l
-32-
They manifested five feet above an open field surrounded by trees. Lind spun in the air, her grip on Urd tight and controlled in the moves Jackson had shown her, and as they fell to the ground Urd took the brunt of the impact. Beside her Spear Mint and Cool Mint appeared, dragging World of Elegance to the ground as she flailed against their grip. As soon as they touched grass the Valkyrie was up and off the Norn, retreating from Urd's form as a spell came to her lips.
Urd pushed herself up from the ground with a gasp, and Lind tensed, ready for the upcoming attack. Instead the Norn knelt where she'd fallen. "Barrier!" she snarled. "Now, Lind!" She cradled her head, and a scream emerged from her lips. "I can't-" A whimper followed the scream, and Urd fell forward into the grass, her body almost buried in the untamed vegetation that surrounded them. "Please! Get a barrier up, Lind!"
Startled by the strange request, the Valkyrie canceled the spell that had been on the edge of her lips and instead shifted to her most potent shielding spells, of the type that was normally used when conducting high-explosive spell practice with her squadron. She expanded it to encompass the entirety of the field in the hopes of minimizing collateral damage to the environment. A transparent wall with an almost oily sheen to it began to build around the area, and Lind watched its progress with half an eye, the remainder of her attention focused on Urd and her angel.
There was now a visible aura surrounding the Norn, and energy was leaving her body in ripples that Lind could feel. The twins had released World of Elegance, yet the angel still flailed about mindlessly; a source of undirected rage and aggression that had become more a force of nature rather than the angel she was. Lind watched her tilt her head back and scream, and Urd mirrored her action. The two synchronized for a brief moment, and then a wave of energy leaked from them with such force that Lind and her angels were pushed back.
The last bits of the forming barrier converged into a dome at close to fifty feet above them, and as soon as it was finished Lind shouted to Urd. "It's up!"
The release of power was extraordinary.
Where before the energy emerging from Urd had been mere ripples, what was released with the barrier's completion was a tidal wave, its sheer presence enough to throw Lind off her feet and skidding ten feet across the grass and the wild flowers. It surged through the small field, tearing petals off flowers and uprooting shrubs. It was strong enough to even leak through the barrier the Valkyrie had erected, and while the shield still held back most of the energy, Lind could see small areas where the barrier cracked and flared like glass struck by a projectile.
And for the energy that escaped...
Back in the Morisato household, deities both visiting and permanent stiffened and fell silent, sensing the anguished aura that touched their minds. All recognized who the power emanated from, yet no one found the courage to speak it aloud. The lone mortal in the house, exposed to magical essences of untold varieties, shuddered inexplicably as his arms broke out into goosebumps, though he knew not the cause nor reason behind it.
A puma of considerable size paused over the boar she'd killed, ears perking up as she turned her head west towards the mountains before releasing a scream as though in acknowledgement of what passed.
Several individuals all across Virginia yelped or stirred restlessly in their sleep, disturbed by a sense of unease and rage that stalked the corners of their minds; these those few individuals of America that still somehow maintained a high sensitivity to spiritual energy, and felt the passing rage of a goddess unbound.
John Braxton rolled out of bed sweating like a horse and gasping for breath, his mind clouded with nightmares of serpents adorned in feathers and corpse eaters that chased him through clouds.
And Christian McGuinness swore and cursed as he stumbled out of his shower, chased by a horrible and sudden thought that something was wrong with one of his men, and confused when the name that came to his lips was not one of the SEALs in Team 12, but a woman he'd come to know over the span of five years. "Urd," he muttered. "There's something up with Urd."
Back in the field, Lind scrambled to her feet, preparing herself to face off against Urd now that the barrier was up and the Norn was free to rage. She could still feel the pulses of energy leaving the goddess, and with it some piece of her stomach twisted itself into a knot. How could a goddess with only a second-class license contain so much raw power? It was enough to be frightening, and as the Valkyrie braced herself against the waves as they crashed into her, a voice from the past returned to her: "She ripped it to pieces with her bare hands... she must have hit me, but I never saw her move... and that-that thing was watching us like a wolf..." Mist sobbed into her ear, and Lind's arms broke into gooseflesh.
She really is the Daimakaicho's daughter, isn't she? Lind thought, and felt sick. All at once she was certain she didn't want to face Urd down, though whether it was because of the tender friendship she'd nurtured with the woman or the fact that Urd was her enemy's daughter, Lind couldn't say. She felt sick, and worse than that, she was starting to feel scared.
"Aoshima!" The name caught her off guard at once, and Lind felt her heart seize at the sheer intensity of hate focused in that name. Another scream tore from her throat, this one high and shrill, and again Lind watched as World of Elegance mirrored it. The name which followed, however, caught her further by surprise. "Belldandy!" The woman curled in on herself, fingers buried in her hair as her head impacted the earth itself with another howl. "Why why why why?!"
She's echoing World of Elegance. Cool Mint murmured in her ear. I didn't realize how angry World of Elegance was at Belldandy.
"Why didn't she send her away?" Urd continued to rant, and Lind still stood posed and ready for the first outburst that would launch the Norn into an assault. "She knew what Aoshima was doing, why didn't she send her away? Why did she keep Holy Bell with her?!" A short distance away, World of Elegance flared her wings, long and straight in a display of aggression, then drew her wings up and around her in a secondary display of distress. It was almost a pitiful sight to witness, yet was not enough to allow Lind to lower her guard; not while Urd's aura was still raging with anger and hate.
Can you girls calm World of Elegance down? she asked.
Sure. Spear Mint sounded sarcastic. Just as soon as you get close to Urd and make sure she doesn't blast us to kingdom come.
I regret taking you home to my family. Lind thought dourly. You weren't sarcastic before meeting my brothers.
At least this one isn't trying to chase us up the walls like your little sisters or commenting about making meals of us like your father, Cool Mint chirped, and both Lind and Spear Mint sent the angel a dirty look. What?
Lind returned her attention to Urd. Perhaps if she was lucky enough to secure a proper strike, one that held enough force to knock the goddess out, then her angels could take care of World of Elegance. The Norn and her angel seemed to be feeding off each other's distress through their shared link, and Lind knew from past experience that such feedback on both sides was liable to only worsen the situation for both parties rather than help it. But if Lind could put an end to the frenzy... shut down one end of the link where there was no reflection returning to the other end, then perhaps they could safely calm down World of Elegance without any risk of injury on the Other Half. To harm an angel was to wound the soul of the host herself, after all, and such actions were deemed of the most criminal nature in Asgard.
A course of action forming in her mind, the Valkyrie rushed towards the goddess, determined to end the woman's screams quietly and as painlessly as possible. She leapt into the air, allowing gravity and momentum to lend strength to her approaching blow, and came down upon the goddess from above.
She was caught off guard when Urd threw herself to the side before her strike could connect. A crater exploded outward around Lind's blow, sending earth and grass and flowers flying. The Norn who was her target rolled away, tucked into a ball as she shielded herself from blast range. Before she could pick herself up however, Lind was after her again, racing towards the goddess like a white bullet. You could have made this easy on yourself, Urd, Lind thought, and was surprised again when Urd deftly avoided the fist aimed for her face at the last moment. In that instant, their eyes met, and the fury Lind saw in the woman's face was—it's the Daimakaicho.
