l

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
"Tired are your splendid soldiers
Tired are they,
Here they go,"
-Fall Into Me, Alev Lenz

-18-

"So it sounds like the move Sheila used on you was the De La Riva," Brian peered over at Lind from the counter banister of his kitchen, two wine glasses in hand which he set down. "It's a bit more advanced than the moves I was showing you. It's still possible to counter it, though we'll need to speak with Angel for advice. The De La Riva is one of Angel's favorites, but then, he grew up learning BJJ, so for him even the most advanced moves come easily to him," The man popped the cork off a wine bottle and then slowly poured the contents into the waiting decanter that was sitting in the sink. He glanced back over his shoulder at Lind when the bottle he was holding was empty. "He was the one who really got us all into it, in all honesty. Keiichi's okay, but he has some Judo experience, something about his father passing down a family art, and grappling on his back is some kind of big 'no-no' for him since Judo is more about being on top of an opponent rather than beneath them. He says it feels unnatural to him,"

"I can relate," Lind muttered. Sitting on a backed wooden barstool, she watched as the SEAL picked the decanter out of the sink, swirled the contents around a bit, then started pouring them each a glass of red wine. "We are taught to remain on our feet at all times in combat. Find a stick, find a wall, find something to lean on or place your back against, because as soon as you fall, you lose the advantage," The man handed her a glass, and Lind accepted it with a courteous nod, her eyes straying to her surroundings as the man turned towards the steaks.

Brian Jackson's house was a small home that held a level of tidiness to it that spoke of habit rather than a rush clean. It was a single story house, located in Naval Station Norfolk's residential area. It was almost tiny in comparison to Keiichi's large house, yet something about the way Brian had decorated it had left Lind with an immediate cozy feeling upon entry. Picture frames of what she assumed were family and friends decorated the walls side-by-side with tapestries from what the Valkyrie assumed were the locations he'd deployed to: Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and even India and Nepal intermingled with traditional art pieces ranging in style from Thailand to Korea, Japan and Burma, Indonesia and the Philippines. Vases decorated with colorful patterns rested beside long lines of hard and soft copy books, and in the living room's threshold ornamental janbiya hung from sheaths adorned in silver and precious gems.

In the kitchen, a shelf with a glass frame rested a long row of German beer steins of decorated complexity, with Russian dolls of a bright red sitting in the shelf above from where they beamed at her. Long garlands of small, red peppers dangled from a wire mesh basket filled with apples and oranges, pears and bananas, onions and tomatoes. Magnets that declared various country names lined the small, white fridge located in the kitchen's center, and mugs hung from hooks that had been inserted beneath upper-level shelves, dangling and displaying pictures and catchphrases and art that had been printed onto their porcelain surfaces.

The entire atmosphere of the house spoke of a man well-traveled, and a part of Lind admired Brian for his freedom; though she was a deity herself, travel was limited as a Valkyrie due to the armistice between Asgard and Niflheim. Deployments were always lying in wait to the DMZ that comprised the borderlands between the two realms, and those areas were at times the most dangerous, for they crossed the 'Wasteland'. An area once ripe with vegetation and forest, the First and Second Interspecies War between gods, demons, and even allied jotun and spirits, had turned the area to a vast desert. It was in such a location that the DMZ and surrounding borders grew slim, their lines blurry, and in such a location that fire fights often erupted from god and demon alike, both uncertain on where their territory started but certain the other party was wrong.

Even now, though she was relieved from deployments due to her 'Special Duty' monitoring Urd, she found travel difficult, if only for the fact that she was limited to wherever Urd went. You could always pull an 'Urd'. Cool Mint joked in her head. You know, go out investigating something, stumble upon a can of worms with 'demon' written all over it, over-react and bring out your tendee manifestation, get yourself banished from Asgard for a couple centuries...then you'd have all the time in the world to travel!

Cool Mint had a sense of humor. Lind was still uncertain what to think of that.

"Pepper?"

Lind looked up sharply. "What did you say?"

Brian stared back at her in confusion. "I was asking if you wanted some pepper," he held up a little glass jar filled with large black peppercorns. "Some people aren't much for the spice so I figured I'd ask before adding it to the steaks." The man raised an eyebrow. "You good? You look real pale all a' sudden,"

"Fine," Lind snapped, then recoiled at her own tone. "Sorry, I just-I'm fine. I... I misheard you, is all,"

Brian frowned, still uncertain. "If I said anything to insult you, I apologize. It wasn't intentional,"

Lind was quick to shake her head. "No, no, it wasn't anything you said. I was... distracted. I thought you said something else."

Brian watched her a moment longer. "If you're sure…" he said, then turned back to the steaks he'd brought in five minutes before. "So tell me about yourself! You're from Greenland, right? What's it like up there?"

Lind thought back to the quick research she'd done through Yggdrasil's archives covering the Midgard country. The woman had been surprised to learn that it was connected to the frost giant's realm of Jotunheim by some small portal buried under the tundra. Lind had been born in Jotenheim and actually had a bit of jotun blood in her veins, which was what some in her unit liked to joke was the source of her insane strength. Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's giantsblood. "Cold," Lind said, rousing herself from her thoughts as she caught Brian glance back at her. "And dark more often than not,"

Brian snorted. "Yeah, coming from a tundra landscape, I guess you could call it cold." He smiled at her. "Greenland's close to the Arctic Circle though, right?" he asked. "That close, don't you have sunlight at weird times?" He gathered two plates with a pair of large, T-bone steaks over to the counter top.

"Summer's midnight sun," Lind agreed, recalling her own childhood with Sol's chariot always skating the horizon as she made her run. "And then winter comes and we see sunlight for three, maybe four hours every day,"

"Damn." Both of Brian's eyebrows rose in surprise. "And you grew up with that?"

Lind nodded. "There were times we couldn't leave the house because the snowdrifts were so bad," She confessed. "People could get lost in the storms, where they could have died to anything: exposure, walking off a cliff, falling into the ocean, even being consumed by beasts if they sought shelter in the wrong cave,"

"Shit." Brian winced. "God damn. You gotta be tough to grow up in a place like that,"

"I supposed..." Lind trailed off, hearing a strange pounding from the far wall of the living room. She looked in the direction the noise was coming from, frowning as a hearty 'thump' came through the wall.

"Yeah, sorry about that. The walls in on-base housing are pretty thin and my neighbors can get a little loud on the weekends." Lind looked back to Brian, who waved off the noise. "These houses aren't in the best condition. Military contracts and lowest paying bidder and all that jazz."

"Right. I see..." The woman flinched as another heavy thump collided with the wall, followed by a low scratching that sounded almost as though something was skittering against the wall. It made the hair on her arms stand on end. Then came a low, muffled voice from the other end of the wall, and the noise faded as the person on the other side moved away.

"If the housing is so bad, why don't you live off-base like Ja- Keiichi?" Lind asked.

Brian shrugged. "Convenience, mostly," he confessed. "I'm a lone man with a big paycheck most days, and I don't really feel like moving off into the woods where there's housing available thirty minutes from base. Plus it's easier to just drive ten minutes from my place to the office every morning." The man took a sip from his wine glass, the atmosphere between the two of them amiable. "So how long have you known Sh- Urd?" he asked. "We've known her for going on five years now and still know jack shit about her. She's a pretty tight lipped lady, from what I can tell."

That makes two of us, Lind thought, taking a sip of her own drink and fighting off a grimace. The wine was too sweet for her liking. "I suppose close to ten years now?" she said, drumming her fingers against the tile of the countertop. "She is... a difficult person to deal with," the woman said. "But what of yourself?" she asked, trying to divert the subjects away from herself and any other divinities. "You've said little of your own story."

