

"Yes, it will be fine," Belldandy replied. "I just need a moment..."

Keiichi unlocked the vehicle and released Belldandy's hand, slipping inside the driver's seat as Belldandy rushed to the passenger side. The doors slammed shut, and again, Belldandy's hand snaked over to grab his. "Just like this," she said. "Now focus on the hospital. Have you been there before?"

"Once, as a kid." Keiichi replied. "I remember what it looks like."

"Then focus. Keiichi. Your memory will guide me there."

And so Keiichi focused. He focused on the building and its outside design, he focused on its long, expansive parking lot, and he focused on its insides, with its smell of antiseptic and the underlying scent of the sick and dying. He focused, and in his mind he began to hear voices; the slow, low murmur of staff and guests as they spoke to one another. He began to see the white walls, the staff in the medical scrubs, the patients in wheelchairs and crutches and transport beds for surgery and—

Keiichi cracked one eye open.

They were still in the car.

He peeked over at Belldandy and found her eyes closed tight. Her face was scrunched up with concentration, yet even as he watched it began to morph into an expression of strain.

"Belldandy?"

She shushed him.

He closed his eyes and waited for another long moment, yet still did not feel anything like the tingling magic feeling he sometimes felt when the goddess was using her powers.

He opened his eyes again and looked around. They were still in the car, still parked in the same hotel. Nothing had changed. "Bell-"

"Hush Keiichi, I'm concentrating."

"Nothing is happening, Belldandy."

"Don't say that Keiichi." The Norn grimaced, but did not open her eyes. Deep furrows of concentration creased her brow, and Keiichi spied a vein beginning to bulge on her temple.

Keiichi reached for his keys. "Stop, Bell," he said, and thrust the rental's key into the ignition. "Whatever you're trying isn't working and I can't afford to wait any longer."

The engine rumbled to life, and as Keiichi strapped in his seat belt Belldandy ceased her attempt and looked at him.

"Keiichi," she whispered, her eyes haunted and aged. "I can't sense my magic anymore."

"I know," Keiichi muttered, his heart heavy with dread. "And I'm afraid it's going to cost us this time." Putting the car in reverse, the man backed out of his parking space, turned it towards the main road, and prayed that some other god might spare Debra a miracle.

Because the one beside him was fresh out.


A/N: Quick note to DaMan, whom I cannot reply directly to because he does not have an account. This goes out to anyone else that may be worried about the pace of updates. Even though Real Life has been something of a bitch to us lately, we remain committed to this story. I fear that if we were to actually falter in this, certain members at the Goddess Relief Office would cross the oceans to hunt us down. I would invite anyone who would potentially want to be part of that posse to join us at Goddess-Project dot net.