And she was back in the cell, peering through the bars as the Daimakaicho passed her by, her face cold and expressionless but her eyes filled with an unholy fury like none Lind had ever seen before. And their eyes met in that brief moment, and-
Urd dipped under her arm and retreated from the Valkyrie, putting distance between the two of them. Lind stood where she was, frozen, and again where Urd stood she saw the Daimakaicho: the Daimakaicho dressed in Urd's clothes perhaps, with Urd's more tame and straight hair, and perhaps Urd's lighter skin tone, but the Daimakaicho none the less. "You're going to fight me now?" the woman asked in disbelief. She narrowed her eyes at Lind, and the warrior tensed, awaiting the inevitable onslaught. "No," the demon continued. "No. I will not fight you, Lind-Tanarak Kajistiaat... not one as weak as you."
"What?" Lind paled, caught off-guard by the address of her full name. The last demon who'd called her by her full name had been Cabatu during one of her many sessions with him and his 'pet'. She narrowed her eyes at the woman and felt a flare of anger surge in her being. "Quiet," she growled.
The Daimakaicho angled her body away from the Valkyrie, a demon's stance she'd seen many times in drill and Combatants. "Do you disapprove of my use of your name?" she inquired. "Or is it because I refuse to fight an honorless coward?"
Lind shook her head, unable to believe her ears. "What'd did you say?!" she demanded.
"I'm not gonna fight you," Urd said. The Daimakaicho was gone, and in its place was Urd. She clutched her head, glaring at Lind with heated eyes. "Don't wanna fight, not gonna fight." She shook her head, and her voice dipped into a growl as the Norn squeezed her eyes shut. "Not gonna fight, Lind." She sucked in a deep, painful breath. "I just-I can't..." She shook her head again, her lower lip trembling as she fought to hold her bearing. "Why?" She choked on the word, and any further will to fight died as Lind witnessed the bone-deep anguish on the goddess's face. "I just want her to get better, Lind." She fell to her knees. "I just want her to get better, but every time we make progress, something new pops up that sends us back to square one!" Her voice rose in a despairing scream, and for the first time Lind took note of the tears falling down Urd's face. "Aoshima keeps coming back, and each time he does it gets worse and worse! She has nightmares and destroys the house. We fix it. She has flashbacks and still suffers from the toxic shithole she was in, we fix it. She hurts the people around her, we fix it!"
The goddess sucked in a deep breath. "But now she- she kills Keiichi! The man who's been doing everything he can to accommodate her! My best friend! The man I-" Abruptly she cut herself off, yet Lind had a sneaking suspicion she knew what the woman had been about to say. The woman shook her head and whimpered, then started again, just as angry, just as frustrated, just as desolate as before. "And her angel… her angel! Holy Bell!" The goddess wrapped her arms around herself, and a high keen rose in her throat. "Oh Yggdrasil, Holy Bell." The Norn began to wail without care now, and Lind wondered how much of her anguish was Urd herself versus the feedback from World of Elegance. The Valkyrie glanced to the angel in question and felt a piece of her heart break. Urd's angel had withdrawn into herself, curling up into a ball where she'd initially fallen and bringing her wings up as if to hide herself from the world. Spear Mint and Cool Mint hovered on either side of her, trying to comfort the angel, yet Lind didn't need to share a link with World of Elegance to recognize they weren't reaching her. The angel had, for lack of a better term, shut down in her sorrow.
"Damn it," Lind muttered, and walked to Urd's side. She knelt beside the goddess, wanting to offer her own support but uncertain how to do so. Valkyries in general weren't taught how to deal with 'touchy-feely' emotional moments like these, and Lind's position in particular was awkward due to the loss of most of her own emotions for close to a century. The most she could think to do was offer her support and hope that it was enough. She placed a hand on the woman's shoulder as Rota used to do in times of stress.
It seemed to be enough for the Norn. A hand grabbed hers with a crushing grip (again, she was left in wonder at the sheer power this woman held with her limited second-class license) and then she was pulled into a rough embrace.
Taken aback by the action, Lind stiffened as her mind took off like a flitting bird, conjuring memories of her initial battle against Urd in Japan and, worse yet, flinging her mind back to Hell and the torturous sessions she'd suffered through. Yet Urd did little other than sob into her shoulder, and the Valkyrie allowed herself to relax when it grew apparent that the Norn had no ulterior motives. Tentatively, the woman wrapped her arms around the goddess's shoulders. Urd did not fight her off.
Unable to think of anything to say, the Valkyrie held her silence, allowing the woman to mourn in her own time as she cast a glance once more to the small choir composed of her own angels and World of Elegance. Perhaps it paid tribute to the strength of the bond between Urd and her angel. Perhaps it was coincidental timing. Whichever the reason, the black-winged angel had dropped her own guard, her wings drooping and half-folded behind her as she allowed Spear Mint and Cool Mint into her guard. The trio were preening each other, running their fingers through the feathers of each wing and combing out loose and old feathers. It was an act Lind had seen both her angels exhibit when one or the other was stressed or anxious. She'd asked Nebo about it once, and the god had told her it was a bonding activity to help soothe each other in times of distress.
Spear Mint looked toward her as though sensing the Valkyrie's gaze. World of Elegance had some feathers ripped out of her right wing, she said. She apologizes. She was in a lot of pain when Nebo began talking about Holy Bell, and she lost control of herself. Lind's eyes darted to where Spear Mint's own right wing would have been had the Valkyrie never been imprisoned by demons, and felt an ache in her shoulder like that of a wing clenched tight against her back and unable to expand. Phantom pains. Not as common as they once were, but still present on rare occasions.
How did her feathers get ripped out? Lind inquired.
Morisato pulled them out. Cool Mint this time. Her voice came soft and sad. She said it was an accident. She said she thought she could show him more than most mortals could handle. She thought he was different. He wasn't.
Urd or World of Elegance? Lind asked.
World of Elegance, Cool Mint clarified. Peorth wasn't joking. Urd's feelings run deep.
Don't worry, Spear Mint quipped. We already told her it was a stupid idea. Lind hoped she was joking. But it doesn't change the fact that she got burned pretty bad, and that coupled with Holy Bell's condition…
Lind winced, looking down at the woman before her with a bit more understanding. Urd's sobs had slowed to a stop, yet the woman still held to her. Lind allowed her what time she needed, fighting off her own impatience over sitting unmoving in the same spot for such an extended period of time.
Eventually Urd pulled away from her, and Lind breathed a sigh of relief, watching as the woman scrubbed at her eyes with one arm. The chaotic aura that had almost spoken of a bloodlust- what she'd initially sensed and had made Lind barge into Belldandy's room- was gone. But the anger was still there. The sorrow too, though both were blanketed now by something else Lind couldn't describe. "Do you have it still?" Urd dropped her arm from her face, staring at Lind with bleak eyes.
"Have what?" Lind at once felt her hackles rise, and once more she watched the woman, alert and ready for any new signs that might hint at an attack.
"You know what I'm talking about Lind," Urd said. "Do you have it or not?"
The Valkyrie held her peace, and Urd sighed, looking defeated once more. "Keep it," she said. "Keep it away from me. Away from Midgard. Keep it buried in Asgard in some chamber where I can never reach it."
"Urd, I wouldn't have given it to you even if you had me at death's door," Lind replied. "It's not yours."
Urd growled and grit her teeth. "I know," she said. "I know. That's why I gave it to you in the first place." She shuddered. "I'm tempted, Lind. I'm tempted in ways you couldn't even imagine, and it frightens me, knowing what I would do if I had it." She fell back into the grass, lying sprawled out with her hands pressed tight against her temples. "I don't want to go down that road, Lind."