"My own story, huh?" Brian chuckled. "Not much to tell, really. Grew up in Boston, Massachusetts with an older sister and a younger brother. Dad was a cop, got shot by a thug during a response to a gang fight and died on the spot. Mom ended up working two jobs to support us. She wouldn't even let my older sister drop out of high school to help her. Neighborhood started taking a nose dive as the local gangs got bigger and Mom told us to GTFO as soon as we graduated high school. I went to a Marine recruitment center the day after I graduated. It was closed though, and by chance a Navy recruiter saw me and called me over. He got me to sign on the dotted line and a week later I was going through MEPs and then on a plane to Great Lakes. And here I am now." He waved a hand around him, gesturing to his house.

"When that SEAL recruiter talked to us early in Boot Camp, I was hooked. As soon as I made rate, I volunteered. Since then, I been all over the place. Done my time and more in the Middle East, seen a hearty chunk of Asia, been stationed in Italy, even did a tour or two in Africa. About the only places I haven't gone has been is South America and Antarctica, and one I'm planning on backpacking through and the other's too cold for me to care,"

"So you've been all over the world?" Lind asked, her own curiosity peaked.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." The man smiled in reflection. "I enjoy traveling and learning about other cultures. Every place is just as different as it is alike, and everyone's got a story to tell if you bother to sit and listen. That's why I was asking about Greenland. The farthest North I've ever been has been Alaska to visit some buddies a' mine, and that was in the summer season where there wasn't any snow. Bunch of mosquitoes, yeah, hell all the mosquitoes, but nothing like the snow drifts or crazy storms like you were describing,"

"A traveled man with many of his own stories." Lind sent him a sidelong glance. "And you choose to converse with a woman who picked up knitting in her youth for no other reason than to keep herself from killing her family members during the stormy season."

The SEAL laughed, and Lind felt her cheeks grow hot. "Hey now, don't be like that!" Brian cried. "Ain't nothing wrong with knitting. You want to know something weird about me? I can play the clarinet. Like, real good. Mom paid for lessons for me when Dad was still alive and everything." His smile was embarrassed, and on such a large man like Brian it was endearing. "I, uh, even thought about majoring in music in college when I was still a kid. You know, get so good you can play in an orchestra at an opera house? That was a... thing, back in the day,"

Lind took that moment to observe Brian, taking in everything from his dark brown skin of his bald head straight down to the thick, neat beard that covered his chin in tight ringlets. Even now he presented an intimidating figure. A large, tank of a man who had to be well over two hundred fifty pounds of muscle on the closer edge to three hundred. His biceps strained against the violet dress shirt he wore whenever he bent his arms. The Valkyrie tried to picture him playing a clarinet in an opera house to a conductor's dancing hands. The picture wouldn't manifest. The SEAL winced. "Ah, come on, don't look at me like that!" he cried. "It's not that weird,"

No stranger than a rough and tough Valkyrie who knits. One of her angels whispered in her mind, yet at the moment Lind was too distracted to bother differentiating between which they were. "You'll have to play for me some time," she said instead.

Brian made a face. "Not tonight," he said. "I'm out of practice and I need to dig the ol' girl out of storage." Then he scowled. "And only if you promise not to tell anyone else," he whispered. "Word gets out I play clarinet and Sanchez will never let me live it down."

Lind thought of Urd and shuddered. "Only if you don't speak of knitting to Urd." She doubted Belldandy or even Skuld would give two shits about her being able to knit. But Urd... Urd was the type of person who would use anything and everything she learned as ammunition for later, and the idea that someone like her would start talking made her want to cringe.

"Sure-"

"Help me if you can, I'm feeling down,
And I do appreciate you being 'round.
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won't you please, please help me?"

Lind jumped as the song emerged from one of Brian's pockets, followed by a series of consecutive hums. Brian swore. "Fuck. Sorry, pardon me, that's McGuinness, my boss. I need to take this real fast," The man excused himself to the neighboring room, and Lind watched him go, a strong feeling of déjà vu engulfing her.

I know that song from somewhere. She thought. That tune... Without thinking, she began to hum softly to herself. She didn't know the words to it, but the tune... the tune... something about... "Mist," she breathed. "Mist used to hum that song." Her heart seized as though gripped by a vice, and the woman leaned onto the kitchen counter, gripping the porcelain tiles with such strength they cracked. Mist knew that song. Mist and-

(yOu knOw thAt SoNg tOO?)

With a gasp Lind stood at once, for a moment forgetting where she was. A strange, sudden feeling of claustrophobia enveloped the goddess, and the woman looked around, the edges of her vision dancing with the black spots the proceeded tunnel vision. It felt like the walls were moving towards her. Trapping her. Forcing her into a corner with an opponent she couldn't see but could sense. Calm down. Spear or Cool? That was ages ago, calm down. Which one? That thing was killed. Could they sense it? The base was demolished. Did they know the danger it brought? Mist and the others are back home. There's nothing here but you and a mortal.

Except there wasn't. There wasn't. There was something else here, in the room with her, dancing just on the edge of her vision (hallucinations) and she could hear its talons scratching on the wall (you're hearing things) and it was behind her and-

The Valkyrie grabbed the chair stool and whirled to face her opponent, bringing the stool up to defend herself.

The space behind her was empty. Just like she knew it would be.

You're overreacting. See? Nothing there. Put the stool down before Brian comes back. Spear Mint. It was Spear Mint, she was certain.

But was it really?

How did she know? It could imitate voices and pass them off as its own in an effort to get her guard down. She'd seen it. She'd experienced it. It's a trap. She thought. It's trying to get my guard down. Cool Mint, where are you?

I'm right here. Right here with Spear Mint. We're both here. We're both fine. Nothing is here aside from you and Brian. You're safe Lind.

She was safe? How could they say that? How could they believe that after everything she'd gone through? I know what I sensed. She threw back. Spear Mint, you know it too. How can you be so calm?!

You aren't looking to reason, that's why. Spear Mint scolded. You're having a panic attack because of a random occurrence that has no relation to your past. Calm yourself and put the stool down.

Yeah. Cool Mint chirped. Calm yo' tities. You're panting like a dog in the summer, but there's nothing here. We're alone Lind.

Was she? The woman glanced around her once more, taking the time to scrutinize her surroundings. Brian's voice was a low, continuous murmur in the hallway, and one who sounded unconcerned with the idea that there might be something else in the house with them. Doubt began to creep up the back of her neck. Had she been wrong? Was there really nothing in the house with them? Why would there be? How could there be? You would have seen more signs of it by now if that were the case. With some reluctance Lind put the stool back down, glancing at the cracked porcelain next to it without recognition. When had the counter tiles cracked? Had that been her action or the deed of something else? What was wrong with her?

The woman tugged on the long strand of hair that was her Shi Baku, biting her lower lip with dismay. While the tug was comforting, the Valkyrie was still troubled. Lind's memories that had so warranted a Shi Baku were fragmented and blurry; something the Tics claimed was her mind's attempt at protecting itself from what she'd experienced. They also said that an outside event could trigger a memory. She recalled.

But there wasn't any memory, right? Just-sounds. Voices. Noises. Nothing from that actual time.

"Hey, sorry about that." Brian emerged from the other room, and startled, Lind wheeled to face him. "That was-" He stopped mid-step, eyebrows shooting up in surprise as he saw the expression on her face. "Hey, are you alright?" he asked in concern. "What happened?"

Out. Now. Spear Mint whispered. Bathroom.

Bathroom. Cool Mint agreed.

"Bathroom." Lind stormed past the large man, brushing against his shoulder. He stumbled back, but Lind didn't give him a second glance, rushing further down the hallway and towards the bathroom the SEAL had pointed out to her earlier in the evening. The hallway lights were off, and in the darkness Lind thought she saw the tail of something large and ominous slither into the master bedroom. She froze, her heart in her throat, and then the lights flipped on.

Nothing.

"Lind, what's wrong?" Brian asked behind her, and this time she turned so fast her elbow bumped against the wall. The man reached for her, and she backpedaled, hearing a quick and rapid thrum in her ears. "Wow, hey, easy." The man held his hands up, as though trying to prove he was harmless. "What's going on? Did something happen? What did you do?"

