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Green Trail

"If you awaken from this illusion and you understand that black implies white, self implies other, life implies death (or shall I say death implies life?), you can feel yourself – not as a stranger in the world, not as something here unprobational, not as something that has arrived here by fluke - but you can begin to feel your own existence as absolutely fundamental."

-The Dream of Life, Alan Watts

"What a lonesome road you walk."

-Unknown

-54-

After the funeral, Debra's father Joseph held a reception dinner in his home for what little family he had left along with their closest friends, to which the Morisatos were invited. At first Keiichi didn't want to go. Considering what had happened between him and his ex-wife, he had been feeling somewhat awkward around the Johanssons, especially her father. But any awkwardness that he might have been feeling was quickly removed when Joseph approached him before the funeral began and embraced him. At first, Keiichi had tensed up, but relaxed after a moment when the intent became clear. No words were spoken between the men, but there was an understanding shared between them that everything was going to be ok.

Keiichi found Joseph lingering inside of Debra's old room sometime just before dinner looking at some of the old knick-knacks that had never been removed. They both took the opportunity to sit down on Debra's old bed and talk. Debra's father admitted that he had 'strong feelings' after hearing what had happened, but it had actually been Debra who had talked to him and explained everything, insisting that he not blame Keiichi for the events that led up to their split. Joseph at first resisted the notion, but his mind was changed when Debra had reminded him of his own experience.

"You remember I was in the 82nd Airborne, right?"

Keiichi blinked and nodded. There was airborne memorabilia all over Joseph's 'man cave', so it was hard not to notice.

"Well, she reminded me about what happened to me after Panama," he said somberly. Keiichi knew that he meant the US invasion of Panama in 1990. It was a subject that Joseph rarely talked about. There were plenty of stories about Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield and the exploits of the 82nd. But when the prior operation was brought up, the man clammed up, which was odd because the operation had been completed with few casualties and little fanfare. He took a shuddering breath. "My brigade's objective was to take the main airport in Panama City."

Joseph let out a nervous chuckle. "Let me tell you, it was something of a clusterfuck. Some of us, including my squad, were dropped into what amounted to a swamp. Now, being a green beret, that shit didn't faze me much. But you know, looking back now, the planners in Military Intelligence obviously didn't know shit. There wasn't supposed to be that much resistance either."

Keiichi nodded, remembering from his training a discussion on what had happened to the SEAL teams that had assaulted Patilla Field during the same invasion. Someone had gotten the idea to use the SEALs in the same manner as an Army or Marine unit and tasked them to take and hold the air field. In spite of accomplishing their objective, the result had been disastrous, with four of the special ops men killed and many others wounded. It was always presented as an example of soldiers being asked to do something they were not trained for before the discussion went to knowing your team's abilities.

"When we approached the airport, we came under fire," Joseph said as he continued. "My squad and I immediately took cover. You obviously know what it's like, how things seem to slow down when people are shooting at you. Well, I watched as my best friend in the whole world, Bill, stumbled and fell to the ground as we were running to get behind a wall." The man paused for a moment to wipe his eyes. "I-I grabbed him by his pack and drug him the three feet left to get behind cover. As soon as we got there, I figured he would get back up and all, and we would keep going, so I peeked out to see where the fire was coming from. I saw that the other squads with us were engaging them, so I turned back to see Bill was still laying on the ground."

Joseph's eyes watered, and a single tear slid down his face. "When I turned him over…." He paused to take a deep breath. Keiichi almost wanted him to stop, but there was something cathartic to the confession he was being given, so he did not act. After a moment, Joseph rallied. "When I turned him over, I saw that half his face was missing." The man pursed his lips, then chuckled morosely before he continued. "It was a fluke shot. You know how much body armor we used to wear. Well, the bullet hit Bill in his right eye, one of the only spots that was not covered. It turned him off like flipping a light switch."

The Navy SEAL listened in rapt attention. Joseph had never told a story so intimate before. Usually it was in much more generic terms, something he had grown familiar with when sharing some of the stories he was allowed to with Aiko and Megumi. He watched as Debra's father seemed to age by a decade as he told the story. "But as traumatic as losing the man you graduated with, went to boot camp and airborne training with was, nothing prepared me for what happened when I got home. You see, back then, they didn't really know what PTSD was or any of the other acronyms they have for the mind fucks that happen to soldiers. They just sent you to counseling, if that was what you could call it." Joseph turned and placed a hand on Keiichi's shoulder. "What finally got through to me was Debra reminding me of some of my flashbacks. They weren't near as bad as yours, mostly just seeing Bill in a sort of 'Night of the Living Dead' thing. But she reminded me how real those things were."