Lind stared at the woman, noting the deep lines of stress that marred her face. There was anger in those lines, still. Hate too. Deep hate. The type that only a demon could touch and come away from unscathed and unchanged. Lind shuddered. And yet you would still fight against your very nature, Lind thought.
For a brief moment, she considered the woman beside her, placing her next to the woman she'd heard only rumors of whispered in the dark and whose face she'd seen for a brief instant between the bars of a cell. The Daimakaicho: a demon and a dictator, one who ruled through fear and domination and who approved of biological weapons that went against the Doublet System put into place to stop the many deaths suffered on both Asgard's and Niflheim's side of the war. There were stories of her cruelty in Asgard and amongst Valkyries. Stories of such cruelty and atrocities they fell past the limit of stories and into the fabricated realms of legends and tall tales. Legends that spoke of how the Daimakaicho, named after 'battle' itself under the moniker of 'Hild' had captured a flight of Valkyries immediately after the Doublet System had been established, and had tortured them personally, and by hand, within an inch of their lives as a message to the heavenly elite: Death will become a wish your soldiers will beg for. Lind's own experiences at the mercy of Niflheimian forces had lent proof to those legends, pulling them once more out of the realms of fabrication and into history once more.
Yet here at her side was that demon's daughter. A woman who'd forsaken that reputation, that history, that bloodlust and bloodshed in favor of a position amongst the divine, and a poor position at that if the rumor mills Lind had discovered since being assigned to Urd were any indication. A goddess whose initial wish had been to become a Tic, a healer, a master of medicine and provider of life rather than death, and whose values even now still held weight to the goddess in question. A woman who'd gone through whatever lengths she'd deemed necessary for the sake of her sister rather than herself, who'd bartered and tricked and dealt but drew the line at coercion and threats to gather information on her sister's whereabouts, and had sacrificed her own position of considerable power in Asgard to ensure her younger sister took no blame for disobeying orders concurrent with a wish. Here was a woman who wept for an angel and brought the man she loved back from the brink of death knowing his feelings rested with the heart of another, and now, when overcome with grief, chose not to lash out at the first target in range- Lind herself- but to try and expel her wrath through other means, trying desperately to control that anger so inherent with the Daimakaicho Herself.
If the Daimakaicho was a lion, than surely she gave birth to a lamb, Lind thought. A lamb in wolf's skin, perhaps, a lamb that knows how to roar and howl, but a lamb nonetheless.
"You aren't your mother, Urd," Lind said, and watched as the goddess recoiled at the comment.
"You know." Urd sat up, observing the Valkyrie with wide eyes. Her expression was cast in a network of fear and pain, and Lind pitied her for it. "Do you hold it against me, Valkyrie?"
Not 'Lind' anymore. Valkyrie. Just like that, a gap had opened between the two of them.
Lind was silent for a long moment, observing the woman as she took her next words into careful consideration. She recognized that guarded look on Urd's face. Had seen it enough in her own dealings with the woman in their earlier years together, and knew that what she said next would either derail their friendship in that exact moment or strengthen it. She wanted to look to her angels for help but didn't dare; not with Urd's entire focus examining every action she made.
The Valkyrie took a deep breath. "At first, yes," she admitted. "I… suspected for a long time; the rumors surrounding you. The resemblance between you and her. The fact they chose to assign a Valkyrie over watch of you when one of Athena's Furies was assigned to Skuld… so yes, I did. For a time. Perhaps for years, in fact." She saw the goddess wince and knew she'd wounded the Norn.
"Yet I've grown to know you in the span of months, Urd," she continued. "I met her once… for a brief moment in time, I met her, with a flight doomed to die despite the Doublet System designed to safeguard against it." She shook her head. "You are not her, Urd," she said again. "That one… she is cruel and cold and ruthless, and I speak these words as a captive looking at her from the other side of prison bars. But you are not. You're a pain in my ass who drives me insane, and is now sacrificing her own sanity for the sake of her sister in the hopes that she might heal." Lind shook her head. "So no… I don't hold it against you. Not since Japan, where you defied my expectations when you chose an act more fitting of a goddess than a demon. Not even since recovering those suppressed memories that so detailed my experience with that person." She paused, allowing the words to sink in before finalizing the confession. "I consider you my friend, Urd. And I would hope, despite our differences, that you consider me your friend as well."
For a long time Urd remained silent, staring at Lind with a look that was so alien to the Valkyrie that Lind would be unable to place it in a million years' time. In that time Lind feared she'd said too much, had touched a tender spot not meant to be grazed, and began to wonder if perhaps her long speech had indeed shattered the friendship between herself and Urd, Valkyrie and Daimakaicho's Daughter.
And then Urd smiled, and though it was weak, it was open, and any fears Lind had begun to foster were destroyed in that instant. With a laugh that was in part a sob, the Norn grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. Lind didn't resist, and in fact felt a strange little smile of her own glide upon her lips, one that was relieved as it was happy, and in that time Lind wondered if perhaps they both weren't hurting and looking for camaraderie in the most unlikely of places.
At length, they parted, and with it Lind was unsurprised to find the choir move to join them. World of Elegance was calmer now. Calmer now than in all the time since Holy Bell's manifestation, resembling less the territorial angel from before but more of the calmer presence that had come to Cool Mint's aid in what now felt so long ago. There was indeed a notable chunk of feathers missing from her white wing, but World of Elegance's face gave no hint of any pain. Lind wondered if the angel was that well-versed at hiding her pain or if it had faded into something more manageable. It was hard to tell.
"So you love Keiichi," Lind said after a moment's peace, allowing Urd to gather herself once more.
Urd grimaced but nodded. "It… wasn't intentional," she muttered.
"When is falling in love ever 'intentional'?" Lind queried. Urd flinched. "Sorry."
"You're good." Urd sucked in a deep breath and released it slowly. She sounded steadier and more in control when next she spoke. "I didn't- don't want to be in love with him," she confessed. "He's Belldandy's man, not mine."
Lind glanced at her. "I wasn't aware Keiichi was a possession," she said.
"Don't be an ass, Lind. You know what I mean," Urd growled. "His heart lies with Belldandy- should be with Belldandy, not me. The System Force itself was doing everything it could to ensure these two met, and I just happened to be on the fence when it came calling."
"It doesn't make your feelings for him any less real, though." In hindsight, it was strange and somehow ironic that Lind, a Valkyrie who'd exhibited no emotion for the past century, was having a conversation on feelings with another goddess. It's like those 'girl chats' my sisters always liked to gossip over. She cringed internally. Oh Yggdrasil, may this never reach their ears. I'll never live it down.
"You think I don't know that?" Urd snapped, and then it was her turn to apologize. "Sorry." She looked embarrassed. "This has been bothering me for a while now.
"I can tell."
"Belldandy needs him though," Urd continued, and her voice softened as she drew her legs up to her chest. "He puts her at ease in ways that I can't. He's the one who chases the nightmares away, who lets her return from a flashback… he's the one who's letting her heal, Lind."
"Right up until she almost killed him?" Lind threw the line out there and observed Urd's reaction carefully. The goddess flinched once more, and again the anger she'd witnessed upon their arrival in the field manifested. "This isn't good for you, Urd."
The woman wheeled on her. "The fuck does that mean?" She demanded.
Lind met and held her gaze. "It means," she began. "That you should consider the idea of leaving."
The woman went white. "What did you just say?"
"You heard me," Lind replied. "You should leave. You can't stay in a house playing third-wheel to a man who doesn't feel the same way about you."