"Nothing," Lind breathed. "Nothing, I-bathroom." She turned nearly bolted down the hallway, darting into the bathroom and almost slamming the door shut behind her. She was panting again, and against the high thrum of her pulse she almost didn't hear Brian's pounding feet as he chased after her. She leaned into the wood and locked the door, ignoring Brian's muffled concern from the hallway. Something is wrong. Something is very, very wrong.

"Lind, what is going on?" Brian's voice almost didn't register in her mind. "What are you afraid of?"

She ignored him, instead slapping a hand against the wall as she groped for the light switch. She found it after a moment of searching, then moved to the small sink inside. "Lind! What is going on?!" Upset now. Perhaps even a little afraid. Maybe even angry. Still, she didn't reply, and instead turned on the faucet and leaned over the sink, cupping her hands under the cold water and splashing it into her face-

-And she was cold and shivering lying on a stone floor that smelled of piss and shit and fear and death, and-

A hand flew up and punched into the mirror before her, shattering it with cobweb-cracks. "No." She grit her teeth. "No. No." Her shattered reflection looked drawn and pale, less like a person and more like a phantom summoned from beyond. "Calm down," she told it. "This isn't you. Calm down. Yet the more she tried the harder it became, somehow spawning the opposite of her intended effect. "Nothing happened. You're fine. Even the angels say your fine. There's nothing here." She grit her teeth, and in the mirror her broken reflection snarled back at her, eyes bright and golden like that of a beast.

"Oh fuck," she whispered, and closed her eyes and leaned forward. "You aren't in danger," she hissed. "Stop. There's no reason for this! Calm down before you lose it, Lind!" She sucked in a deep breath, yet even that failed as a bubble of panic was swallowed with it, and the air released from her lungs came long and loud and anxious. Help. She cried. Spear Mint, I need your help. Help me get this back under control, please.

She didn't often call upon her angels outside of battle, but with her own internal war starting the woman found she needed all the help she could get. She didn't so much as hear as she did feel a small click in her head, and when she opened her eyes again she saw they were light blue once more. Relief surged through her with such force she felt nauseous, and swallowing it down the woman dropped her gaze to the sink.

"Lind? Damn it, Lind, what did you do? Where are they, Lind? Answer me!"

Brian's voice had taken on a strange, gravelly pitch to it. It was commanding, and unlike any tone she'd heard from the man before. The sound was almost unrecognizable from the man she'd been speaking with minutes earlier. Running her hands through her hair and giving the Shi Baku another tug, the woman ignored him, instead moving towards the toilet and flipping the lid down, sitting on top of it as she propped her elbows on her knees and rand her hands through her hair.

The door handle jiggled. She ignored it along with Brian's cries.

"What the fuck is going on?" She whispered, leaning back and feeling something loose graze her head. The woman recoiled as though she'd touched something unpleasant, then twisted to look behind her and felt her heart skip a beat.

A chandelier.

A tiny, decorative little chandelier made of seashells, it hung suspended by a thin plastic cord. There had to be over one hundred of the tiny little shells, each as small as a fingernail. Someone had taken the precarious time to drill small holes through the delicate items, and they rested atop each other in long, spiraling columns, descending in a tight coil of drapes from the outside working inwards. The shells still maintained their original color, and as Lind examined it she saw stripes and spots, patterns and squiggles, lines and cracks upon their many surfaces.

Slowly she rose, and in that moment everything else lost significance: Brian's shouts, the rising pounding on the door, the hallucinations that had led to her anxiety, everything. Gone. But for these tiny little shells, which she reached out and grazed with a gentle, trembling hand and which tingled and cackled softly back to her. A chandelier. I've seen this before. I know this. I know this because...because-

Demons.

And the music was pounding; roars and shrieks and cries of creatures she had no name for drowning out those of her comrades. The demon pulled off the hood she was wearing and the first thing she saw was that chandelier, that fucking chandelier, so prized by demons because-

"Seashells are prized among demons because of their rarity." She almost didn't recognize her own voice, and in the sudden silence of the bathroom, it came across as deafening.

"Do you like it?" That voice. She knew that voice. It was (Brian) the demon who'd first spoken with her. Those had been his first words and next he'd say-

"It was a gift. From-"

She needed to get out, get out, get out and find her team. They took Mist and Gunnr and had dragged them off someplace else but there were three demons in the room with her and they were armed and-

"Tell us how you got here." The man pointed at the map hanging on the wall beside her. He was terrifying, that man. That demon. Him with the deep gravelly voice that could be kind one moment, cruel the next, turning at the flip of a switch and she wanted to leave, wanted her comrades, wanted to be free from this nightmare and- "Point it out. What direction did you come from? What is your mission here? Tell me, Lind. Tell me,"

"Tell me!"

She looked at the map, then back to the man, and her eyes were drawn once more to the chandelier that hung beside his desk. A fist slammed into the metal wall they'd forced her against, and she cringed back as the demon towered over her, glaring down at her with a snarl. "Did I tell you to look away from the map?" he demanded. "Did I tell you to look at my desk, you sniveling piece of shit? Eyes back on the wall."

She didn't move. She couldn't. She was too scared.

The man glowered at her, and then his face broke into a large smile. He laughed. "Can you believe this kid?" He looked back over his shoulder at the guards standing on either side of the metal door. "The brat's as dumb as she is deaf. She can't even follow simple instructions. No wonder the rest of her team ditched her. I mean, who wants to deal with a Valkyrie without so much of a scrap of discipline? That's the type of person who'll get her team killed in the field."

Her eyes widened. "No, that's not-" She took a step towards him, and the demon spun and struck her. Pain blossomed in her cheek, and she fell back against the steel wall, for a moment seeing stars in place of the demon that was her interrogator.

"Well then you better start fucking listening then, shouldn't you!" The demon cried. "A few simple requests. 'Stand up.' 'Sit down.' 'Stand against the wall.' 'Tell us your name.' Simple shit. A fucking human could follow that without trouble, yet for some reason you have trouble with it."

She looked back at the map, tears dotting the corner of her eyes. She felt overwhelmed. Scared. Alone. "I-"

"No," the demon said. "Fuck the map. Look at me... LOOK AT ME!" He pinned her between his arms, and with a cry she looked back up at him. The man leaned in close. "Now, you better start shaping up, little girl, or I'm going to have to call Triple Six back. Do you want that? You know how bad that thing is, and so do I, and it hurts me, knowing I've got to leave a monster like that in here with you. I mean, you're a kid. A little girl. It's horrifying. But you just don't fucking listen when I talk to you, and my boss, he tells me I have to call this thing up when you don't follow instructions." He stared down at her, eyes large and earnest, then jutted his chin towards her. "Look up."

Trembling, she did as he said, and there it was in all its glory, all its horror, hanging from the ceiling like a fat and bloated maggot. Its talons dug into the plaster, holding it in place, and it stayed stationary, curled into itself, looking for all the world like it was asleep. As though sensing her gaze it began to stir, and one end of it dropped down, hitting the shower curtain railing and knocking it to the floor. It swayed back and forth, not so much squirming as it seemed to be stretching. Searching. She screamed and it moved towards her, observing her with no visible eyes from a fleshy carapace that held a sheen like oil in water.

She retreated from it, and behind her the bathroom door flew open, and there was the demon again in all his glory. "Why are you so scared?" He asked again in his gravelly voice. "I was only asking a couple of questions. What's wrong with that? Why did you feel the need to lie to me?"

Like the times before she didn't answer him, and instead grabbed the chandelier from where it hung, ripping it from its lone suspension. The demon cried out in dismay, and she hurled it past him, back into the hallway where he dove after it and creating an avenue of escape for which she took advantage of. She ran out of the bathroom, and the thing behind her dropped into the bathtub before slithering out, talons skating on the porcelain floor.

The demon bellowed at her in the hallway; a deep gravely sound that was almost primal in nature, the shattered remains of broken seashells cradled in his large hands. "That was a gift, you wretch!" He roared. "You'll pay thrice for that!" He lunged at her and she dodged, sweeping beneath the bend of his arms and bolting down the hallway of the camp, the white plaster walls melting into cold steel as she passed cells lined with eyes, all of which watched her in naked terror. The owners of those eyes shouted to her, but if they were curses or encouragement Lind could not tell. She'd grown deaf to their words long ago.

