l
"Why is it, that of all the creatures that roam Tehome's Abyss, it is angels that invoke the awe of Man? You show them a god, and they are unimpressed. You show them a demon, and they care not. A roc, a harpy, a garuda, and though impressed, they still lack any depth of inspiration or fascination for what stands before them...Yet if you should drop the word 'angel' within their ear's range...the transformation that overcomes them is strange and frightening. You could point to a pile of shit and claim it was an angel, and they'd still look at it with the utmost respect more deserving of the higher powers that rule over their pitiful lives...Of all creatures, why angels?"
—The journal of Nebo, God First Class - Third Category - Unlimited
-31-
Keiichi sank down onto his bed with a sigh, clutching his head with both hands. His thoughts were muddled and confused, a knot of string with infinite loops and frayed ends all pulling in different directions. The heart of his troubles, the core of that jumbled knot of thought and emotion was Belldandy, and more than anything, more than the anger and the fear and the sadness, what Keiichi felt most was depression. He didn't know what to do. When all was said and done, he still loved Belldandy, but she'd literally killed him, and with her admission to it the SEAL didn't know how to proceed from there. His discussion with Urd had answered some of his questions, but it had done nothing to clear his head or his heart, as he'd so hoped.
He was still as lost and confused now as he had been when Belldandy had collapsed sobbing in front of him.
With a groan he lay on top of his bed, bringing an arm across his eyes as he tried to mute the noise in his head. He rolled onto his stomach and buried his face in the pillows when that did nothing either. He jerked up. The pillows smelled like her. The SEAL grabbed them and threw them against a wall, but found no satisfaction in the act. The blankets smelled like Belldandy too. His throat locked with grief.
"What am I supposed to do?" he choked out, and the voice he heard was a poor impression of his own.
What do you always do when you're confused? Debra's voice, soft yet scolding, rose in his head, and Keiichi was uncertain if he was relieved or not to hear her voice.
The SEAL made a face, then rolled onto his back and dug his cellphone out of his jeans pocket. There was a missed call from Aiko from nine last night, and a frown tugged at the edge of his lips as he unlocked his phone and dialed her number. It was close to seven thirty in the morning now, but given it was Sunday Keiichi wouldn't have been surprised if she didn't answer. As it normally was whenever it came to Aiko, his presumption was wrong.
"Kei?" It sounded like he'd woken her again.
"Hey Aiko. How you doing?"
"Sleepy." She yawned over the phone. "You okay?" she asked. "I haven't heard anything from you or Belldandy since Wednesday."
Wednesday. That was when Peorth had arrived. The start of... everything, he supposed. The man grimaced. "Been busy." His voice was gruffer than he intended. "Going through some stressful times over here."
"Like what?" Aiko sounded more awake now.
The man fell silent, puzzling over what to say. "New person popped up," he started. "Friend of Bell's."
"Good friend or bad friend?" Aiko asked. "Like, a friend from before... Japan? Or a friend during... you know."
"Friend from before," Keiichi said. "A goddess. Another one."
"Okay... so that explains why I wasn't hearing anything from you guys... I take it this friend was here for a while?"
"Still is," Keiichi grunted. "Her and Lind and another god too."
"Sounds like quite the party..." Aiko trailed off. She didn't press him for information, though he could hear the question in her voice.
"Yeah..." he muttered. "A real party. Not a good one, either."
"What happened, Kei?"
For a long moment Keiichi said nothing. He couldn't muster the strength to speak. All of a sudden he was two years younger, a little more hurt, a little less healed, and a great deal more lost and depressed. "Deb left me," had been the words he'd finally uttered a lifetime ago, and now they revolved around his mind once more only this time the blonde childhood friend he'd fallen in love with was replaced with an almond haired goddess. "She was my world," he'd sobbed into the phone back then, had held back nothing and wept like a child, the pain that followed his heartbreak wounding him more deeply than any physical injury ever could.
And now... "It's not working out, Aiko." Now he felt that painful tug again, "We-" That feeling of hurt, of betrayal, so raw and open that he felt like dying, manifested in his chest again. "I almost-" They weren't even that close! Not on the same level as he and Debra. Deb had made him feel silly and young and passionate when they were together, "She-" Belldandy was an enigma in comparison... where every little gesture; every smile, every touch, every hug and every kiss made him feel warm and special, exhilarated and nervous all at one time. "She almost..." Deb had always left him feeling happy and content, complete if he had to describe it. Belldandy filled him in a different way though... Belldandy... expanded on that somehow, with her terrifying powers and wild abilities and...
Belldandy, she...
Belldandy...
"She almost killed me, Aiko." The words slipped off his tongue like an eel, and the voice he heard did not so much speak as it did whimper. "I-" The words came in a flood, and Keiichi found himself without the strength with which to slow their passage. Tears rolled down his face as he laid out the events of the past twelve hours: opening up to Belldandy, their moment of intimacy, the flashback, the light, waking up to a house in chaos and a strange man, Belldandy's disappearance and eventual return, her confession, everything. It hurt. God did it hurt, and for his part Keiichi was grateful he was safe and sound in his closed room. He didn't want Urd to see him so vulnerable, or Lind, or Skuld, or anyone else in the house. Especially Belldandy.
He didn't want her to see how much her actions affected him. Not now. Maybe not ever.
"It's like Deb all over again, Aiko." His voice wavered. "Like Deb when I-" He couldn't bring himself to say the words. "It should have been me, Aiko." His lips peeled back in a long grimace. "I could hate myself if it was me. If I was the one who fucked up like I did with Deb. If I was the one to- to- lose myself in a flashback because of some little thing that set me off." He closed his eyes, trying to will the tears to stop. They kept coming.
"But Bell? How can I hate her, Aiko? After knowing everything she's been through? Even- even understanding where she's coming from- what kind of a state she's in after coming out of a flashback?" He slammed a fist into the mattress. "But I can't- she killed me, Aiko. She stopped my fucking heart! I've bounced back from a lot of things, but this? From death itself? I- I don't know. I just-" His breath caught in his throat, and for a brief moment he couldn't breathe, could feel a hand clenched around his throat and crushing his windpipe, could feel his lungs burning and his limbs growing heavy as he fought to breathe. And then the sensation, the memory, was gone, and Keiichi swallowed a huge breath of air. "I don't know," he whispered. "I just don't know..."
Aiko, who'd fallen silent for the entirety of his grievance, took the chance to speak up. "You love her a lot, don't you Kei?"
Keiichi flinched. The words stung coming from another person.
"But... do you love her enough to forgive her?"
"I don't know," he confessed. "I want to... god how I want to... but I don't know if I can, Aiko."