"Belldandy needs me." The anger was starting to rise again. Lind held her calm, however, riding the current like a kayak in the midst of a storm's high tide. She would not let Urd's ire tilt her over.
"Are you so sure?" Lind continued. "You said yourself that Keiichi is the one who manages to reach her when she has an episode. Not you. Not Skuld."
"That's-" The goddess gritted her teeth and fell silent. When next she spoke, it was a whisper. "She keeps hurting him." She looked at Lind, and the Valkyrie was taken aback by the raw pain in the woman's violet eyes. "I- I know it isn't intentional. I know that she's hurting too, but… Nidhogg's fangs, Lind! She keeps hurting him and he keeps forgiving her, and I'm the one left to clean up the pieces and make sure he's whole so she can break him all over again!" she cried. "I feel like I'm sewing up a stuffed animal that keeps getting ripped and torn, except it's not a stuffed animal, Lind, it's not! It's a person, a human, one with a consciousness and his own thoughts and his own feelings, and he keeps pushing them aside, keeps forgiving her, keeps taking the abuse and I'm the one encouraging it!" Now the words were coming out in a scream, yet no more tears fell from the Norn's eyes. Not anymore. Not over this.
"I keep pushing them back together, keep repairing the damage, like a harsh child with her favorite toy that she keeps breaking, and it's- it's horrible, Lind! He loves her, and I see that, and she loves him too, and so I encourage them to forgive and forget, sweep it all under the rug, water under the bridge, no one address the elephant in the room because it isn't there! And they allow it! And now, after seeing Holy Bell-" She propped her arms on her knees and buried her face in them with a long moan. "I can't keep doing this, Lind… I can't keep watching her destroy him… I can't keep putting him back together and then smile on the sidelines like nothing is wrong, because everything is wrong, and I don't know if I should blame myself or Aoshima or Belldandy or Keiichi for letting it all continue like this!"
"So then leave," Lind repeated with little sympathy. "You provided more than enough reasons yourself right there. You aren't helping anyone at this rate."
"I can't," Urd persisted. "Not until Belldandy's healed. She'll kill him and it'll destroy her."
"You aren't your sister's keeper, Urd," Lind persisted. "Not any more than you're responsible for the wish that landed her with Aoshima."
"There was demonic influence involved with that wish," Urd hissed.
"And that suddenly makes you responsible?" Lind pressed. "Because a lone demon broke an interdimensional rule preventing the interference with one of the multiverse's two main servers? Does that mean you feel accountable for all acts of demons? Are you the one responsible for the actions of your mother and her people? Forgive my words, Urd, but I'm staring at your sigils right now, and they are still the blue of a divinity, not the red of a demon."
Urd flinched, for a moment looking angry, and then it washed away into sorrow. "I have roots here," she said. "I have other friends here… I'm accepted here," she continued. "No one in Team Twelve knows about my heritage or expects me to at any moment perform some despicable deed. To them I'm just… Sheila, their strange drinking buddy who they only just learned is part of some organization on par with Interpol, and who's helping another woman make a life here." She cast a mournful look to Lind. "Where would I even go?" she asked. "I have no other ties outside of Midgard or-"
She cut herself off. Lind, who'd recognized the Falken for what it was that one night in Japan, didn't press. "I can't go back home and my only other option would be to go to Niflheim, which I don't want. I don't want in the slightest. I just…" She sighed, defeated, and looked out into the field. Now that the storm of Urd's temper had passed, the sound of forest life was beginning to return, and their silence was filled with the sound of birdsong and the buzz of insects.
"You could come to Chugach," Lind offered.
Urd turned her head to peak at the woman, but said nothing.
Lind chewed on her lip before elaborating. "It's home for me," she said. "I've got a lot of leave saved up, and at this point I think my squadron would be happy to see me gone."
"I heard the natives up there aren't friendly towards Asgardian gods," Urd muttered. The words sounded muffled.
Lind nodded. "They aren't," she said. "Not without a sponsor to vouch for the guest."
"And you're offering to be that sponsor," Urd stated. A note of disbelief had entered her voice.
"They'll probably like you more since you managed to get yourself banished from Asgard," Lind decided. "That and, well, you not being full-blooded might earn you some brownie points as well." She paused and thought for a moment. "Nanuq might even decide against threatening to eat you."
"Wait, what?" Urd straightened and looked at Lind with a start, but the Valkyrie had already moved on to other topics.
"So what do you think?" Lind asked. "This… isn't a light offer, Urd. I don't make this kind of decision on a whim, but… quite frankly Urd, this place is starting to destroy you, and if sponsoring you back home means you'll leave this place, then for your own sake, I'll extend my hand and offer it."
The Norn stared at her long and hard, and Lind held the woman's violet gaze with her own calm blue.
It was Urd who dropped her gaze first. "No," she said, and to Lind it almost sounded reluctant. "Not… not right now. Maybe when Belldandy's more healed… when Holy Bell is more healed… but not right now." She sighed, and it carried weight. The weight of Belldandy and the weight of Keiichi. Maybe even the weight of her own guilt, as well.
Lind frowned, disappointed at the refusal. "I'll leave it open to you, then," she said. "As a sign of friendship. Let me know when you're ready to leave this place, and I'll make the necessary arrangements on my end."
Urd nodded in silence, and again her lips twisted into a knot of grief. She swallowed it. "Thanks Lind… you're a good friend."
XXX
"Alright, Kyz, take a deep breath for me and go about summoning your angel."
Gathered in the dining room, the deities in the house watched with mixed expressions as Peorth did as instructed, breathing deeply as she called her angel, Gorgeous Rose, into the Material Plane. The medallion that rested between her breasts, that same gold device Nebo had been wearing an hour ago, began to pulse with a gentle glow. The goddess grimaced, and a high keen began to arise from the strange medallion as Gorgeous Rose began to take form. Surrounding her, Belldandy, Skuld, and Nebo watched in a combined mixture of curiosity and unease. It'd been a little over an hour since Urd and Lind's sudden departure, and in that time Nebo was taking the steps necessary to start Holy Bell on the path to recovery. The first and immediate problem that needed to be addressed was the weakened link between Belldandy and Holy Bell, and how to strengthen it so that the angel could once more receive the nutrients from Belldandy that would allow her to heal.
The whine and glow faded as Gorgeous Rose grew more physical, and with it an unspoken sigh of relief permeated the group of deities. "Hello, Pretty Lady," Nebo told the angel. "I got a huge favor to ask you. You know Holy Bell, Belldandy's angel, right?"
The angel looked from Nebo to Belldandy and back again with a nod, her face serene despite the nervous state of her host before her. Nebo smiled. "Holy Bell's going through some rough times right now, and we trying to help her out. The link between her and Belldandy is pretty weak and frayed, so Holy Bell ain't receiving what she needs from Belldandy that'll make her better." Gorgeous Rose nodded, and to Belldandy it seemed the angel already had an idea of what Nebo was going to ask. "I was wondering if you'd agree to share some of Peorth's strength with Holy Bell until she recovers a bit more. It won't be for long- maybe just a day or two is all we need. Right now your host is the best candidate to aid in Holy Bell's recovery."
Gorgeous Rose tilted her head to one side, and her gaze turned first to Belldandy, then leaned to the far right to look past Belldandy and down the hall. She looked back to Nebo and signed. Nebo raised an eyebrow. "World of Elegance?" he asked. Gorgeous Rose nodded.