"Help me!" she screamed, and the voice that emerged was that of a younger woman, one scared and injured as she fled from her pursuers. "Spear Mint, help me! Don't let them get me!" She could hear the scratching claws of the monster at her back, could hear it racing along the walls and the ceiling as it lumbered after her, and felt a defeated tear bud and trickle down her cheek. "It's going to get me! Don't let it get me! I don't want to die! I don't want to-"

Something dropped in front of her. Something large and insect-like in nature. A part of it reared upwards, and a head like that of a beast glowered down at her with three sets of eyes. Long antenna tested the air as it examined her with a queer sort of intelligence, and she stopped and turned back down the hallway. "It's going to-" a horrible shriek filled the air, and she felt a familiar tug. "Spear Mint!" And then pain.

Pain.

Oh so much pain.

Pain from her angel.

Pain from her chest.

She looked down, finding a sword buried to the hilt in her chest. She followed it up, to the owner, who stood in front of her with an expression like pity. "You just don't listen, do you?" he asked, then jerked the blade forward. She followed with a wail, and the demon leaned close and hissed two words into her ear:

"Wake up!"

Lind's eyes flew open to a shadowy figure hanging over her. It's here. A scream tore from her throat, and without weapons or allies at her side she lashed out, striking the entity hovering above her with a closed fist. A pained yelp arose as her fist hit something soft, and then the person she struck went crashing to the floor.

Lind scrambled up from where she was laying, climbing up the back of the couch as she tried to distance herself from the person in question and in the process bumping into something soft. She cried out once more in terror, and a pair of gentle hands came to rest on her shoulders. You're safe. A voice whispered in her mind, yet it was not her own, not her angels, and something altogether foreign and alien in and of itself. Panting, she glanced behind her, fully expecting to see the creature that had stalked her in her nightmare and instead finding something else entirely.

A tattooed angel.

A tattooed angel with a black wing.

She stared at the creature in astonishment, her mind not fully processing what she was seeing, and from the top of the angel's black wing another smaller angel popped up. Cool Mint peered down at her in open distress, and after a small gesture to her new friend floated over the wing and onto the couch. The Stranger released Lind and backed away from the couch as Cool Mint took her place. She walked-not floated but actually walked-around the Ugly Beast and to the front, kneeling down beside a silver haired goddess, who groaned before picking herself up.

"Urd?" Lind didn't like the way her voice wavered in her throat, her nerves still high and screaming that she was still in danger. She looked around, not recognizing her surroundings. "Urd, where am I? This-I was with Brian and-where's Spear Mint? Where's my angel?" She wrapped a protective arm around Cool Mint, who continued to look at her in alarm, then looked back to Urd, who rubbed her cheek with a grimace.

"Calm down, Lind." Urd's words came out thick and odd, and it took Lind a moment to realize it was because of where the Valkyrie had struck her. The Stranger helped Urd to her feet, supporting the woman with one arm wrapped around her shoulders. "You're in Keiichi's house, remember? You were spending the night with us."

You had a nightmare. Cool Mint's voice echoed in her mind, still scared. You wouldn't wake up and Spear Mint was in pain so I ran for help. The angel's wing was drawn tightly around her in an unconscious gesture of fear. The only person who heard me was World of Elegance. She pointed to The Stranger in question who met Lind's gaze with a calm and steady gaze of her own. World of Elegance woke Urd up and she came to wake you up, and then you punched Urd in the face. In a softer voice she added, I'm glad she woke you up. Even if you did punch Urd in front of her Other Soul.

"Spear Mint?" Lind twisted to look around her, still having difficulties gaining her bearings. The angel was nowhere in sight, however, and she felt a spark of the fear so permeable in her dream return to her.

Urd shrugged. "As far as I can tell, she's still in you. World of Elegance was trying to draw her out when you punched me." The Norn's words were growing harder to understand as her cheek began to swell, and the goddess rubbed it gently. "Let's go into the kitchen. I need some ice and you look like you need a potion."

"No."

The woman paused and looked over at her in question. "We need to send the angels back," Lind emphasized. "They could be-" She stopped herself, feeling a horrible sense of dread drop into the pit of her stomach. That was a dream. It wasn't real, remember? "Keiichi could see them," she said instead. "I-I'm not comfortable with him seeing my girls."

Urd frowned, for a moment considering Lind's words. "I'll... keep an ear out," she replied. "My ears are pretty sharp- I could hear your heart racing the moment Elegance woke me up- so I'll know if one of the others wakes up. Soon as I hear something I'll have the others go back, no harm, no foul. But I don't like how scared your angel was, and I want to make sure her sibling's okay before we go back to bed. Will you trust me to examine her real fast?"

Lind stared at her, first surprised and then suspicious. It could be a trap. Some piece of her hissed. Didn't they use to pull shit like this on you and the others? So they could learn more about you? So they could dig into your head?

That's not it. Cool Mint leaned in close to her. They want to help. Urd's not a demon. If she was she wouldn't have an angel, and World of Elegance really wants to make sure Spear Mint is okay. Please?

Wonderful. Lind clenched and unclenched her hands. They felt damp. Everything felt damp, actually. Like she'd sweated through her clothes in a high fever. Cool Mint trusts but I don't. Half for and half against. She was at a standstill, and Lind doubted she'd be able to get herself to move even if she demanded it. There must be something I can- "Seashells."

A silver brow raised in question, and Urd stared at her in confusion. "What about them?"

"What do you think of them?" Lind replied. She rubbed her brow. "Just... humor me,"

World of Elegance tilted her head to one side, indicating her confusion, and Urd scowled. "Of all the stupid... I don't know. They're fucking shells!" She threw her hands up in frustration. "I mean, I guess I can use them for bases in certain potions? Otherwise who cares?"

Lind stared at her a moment longer, then sighed and inclined her head. "Alright," she muttered. "Let's go."

Urd sent her one final queer look, then turned and headed into the hallway. Lind trailed behind her and World of Elegance, grateful for reasons she could no longer recall when the woman flipped first the hallway light on, then the dining room and kitchen light on, illuminating the adjoining rooms in a gentle glow.

The Norn approached the dining room table, pulling out a wooden chair and orienting the back towards the table. "Sit," she instructed. "Take your shirt off. I want to get a look at your back." Lind eyed her sharply, and Urd scowled in turn. "I need to examine you before I make a potion," she explained. "I'm not just going to whip some random ingredients together based off superficial signs. You were hurting pretty bad if your Other Soul cried out for help, and I want to make sure it's nothing serious."

"It's not." Lind frowned, staring past Urd and to the chair in reluctance, then stumbled towards it when Cool Mint gave her a hearty shove. The Valkyrie grunted, then sent a glare towards her angel, who returned it with a rebellious one of her own. Grumbling to herself, the woman moved to sit, dissolving her blouse with a simple command and sitting on the wooden chair, hugging the back end. "It's just an old injury from a past incident."

Urd hummed in agreement that was anything but, and Lind tried not to flinch as cool fingers pressed into her back. She didn't like feeling so exposed, especially outside the wire as she was now with no allies to watch her back. She didn't like leaving her angels exposed outside of Asgard, where someone or something hostile could ambush them when she was most vulnerable. And more than anything else, she didn't like appearing so weak to a Civilian, regardless of her slow growing friendship with Urd.

"Well, I'm not seeing any signs of a virus or malicious code on the surface..." Urd murmured behind her. "Will you call your other angel out?" Lind looked over her shoulder at the woman, and Urd sent her a neutral gaze, something Lind had always associated with the Third-Cat healers back in Asgard. "You have two angels, Lind. Cool Mint isn't showing any exterior signs of injury or pain aside from fear, but given that she is part of a set, I'm only seeing half of the Other Soul. Your other angel might display signs that could hint at something deeper. If so, I need to understand what those symptoms are so I can give you a proper potion."