There was silence from the other line. One so long and deep that for a moment Keiichi feared Aiko had hung up on him. "Ai-"
"Would you forgive yourself?"
"What?"
"You heard me." Aiko said. "If it had been you instead of Carrie... would you forgive yourself?"
"No," Keiichi replied. "No, because I'd be a danger to everyone... I couldn't trust myself without fear of killing someone."
"And, say... Carrie was the one who was hurt instead of you. Do you think she'd forgive you instead? If the roles were reversed?"
"N-" He stopped himself, realizing at once that his initial response wasn't true. Truth was, unlike Debra, she would have forgiven him. She would have forgiven him and understood, maybe not on the same level as himself, but she'd have tried to help. She'd have been there for him.
She would have stayed where Debra had fled.
The thought struck him like a rock, and stunned he sat in silence, rocked to the core as the new bit of revelation sank into his mind. "She'd stay," he mumbled. "She'd stay because I'm human, and she doesn't care about that. She loves me anyways."
"What'd you say?"
"I..." He trailed off, turning his head towards his bedroom door as a chatter of voices penetrated the barrier. One of them sounded like Belldandy's. "I... hang on a moment. Something's happening out front." He moved the phone away from his ear, then rose from the bed and rubbed his eyes with the back of his arm. Several voices. Urd now. Skuld too. Even that ass, Nebo. "The fuck is going on now?" he grumbled, and against his better judgment headed for the door. He could have sworn he heard a voice, one of the Norns he guessed, say something about 'angels'.
Lips pursed, Keiichi opened the door to his room and stuck his head into the hallway. As he'd predicted, all three of the Norns were in the hallway, joined by Nebo, who was speaking to all three of them. It was in that Not-English language again that made no sense to Keiichi, and as the man tried to puzzle out what was being said the door to Belldandy's bedroom cracked open. He couldn't see the person on the other side of the door, but a part of him was betting it was that same red-eyed kid he'd seen earlier. Nebo spoke to whoever was on the other side, and the door creaked open a bit more to allow the group of four entrance.
None of the gods had noticed him yet, and the man watched in silence as Nebo conversed with all three of the Norns. Urd nodded, her posture stiff and tense, and then Keiichi watched in amazement as a pair of wings emerged from her back. His jaw fell open, and the SEAL watched with large, disbelieving eyes as the owner of those wings followed them.
"Kei?" Aiko's voice rang out from the cell phone in his hand. He'd forgotten she was still on the line. "Kei, you still there?"
He brought the phone to his ear. "Angel," he said in a daze.
"What do you mean?" Aiko asked.
The creature- no, it had to be an angel, what else could it be?- beat its-no, her-wings, like a bird stretching after coming out of its cage, and the SEAL could feel the stirred air touch his face in a gentle breeze. Not an illusion. Not a simple manifestation. She was real. Mesmerized, Keiichi watched the feathers rise and settle with the movements, then watched a white feather that must have been as long as his forearm fall from her person and disintegrate before touching the floor. "It's... Aiko, there's an angel coming out of Urd's back." His voice rose with a notable tremor.
The angel turned to look at him.
Their eyes met, and her gaze stole his breath away. God, she was beautiful. It was an abstract beauty. One different from the mortal beauty of Debra or even his younger sister Megumi, yet different from the mythical beauty that had so caught his gaze when he'd first seen Belldandy or even Urd. There was an ethereal glow to her that somehow illuminated the creature from the inside-out. Her feathers shone in the light of the hallway, the black wing cast with an almost silver glow from where the light reflected off them and the white wing so bright it almost hurt to look at. Her hair matched her wings in its dual colors of black and white, creating a roguish appearance that only enhanced her sharp features and took nothing away from her glamor. Tattoos-no, that's not the right word. Keiichi thought. Not tattoos but birthmarks covered her body, black and filled with sharp curves and noticeable points that seemed to flow with a life of their own with every movement.
Her eyes narrowed, one a shade darker than the other, and as everyone turned to observe what had so caught the angel's attention the door to Belldandy's room slammed shut. Keiichi jumped and dropped his phone, and in that moment the angel charged towards him. "Shit!" he cried, and backpedaled into his bedroom. The angel was at the threshold in seconds, her shoulders and wingspan so broad and massive that for a second Keiichi didn't think she'd fit into the room. Then her wings folded behind her, and the angel was inside, eyes bright with an inner light that glowed white in the shadows. The angel advanced on his person, wings expanding out behind her once more in a display that made her look twice as large as she actually was. "Shit, shit, shit!" Keiichi backed up to the far wall of his room, trying to keep the bed between the two of them as he watched the angel with wide eyes.
"World of Elegance, stop!" Urd's voice rose behind the angel, yet the creature didn't so much as spare the goddess a glance. Her eyes remained glued on Keiichi, face distressed and alarmed. She paused at the bed, then beat her wings, knocking over the desk lamp that was on his dresser. The gale they produced was strong enough to send loose papers and knickknacks flying, and the man brought his arms up to protect his head.
"Fuck!" The SEAL cried. "I'm sorry! Shit, whatever I did, I'm sorry!"
"World of Elegance, back off! It's Keiichi for fuck's sake!" Urd's voice rose anew behind the angel, and this time the angel paused, staring at Keiichi with an expression he couldn't place. The feathers of her wings rustled, then smoothed. Some of the aggression faded from her stance, though her wings remained splayed and open on either side of her as though in warning to the man before her.
For his sake, Keiichi didn't move. He didn't dare until Urd appeared on the angel's left and slipped between the two of them. "It isn't his fault, dear heart," she murmured. The goddess seemed amazingly small standing in front of the angel. Keiichi wondered if part of it had to do with the creature's massive wingspan. "He wasn't trying to peek. I was careless. I should have checked to make sure he wasn't watching. It's my fault, not his, okay?" More of the tension faded from the creature, and a little more certain that his life was no longer in danger- again- Keiichi lowered his arms as well. He didn't like how distressed the angel still looked, though.
"I know. I know." Urd paused, glanced back at Keiichi, then back at World of Elegance. "I'm going to go shut the door, okay? That way we can have a little privacy." The angel's wings raised and fluffed out in what Keiichi was quickly recognizing as alarm, and Urd put her hands out, trying to soothe the irate creature. "It's so the others don't bother us, okay? I know you're upset, I am too, but neither of us want the others listening in on this, right?" World of Elegance didn't move, and again Urd slipped past her and to the door. As soon as the Norn vanished behind her, the angel's gaze returned to Keiichi. The hair on his arms raised. He felt like a mouse who'd caught the attention of a hawk.