"She wants to ensure World of Elegance won't assault her as she did when Holy Bell first manifested," Peorth explained. "She'll agree to it on the terms she is allowed to visit Holy Bell herself. World of Elegance left a bad impression with how hostile she acted towards us upstairs."
Nebo and Belldandy shared a look. Belldandy looked back at Peorth and her angel. "I have no issue with Holy Bell being visited," she said. "I... I just ask that you be aware that she is not in a healthy state."
Peorth shrugged and Gorgeous Rose waved the comment off. "Gorgeous Rose doesn't care," Peorth said. "She said they all came from the same generation of eggs, and that makes them siblings, even if you and I aren't related, Belldandy. She wants to see her sister and do what she can to help, so long as World of Elegance doesn't bother her." For a moment Peorth's expression darkened. "She is living up to the reputation of those wild angels with black in their plumage."
Skuld scowled and stepped towards the goddess, looking ready to argue. Belldandy placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her, and as Skuld cast a glare her way Belldandy returned her attention to Peorth. "I will speak with Urd when she returns," she said. "I wish to keep the peace as much as everyone else in this house, and I will do what is necessary on my end to ensure World of Elegance doesn't chase you away."
Gorgeous Rose inclined her head in acceptance, and Belldandy smiled, relieved the angel had agreed to the proposition. "Thank you very much Peorth, Gorgeous Rose." She bowed to them in a habit she'd thought dead and gone after her time away from Japan, and felt her face flush when she caught the startled look on both Peorth and her angel's faces.
"I still don't see why I couldn't be the vessel," Skuld muttered with a dour scowl.
"We been over this." Nebo cast a look back to the younger woman as Gorgeous Rose returned to Peorth. "You too new with your angel. You still need to adapt to the new demands on your body now that you sharing energy with Noble Scarlet, and adding another angel to that ain't gonna help you none. Holy Bell riding with you is liable to leave you comatose, Kyz."
The scowl didn't fall from Skuld's face. "Then Urd could have done it," she said. "Or Lind."
Nebo shook his head. "I don't want Urd to take on the link because it drains a lot of energy and I need her for potions." Belldandy noted he said nothing of World of Elegance's reaction to the middle Norn herself. "And Lind already has two angels riding on her shoulders that are both equally demanding. I can't overburden her with a third angel feeding off her link, as, similar to you, it'd most likely send her comatose. Peorth and Gorgeous Rose are the best options, Kyz." He turned back to Peorth. "You're going to need to take it easy while you wearing that." He pointed to the medallion. "Since Gorgeous Rose is going to be sharing the energy she normally has all to herself, you gonna feel drained and lethargic here real soon. Get lots of sleep and eat some food dense in calories- it's all gonna go back to Holy Bell since she's gonna be putting a lot of demands on your end of the link."
"Right." Peorth nodded, paying close attention to Nebo's words. "And will this have any lasting effects?"
"Nah," the man said. "When it's off you might notice a decrease in appetite, maybe some insomnia, but that's your body trying to readjust to supporting only one angel again. Shouldn't last more than two or three days, a week at most, and you'll be fine."
Peorth sighed in relief. "That is good." She looked back to Belldandy. "Would you mind terribly if Gorgeous Rose visited Holy Bell in this moment? While Urd is... preoccupied with Lind?"
Skuld folded her arms over her chest. "That's a good way of putting it," she grumbled.
"Skuld..." Belldandy sighed. "Keiichi is still upstairs," she warned.
Peorth shrugged. "Then I shall send him downstairs," she reasoned. "He cannot hide in his room forever, and I doubt very much he wants to, especially in his own house. When he departs I shall allow Gorgeous Rose to manifest, and she will visit Holy Bell until the combined strain becomes too much for me."
"You really think he wants to see you of all people right now?" Skuld raised an eyebrow, and Belldandy bit back a moan.
Peorth scowled. "Well, would you rather send him down?" she asked. "He does not seem to hold you in the highest regard either... what was the name I heard him call you by to Urd? 'Chihuahua?'"
Skuld turned scarlet, and Belldandy quickly moved between the two of them before a new fight could spring forth. "No fights!" she exclaimed. "There has been enough fighting in this household already. No more!"
Nebo scowled, smoothing his mustache thoughtfully. "She got a point though," he said. "I don't think the lum is on good terms with anyone in this room right now." Belldandy recoiled. "And Lind and Urd are busy doing their own thing..."
"Well then let me make it easy for you and come down myself," Keiichi said, walking through the dining room and heading to the kitchen. "Christ, you act like I'm a fucking troll or something."
"Or that could happen," Nebo said. The women present winced.
"I'll... take my leave now." Peorth slipped out of the dining room and into the hallway without another word. Her footsteps followed her upstairs.
Keiichi moved to the refrigerator and pulled the door open, peering inside. "I already need permission to move around my own god damn house, wasn't aware I needed a fucking keeper," he commented. "And what happened to Urd and Lind anyways?" Finding nothing of interest, he closed the fridge and proceeded to the cabinet, grabbing a large plastic container of protein powder and pulling a mixer from the cabinet.
"Probably re-enacting their original meeting in Japan," Skuld muttered, watching the man with wary eyes as Belldandy fidgeted next to her.
"Hey lum, can I talk with you in private?" Nebo asked. "I got to speak with you on some things."
"Fancy that," Keiichi growled, scooping up a measuring cup's worth of brown powder and dumping it into the shake mixer. "I gotta couple things I need to speak with you about as well. And it's 'Morisato', not 'lum'."
Both of Nebo's eyebrows shot up against his head. "Okay. Got it. Sounds good," he said. Keiichi continued to the sink and poured some tap water into his shake bottle, pulled a lid from another cabinet, and screwed it onto the bottle.
"Um..." Belldandy bit her lip. She was nervous with Keiichi in the same room as her. He seemed so... angry right now, and Belldandy feared that most of it was directed towards her. The idea that perhaps the man was irritated at having overheard the recent conversation never passed through her mind, and even if it had, it was doubtful it would have left her any braver trying to work up the courage necessary to call the man's attention. Yet his cellphone still rested heavy in the pocket of her jeans, and with Aiko's dawning visit still in the back of her mind, the Norn steeled herself with a deep breath. "Ah... Keiichi..."
The man looked at her but said nothing. Belldandy could feel the hair on the back of her neck rise. He's still upset. She thought. I shouldn't have- oh goodness I can't do this, he's still upset, we'll break into another fight right here and I'll- I'll run. I'll run again like a scared rabbit, and it will take that bloody puma to chase me back to the house again with my angel's absence.
"Yes?" Keiichi stared at her with a frown, mixing his shake with one hand while he watched her.
The goddess froze, trying and failing to work up the courage to speak to the man. Her hand fell to the cellphone in her pocket, yet try as she might, she could not summon the will necessary to speak. A tragedy. Here was a goddess raised in the halls of some of the greatest warriors Asgard had to offer; a woman of unquestionable will, who had refused to break even when placed into such an abusive residence as that of Toshiyuki Aoshima. And yet here, in the wake of her own guilt and faced with the victim of such pain, she was rendered mute and helpless. Disgusting.
Skuld came to her rescue, bless the woman. "Oh hey, that's right," she said. "You dropped your phone after World of Elegance freaked out on you."
The man paused, then pat down his pants for the object in question, finding it was indeed gone. "Fuck," he swore. "I was talking with Aiko."