Lind sighed and relented, acknowledging Cool Mint jumping to sit on the table beside her, wing folded but relaxed at her back. Good to see at least one of us is at peace with this situation. Lind thought.

Urd will help, Cool Mint replied. And so will World of Elegance.

Lind scowled and let her forehead thump against the wooden backrest. I wish the rest of us had the same unwavering faith you did, Cool Mint.

You do. The angel caught and held her gaze. Otherwise I wouldn't believe they could help. You just think you've grown too hard to hold any faith in a person like Urd anymore because you no longer trust yourself.

Taken aback by Cool Mint's choice of words, Lind could think of nothing to say in response. Instead she held her peace, and with a breath, brought Spear Mint out into the open, closing her eyes as she awaited Urd's response. Cool Mint leaned over and squeezed her arm in support, and the grip was warm; warmer that Urd's hands.

"Hello," Urd said to Spear Mint. "I'm Urd, and this is World of Elegance. We'd like to do a quick examination of you after Cool Mint exhibited signs of distress to us earlier this evening. Will you allow us to take a look at you?"

Again, curiosity overcame discomfort, and Lind looked back over her shoulder once more, finding a scowling Spear Mint regarding Urd with suspicion. The angel's lone wing was spread up and out, and her hair visibly stood on end like a cat attempting to make herself look bigger to a perceived threat. Urd remained unflustered, though Lind was certain the goddess recognized the angel's body language as hostile. "Calm down, Spear Mint," Lind instructed. "Cool Mint's saying we should trust them, and I'm with her on this one. Urd hasn't done anything suspicious since waking me up." The angel looked back at her, wing fluttering in distress, then sent an upset glance to Cool Mint, who hopped off the table top and approached her twin.

As Cool Mint calmed Spear Mint down, Lind looked back at Urd. "The way you're acting, I'd have mistaken you for a Tic, once upon a time,"

"Well, I wasn't always a Norn," Urd replied, approaching Spear Mint when the angel's body language grew less aggressive at Cool Mint's coaxing. "And we all had dreams as children." World of Elegance approached with a chair, then positioned it with the back facing towards her, allowing Spear Mint to sit with her wing unobstructed. The angel took the offered chair with a perplexed frown, then gestured towards World of Elegance. This time it was the black-winged angel's turn to frown, then shared a look with Urd.

Urd pursed her lips. "I'll tell you while I'm examining you, okay?" In an unconscious gesture that spoke of their connection, Spear Mint, Cool Mint, and Lind all nodded, and sighing to herself Urd kneeled down to get a better look at Spear Mint's back. "Scar tissue along the right shoulder blade, sixteen centimeters in length...width five centimeters..." She murmured, fell silent, and then spoke a bit louder. "So, I wanted to be a healer when I was younger. Did everything necessary for it, too: Became an acolyte, studied medicine, alchemy, biology, mentored under a willing healer in the Third Category..." She frowned, sending Lind an uncomfortable frown. "You can put your shirt on, by the way. Unless you're... you know, an exhibitionist,"

Lind groaned and flushed. "Don't change the subject." With relief she summoned her blouse onto her person once more, then repositioned herself on the chair to watch Urd work. The woman was surprisingly adapt at her examination, working with deft hands as she pressed gentle fingers against Spear Mint's right shoulder blade, pausing on occasion to mutter something aloud to her own angel before continuing.

"But it seemed other forces had different plans for me. Turns out not many gods want to trust a woman whose angel has a black wing, and I was pressured and harassed endlessly by my peers." She sighed, glancing over at World of Elegance. "I wasn't as comfortable with who I was as a person back then, and admittedly, it's rough when you're working as an intern with a patient who's heard rumors of you from nurses and doesn't want you touching them, even harder when you get blamed for accidents or mishaps,"

The goddess straightened, leaning over so Spear Mint could meet her eyes. "You've got a small bit of irritation around your scar tissue that could manifest into infected crystals if left unattended. I can make a quick remedy to slow the process if you want, but you'll need to see a proper Tic for a better prescription. I don't have the equipment necessary to run a full diagnosis that would tell me exactly what you need. Is that okay with you?"

Spear Mint frowned but nodded after a moment's consideration, and Urd moved to the kitchen, continuing her story. "As if that wasn't bad enough, the higher ups had recently come out with the new policy that Third-Category divinities needed a first-class license to legally practice medicine. You know, to ensure they couldn't lie about malpractice. Keep them honest with their patients. I balked." She removed a series of glasses and vials from the pantry, then grabbed various glasses and bowls from the cabinets, setting them out before her as she began to mix the potion. "I'm pretty sure you can guess it by now, but I lie a lot. A first-class license was intimidating to me, but at the same time, I really wanted to be a Tic. It had... become something of a dream. You know. Make something of myself and do some good for the world, despite what society had made me out to be. I wanted to help people. Get rid of the nasty stigma that came with an angel with a black wing-corrupted blood. Belldandy convinced me to test for First-Class. She thought... no, she knew I could make it, and well... little sister, gotta be a good role model, go through with it and show her how bad-ass her sister was."

"You're Second-Class though..." Lind narrowed her eyes. "You bombed it?"

Urd hummed in agreement, then poured the contents of the elixir she was preparing into a glass. She grabbed a clean wash cloth from another drawer, then beckoned to World of Elegance, who took them both and approached Spear Mint. "It was...how do you say, encouraged that I drop out," she confessed. "I can't say how, who, or why, but... well, I never believed in blind honesty anyways. Always seemed like an intentional flaw to me, so... yeah. I bombed it. Dropped out. Sabotaged myself. After working my ass off and gaining almost all the credentials necessary to be registered as a Third Category goddess-a legal healing practitioner meant to serve any of the wounded, regardless of make or model, race or species I just... gave it up."

Lind grimaced. "Yggdrasil's roots, Urd. How long ago was this?" She'd mentioned the Verum clause, an act established centuries ago, all the way back to when she herself had been an acolyte in the Valkyrie's Fighting Wings program.

Urd moved over to sit beside her, yet her attention was focused on World of Elegance. The angel was applying the potion she'd made to Spear Mint's back, and some of the tension had eased out of the one-winged angel's face. "I'd say about the time Skuld was still a toddler," she admitted. "And... it wasn't all for naught. The current Fates running admin on Yggdrasil were getting close to retirement, and they were looking for some folks to take their places."

"The Moirai, right?" Lind looked over at her companion, watching Urd's expression carefully, but the Norn's face was a blank sheet, displaying nothing of her internal thoughts. "I remember them. They were the last trio of sisters to govern Yggdrasil, and there'd been word throughout Asgard searching for..." She trailed off, staring at Urd in growing recognition. "Wait, you can't mean they... you just said yourself that Skuld was a babe still. They wouldn't have really..."

Urd shrugged. "Skuld would have had the least training required since she governed the Future as the youngest. And it's a requirement that three sisters-not brothers or men or unrelated women but sisters-govern the World Tree as the acting Fates. Everything following my drop out happened so fast it was like being caught up in a tornado. Even Belldandy was caught off guard by it all. I don't think I ever recall seeing her so upset before. Not even Aoshima... she raged, Lind. And not even on her own account. Her domain was the Present, and of all of us, she'd be the least affected by the change; she could still go and work for the GRO, doing quick checks on her section of Yggdrasil to ensure no gaps in time opened up to affect those in her 'present'. But for Skuld, who'd never know any other job? For me, who was denied her own career?"

Urd shook her head. "Belldandy had been gunning for me more than anyone else I knew. She was the one who'd give me a pep talk whenever I let my peers get to me. She'd wake me up when I studied through the night and was about to miss a class and made me tea and meals when I forgot to feed myself. Shit, there were times it seemed like Belldandy wanted me to become a Tic more than me. But I took strength in that. I wouldn't have gotten half as far as I did if not for her." The Norn fell silent for a long moment before speaking again, and when she did it was in a whisper. "Never let it be said that Belldandy doesn't have a dangerous temper. She doesn't want to admit it, but she got the worst of both her mother and father with that, and those two both being War Deities who thrived on that emotion. She keeps a tight lock on it, but when it escapes her..."