The door closed behind the angel with a click, and with a deep breath more of the tension eased from her face. To the SEAL's mind she almost seemed to shrink; no longer the same terrifying entity that had pursued him but instead a creature closer in size to Urd. When Urd appeared around her again, the man realized that he wasn't seeing things. Urd and her angel now stood at eyelevel with each other where before the Norn had needed to tilt her head up to address it. The entity folded her wings back behind her, then placed her hands on Urd's shoulders and pressed her brow against Urd's. Urd mirrored the gesture, and the two otherworldly beings closed their eyes and sighed.
Reassured by the Norn's actions, Keiichi allowed himself to relax. He observed the duo in open wonder, watching as the goddess and angel seemed to take a breath at the same time and release it at the same length, as though seeking unison in the actions of their counterpart. There was something almost meditative about the act, and as the tension of the moments before faded, the man was left with a sense of tranquility that Keiichi could feel. It filled him, made his arms tingle and his hair raise. After the events of the last couple of hours the SEAL found he welcomed the feeling with open arms. He felt the muscles along his back and shoulders loosen and relax, felt the stress that had been building in his chest since his argument with Belldandy depart, and even felt his heart slow as his breaths grew longer.
By the time Urd stepped away from her angel, Keiichi couldn't even recall his initial panic or fear at the angel's confrontation. "Okay." Urd took a breath. "I think we're good now." She glanced over her shoulder at the SEAL. "Come here."
Keiichi tried to rise and failed on his first attempt. His legs were so relaxed they felt like a pair of leaden bars glued to his hips. Not so much numb as... nonexistent. The SEAL wiggled his toes, trying to remember how to make his legs work, and after flexing his calves, made a second attempt. This time his efforts were rewarded, and the man stumbled towards them, feeling more like someone had slipped him some downers rather than whatever 'weird Norn shit' Urd had done with her angel.
Urd pursed her lips. "Keiichi... this is my angel, World of Elegance." She gestured to the creature, who again was watching the SEAL with that strange and unwavering stare. "She's... my other half. My better half, I guess you could say."
"An angel." Even after being chased back into his room by one, even standing right in front of one, it was still a difficult concept for Keiichi to grasp. "And... she popped out of your back, Urd."
The angel, World of Elegance, and what a mouthful that was, shook her head. "She came out of my soul, Keiichi," Urd clarified.
And popped out of you like she was wearing you for a second skin. Keiichi thought. He was wise enough to keep his views to himself. "So... she understands what I'm saying?"
"Ask her." Urd chucked a thumb to World of Elegance, who raised a slim black brow. The right one was as white as the matching wing and right side of the hair on her head.
Keiichi winced. "Right... so you do understand what I'm saying?" He redirected the question to World of Elegance, and this time was rewarded with a curt nod for his troubles. "Um... nice to meet you," he continued. What did a mortal say to an angel? What could he say to an angel? Was she related to the biblical angels he'd grown up hearing about from school friends? Or were those something completely separate? How could an angel reside in the literal soul of a god? Had she always been with Urd and Keiichi had just never known about it, or was she a more recent... spawn?
All of these questions roved Keiichi's mind, yet he spoke none of them, all at once self-conscious and nervous, like a the young boy he'd been of yesteryear discovering girls for the first time while going through puberty.
The angel's state of dress- or lack thereof- probably did little to help this fact.
And so instead Keiichi said the first thing that came to his lips.
"You're beautiful."
World of Elegance's eyes widened, and beside her Urd's jaw dropped. And then, to his utter and perhaps unique pleasure, the SEAL witnessed Urd blush.
In the five long years Keiichi Morisato had known the Norn of the Past, not once had he ever witnessed the goddess blush. He'd told off-color jokes that would have turned his parents' ears red and had heard Urd pitch just as off the wall taunts towards Team 12 in turn. He'd seen her flirt and shout and outdrink everyone on his Team and had seen her curse and rant and rave over the lack of progress on searching for Belldandy. He'd seen her angry, he'd seen her sad, and he'd seen her happy. But never, not once, could Keiichi ever recall seeing the Norn's already-caramel face darken in a blush of such innocent bashfulness as she was now.
She caught him staring and averted her eyes, her feet somehow becoming the most interesting thing in the room at that moment. "No one's said that to me before. My angel- no one's called my angel that before," she stammered, then flushed with fresh embarrassment.
"No one's ever complimented your angel before?" Keiichi looked between the two of them with a queer expression. World of Elegance looked away. If it was possible, Urd's blush deepened.
"No," she replied. "And-can we change the subject?" the Norn pleaded. "Ask something else! Anything else! I don't care, just… not this."
For a moment Keiichi debated teasing the woman, the great and terrifying Urd can't handle a single compliment? Before deciding against it. Urd looked more than embarrassed- she looked uncomfortable, and her angel was beginning to mirror her unease. With the risk of another argument or fight on the forefront of his mind, the SEAL wisely took the Norn's request to heart and changed the subject. "What were you guys doing in the hallway?"
Urd looked relieved.
World of Elegance did not.
"We were getting ready to see Holy Bell," Urd said. "World of Elegance wanted to be there for her." She hesitated, looking like she wanted to say more, but a second glance towards her angel left the goddess in silence.
"So... that's why I saw you in the hallway?" Keiichi inquired.
World of Elegance frowned, then nodded, almost in reluctance. He waited to see if she'd speak on the matter, yet the angel remained silent.
"Not much of a talker, I take it?" It was a joke, an attempt to lighten the mood because the angel's silence was getting to him after World of Elegance had rushed him earlier. "You know, I'd have thought you'd be more of a shit talker if you were connected to Urd."
Urd scowled. "She says 'fuck you', if that helps," the Norn grumbled. Keiichi looked back at the goddess, missing the angel's glower. "Angels can't speak on the same frequency as you or me, Keiichi. The only way World of Elegance can communicate with me is through our link or if she signs to me."
"Can't- what do you mean 'same frequency?'" Keiichi asked.
Urd shrugged, looking again uncomfortable as she shared a look with her angel. "Not even we gods can say they understand the language of the soul," she said tentatively. "We can only hear the voice of our own soul, not... not those of others."
Keiichi was silent for a long moment, chewing over Urd's words carefully. At length, he sighed and rubbed his temples. "I'd like to say I understand, but I'd be lying," the man admitted. "But I think I'm starting to get what you were saying about angels being a big deal." He ran a hand through his hair, staring up at World of Elegance with a pensive frown. "Ah, sorry about what I said. I wasn't trying to insult you."