"You were," Belldandy agreed, finding the path less daunting with Keiichi's attention occupied on something that wasn't her. "She- I spoke with her." The Norn dug into her pocket and withdrew the phone, then, her lips set in an expression which couldn't decide if it was a grimace or a smile, proceeded to the man to deliver the phone. "Um, she said she's coming over."
"Fuck!" Keiichi cursed again. Placing his shake on the kitchen island, the man groaned loudly, leaning over the counter top as he glared down at the porcelain.
"Funny, that's exactly what Belldandy said," said Skuld.
Belldandy approached the other end of the island and slid the phone over to Keiichi. The man in question barely acknowledged it, muttering oaths under his breath as he straightened and ran his hands through his hair. "Fucking- just what I fucking need. More gods and angels and now Aiko to seal the fucking deal! I just can't catch a break, can I?" He sighed, looked at his protein shake, then grabbed it and stuck it in the fridge, as though this latest news had stolen what little appetite he'd been able to stir in the wake of his death. "When's she coming?" He turned from the fridge and let his head thump against it, staring bleakly at the cabinets above the island like a doomed man.
"Two, maybe two and a half hours depending on traffic," Belldandy replied, watching with worried eyes as the man pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand, a heavy frown on his face. "She did not state a timeframe to expect her, but she sounded worried. I expect she decided to rush right over as soon as the call ended."
"Great," Keiichi groused. "Fucking great," he growled, and the noise in his throat made him sound stressed and in pain. "Next McGuinness is going to fucking call over some weird bullshit and see if he can stop by and see how everyone's doing, and-"
The cellphone began to blare a loud musical note, and Keiichi once more fell into a fit of curses.
Skuld stared at him with a start. "What's that all about?"
Belldandy, her own curiosity getting the better of her, leaned over the counter to look at the name highlighted on the phone's screen. "It's McGuinness," she announced, then winced reflexively.
"I swear to god…" Keiichi grumbled, his face born in an open snarl as he snatched the phone up and stormed into the living room.
"Who is McGuinness?" Nebo watched the man depart. "Another lum?" He looked back to the two sisters before him.
Skuld nodded. "His boss," she said. "Don't worry, he at least doesn't know about us."
"A small blessing." Nebo looked back over his shoulder towards where the man had departed, a scowl on his face.
"You really don't like mortals, do you?" Skuld asked.
"No... no, it's not that," Nebo said. "I don't care either way for them. But that boy's been getting on my nerves since coming here, and now, after seeing World of Elegance's wing..."
"Wait, what about her wing?" Skuld straightened, then lowered her voice. "...is this because of her black wing too?" she demanded. "'Cause I swear, if you start throwing around accusations just because she's got a black wing..." There was an edge to her voice, a warning note that promised pain and misery to Nebo if he evoked her wrath, and she leveled a sharp glare towards the man.
Nebo, for his part, stared at her in confusion. "World of Elegance lost some feathers," he explained. "From her white wing," the god emphasized. "They weren't missing before Urd went and spoke with Keiichi, and I'm worried that part of her loss of control in the bedroom was from the loss of those feathers." He met Skuld's gaze without flinching, and Belldandy watched the spectacle in concern, antsy and looking like a cat ready to spring at the first sign of another argument brewing. "I am well aware that World of Elegance has the Black Wing Mutation, and you are the second person to bring it up as if there is something negative associated with it." The man shook his head in exasperation. "Ain't nothing wrong with a black wing- it's just a mutation that occurs on occasion with gods. The stories and rumors associated with it are just that- stories and rumors. It don't mean anything about the deity housing the angel or the angel itself, and I would appreciate it if all the gods in this house would stop acting like it means something."
Belldandy grimaced. "I'll speak with Peorth," she said, and took the opportunity to leave as well. She wouldn't admit it, but busying herself with anything right now that wasn't too confrontational was a relief. She needed to keep herself and her mind preoccupied, if for no other reason than it prevented her from dwelling on everything else that was happening in the house. Leaving the dining room, the woman rushed through the hallway and up the stairs, catching only a fragment of Keiichi's conversation on the phone.
"…'re all fine, Sir. No Sir, last I saw Urd was fine too, we're all just going through some stressful stuff is all..."
Retreating, almost running from the man in the living room, Belldandy heard no more as she continued up the stairs and to the temporary sanctuary her bedroom had become.
XXX
Back in the dining room, Skuld watched as Nebo sighed and rose to his feet. "I'm speaking to the lum about World of Elegance," he decided. "I'm not going to sit by idle while a mortal damages the angels in the choir," the god stated. "Not while Holy Bell is so vulnerable already."
"Wow, wait a second." Skuld followed the man to his feet. "This is still going to be just a 'talk' right?" There was an almost imperceptible change in the man's aura, but Skuld was gifted with an almost unnatural perception after spending so much of her life hunting down bugs in Yggdrasil. It was a little hair raise on the back of her neck- the sudden sense of unease, an unnerving sense that something wasn't right, that if she didn't act in that immediate moment whatever was wrong would spiral out of control. And that hair-raising moment was affecting her now, just as it had when she'd awoken at close to twelve-thirty last night.
"Yes," Nebo agreed. "Though admittedly, should he prove difficult, I am not above enforcing my will on him." He frowned, glaring down the hallway where Keiichi's voice was just a small murmur in the adjoining room. "It ain't what I want, you know, but if this fool is ripping feathers outta angels, it needs to stop." There was a strange steel in the god's voice that Skuld normally attributed to war deities, and it made her arms break out into goosebumps. That was the steel of a man who would do what he believed what necessary to complete his objectives, even if the end result ended with pain or even death with an opposing party.
"Hurting Keiichi won't help Belldandy, Nebo," she said.
The man glanced back at her, his eyes hard. "I don't care about Belldandy," he said, and Skuld felt herself pale. "I care about Holy Bell. And I care about World of Elegance." The man watched her, his lips pursed and set in a thin line against his face.
Skuld stared at the man in alarm. "What do you mean?" she demanded. "Do you have any idea what you are saying? Are you telling me you only care about angels, Nebo?"
The man looked her straight in the eyes. "Yes," he announced. "They're my children. I created their entire race, and I'll be damned if I'm not going to care for them. Now stand aside so I can speak with the lum." The conversation had sparked his temper, and there was something deep and black in his gaze that left Skuld cold.
The Norn felt an eerie sensation in her chest that for some reason brought about the image of fluttering wings in her mind's eye. Noble Scarlet had returned to her after the initial diagnosis had been completed, and she'd never felt the strange sensations that came about as a result of a distressed angel before. It was an uncomfortable feeling, one that left her with an itch she couldn't scratch and held captive by the desire to scream. She felt a strange surge inside of her reminiscent of Noble Scarlet's first manifestation, and was then overwhelmed by a strange feeling which left her breathless as Noble Scarlet appeared without her call.
Skuld could feel the energy leave her at the unprecedented emergence, and she could see Noble Scarlet trembling as she dove to Nebo, who appeared just as disoriented as Skuld over the tiny angel's sudden appearance. The child-like entity dove at the man, yet rather than attack him as Skuld initially feared, the tiny angel wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him as she looked up at the god with pleading eyes. Please no more fights! The words came to her mind, and the voice that owned them was scared and filled with sorrow. I don't want any more fights! It's been nothing but fighting since I was born! Fights from Belldandy, fights from World of Elegance, fights from Keiichi, fights with Urd and now fights with you, Nebo! the angel cried. Everyone is always fighting and I can't take it anymore! I don't want you to fight Keiichi! I don't want Belldandy and Keiichi to fight! I don't want Urd and Lind to fight or World of Elegance to fight or anyone to fight anymore! All it brings is pain! Frustrated tears began to fall down the angel's cheeks.
