Author's note: I do not own any of the Bayonetta IP, just my OC.

Chapter 8: In Courage and Gallantry

Saying farewell to Luka and leaving him to his task, the trio arrived at the cathedral early in the morning. Damien stared up at the grey building, a look of unease on his face.

"What is this place?" He asked, his eyes not leaving the walls as they walked in.

"This used to be where I- Aesir would meet with his people and convene with them, or some shit. Probably about solving mortals' problems for them." Loki explained, one hand on his head. "With any luck, the bridge to the heavens should be right above us."

"Are you sure?" Bayonetta asked, her long strides carrying her faster than the other two.

"No, not really." Loki smiled. "The bridge isn't outside, as we can all see."

"Not really, huh?" She answered, continuing up a spiral staircase. "But you're right; this is it. Call it a woman's intuition."

Damien laughed quietly as Loki turned around, offended. "Woman's intuition. What kind of silly comic book shit is that? You still don't know a thing about me."

He turned and continued to walk up, whereas she stopped and looked over at her brother. The winged man understood her silent question, and he nodded.

Tell him the truth. She heard his voice in her mind for the first time in almost a year. He deserves to know.

"Let's just say I have plenty of experience with 'nothing comes to mind', little one." She looked over to the boy, who was now halfway up the stairs above them. He paused, turned and ran back down, his face etched with confusion.

"What?"

"I spent five hundred years not knowing who I was, truly." She replied, her eyes grave. "I only found out the truth recently."

"And I have no memory of my former life." Damien added, stepping beside her. "From before I became this… thing."

"Y-you too?" The young God stared at them both in surprise. "A-and you as well?"

They both nodded in confirmation, bowing their heads slightly as well.

"L-listen… Until yesterday, I had nothing. I didn't remember a damn thing, love, or why I had sporadic images running through my head, mate. I didn't even know why I was so damn sure I needed to go to that mountain!"

"You do now?" Damien asked, tilting his head.

Loki shook his head. "I still don't; it's all I know, but I do figure that it once was my place on this world, my home. Something will be there to help me and my memory. Does that make any sense?"

Bayonetta smirked and walked past him, gesturing for them to follow. "Come now, little one. Can't let the girls know you've got a heart."

"I-it's not like that!" Loki scurried after her, his voice trailing off.

"Look, Loki." Damien walked up until he was beside him, matching his pace. "If that's all you know, that's all you for this to work. Bayonetta followed a really obscure lead on a piece of jewellery, and it led to her memory returning over the course of a week."

"What about you?" Loki turned to him, his face confused. "Don't you remember anything?"

"I… " The winged man shook his head. "It doesn't matter now. It never did."

"Alright I guess, mate." They both ran up to the waiting witch above them, her arms folded.

"Took you two long enough." Bayonetta rolled her eyes at them.

"Long enough?" Damien answered, his voice rising. "We were barely five seconds!"

"Time is of the essence, darling." She turned on her heel and continued up the stairs, Loki and Damien continuing after her.

"She's right." The boy nodded as he walked after her. "We must reach the Resonator!"

"The what now?" He shook his head in exasperation, trailing after the pair. He found them staring at a giant metal ball half embedded in a stone floor, the walls of the tower still far above them.

"I remember this…" Loki stepped forward, his hand beginning to glow blue. The sphere began to glow as he approached, seemingly reacting to him. "I don't know how I'm supposed to do this; I don't suppose you can help, love?"

He clapped his hands, and the metal sphere broke apart, reforming into a wall in the shape of two triangles interlocked with a diamond.

"What is this…?" Damien stared up in amazement.

"The Remembrance of Time, mate." He called over his shoulder. "Now, all I need to do is get this spinning…"

"So that's why you need my help." Bayonetta jumped up and grabbed onto the small pillar of energy in the centre of the diamond, wrapping on leg around it. "Any particular direction?"

"I don't think it matt-" He grabbed his head, then clicked his fingers as his eyes lit up. "To the right!"

She began to spin clockwise, letting one leg reach out like a pole dancer in order to build up momentum. The building began to shake as massive tremors rocked it. Damien began to glance around wildly, trying to pinpoint what was causing said tremors and if he could stop them.

"What is happening?!" He turned to the grinning boy, his eyes wide. "Loki!?"

"Calm down, mate. Just let the Remembrance do it's job." He pointed up. "The bridge is rebuilding, and soon enough, the path to it will be too."

Returning his attention to the building, Damien watched with complete amazement as objects he had dismissed as rocks flew up and reattached themselves to the walls, reforming into a continuation of the spiral staircase.

Within minutes, the tremors had stopped, and Loki gestured for Bayonetta to stop. Jumping down gracefully, she stared in amusement at the stunned man, smirking slightly.

"My, you are still easily impressed." She turned to the boy, the smile continuing to grace her lips. "So it should be as easy as continuing up the stairs, right?"