The angel stared at him queerly, then spread her wings out, feathers ruffling in a long stretch before letting them settle once more. She inclined her head in a gesture of acceptance, and Keiichi felt a small smile slip across his lips. Five years he'd known a goddess, had witnessed her duel a demon and seen the broad array of powers she commanded when she'd sealed that demon away in his watch. And while her power had always impressed him- hell, terrified him at times- Urd had never really caught his awe in the five years he'd known her. He didn't know why. Maybe it was because for all her divine grace, she acted just so... human to him. But whatever the reason she'd just never really... never really struck him with the awe she probably warranted.
But an angel... an honest-to-goodness feathered and winged angel that stood right before him without fear or shame... somehow it rocked him in ways Urd never did, regardless of the connection between the two of them. It's the wings, he decided. They... they really are part of her, aren't they? Real flesh and bone and muscle and sinew. Real feathers. "Hey... I know this is probably gonna come off the wrong way, but can I- can I touch your wings?" he asked.
World of Elegance jerked back away from him as though repulsed, and even Urd appeared off-balanced by the request as well. "You want-" The woman shared a look with her angel. "You want to-" The two of them looked at Keiichi, both wearing such matching expressions that they could have passed for twins. "Our wings?" Urd continued. "You- you want to touch our wings?"
Weird shift. Keiichi noted, but nodded regardless. "I mean, only if it's okay with you guys," he rushed to say. "It's just- it's unreal. I mean, I won't hold it against if you don't want me to, 'cause, yeah, sure, I mean, I guess it is a weird request to touch an angel's wings and everything, and, shit, I must come off as a total creep for even mentioning it, huh?" He was babbling now, trying to take back his earlier request and knowing at once he was going to land himself in even hotter water. "I mean, it must be pretty bad for a mortal to touch an angel's wings, right? Like, I don't know, it's not like I'm asking to touch your breasts, right?" Urd recoiled. Keiichi could feel himself starting to sweat. "No! Wait! That's not what I meant! What I'm trying to say is-"
"Keiichi, please shut up." Urd buried her face in her hands with a moan, and Keiichi's jaw closed with an audible click. World of Elegance was still staring at him with wide, boggled eyes. "You want to touch my angel's wings," she said, then repeated the statement, biting the sentence off into chunks. "You want. To touch. My angel's. Wings." She squeezed the bridge of her nose and cast a glare towards Keiichi.
Keiichi had the decency to flush. "Sorry," he muttered. "It was a stupid request. Forget I mentioned it."
World of Elegance released an aggravated breath, then shot a look to Urd. Urd stiffened, then turned to look at the angel. "What?"
The angel threw a hand up in the air, sending Urd a vexed look. Urd's hands dropped from her face. "No," she said. "No, no no no no," she repeated. "Not in this lifetime or the next. No fucking way."
The angel planted her hands on her hips, then leaned forward, thrusting her face up in front of Urd. She tapped a foot in impatience, and Urd leaned back with a grimace. World of Elegance gestured first to Keiichi, then to herself, then to the door behind her. With every gesture, Urd's frown deepened, grew pensive, then grew thoughtful.
All too aware of the one-sided conversation he was not a part of, Keiichi watched with wary eyes, trying to guess at what the gestures might mean. He gave up after a short while. The movements were too simple and vague to give any real hint at what the two might be conversing about, and so instead he stood where he was and waited, watching with a single eyebrow raised in question.
In the end Urd sighed and threw up her arms in exasperation. "Fine!" she snapped. The angel's lips peeled back in a smug smile, and Urd turned back to Keiichi. "Congratulations, you fucking jerk. You get to touch World of Elegance's wing."
Keiichi's eyes boggled. "I what?"
The goddess held up a hand. "On one condition," she stated.
"And what's that?" Keiichi asked. I swear to god, if it's a fucking kiss...
"You agree not to pry into the rest of the angels in the house," Urd said instead, catching him off guard. "World of Elegance is one of the senior angels amongst all the deities currently residing in the house, with the exception of perhaps Nebo's angel, who from what she says is antisocial enough not to be cast in any choir." The goddess pursed her lips. "As such, World of Elegance claims responsibility over the entire choir that is residing here- all the angels under this roof- and because of the current issues surrounding Holy Bell, she wants to come to an understanding with you."
"Oh... kay...?" Keiichi drawled, watching the angel in curiosity. "I... think I'm tracking. You're the one in charge, then?"
World of Elegance nodded as Urd clarified. "Only amongst the choir," she replied. "Lind's older angel might hold a candle to her, but she says that Spear Mint is more willing to follow than lead, and Peorth's angel doesn't hold the same level of experience as either herself or Spear Mint. That leaves her as the one in charge, more or less... which means she's responsible for the safety of the angels in this house, especially Holy Bell, since Holy Bell is so sick."
"Right..." Keiichi nodded with a frown. "I... think I get where this is heading."
"You might," Urd replied. She glanced back at World of Elegance, then looked once more to Keiichi. "World of Elegance will allow you to touch her wings on the condition that you give the other angels privacy without prying into who they are or what they look like." Urd frowned, and with another glance back at World of Elegance, continued. "That means all of them. Not just Holy Bell, but Noble Scarlet, who's with her, as well as Lind's, Peorth's, and Nebo's angels."
Keiichi scowled, crossing his arms over his chest. "But it's my house," he reminded her. "You can't just expect me to creep around my own house afraid of interrupting a bunch of angels who are guests here."
"I understand that." Urd nodded. "We understand that. Which is why we're trying to compensate you for the angels already residing here." Urd hesitated a brief moment, biting her lower lip. In a lower voice, she said, "I don't think you understand what we're offering you, Keiichi. Obtaining the opportunity to touch an angel... a creature born from the soul of a god... that's not just a once in a lifetime opportunity, Keiichi. That's a once in creation opportunity." Again the Norn frowned, and that look of discomfort returned with a vengeance. "This is something I would normally not allow for anyone outside of my sisters. Not even my parents. The only other I would even consider would be Nebo, and that's only because he is a Tic who specializes in the health of angels."
Keiichi was silent, now worried about what Urd was proposing. A part of him was growing more and more uncertain at the morality behind so much as laying a finger on World of Elegance, yet he could not deny that a larger piece still had its curiosity piqued, and though he did not want to admit it, the proposition was starting to excite him as well. A once in creation opportunity presented to him of all people? He could almost feel his head swelling to the size of a melon. "If it's such a big deal, why offer it to me in the first place?" the SEAL asked, trying to fight off his temptation to accept as another swing of mortality smashed into his face like a brick.
"It's not an offer, it's a deal," Urd replied. She fidgeted where she stood. "A contract, if you like. For something Wor- We think is of just as much value."