The words from the tiny angel were heartbreaking, the look of fear on her face, scrunched up as she held onto Nebo as though he was a father about to abandon her, even more so. Skuld stared at the angel in mourning, feeling her heart go out to her. "Yeah, I hear you, Noble Scarlet." The woman sounded tired. "I don't want any more fighting either."
Nebo looked from Noble Scarlet to Skuld, his arms held up and away from the angel, as though not daring to touch her. In hindsight, after hearing of how World of Elegance had lost feathers, perhaps there was a reason behind that. "May I have your permission to touch your angel, Skuld?" It was perhaps the most formality he'd displayed to Skuld since first introducing himself.
The request caught the Norn off-guard. "Didn't you say yourself they're like your own children?" She asked in turn.
The man stared at her, then sighed, and gently moved to rest a hand a hand on Noble Scarlet's head, running his fingers through her hair as he returned the embrace with a one-armed hug. "I should not have said that," he mumbled. "I let my temper get the better of me. Forgive me, my little Ssaratu. I can see that my actions upset you. That was not my intention." Noble Scarlet tightened her grip around Nebo's waist, and Nebo rubbed the area between her shoulder blades, which seemed to soothe the angel. He looked back to Skuld and smiled, though it was faint. "You are different from your sisters," he said. "Though I think you would not admit it. A protective angel for the oldest, a forgiving angel for the middle, and an empathetic…" He paused and looked back down at Noble Scarlet. "No... that's not right," he said. "Not empathic. What is the correct word? 'Innocent'. Yes. An innocent angel for you, the youngest of the Norns, held by the goddess whose very name elicits a debt to be repaid."
That eerie look was back on his face again. That 'soul-diggers' look that seemed to look right through her and to her very essence, and Skuld suppressed a shudder. She wanted to ask the man what he meant by his strange words, yet instead the words that slipped past her lips were, "Do you know why Noble Scarlet is so small?"
"I might," Nebo replied. The terrible look on his face didn't fade. "Though I will know this before I speak more: Do you love your angel as she is now?"
It was a weighted question, one that stopped Skuld from answering with an immediate response. She opened her mouth, yet when no word issued forth she closed it once more. Instead the goddess wrapped her arms around herself, looking in that moment almost as young and vulnerable as Noble Scarlet herself. She pursed her lips, as though willing back the true response she wanted to give, and then those lips peeled back in a grimace that looked almost like a snarl. Nebo beheld it all in silence, his expression never wavering, until finally Skuld spoke.
"I'm afraid of her," she confessed. "I don't- her appearance scares me, Nebo, and... Yggdrasil, I hate myself for saying this, but I don't know." Skuld dropped her gaze to Noble Scarlet, ashamed and unable to hold the Tic's gaze. "She's so tiny, Nebo," she murmured, and watched as her angel turned her cheek to look up at her with one lone eye.
A red eye.
A demon's eye.
"I'm afraid of her appearance," the woman clarified. "It's not that I- I'm glad I was able to summon you, Noble Scarlet, I'm not lying to you." Now she was speaking to the angel instead of Nebo, who turned more fully to observe the goddess. "But... I'm afraid of what your appearance might mean to me... I'm afraid that I might have somehow hurt you by summoning you the way I did, or that- that something from-" She cut herself off, biting her lip so hard she thought she tasted blood. "I'm sorry."
Nebo beheld her in silence. When next he spoke, it was not with the scorn she so expected. "So you fear for her sake," he said. "Do you believe that fear is because you care for her?"
"Yes!" Skuld snapped. "Of course it is! If I didn't care for her, then I wouldn't be bothered by her appearance! But I'm so afraid that I screwed up somewhere along the way and that Noble Scarlet is suffering for it, and I don't want that!" She gritted her teeth, and in the heat of the moment found the strength to look up and challenge the man's gaze. "I want her to be happy and healthy like Gorgeous Rose! I don't want her to be sad or miserable or live a life surrounded by strife! Yet I've already done that just by summoning her when I did, and I hate that fact!" She clutched her head and moaned, then flinched when she felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around her waist. She dropped her hands, finding Noble Scarlet looking up at her with earnest eyes, and felt what was left of her resolve beginning to crumble. She returned the embrace with a tight one of her own. "I'm sorry, Noble Scarlet," she murmured. "I'm so, so sorry for whatever I did to you..."
She tried to hear what Noble Scarlet might say in response, but the angel was silent. It scared her and left her prisoner to her guilt, yet if the angel was angry or even upset with her, the entity gave no sign.
Instead, she felt a blanket of warmth descend around her, and was at once filled with a sense of peace and calm the likes of which she'd not felt since the uplink to Yggdrasil with her sisters and Keiichi. For the first time in too long, an almost alien prospect came to her mind, and that was the concept that things might not be as bad as they seemed, and that in the long run, everything would work out for the best. She latched hold of that feeling with all her might, held it close to her heart like the heat of a flame, and let its warmth soothe her, recognizing on some level that Noble Scarlet was the source of that light.
"She is tiny because of an unresolved conflict that dwells in your heart." Nebo's words were so quiet Skuld almost missed them. "Something is repressing her growth, and until it is addressed, Noble Scarlet will be unable mature into a full-fledged angel like that of her sisters." The Norn looked at the Tic, finding Nebo watching her with an expression that bordered on pity. "I can advise you on what you must do, if you would like... but you will need to tell me what happened to you that left such a deep scar in your heart, Skuld."
She stared at the man for a long minute, considering his offer carefully, then looked down to the angel in her arms. The Norn had not been lying when she'd said she wanted Noble Scarlet to be healthy and happy, yet the prospect of speaking with a man who was essentially a stranger on what she'd gone through... those events that even now at times left her awake and frightened and breathless... it scared her.
Still...
If it would allow Noble Scarlet to mature...
The Norn chewed on her lip, then mustered her will and gathered her courage. She looked back at Nebo. "I-"
"All right, that's one fire put out, time to move to the next one."
Keiichi emerged from the hallway in the dining room, and Skuld felt the words, the will, and the courage die in her throat. The man's gaze drifted from Nebo to Noble Scarlet, and Skuld watched his mouth drop open in surprise just as Nebo's face morphed from an expression of placid understanding to one of unimaginable fury.
Oh... That sounded like Noble Scarlet, and time seemed to slow to a crawl as both goddess and angel watched the man draw his right hand back, like a hammer being cocked back on a gun, and watched Keiichi freeze as his eyes locked onto Noble Scarlet.
No... That was Skuld's thought, and then time returned to normal, speeding back up to real time as Nebo's fist became a blur of motion. Keiichi, frozen and distracted from where he stared at the angel, didn't appear to notice.
"Is that-?"
And then Belldandy was in front of Keiichi.
Nebo's fist impacted with her hand, and a shockwave emerged that pushed Skuld, Noble Scarlet, and Keiichi back.
"Oh shit," Skuld said. Noble Scarlet vanished back inside her instinctively. "Ooooh shit. This is bad. This is sooo bad."
Nebo glared up at Belldandy. The aura that surrounded him was almost black, and there was something ancient and decrepit in it that bordered on repulsive. Skuld backed around the man, trying to sneak past him and to Keiichi, who'd been pushed back against the dining room wall perpendicular the hallway. Like Skuld, he watched the two with large, disbelieving eyes. "Did I almost die again?" he squeaked.