The woman lapsed into silence, saying nothing more on the subject. When she did speak again, it was with an apology. "I'm sorry about the slur I called you in Japan," she said. "I didn't realize you'd lost a wing."

"It's not something I advertise," Lind replied, then after a moment's hesitation added, "and I apologize as well. I let my anger get the better of me, back then. It was a... petty move, on my account."

Urd nodded, and finished with the potion, World of Elegance returned it to the kitchen. "The nightmare you were having... was it in relation to-"

"It was," Lind said. "I was... in a hostage situation with my unit. I'm not authorized to speak much on it, but... there was torture involved. A lot of it. I was lucky to escape with the loss of just that one wing,"

Urd nodded. "You're twin doesn't have any scar tissue though," she observed. "And she's missing her left wing."

There was a question in that statement. An obvious one that Lind was all too aware of. Deities didn't have twin angels. In a manifestation-sense it was an impossibility because of the demands on the deity in question. Supporting two representations of the same half was redundant, a waste of energy, and was liable to drain the god in question before the twins even had a chance to aid them. And yet here Lind was, with a pair of twins that made up for what the other lacked; a right wing. A left wing. A missing piece of the soul.

Lind chose to ignore that question. "I'll speak with a Tic when I return to Asgard with Skuld. I've got a regular one assigned to me for Spear Mint- she's the one with the scar tissue. The infection you mentioned is a more common occurrence than I care to admit." She ignored the imploring stare Urd directed at her, instead watching as World of Elegance and Spear Mint went through a series of muscle exercises for Spear Mint's shoulder. Many of them incorporated the use of their wings, and a part of Lind was a little envious of Urd's angel. World of Elegance's wingspan was large and broad in contrast to Spear Mint's slender and curved wing frame. Built for soaring rather than maneuvering. "Let's talk about something else for now though." She already had an idea in mind, and though Lind would not admit it aloud, she felt a bit safer broaching the subject with the angels-both her own and Urd's-in attendance.

"So... I doubt either of us are getting any more sleep tonight," she began. "Want to talk about those videos?"

For a long moment the Norn stared at her, and even World of Elegance paused from what she was doing to look at them. The silver haired woman shared a glance with her angel, and Lind was almost relieved when a smile spread across Elegance's face and she nodded. "Oh come on," Urd growled, then sighed and bowed her head. When she lifted it, it was to send a sidelong glare at Lind. "You know, you can be an absolute bitch sometimes."

"It takes one to know one, Urd."

XXX

Sunday morning found Lind and Urd passed out side by side at the dining room table, the remaining two chair scattered about without cause or reason and a mess of dishes on the kitchen countertop. Belldandy, the first to awaken that day, was the one to discover them and was just as swift to re-orient the chairs and clean up the soiled dishes. Neither woman so much as twitched until around nine in the morning, long after the others had awakened, ate breakfast, and washed their dishes in the kitchen right next to them.

"And Urd scores again!" Aiko cried, removing the Tupperware containers she'd prepped yesterday from the fridge and moving them into a plastic bag. "First me, now Lind! Who will she sleep with next?"

Belldandy sent her a disapproving glare while fighting to hide her amusement. "Be nice," she scolded.

"Yeah, it might have actually been serious this time." Skuld grinned. "I don't see any alcohol bottles anywhere. You never know, Aiko. Maybe Urd was lamenting over how you dumped her in front of everyone yesterday."

Aiko planted her hands on her hips, scowling at Skuld. "What? So you're saying Lind is the rebound girl?" She snorted. "Urd would have only gone to her because she reminded her of me." She ran a hand through her dyed hair for effect, flipping the short ends with an exaggerated motion, and it was enough to stop Belldandy and force her to look away, shoulders shaking with self-contained laughter. "Lind only wishes she was all this mortal." She made a show of running her hands down her sides and along her hips, which was how Keiichi stumbled upon her that morning.

"I'm going to count to three and pretend I didn't see that happen," Keiichi grumbled. Aiko yelped and froze in place, and as her face reddened, Skuld burst into laughter. The man squeezed the bridge of his nose. "It's too early to imagine what you do in the clubs, Aiko."

"Oh Lord please kill me now," Aiko muttered under her breath before announcing in a louder voice, "Um... gotta put bags in the car! See ya!" She rushed out of the kitchen at a pace just under a run, a plastic bag filled with Tupperware food swaying noisily in one hand.

Keiichi and the others watched her go, and the man rubbed his brow. "At least last night was mostly uneventful." The weekend altogether had been rather hectic, and with Sunday's expected departures, Keiichi was looking forward to some peace and quiet. Peace and quiet with only Belldandy and Urd. Now that was a strange concept. It was going to take some adjusting after Skuld had lived with them for almost a month. No more Poodle. He had mixed feelings about that, in all honesty. While she was an annoyance most days, Keiichi had grown to enjoy the daily war of wits between himself and the youngest Norn, and admittedly, there had been several instances where events could have turned out very differently if Skuld hadn't intervened. No, he thought. Don't go there. Don't you dare go there and start thinking you'll miss her. She might find a reason to stay. The resulting shudder was enough to remind Keiichi why he was glad Skuld was leaving.

"If you all don't shut your thrice-cursed mouths I will personally shove a moldy sock filled with clay down your throats and silence you permanently." Lind's growling voice made Keiichi turn, finding the goddess in question snarling at them all from where she was prying herself up out of the dining room chair. "Anzu's water in a bucket, fucking either wake us up so we can sleep somewhere else or shut the fuck up."

Ah. A morning person like McGuinness. That was something else to remember. "Good morning to you too, Sunshine," Keiichi deadpanned.

Lind looked straight at him, eyes red and irritated from a lack of sleep. "You. You I will force into the darkest depths of Tehome's abyss to be consumed by the eldritch beasts that lurk there if you say one more thing to me." She rubbed her eyes and grimaced. "Where the fuck is the coffee?"

Belldandy stared at the woman from where she'd come to lean on the kitchen counter, peering at the Valkyrie with her chin propped up by one arm. "There is no coffee," she said, staring unflinching at Lind as the goddess scowled at her. "And there will be no black tea for you either if you continue with your profanities," she warned.

Lind narrowed her eyes. "I will shove my boot so far up your-"

"Oh would you put a sock in it!" Urd groaned from where she was starting to wake at the table. "You're the one who kept us up to fucking six in the morning, Lind! Stop threatening my sister and go take a bath before I try and drown you. There will be tea waiting for you by the time you finish."

Lind growled and glared at Urd, who'd done little other than shift herself on her seat so she could bury her face in her arms on the table. "I'll kill you last," she decided. Urd flipped her off, and grumbling obscure obscenities under her breath the Valkyrie departed for the stairs, snarling at Skuld when it appeared the younger Norn was too close to her. Skuld yelped and put her hands up, backing into a wall, and still muttering to herself Lind departed.

"Great, it's Mother all over again." Skuld scowled as she watched Lind enter the hallway and jog up the stairs, then turned back to the others. "You guys are seriously going to send me back with her?"

"Yggdrasil needs you," Belldandy reminded, setting a kettle they'd bought a week ago on the stove to boil.

"If you don't go willingly I'll hog tie you and have Lind drag you back," Urd muttered from her place at the table.

"Savages." Skuld shot Urd a glare. "Savages. All of you."

"And yet somehow you're still related to us," Belldandy murmured. "Pity."

The younger Norn moaned. "I wasn't talking about you, Belldandy."

"Just everyone else in the house, I know." Belldandy's head bobbed in agreement. "Which is why it's a pity I've thrown my lot in with them as well. You may as well lump me together with the savage man whom I wished to spend my life with and his savage sister who was discussing technology with you and our savage sister and the savage Valkyrie who reminds you of our savage mother and-"

"Okay okay okay, you can stop now!" Skuld exclaimed, and Belldandy grinned. "You've made your point, alright? Yggdrasil, it's like speaking to Father sometimes!"