"I don't know..." Keiichi murmured. "Based off what you're describing, Urd, it sounds like you're giving a lot more that you're getting out of this- this contract."
"It's fine!" Urd snapped, then flinched at her own tone. "It's fine," she repeated, softer this time.
"I don't know..." Keiichi mumbled. "Are you sure? This seems..." He trailed off as Urd nodded.
"I'm sure," she said. "We both are. It's not that big a deal in light of the others."
Yet you make it out into a big deal... Keiichi though, staring at the woman with a frown. A huge one. A 'once in creation' chance. All so that a bunch of angels can have some privacy? His eyes roamed to World of Elegance, and then to her wings. Still...
"Okay," he agreed. "If you're sure, okay."
"Then we have a deal?" Urd pressed. "I allow you to touch my angel in exchange for you providing the rest of the choir privacy?"
The SEAL scowled but nodded. "Yeah, I guess so."
Urd thrust her right hand out to him. "Shake on it." The man stared at it with a start, then grabbed Urd's hand and shook it with his own. For a brief moment, Keiichi thought he felt an almost imperceptible jolt travel up his hand and into his elbow. It was gone and forgotten by the time Urd released his hand.
Urd bit her lip, then looked at her angel. "You need to be gentle, Keiichi." Even though the woman's voice was steady, there was an unmistakable undertone of anxiety in her words now. "Anything you do to World of Elegance will have a direct effect on me, understand? If you bruise her, I'll feel it on a higher magnitude, and I don't want to hurt you any more than that I think you want to hurt her."
Keiichi looked at the woman, wounded by the veiled accusation. "I won't hurt her," he said. "Why would you think I'd do that?"
"Because you're a mortal and you're careless," Urd said bluntly.
Keiichi flinched. "Then why bother making the offer in the first place?" he grumbled, insulted.
"We made a deal," was Urd's only reply, and World of Elegance stepped forward and turned herself at an angle to Keiichi. He could see the dip of her right wing from where it connected to the angel's shoulder blades. The flesh looked soft, covered in what appeared to be white down plumage. His fingers began to itch.
"Please be careful, Keiichi."
His hand moved to touch the down. "I told you Urd, I'm not going to-" his fingers touched the small, compact feathers at the base of the wing, and Keiichi forgot what he was saying. It was soft. It had to be one of the softest things he'd ever felt before. The limb extended, and beneath the plush feathers Keiichi felt lean muscle and sinew stretch and extend. "Wow..." he breathed, and his hand trailed down the long appendage. The layer of feathers thickened, grew warmer, and his fingers disappeared within the white. "This is-"
Falling.
He was falling.
Falling through feathers and falling through clouds, the air hot and humid against his face. He looked up to a world encased in a solar eclipse, one that painted the sun black and cast the surrounding sky into a shade of red like blood. He looked down to a nonexistent ground layered by a thick cloud deck, and saw strange, sinewy beasts flying through the nebulas like serpents across a red desert. There was something strange about the creatures, some kind of inherent wrongness that made his stomach roil and made his flesh break into goosebumps, and with fear in his gut he looked away, trying to gain a better grasp of his surroundings. All around him storm clouds billowed and tumbled; thick, grey-black thunderheads which seemed almost alive with how they gathered and fell. From within their depths lightning of a stark violet flashed, and their afterimage left to Keiichi's mind the negative of a large and frightening bird; one with a long neck naked of feathers and whose nature whispered to Keiichi's mind of a corpse eater.
He turned his gaze away from it, terrified of what its appearance meant to him, and screamed up to the eclipsed sun. He feared the bird within the clouds, for he knew it would peck and consume his body and spirit. He feared the creatures beneath him more though, for they would be the ones to tear him apart and devour strips of his flesh before his body even touched the ground, and in a world like this, Keiichi knew, there was no ground with which to impact. Yet the eclipse above him did little but glare down at him like a horrible eye, and indeed the imprint the shadowed sun left in his mind was exactly that: a large and hollow eye that seemed to pierce into his soul, tearing him apart as it sought out his secrets. Its rays reached into his being in long and horrible tendrils, and he could feel it seeping into every nerve and fiber of his being. He felt it dig into his brain and pry apart his spirit, splitting him open like he was an egg and examining every secret, every deed, every act he'd ever committed.
He wanted to weep but found he could not cry, wanted to hide but was without shelter. He plummeted through the cloud deck, and now the horrible corpse eating bird with its hungry gaze and the terrible eclipse with its leering eye were gone, obscured by static and moisture that coated his flesh and stung his face. The nimbus concealed everything, but to his left and to his right he caught hints of the long, serpentine creatures that dwelt within, hunting him down like a pack of famished wolves scenting a wounded deer.
Something emerged from the shadows of his left shoulder, and he spun in the air, his eyes seeing but not comprehending what the beast was, only that its body was long and covered with a strange plumage that glittered with moisture. He grabbed its body as it passed him by, and found that he was no longer falling but soaring; soaring on the beast that would have torn his shoulder off and eaten it had he not reacted as he did.
Let me go. A voice echoed in his head. You're hurting me.
He ignored the voice, familiar though it was; fear overrode comprehension; to release the creature he held now would be to fall to his death. He tightened his grip on the creature, and it began to flail in the sky.
You're hurting me, Keiichi. The voice echoed again. Release me.
"No!" Keiichi screamed, and buried his face within the creature's plumage. It was soft and plush against his face. Like felt but softer still. "I'll fall and you'll kill me!"
Let me go, Keiichi! The voice repeated. I won't kill you. You're hurting me! The strange creature began to thrash in the sky, trying to throw him off as it released a distressed scream. All around him, more of the creature responded, sensing their kin's pain and seeking the source of its ailments.
"Then one of the other things is going to come and kill me!" Keiichi screamed back at it. His grip tightened into a vice, and the thing's cries grew more pained as it flailed in the sky.
Let go. The voice repeated. It sounded scared now. Let go let go letgoletgoletgoletgo! Its word became a mantra, a meaningless garble of sound that lost all meaning to Keiichi's ears as more of the creatures descended on him. The creature bucked and thrashed and wailed and screeched, and all the while Keiichi's grip grew tighter and tighter, certain that at any minute he'd be flung off the creature and ripped apart by the creatures dwelling just out of sight.
"I'm not going to die! Not here, not like this! Send me back! I want to go back!" The SEAL screamed, and around him the air began to crackle with thunder. The corpse eating bird was drawing near.
Release me, Jank! The voice screamed anew, and from high above him the sky ripped open and the bird he'd come to see descended. Its eyes were cast in violet lightning. You will return when you let go!