"Right." Loki nodded. "And from there, the Bridge to the Heavens, then the mountain."

A massive tremor rocked them from where they stood, knocking both Damien and Loki over.

"What was that?!" The boy cursed as he stood up, glancing around. "Bayonetta, you did stop when I told you to?"

"I don't think this is our doing, little one." She peered over the edge and back down the staircase.

"I was wondering when our friends were going to show up." The winged man regained his feet with a kip up, his katana snapping into his hand. "Just like old times, right?"

"Right." Love is Blue fell into her hands, and she trained them on something far below her. "Little one, you might want to continue up."

"I can fight!" Loki replied, insulted. "I can help you two!"

"Just go!" Another tremor rumbled through the building, and a piece of the newly reformed staircase fell and crashed onto the ground beside them, shattering into shrapnel that was deflected by a small purple barrier. "You have time magic, right? You can fix this later."

"Fine…" Loki turned and ran up the stairs as both Damien and Bayonetta stood back to back, looking for a sign of the new enemy.

"Those two tremors were different." The winged man whispered.

"There's not one, I can tell you that." She whispered back. "Get ready darling."

…

Loki was sprinting up the staircase, his mind full of childish insults and curses aimed towards the two adults below, when something slammed against the wall to his right.

"Bloody hell!" Loki flinched, nearly tripping over. "Whatever did I do?"

The sounds of battle had finally risen to his ears. Glancing down, he watched as a small burst of orange formed underneath something red, and Damien's voice calling out in Enochian not long after. Shaking his head, he continued up.

Bayonetta burst through the wall ahead of him, her guns blazing at something outside the tower. Skidding to a halt, he watched as she launched a volley of weaves at something holding onto the building, then charged up her guns with purple energy and shot four pulses at the new enemy.

"What are you doing?" She turned to him, her eyes blazing with power. "Keep going!"

Nodding, he watched as she launched herself out with an afterburner kick, slamming into the adversary and clearing the path somewhat. Something slammed onto the path behind him, and he turned around to see a giant red torso with two gigantic flaming mace and flails for hands holding onto the crumbling staircase, its porcelain face staring at him with determination.

"The Prophetic One demands your presence!" It gurgled at him, and Loki reacted by turning around to run. Although he was visibly running faster than the angel, he had sensed that it was getting ready to attack the staircase above it.

He heard a clang of metal on metal, and he glanced down to see Damien hanging off the chains connecting the mace to the body, the katana in his hands bashing them repeatedly. Summoning a few cards into his hand, he tossed them down at the staircase and watched with satisfaction as they exploded and broke apart the path. Damien noticed this and jumped up onto the wall, grabbing onto a small ledge as he too watched the large angel fall down the shaft.

"Cards?" He looked up at the pride-filled boy. "Seriously?"

"I don't see you doing any better!" Loki retorted, then stumbled as another tremor from the angel below caused them both to shake.

"Just keep moving." The winged man let go of the wall and plummeted like a missile towards the angel below. Heeding his instructions, the boy turned and ran, still hearing the sounds of battle outside of the tower.

Running outside finally, he looked over the path he needed to still follow; it snaked around the tower for one more spiral, and only then did he reach the top.

It was too bad Bayonetta was fighting a blue version of the angel from earlier, its maces dripping with ice, right where he needed to go.

"You have got to be shitting me…" He cursed, summoning a few cards to his hand as he ran forward. Tossing them at the angel itself, they exploded with blue energy, partially stunning the beast. Taking advantage, Bayonetta jumped and slammed into it with an afterburner kick, knocking it off balance and off of the pathway. It fell, screaming in childish horror until it impacted on the ground below, leaving a crater as the life faded from its body.

"Nice teamwork, love." Loki placed his hands behind his head as they both began to follow the rest of the path up.

"And it seems your little spell did what was intended." She gestured to the oversized bridge in front of them. "That is the Bridge to the Heavens, is it not?"

Loki was interrupted by Damien bursting out of the wall to the side of them, then they both watched as he dodged a burning mace, then disappeared back into the hole he came from.

"Is he going to be ok?" The boy asked, staring at the hole in amusement.

"He'll be fine." She gestured to keep moving, and they did.

Upon reaching the summit of the tower, they watched with somewhat boredom as he burst from the floor in the centre of the platform, another burning mace following him soon after. He twisted to the right, then held out a hand and spoke in Enochian:

"QUASABA!"

A single bolt of lightning struck into the whole he came from, and even Loki could smell the scent of burning flesh reach him as the angel groaned, then died.

"Took you long enough." Bayonetta placed her hands on her hips and regarded the winged man as he landed back onto the ground, his extra two wings folding back underneath his cloak.

"You didn't have yours knocked down a hundred metre shaft." He replied, turning to them. "Or have it pretend to die so you can get tricked."

"It doesn't matter." Loki broke their argument before it could get started. "We are almost at the mountain, an- ARGH!"