Urd grunted from her place at the dining room table.

"So are you sticking around to see Aiko off?" Keiichi asked. "I know she's planning on stealing another free lunch here before returning to campus, but you haven't said when you're heading out."

"What, eager to be rid of me?" Skuld sent him a sidelong glance. "I'm not sure yet. Lind hasn't bothered haggling for a time to leave with me yet, but if I get my way it won't be until this evening,"

"Lind needs to head out early. She's got prior engagements she needs to meet," Urd's muffled voice rose from her arms. "She'll probably try and head out as soon as she gets some caffeine in her. You got everything?" She turned her head to look at Skuld.

"Carry only what is needed, for survival favors the swift," Skuld said.

A look of confusion befell Belldandy. "I don't believe I've heard that one before," she murmured.

"Yeah, I ah, learned it from an associate." Skuld looked away, rubbing the back of her neck. "Anyways, I didn't bring much with me anyways. The van's back in Asgard with most of my ad-hoc equipment back in storage."

Urd gave her a thumbs up before burying her face back in her arms, and Keiichi muttered to himself, "I was wondering what happened to that blasted pedo-van of yours."

Belldandy stared at Skuld a moment longer, then nodded as well. "You've grown, Skuld. I seem to recall you taking your life with you wherever you went."

"Yeah..." Skuld trailed off as Aiko returned from outside. "Stay out of Lind's way until she's got some caffeine in her," she advised. "She's on the warpath,"

"Another coffee whore?" Aiko brightened, and a large smile spread across her face as Keiichi moaned. "Blue hair and a love for coffee. What's not to love?"

"God damn it, Aiko," Keiichi groused.

"You see, this is why you need a coffee pot, Kei!"

XXX

The rest of the morning was spent with Aiko gathering her bags and doing a final sweep of Belldandy's room to ensure she had everything. Lind became more approachable after three consecutive glasses of the most caffeinated tea Keiichi owned, and lunch was a light and simple meal for Aiko's return trip to Raleigh.

It was close to the woman's departure when Aiko hailed Belldandy. "Can I talk to you in private for a moment?"

At Belldandy's nod the two of them headed upstairs to Belldandy's room. "So, do you have a cell phone or a computer?" Aiko asked as Belldandy shut the door behind her.

"Urd has a cell phone," Belldandy recalled. "I'm not sure about a computer, though."

Aiko nodded. "Kei's got a laptop, and if you ask I'm sure he'll let you borrow it." The woman dug into the back pocket of her blue jeans and came up with a scrap of paper. "Here." She offered the paper to Belldandy, who took it and stared down at what was scrawled in curiosity. "That's my phone number and my Skype name," she said. "If you ever want to get in contact with me and talk. I'm always available, and if I miss your call and don't respond in fifteen minutes or so on say, Skype, you can always try the alternate phone number to get ahold of me,"

"Blue eyes, white Bengal?" Belldandy read the Skype name aloud, and Aiko smiled sheepishly. "Are you certain you want to be turned into a dog and not a tiger?" the Norn asked. "Because more and more I'm starting to question your request."

"Oh, what's this, is Belldandy actually teasing poor little Aiko?" The woman smiled broadly at the brunette, and after a moment, Belldandy returned it with a large one of her own. "At this point in my life, I think I'm better just sticking to a human and seeing where it goes. But, you know, if you want to make all the horrible debt I've accumulated through college vanish..." She winked at Belldandy as she trailed off and laughed. "But seriously. Call me anytime you like. Day or night. I'll be there for you, okay?" Some of the humor faded from her voice. "Never think I don't want to talk or that you're being a burden. You aren't, and I'll always be happy to listen, and whenever I come back down here to visit Kei and you the two of us can clean out a pint of ice cream and a gallon of tea while crying in your bedroom. It'll be fun!"

Belldandy groaned. "Oh goodness..."

"There's one more thing, too." Aiko held up a hand, then unshouldered the backpack that held some of her personal possessions. She unzipped the bag, then rummaged around inside before withdrawing another item. "Here." She offered Belldandy the little sailor bear she'd seen last night, 'Keiichi'. "I've... pretty much gotten over my own event," the woman confessed. "And so at this point, Keiichi here is more of a crutch than he is a help... so, I want you to have him."

Belldandy stared at the younger woman in shock. "Aiko, I can't-"

"I insist," Aiko said. "You'll need him more than me, I think. He's a good little buddy, too. Especially when you're feeling alone or overwhelmed. Besides... I've still got something else to help me out." Zipping her backpack up and swinging it onto one shoulder, the woman dug into her shirt, grabbing hold of a slim, silver chain Belldandy had only ever noticed in passing. She withdrew it and let the pendant on the chain dangle from her fingers. "Keima, my dad, gave me another charm that helps too, see?" It looked like a small glass cat. It stared up at Belldandy with tiny blue eyes with a long tail curled under its paws. "It's my little puma-baby. Keima made it for me after finding out what happened to me. It was supposed to be a kitten, but when I first saw it, its tail made me think it was a cougar." The college student smiled fondly before tucking the pendant back into her shirt. "I can't always take Teddy-Keiichi with me, but Little Puma is always with me. She gives me courage."

"I see..." Belldandy murmured. "Are you certain though?" she asked, still staring at the old teddy bear. "I don't want you to feel obligated to give me your possessions, Aiko. And I can see how much it means to you,"

Aiko nodded firmly. "I'm sure," she said. "Really. Think of it as me lending him to you. You can give him back after you've conquered your own demons, and you will, because you're stronger than Aoshima. You'll get past this, and you've got me and Kei and your sisters to help you, and when you do, I'll be expecting Teddy-Keiichi returned to me, okay?"

With tender hands Belldandy took the bear from Aiko, observing the old stuffed animal with its threadbare uniform and all its messy stitches. It was a simple little teddy bear. One that had grown with its owner and still held the lingering remains of emotion that had so endeared it to her. The goddess looked back at Aiko, then drew her into a tight embrace. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you for everything. This will not be forgotten."

Aiko returned her embrace with a hug that was just as strong. "You take care of yourself, okay Belldandy? Remember, you're stronger than this, and you're never alone, ever. You've got family and friends who all want to help and we'll all do our damndest to support you." They released each other from their embrace, and Aiko smiled up at her. "Keep in contact, you hear? If I don't get phone calls I'm going to start sending annoying gifs to Kei until he bugs you to call me."

"I will," Belldandy smiled back. "It's a promise."

XXX

Not long after Aiko's departure, Skuld and Lind were the next to go.

Skuld hugged Belldandy tight. "I promise I'll come back and visit as soon as I get things sorted for Yggdrasil back home," she said. "I'll set up a turnover program and put in leave and-"

"Skuld, calm yourself," Belldandy murmured. "Return home and enjoy yourself. Send Mother our blessings. We're safe here." She kissed the bridge of Skuld's brow. "Though I do have a small request for when you return," she murmured, and in a lower voice whispered. "Can you look into a Tic for me? One who is authorized to come here to Asgard to meet with a client?"

Skuld jerked back in surprise, eyes wide, and then nodded eagerly. "Of course," She said. "It'll be the first thing I do."

Belldandy waved her down. "No. The first thing you must do is report to your betters and ensure all is well with Yggdrasil. Once the World Tree is well and the bugs are under control, then look into it for me, alright? I can wait. Yggdrasil needs you."

For a moment Skuld looked ready to argue, and then Belldandy was pleasantly surprised to find the woman stop herself and nod. "You're right," she grumbled. "Fine. It'll be the second thing on my list then. And when I find a Tic, I'm putting in more leave to come back down and visit you."