"Urd?" He looked up at the frightening creature as it descended, with its thick and broad wings like thunder caps and its long neck and head fashioned of mist. "Urd is that-" His grip loosened in surprise, and the corpse eater, the thunderbird, opened its massive jaws and shrieked, and-
-and he was lying on the floor.
Dazed, the man stared up at the ceiling, not recognizing his own bedroom. For a long moment, he laid as he was, hyperventilating, his heart racing so fast he feared it might burst. There were spots in his eyes, and when he blinked they seemed to swim across his vision like long serpents coated in feathers.
Not trusting his voice, he rolled his head to the right and saw a wall, rolled his head to the left and found Urd kneeling a short distance away from him. She glowered at him in silence, and in her eyes the man was again reminded of the lightning-eyed corpse-eater which had descended on him.
World of Elegance was gone.
Grunting, the man rolled onto his stomach to push himself up and found his left hand clenching something tightly. Confused, he brought his hand to his face, finding it tightly clenched around a handful of bright white feathers. Most of them were small, no longer than his middle finger, but one had to have been as large as the length of his arm. The quill shaft was broken in several different places, and in some areas looked close to snapping off the shaft altogether.
He dropped the feathers, and as soon as the smaller feathers left his palm they disintegrated, leaving not even dust behind. Only the large and broken feather did not immediately degrade, and there were still smaller feathers that clung to the sweat of his palm. He wiped it on the leg of his jeans, then pushed himself into a sitting position. He was shaking.
Urd was too.
"Wha- what the hell was that, Urd?" His voice held an audible tremor to it.
"I told you to be gentle!" she hissed. Her arms were wrapped around her stomach as though she was in pain. Her features bordered feral in their anger, and it made the hair rise on the back of Keiichi's neck. "You tore the feathers right out of our wing!"
"What do you mean?" Keiichi demanded. "What the hell happened, what did I just see!" He was shaken, unable to understand what he'd witnessed or where he'd gone. "I was- I was falling. And there were these, these things all over the place!"
"World of Elegance showed you too much," the goddess growled. She rose, her step unsteady, and leaned against the dresser that was to her left side. "You shouldn't have seen that, Jank. You shouldn't have seen any of that."
"But what was it, Urd," Keiichi demanded. The SEAL climbed to his feet as well, and found his strength returning to him faster than the woman before him. "That wasn't- that wasn't right. That was- there was something wrong with that, Urd."
The goddess flinched. She opened her mouth as if to say something, then frowned and held her silence. The Norn shook her head. "I need to go," she said, and took a step away from the dresser. She grimaced at the action, and an arm rose as if to nurse an injury Keiichi wasn't aware of. She stopped it when she caught Keiichi's gaze following the limb. The hand curled into a fist, then dropped back to Urd's side. "I upheld my end of the deal. It's up to you to uphold yours now." She took a deep breath. "I've dawdled enough, and you've seen too much already. I still need to keep World of Elegance under control for when we see Holy Bell, and this contract hasn't helped as much as I thought it would."
"Wait, Urd-" Keiichi stepped towards the goddess, and Urd lurched- almost stumbling- away from him.
"Not now, Keiichi." The goddess repeated. "I'm hurt and a little peeved at you. You were too hard on World of Elegance."
"What?" The man stared at Urd in confusion. "But I didn't do anything!"
"You ripped the feathers right out of my wing," Urd replied, and gestured to the large feather that was slowly starting to disintegrate on the floor. "That hurt, Keiichi."
"Over a couple of feathers?" Keiichi eyed the broken quill with perplexity. "But- it wasn't intentional. It was an accident."
The Norn stared at him, then sighed and shook her head. "Let it drop, Keiichi," she said. "I just- not right now. I need to go." Without another word the goddess turned and headed for the door. Keiichi saw a grimace once more flash across her face, and in that brief moment he saw the deep lines of pain that marred her features. She slammed the door behind her on the way out, and Keiichi was left alone in his bedroom with nothing but a ruined feather for company.
The SEAL stared at the door, a lump of guilt rising in his throat, then looked down at the feather next to him. He knelt and picked it up. It still felt warm, though the feather had lost its soft, velvet texture. Now it felt heavy, almost like an actual limb, and felt smooth and brittle to his fingers, almost like a mineral. He watched its slow collapse in silence, watching as the individual barbs of the feather began to disintegrate into a fine powder in his hand, and then watched as even that broke down into nothing his eyes could track. "Did I really hurt her?" he asked himself. "But... it's just a feather. It's like pulling out a strand of hair, right? How did I hurt her? I didn't mean to..."
In the silence of the room, his questions went unanswered as the feather crumbled to dust.
XXX
Forgotten by Keiichi and ignored by Urd and her angel, Aiko was still yelling through the phone. "Kei, what is going on?! What's all this about an angel?" Kei?! KEI?!" It was Belldandy who picked up the cell, watching with a deep frown as the door to Keiichi's room closed behind Urd. "Kei, this isn't funny! What's going on? Are you alright? Kei, I swear to god, if you don't say something I'm coming down there. I'm not joking! Say something!"
"Aiko?" Belldandy asked.
"Oh thank god. Carrie, what's going on?! Keiichi said something about an angel and now he's not saying anything! What's going on?"
"Keiichi's a little... preoccupied at the moment..." Belldandy mumbled.
"Carrie- Bell, don't give me that shit. I know you guys had a fight. What the fuck happened to my brother? He said something about an angel- what angel? What's he mean by an angel, Belldandy?"
The goddess squeezed her eyes shut and bit back a groan. Of all the things for her to hear. "It is... difficult to explain," she tried, knowing it would do little to ease Aiko's concerns.
She was right. "No, that's bullshit," the younger Morisato said. "I'm coming over. If you can't explain it then you can show me when I get there."
Belldandy's eyes widened in alarm. "Aiko, wait!" Yet the woman on the other end had already hung up. The call ended with a little chirp, and Belldandy pulled the phone from her ear to examine the message displayed on the screen. Call ended. 20 minutes 54 seconds. The goddess looked up from the screen and to Skuld and Nebo, who were both watching her with pallid expressions. "Fuck," she muttered.
"That was Aiko?" Skuld asked, but it was a rhetorical question. She looked pale. Belldandy nodded, and in an unconscious mimic of her sister's earlier reaction, she squeezed her eyes shut and sucked in a tight breath. "Tell me she's not coming down here, Bell. Please."
"She'll be here in three hours if traffic is good," Belldandy predicted.
"Fuck!" Skuld swore.
"Who's Aiko?" Nebo inquired.
"Keiichi's sister."