He collapsed to his knees as images rushed inside his head:

"…we need to fix this." A person who looked far too similar to him nodded. "After you."

Loki began to weave the simple spell, then gasped as something entered his chest. Looking down to see a ethereal fist sticking out of it, he merely closed his eyes as life began to fade from him.

"Why?" He croaked out. His other half behind him smiled, then leaned forward.

"Because I will save them." He whispered, his voice tainted with something Loki couldn't identify. "You always let them destroy themselves; I will not."

His head slammed back into reality as he dangled over the edge of the bridge, his feet held by Bayonetta.

"If you have suicidal tendencies, little one, you might want to seek help for it." She smirked.

"Wha- How? Put me down!" The young God demanded, and she obliged, tossing him back onto the bridge.

"You… quite simply, jumped off." Damien answered, his gaze focused on the bridge ahead of them. "Like you were possessed."

"Well, I wasn't!" Loki snapped, then grew sullen. "I just remember how I died!"

"You jumped off a bridge?" Her eyebrow raised.

"No!" He shook his head furiously. "I was killed by my… other half."

Bayonetta glanced at Damien at this information, but his attention was on the bridge in front of them.

"Brother." She tried to get his attention. "Darling? Damien!?"

Then their plan went to hell.

Something burst up from underneath the bridge, cutting through the stone like a buzz saw and heading in their direction. Damien summoned out the Shuraba and held it defensively as he blocked the buzz saw, barely holding it back. Loki transformed into a squirrel and jumped onto Bayonetta's shoulder pauldron, who quickly ushered him into a safer spot. Training her guns on the golden metal, she frowned and tried to find where the angel was.

The ground beneath them exploded as a massive sword cleaved through it, throwing rubble and the pair into the air, and back down the tower they had just climbed. After them flew a somewhat familiar looking angel.

"We meet again, Umbra Witch!" The Valiance growled, its head now planted on a shield. The body was still as armoured as ever, more so now, and it carried a cape on its shoulders. The sword was decreasing in size as it fell towards them, its posture holding itself defensively.

Bayonetta let Malphas's wings sprout out as she flipped up to face the new threat, and Damien's smaller wings extended out as well. He glanced over to her in surprise but focused on the new angel.

"It looks like someone's got a few upgrades recently. Didn't I kill you?" She asked, starting with a hail of bullets towards its eyes. The angel responded by tossing the shield at them, causing them both to flip out of its path.

"You forgot to destroy me. Now I am reborn, and I will have my revenge!" It caught its shield and the face grinned. "For I, Valor, will not let such transgressions fade away lightly!"

Damien shot forward, Shuraba flickering out in front of him. Aiming for the centre of mass, he scored a few cuts on the angel before it's shield bashed into him and threw him back. Regaining his balance, he stared at the Valor, trying to figure out an opening.

It didn't let him. It threw itself to the side, bursting through one of the walls. Immediately becoming wary of the left, Bayonetta sensed that it was about to strike. Crossing Love is Blue together in an x, she blocked its thrust and then grunted in pain as she was thrown through the wall behind her. Activating witchwalk, she lay down on the blade as it redrew back into the tower, only to be swung at Damien who had began to swing at the body yet again.

"Damien!" She reached out as she began to fly towards him. He looked up and nodded, and grabbed onto her as the blade swiped pass where he was. Letting go and launching him like a rocket, he slammed into the shield and knocked it loose, letting it fly further down and through the floor of the cathedral to reveal the lake underneath. Landing in the water with a splash, they both let their wings fade as they continued to sink.

The Valor had regained its shield, and was now riding it as a surfboard, the edges spinning wildly. Letting it propel him, it sent three swipes with the sword at the pair, two of them dodged and the other blocked by Damien, the Shuraba held vertically, his other arm supporting it as a cross guard.

"SIZICIEL!" He gestured with his free hand and tried to summon fireballs as he kept the blade of the angel stuck against his own, only to watch with disappointment as they fizzled out into steam. "Fuck it!"

"Oh, please." Bayonetta had noticed that the Valor was still trying to push Damien around with the sword and had decided to end it. "CANILU!"

A portal opened up beneath them, and six heads slithered out and wrapped themselves around the angel, trapping it from further movement. Retreating backwards, the winged man stared at the angel with curiosity whilst Loki popped out of her chest area and regarded it with anger.

"It looks likes you aren't going to get a new one of those." She smirked at the angel as Hydra began to stretch its limbs out, until even Loki could hear the pops and groans of the machinery contorting within.

"My demise will not alter fate." Valor laughed, and the trio's demeanour immediately changed into suspicion. "A tribute to you, witch!"

It raised its sword as a final act of defiance, then slammed it into the ground, cutting open a hole and sucked the trio towards it. The three struggled, with Bayonetta almost making it free of the suction by using her snake-within, but they were all dragged in, one by one.

Then Valor was dragged unceremoniously into Inferno and disappeared forever.