Belldandy glowered down at Nebo, her own expression one of unbridled fury that would have been more at home directed towards her ex-husband rather than the Tic before her. "You. Will not. Harm. Keiichi!" the woman hissed.
"You a' couple eons too young to be making demands a' me, Child." Nebo's voice was a deep and terrible rumble; a sound that bordered less on human and more closely resembled the angry warning growl of a lion. His eyes never left Belldandy's, and the two of them glared at each other with such force that the hair on Skuld's arm began to rise from the gathering static. "Step aside, Kyz. The lum's about to learn a lesson amongst gods."
"No." Belldandy bore her weight down on the god, trying to use her height to her advantage, and as Skuld slipped to Keiichi's side, the Norn was surprised to see that her older sister was actually struggling against the Tic- struggling to bear her weight down on him, struggling to make his hand drop, struggling even to hold her gaze with his. The temperature in the room began to rise noticeably, and the dark aura that surrounded Nebo began to condense into a form- what Skuld couldn't describe, and in all honesty had no desire to see. All of her instincts were screaming at her to run. Noble Scarlet was screaming at her to run. But she found she could not, indeed, would not leave Belldandy to face Nebo down alone.
Lind, Urd, where the hell are you?! She thought, and uncertain of what else to do placed herself in front of Keiichi, ready to shield the man if Nebo somehow found his way past Belldandy.
"No." There was a grimace on Belldandy's face now, though Skuld couldn't see it from her own perspective. Her voice sounded strained though, and Skuld could see the goddess tremble as she held her place before the god. "Keiichi... has done... nothing." She panted with exertion. "It... was... an accident, Nebo." The Norn's legs began to buckle under the strain, and with a deep frown Nebo twisted the fist captured in Belldandy's hand. It was enough to force the woman to take a knee. Yet though she grunted, Belldandy refused to cry out. Her eyes never once left his.
The god observed her in silence, and then to the relief of everyone present, that strange and awful black aura began to dissipate. The Tic straightened, and with a gasp Belldandy released his hand, collapsing at the man's feet as she heaved long and rasping breaths.
"Bell!" To Skuld's surprise Keiichi raced past her, pushing himself off the wall and almost sliding to the fallen woman's side. He knelt beside her, glaring up at Nebo as he inserted himself between the Tic and the Norn. "The fuck was that!" he demanded.
"A dispute between divinities," Nebo said, then sighed and shook his head, looking tired and worn. "I did not come here to fight," he said, more to himself than to the couple at his feet. "I grew sick of strife long ago. That is why I am here as a Tic." The man took a deep, cleansing breath. "I would make peace with you, Lum- Morisato. For the sake of the choir if for no other reason, yet your own foolishness makes me forget myself." He rubbed his temples in irritation, falling into a silence long enough that Keiichi was able to pull Belldandy to her feet.
The man looked at the Norn in worry as the goddess rested her weight on his shoulder. She looked pallid and exhausted, as though standing up to Nebo had expended all her energy and then some. "You good?"
"I'll live," Belldandy rasped. "What of you?" she asked. "Were you harmed?"
"No." The man frowned. "No, I wasn't hurt. You... got between us before he could do anything to me..." The man returned his gaze to Nebo, and the frown deepened. "This can't keep going on," he growled. "This is still my house, and I've got just as much a right to it as Belldandy or Skuld or Urd. You're a guest here, don't forget, and I'm trying to be receptive of the fact that you are here to help Belldandy and her angel. But you attack me again, and you can kiss your ass goodbye," he warned. "I don't give a flying fuck what kind of god you are. This is my house, and I've got as much a right to it as everyone else here."
Nebo rubbed his temples, and then to the surprise of everyone else present, relented. "I understand," he said. "And I apologize. My concern has been primarily with the choir, and I've grown more and more concerned with them the longer I've stayed here." He met Keiichi's eyes, and the look in his gaze was ancient. "You injured World of Elegance." Keiichi opened his mouth to argue, yet Nebo pressed on, denying him the opportunity to explain himself. "I don't know the reasons behind it, though I have my own suspicions. It doesn't change the fact that the injury caused her to lash out in a moment that should have brought closure but instead only increased the tension. Holy Bell is still weak, requiring constant attention from the choir and their hosts, and now you have come across an angel you had no right to see." The god grunted. "And while I recognize the fact that those incidents were primarily accidents-now- they leave me wary of you."
The man pursed his lips, and for a long, tense moment locked eyes with Keiichi. "I offer an ultimatum for you, Lum- Morisato," he said. "For I do not believe we will acquire peace any other way. Do not approach the choir. Do not attempt to view them, do not attempt to speak with them, do not attempt to touch them." Again Keiichi moved to protest, and this time Nebo held up his hand, giving the man reason to pause. "In return, I shall ensure the choir only manifest within Belldandy's room," he reasoned. "I shall speak with their hosts and the angels themselves, and ensure that they follow the guidance provided, thus allowing as little interference with your own life as possible on the recognition that we are guests in your residence."
Keiichi was quiet for a long moment, and for a brief second Skuld feared he'd actually turn the offer down. And then with a deep breath Keiichi nodded as well, and the breath Skuld had been aware she was holding was finally released. "Deal," he said. "I don't go in Bell's room, the angels don't pop up in the dining room or the hallway where I can walk in on them." He glanced back towards Skuld, who proceeded to shoot him the meanest glare she could manifest after everything she'd just experienced. Given how relieved she was, it wasn't very strong.
The man ignored it and turned his attention back to Belldandy. In the latest batch of chaos, it almost appeared as though the events of last night and the subsequent revelations had never occurred, and that they remained the happy couple from yesterday, and that this was just the latest in a long line of 'strange Norn shit' that was becoming a more and more regular occurrence for the house's occupants.
And just as quickly the moment passed. Belldandy separated herself from Keiichi, though it was not without heavy reluctance. Keiichi made no attempts to pursue her, and in fact refused to meet the woman's gaze, even as she looked to him with a depth of longing that could only emerge from the soul itself.
"If we're done here... I'm... going... to head back upstairs," Belldandy said, backing away from the man who so held her attention and towards the hallway. There was an invitation in her announcement. A request almost. Give me a reason to stay! it exclaimed. "To Holy Bell…" Please. "...to make sure she is okay." I'm begging you. One reason. Any reason. Let me stay.
Yet Keiichi was either deaf to that request or ignored it entirely. "Okay," he said. "I still need to figure out what to do when Aiko arrives."
"I see..." Keiichi was the only one who missed the look of bitter disappointment on the Norn's face. "Then allow me to depart... I am glad a peace has been brokered between you, Keiichi. Nebo." She nodded at the two of them, though Keiichi still refused to look at her, and then departed the room and back up the stairs, shoulders slumped in defeat and depression.
Skuld was suddenly filled with an overwhelming urge to tear something to pieces.
"I'm gonna go for a walk," she announced. "This place is becoming unbearable." She stormed past Keiichi and Nebo and to the back door, yanking it open hard before slamming it shut behind her. "No wonder Urd freaked the fuck out," she growled. "At this rate it's one freak out after another, and the amount of tension is horrible!" She groaned as she headed off towards the trees. "Fuck, I hope Aiko can lighten the fucking mood," she growled. "At this rate, she's about to come over to find the whole house slaughtered!"
A/N: I'm telling you, there needs to be a tension breaker here somewhere. It's killing them!
REVISION: 3/26/2017 - Corrected a section that was missing.
Comments of a Madwoman: No one in this house can catch a break, can they?