"More lum?" Nebo stared at the two of them in confusion. "I'm not sure that's- can you convince her not to come? We've already got a massive amount of divinities in the house already, and I don't want to risk the angels any more than necessary by bringing outside factors into the equation. It'll bring unnecessary stress on the choir."
"It should be okay, though..." Skuld said slowly, watching as Belldandy pocketed the phone. "Aiko already knows about gods, so angels won't be anything special for her either, right?"
Nebo looked at the younger woman, than to Belldandy. "The lum's ahatki knows about us as well?"
Belldandy, as unfamiliar with Nebo's strange language as Keiichi, stared at the man in no small amount of confusion. "Ah... yes?"
"Marus!" Nebo exclaimed. It sounded distinctly like a curse to the ears of the two present Norns. "Are you two serious?" His voice dipped to a heated whisper. "One mortal, okay, fine. But you got his sister involved too? Kyz, what's wrong with you?! Is she even a candidate for a wish?"
Belldandy winced. "No," she replied. "She's not."
"And you-"
"It was unintentional, Nebo," Belldandy interrupted, watching as the man's face grew pinched and red, then watched as he groaned and covered his face with both hands. "It was an accident, but it worked for our benefit. She's... been helping me come to terms with what I've gone through." Her words were careful and thoughtful, and Nebo dropped his hands, sending her an exasperated look.
"But she doesn't know about the angels, does she?"
The Norn shook her head. Nebo sighed. "I don't want some strange lum barging in on the choir, Kyz," he groused. "One is bad enough, two is even worse. Are you sure you can't convince her otherwise?"
Belldandy thought for a moment, and her gaze was pulled to the door to Keiichi's room. She could hear Keiichi's voice intermingled with Urd's in a soft murmur. At length she shook her head. "No," she stated. "No... I don't believe that would be wise. Not this time." Not with Keiichi so upset. She left that part unsaid. The man was, admittedly, out of his element with the many divinities who'd come to reside in his house, and Aiko's presence might help balance him, rather than leave him more alienated than he already was. There'd be difficulties with the angels, Belldandy would be the first to admit that, but with the number of deities outnumbering mortals six to one, moreso if the angels were included, Aiko was probably going to be necessary. Especially with how Keiichi gathered strength from his younger sister's presence.
"Aiko will come, and we'll do our best to explain everything to her," Belldandy continued. "But I refuse to chase her away, Nebo. She has an honest concern for Keiichi's sake, and after-" Her throat locked, and a look of insurmountable pain flared across her face. She closed her eyes, grimaced, and gritted her teeth hard enough that Skuld and Nebo both could hear her jaw grinding. "I will not chase her away." The Norn final said firmly. "Not when- not when Keiichi needs her most."
Nebo frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, looking displeased. He looked about ready to argue the situation when the door to Keiichi's room opened and Urd slipped out, looking drawn and pale.
"Wow, Urd, are you all right?" Skuld looked at the woman in concern, who moved to lean against Keiichi's closed door. "You don't look to good."
"It's nothing." Urd took a deep breath. "You guys ready to see Holy Bell?"
Nebo eyed her critically. "The lum saw World of Elegance," he stated. "And you were in there a while with him. What happened in there, Kyz?"
"Nothing important." Urd shrugged, unconcerned. "I just had to explain to Keiichi what was going on is all. There's been a lot of stuff happening to him recently and I needed to make sure he wasn't about to go bonkers on me." She gave Nebo a pointed look. "Something that I would like to remind you of is that, with maybe the exception of Belldandy, we are guests here. We all need to take that into consideration instead of steamrolling over him as if he were a child."
To her surprise, Nebo held his tongue. The others beheld the Norn in silence. "Well?" Urd raised an eyebrow, looking at the gathered gods in question. "We doing this or are we going to stand around with our thumbs up our asses?"
"Yeah..." Nebo nodded slowly. "Yeah, we doing this... where's World of Elegance, Kyz?"
"Back within me." Urd sighed. "Give her some time. She'll come out after we meet Holy Bell."
"Urd..." The Norn looked to Belldandy. "Are you certain you're okay? You look ill."
"I'm fine." The goddess smiled at Belldandy, and to the middle Norn, well-versed in fake smiles, it looked false and strained. "C'mon. Let's go see your angel, Bell."
The goddess stared at her sister, yet when it became apparent that Urd would speak no more on her condition, she sighed and nodded. "Yes," Belldandy agreed. "Let's go see Holy Bell."
The room was still dark, illuminated still by the same glowing orbs Skuld had initially seen on her first visit to the room. Noble Scarlet held the door open for the four of them, Nebo leading and Urd at the tail, and as the final goddess entered the tiny angel closed it quietly behind her. She surprised all four of them by rushing to hug Skuld, and then further surprised the group by rushing to hug first Belldandy, who almost jumped out of her skin, and then Urd, who stiffened at the unexpected display of affection. All three of the Norns stared at the tiny angel in something of a daze as Noble Scarlet then retreated to the nest they'd made out of Belldandy's bed and the various sheets, blankets, and pillows around it. The child-like entity crawled on the bed to lean up against Holy Bell.
The angel was bundled up in a heavy comforter; a marginal improvement over her original condition, and one that provided her a small bit of privacy that shielded the extent of her debilitation from prying eyes. Yet even this seemed only to provide her a small bit of relief. The angel was shivering even within the heavy blanket, balled up in the center of the nest in an effort to keep herself as warm as possible.
For Belldandy it was a heartbreaking sight, and without prodding she moved to the bed and sat on its edge. Noble Scarlet watched her with vibrant red eyes, moving only when the Norn reached over to draw the angel near. "Oh Holy Bell..." The goddess murmured. She could feel fresh tears welling in her eyes- fresh tears, fresh stains to join the ones she'd already shed that day. "Oh, my poor dear, I'm so sorry." She wrapped her arms around her angel, and was horrified by how cold Holy Bell was. The blanket held no heat within its folds despite the body nestled inside, and she could feel her angel shivering as she wrapped her arms around the angel in a tender embrace. Holy Bell didn't resist, but instead leaned into her, as though seeking the warmth her own body seemed so incapable of producing.
The Norn looked over at Nebo in alarm. "I don't understand," she stated. "She's cold... Holy Bell is cold... I don't understand, why is she...?"
Nebo approached the bed as well. The other Norns hung back, one with no desire to crowd the angel, and the other rooted to the spot with her first sight of Holy Bell. The man knelt beside the angel, who watched him with uncertain blue eyes, and then Nebo spoke. "She's suffering feedback withdrawal from the eroding link between you and her," he began. "This is... one of the newer symptoms she's been suffering from. It began after you vanished earlier today."