"Good." Belldandy nodded in approval. She held Skuld back at arm's length, looking the younger woman up and down with a small smile. "You really have grown, though," she murmured. "I'm not simply stating that, either. I don't know what happened to that little girl from ten years back... I don't know what you've faced in my absence, but know this: it has formed you into a strong young woman. I'm proud of you, Skuld." Belldandy pulled the younger Norn into a final embrace, then whispered into her ear. "Now go say good-bye to Urd. Don't let Lind see your tears." She felt Skuld nod against her, and when they parted Skuld's eyes were bright but her cheeks were dry. The woman gave her a wavering smile, then left her for Urd, who was finishing her own conversation with Lind.

"Give me a call after you're done," the elder Norn instructed. "I'm not going to be convinced until I know everything is good, alright?" The woman planted her hands on her hips, scowling at Lind, who returned it with a teeth-borne snarl of her own. Both of them still looked exhausted from whatever had so kept them up at the dining room table the night prior, and the irritation that came with it was starting to break through as the caffeine died down.

"What, so now you're a Nest Mother?" Lind grumbled, and Urd growled and took a threatening step towards her. "Right, right, I understand," she moaned. "I'll contact you later. I've still got your number and it isn't as though I wouldn't be making regular check-ups on you anyways." She glanced towards Skuld as the younger woman approached. "I'm going to speak to Keiichi before departing. Finish your good-byes so we can be done with this place."

Skuld sniffed. "What crawled up your ass and died?" she muttered as Lind stormed past her.

Lind didn't deign her with a response, and following her departure Skuld turned back to Urd. The silver-haired woman gave her a wane smile. "Ignore her. She had a rough night on the Ugly Beast."

"I'm sure..." Skuld grumbled, sending a look to Urd. The Norn smirked, and Skuld sighed. "I wonder about you sometimes, Urd."

"You and about everyone else in the family." Urd grinned.

"You know what Grandpa says about a black sheep every generation..." Skuld's expression grew pensive, and Urd chuckled, stepping forward and embracing the younger woman. Skuld returned it with a tight one of her own. "Are you going to be okay down here?" she asked. "I mean, Bell can contact us, but you..."

"I'll make do," Urd assured. "It's not the end of the world and I've got you and some other contacts I can reach out to in case something happens that warrants attention." She ruffled Skuld's long, black hair, causing the woman to protest vocally. "Get back home. Enjoy yourself. Bell and I will look out for each other, and believe it or not, some of these mortals are actually pretty good people. Stop worrying so much about us."

"Can't help it," Skuld murmured, then sighed, dejected, against Urd's chest. "I don't like leaving you guys down here alone. It's not right."

"I know," Urd's voice softened. "But there are some things that can't be changed. Bell made her wish and I'm serving my time down here. We have to make the most of what's thrown at us, and you'll do more good for us back home than you will down here. You understand that, right?"

"I do." Skuld pulled away, then made a face. "I don't like it, but I do. And I'll try my best. For you and Belldandy. You'll watch out for her, right?"

"I'd be failing as a sister if I didn't." Though she sounded amused, Urd's expression was anything but; a solemn, worn, and tired face that had seen its own series of trials. "Take care of yourself, Skuld. Don't let them work you too hard up there."

"I won't," Skuld replied. "So long as you don't do anything stupid down here."

Urd nodded, and Skuld took a deep breath before pulling herself away from her elder sister. She swallowed, staring up at the older woman, then turned and headed to stand by Lind, who was waiting with her arms crossed twenty feet away from the house. Urd moved to stand beside Keiichi and Belldandy, and together the trio watched as Skuld joined the Valkyrie. The youngest Norn turned to face the trio, and together the duo began to glow with a strange, ethereal light that caused Keiichi to blink and grimace. A moment later, and they were gone, leaving nothing to mark their departure.

Keiichi rubbed his eyes. "I feel like somebody fucking lazed me," he muttered, blinking owlishly before looking at Belldandy and Urd. "That... doesn't cause any kind of lasting damage for mortals, does it? I mean, it was cool and all, but if I knew I was going to be blinded, I'd have brought some shades."

Belldandy and Urd shared a look, then glanced back to the mortal. "You'll be fine Keiichi," Urd assured. "Think of it like a bright camera flash. Your eyes will clear up in a few minutes, but they might be a little sensitive for a while. Might be best to head inside where it's a bit darker,"

"I hear you." The man squeezed his eyes shut, then blinked rapidly. "I'm going to grab some eye drops. You guys good?"

Belldandy nodded. "We'll be fine, Keiichi. Go and tend to your eyes. We'll follow you in a few minutes."

The man nodded, glancing once more between the two sisters, then headed inside, providing them the unrequested privacy neither had asked for. When he was gone, Belldandy looked back at Urd. "Will you be alright with this, Urd?" She asked. "Be honest with me. Please,"

For a moment Urd didn't respond, her gaze still locked on the spot Skuld and Lind had been standing moments prior. "I don't know," she confessed. "It's... it's all starting to sink in now, Belldandy. I can't go home. I mean, you're here too, you and Keiichi both, but... sixty, maybe seventy years tops, and you'll be able to go back." Belldandy approached the older woman, slipping a hand into her sister's grip and squeezing it gently. "But... three millennia, Bell. Three millennia. Even though we are immortal, we typically don't make plans past one." She gave a heavy sigh.

"Do you regret it?" Belldandy asked, and with a start Urd looked at her.

"Regret what?" she demanded.

"Saving me," the brunette clarified. "Do you regret saving me, knowing your punishment?"

Urd fell silent, gripping Belldandy's hand in a firm but gentle embrace. "No," she said firmly. "I went in expecting a harsher punishment than I was given, and I was prepared to serve it no matter how bad it was. I just..."

"I understand," Belldandy said. "You are like Grandfather in his youth now. Ganglari. A wanderer. Yet you've been presented with an opportunity few of us will ever see now; you are bound by no duties, and can experience more than Skuld or I will in half of your travels. You'll be better for it. Wiser. Fitting for the Norn of the Past, wouldn't you agree?"

Urd said nothing for a long time. To Belldandy it seemed like a small millennia in and of itself, and with it came an age old wariness on her face that hurt to witness. Then Urd sighed and dropped her gaze. "Let's go inside and make sure Keiichi's okay."

"Yes," Belldandy agreed. "Let's do just that." They spoke not a word more on the subject, but as they turned back towards the house, Urd slipped an arm around Belldandy's shoulders and Belldandy wrapped an arm around Urd's waist, and together they continued, arm in arm, drawing support from each other.

If Keiichi noticed their quiet later that evening, he chose the wisdom of holding his own silence and said not a word, allowing for the peace to continue into the night, where a household as large as five was decreased to one as small as three, each with their own room.

And in the silence of the night, lying awake and restless as midnight came to pass, Belldandy sighed and sat up. With a beaten teddy bear from a silly girl with dyed blue hair in her hands, the goddess left her room for Urd's, sneaking inside her sister's room and grabbing Urd's cellphone from where it sat on a small table. She slipped out with the same stealth, and Urd never so much as twitched in her sleep as Belldandy retreated back to her bedroom. She closed and locked the door behind her, then crawled back onto her bed, sitting cross-legged on the mattress as she stared down at the slim cell phone.

With a deep, soothing breath she gripped it with both hands, bringing up the keypad on the touchscreen and dialing a number she'd already devoted to memory. Clutching the old teddy tight to her chest, the woman waited with baited breath as first one ring, two rings, then three rings passed across the line. She was about to give up when the phone was answered on the fifth ring.

"Carrie?" A tired voice traveled across the line. "That you?"

And Belldandy smiled. She smiled, feeling tears bud at the corner of her eyes but leaving her cheeks dry. "It's me Aiko," she replied, and perhaps she was a little grateful for the warmth little Teddy-Keiichi brought her. "May we speak?"

"Of course, Bell. We can talk for as long as you'd like."


A/N: If you start getting the song this arc is named after in your head, blame Nena. The chapter was originally named Lind's Story. Obviously, we do not own the song Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The chapter title is truncated because of FF's character limit.


Comments of a Madwoman: Tis the season, and with it comes the start of a new arch. Happy Holidays, everyone. Let's celebrate together, as a family, by allowing a Madwoman to drag you back down to Hell, where demons gossip and monsters roam…