Belldandy stared at him in shock, and then bit the inside of her cheek, immediately recognizing what it was in relation too. "I was a fool... I hadn't even realized I was without my angel, and-" A hand, cold and bony, slipped out of the blankets and grabbed hers, and the sheer shock of it was enough for Belldandy to stop.
..eas...top... She could barely hear Holy Bell's voice, and this with the angel right next to her. She looked down at her Other Soul, who seemed so small and fragile in her arms, and found her other half staring at her with a stubborn frown. She'd seen that same frown glaring back at her in a mirror on countless occasions under Aoshima's hand, had seen it growing up with her mother and her sisters and her father, and for a brief moment Belldandy was struck by the similarities between herself and Holy Bell. She'd forgotten how similar her angel was to her in the ten years she'd been hidden, and now that cold and bony hand that held hers squeezed. I...n't...lame...ou... The angel curled up against her with a shudder, and still holding Belldandy's hand redirected her attention back to Nebo.
Belldandy followed her gaze, finding the god watching them with a carefully neutral expression on his face. For that she was grateful. She didn't want to know what thoughts might be going through the Tic's head. She had no room for pity, and him bringing his own emotions into play would do nothing but rouse the ire of both of them. She nodded, letting him know she was ready, and the man continued.
"Additionally, Holy Bell shows symptoms of severe neglect and starvation, which has compromised her immune system. This, on top of what I've been told had been a ten-year stay in a poisonous environment for both you and her, has led to multiple crystalline infections that she's only just now starting to recover from. The neglect has been particularly harmful- she's been locked and buried within your soul, and while normally this would not be cause for concern, the fact that you were in such a damaging environment starved her of basic nutrients she'd normally acquire from you and left her caged: in effect, she was trapped and wasting away, and as it progressed, Holy Bell began developing a secondary compulsion of feather plucking, which is common amongst angels who develop anxiety when they feel imprisoned within their hosts."
Unnoticed by the door and away from the small nest, Urd stumbled back, burying her face in the palm of one hand as her free hand groped behind her. Skuld grabbed her, and then sucked in a deep breath as the older Norn's hand grasped her shoulder. The grip was bruising, and the younger woman could feel her sister's nails digging through her shirt and into the flesh beneath.
"No." The woman was saying, repeating the word over and over in a mindless chant that Skuld couldn't quite comprehend. "Nononononononono."
Grimacing, Skuld looked up at Urd. "Come on, keep it together, Urd," she whispered. "We need to be strong for Belldandy."
Urd didn't appear to hear her. Her chanting continued.
So did Nebo's diagnosis. "The starvation has been particularly damaging. Her compromised immune system left Holy Bell burning up more of her body's fuel than necessary to fight off the infections, and when coupled with the lack of nutrients she'd been getting, it was getting to the point where her body was growing close to shutting down its own internal organs," he said. "Your departure from that area prevented that, and from what Holy Bell has told me, a recent re-connect and purification with Yggdrasil has helped boost her immune system to the point where she's no longer having the recurring infections. But she's still weak, and with how eroded her link is with you, she still isn't receiving the nutrients needed to survive. She's still in a critical condition, but thankfully, that's all fixab-"
"Nidhogg bless it!" Urd roared and vaulted past Skuld. Skuld yelled in surprise, and Nebo, Belldandy, and Holy Bell all turned to stare at the woman with a start as World of Elegance manifested in a whirlwind of fire. The room brightened in the frenzy of the moment's fire, and then the black-winged angel was advancing on the nest, her face a mask of fury as she locked her eyes on Belldandy.
Belldandy felt her heart skip a beat, felt herself frozen in the path of the angel's rage, and watched as the world seemed to slow as the angel poised to strike her. She could hear Urd's voice rising in a deep growl as what was left of her self-control vanished. Suddenly, however, she found herself pushed onto the bed by Holy Bell. Her other soul inserted herself between World of Elegance and her host, facing down the enraged angel with a glare of her own. As she watched in horror, Belldandy felt with the utmost certainty that her angel was about to die.
Yet the strike froze before it ever connected with Holy Bell, and World of Elegance was left hovering over the bed, snarling at the weaker angel. Belldandy's other half held her ground, flaring out her featherless wings and leveling a hard stare of her own in return.
Then the door burst open and Lind barreled inside, accompanied by her two angels. Nebo threw himself at Urd, grabbed her, and pushed her towards the Valkyrie. "Get them out of here!" he roared. The two smaller angels latched ahold of World of Elegance, Lind grabbed hold of Urd, and in a moment's flash of brilliance, the two goddesses and three angels were gone.
Belldandy, still lying on the bed, felt her angel collapse on top of her in exhaustion. "What just happened?" she cried, looking between Nebo and Skuld in confusion. "Urd just-what just happened?!"
"Urd finally snapped," Skuld muttered. Somewhere in the moment of chaos, Noble Scarlet had retreated to her host, holding tight to Skuld with both arms as she buried her face in the woman's chest like a scared child.
"No." Nebo sounded strained. "It wasn't Urd," he clarified. "It was World of Elegance... World of Elegance lost control of herself. Urd was only along for the ride." The man stared at the spot where the dual-colored angel had manifested, his face grim. "She lost feathers..."
"What do you mean?" Belldandy demanded.
Nebo turned back to her. "Nothing yet," he said. "Lind will take care of Urd. I need you to focus on Holy Bell for me at the moment, okay?" the Tic instructed. "Holy Bell is the one who needs help right now- World of Elegance just needs a place where she can vent safely. They'll both be fine by the time Lind brings them back, okay?"
"Okay..." Belldandy shared a look with Holy Bell, finding a similar look of worry in her own angel's eyes before her other half nodded. They turned their gaze back to Nebo.
The man nodded. "Now, as I was saying, you're fortunate to have had Holy Bell manifest when she did. At this point, the problems have been recognized and addressed, and we can start taking the necessary measures to repair the damage. So here's what we can do to help Holy Bell heal..." The man began to talk, and Belldandy and Holy Bell began to listen. Skuld closed the door that had been kicked open, and then sat down on the ground with Noble Scarlet sitting in her lap. They listened as well, and through it all sent a little prayer off to Lind for her aid with Urd.
Because of everyone present, Skuld knew best how dangerous Urd could be when she lost control of herself.
She knew it very well.
A/N: Yeah, that quote should have been at the start of the arc. We forgot, again. It fits pretty well here and with what's coming up as well, though.
Comments of a Madwoman: And so with the final diagnosis of a debilitated angel brought to light, another one is injured and lashes out at those around her...