With that, Joseph turned directly towards Keiichi and took the SEAL's hands into his own. "Son, I'm still calling you that in spite of everything that's happened, I don't envy you for what you went through, but I understand. I don't hold any ill will towards you for what happened. There is no water over the dam or bridge or wherever the fuck it goes because there was none there to begin with. I still love you and your sisters, even that scrawny brother of yours." The older man pulled Keiichi into a hug. "You will always be welcome in this home."

They sat there and held each other for what seemed to Keiichi like an eternity. There was a soft knock at the door, causing the two men to jump apart. They both looked to the doorway to see Belldandy peeking in. She looked almost embarrassed to have interrupted them. "Um... Takano sent me to let you know that dinner is almost ready."

Joseph shot up off the bed as if he had been bitten. "Right," he said as he needlessly straightened his shirt. Keiichi could not help but smile as the man tried to cover up the moment the two had by coughing into his hand, then clearing his throat. "I-I'll go wash up then." He moved to the door, and Belldandy stepped to the side to allow him to pass.

"Hey," Keiichi yelled as soon as the older man made it to the threshold. Joseph turned and looked at the Navy SEAL inquisitively. A wry smile formed on the younger man's face. "Your secret's safe with us."

Joseph grunted and nodded, then disappeared into the hall. Belldandy stepped into the room as soon as he exited and looked at Keiichi inquisitively. "Are you ready to eat?"

Keiichi stared at the goddess for a moment, squinting as if trying to see something in the distance. After a moment, he hesitantly pointed to Bell. "Um, you got something on your shoulder."

Sitting on the goddess's shoulder was a small humanoid creature. Its skin was a pale, purplish color. It had green tufts of feathers on its knees, below which were brownish orange legs and claws that resembled a bird's. Tucked behind it were a pair of green, feathered wings. Wild, green hair and a pair of moth-like antennae adorned a head that also sported pointed ears and red colored eyes. As soon as Keiichi said something, the creature, which had been previously swaying happily back and forth as it sat on Belldandy's shoulder, immediately took flight, darting directly at Keiichi.

It stopped just above him and cocked its head to the side. "Is you one who can see us?" it asked as it sniffed the air. It flitted from one side of the SEAL to another and it looked over him. "It not usual for one so old to see us."

"Gee, thanks," groused Keiichi as he watched the small creature look him over inquisitively. It had no clothes on, yet despite that, he could not tell what gender the thing was. It did have long hair, but he had given up long ago trying figure out one's gender based solely on such flimsy evidence after watching Bravo approach a "woman" who turned out to be anything but just because he/she 'looked good from behind'.

"Amethyst, please try not to be rude," chastised Belldandy, causing the small creature to back off. "Keiichi probably has developed some sensitivity to fae creatures like yourself after all that he has been through. It will probably fade in time."

"Ah, too bad," pouted Amethyst. "We looked forward to playing!"

"Um, excuse me, Bell, but... what is that?" asked Keiichi finally as the small creature turned its attention to the room. It started to fly slowly past the same shelf that Joseph has been looking over earlier. It looked like it was also reminiscing.

Belldandy sat down beside him. "That is a faery, a type of wandering wind spirit," she replied. "Apparently she knew Debra when she was young."

"Good friends, we were!" exclaimed Amethyst as she flitted back and began hovering in front of the couple. "Great fun we had when she could see, though her dad never believed in us."

"Dad never…?" started Keiichi but trailed off.

"It would seem that when Debra was young, she could see Amethyst. They were playmates until Joseph convinced her that faeries and their kind are not actually real," replied Belldandy.

"Old people cannot see us," added the faery. "Only a special few can, but they usually get sick and die early."

That's morbid, thought Keiichi as Belldandy leaned in towards him.

"To her, anyone who cannot perceive her kind are old."

"Ah," said Keiichi. "So… you live here?"

"Yes! We made a pact with the Golden Girl to stay for as long as she liked!" replied Amethyst gleefully, but her expression grew sad as she continued. "But then she forgot about us and didn't release us so we had to stay." She brightened up as she continued. "She became friends with the boy and girl from another land. But we didn't mind. We still got to play, see watch!" The faery zipped around the room for a moment, then dove at the floor, disappearing into it. After a moment, a strange creaking noise arose from the floor, along with what Keiichi assumed was giggling.

The man's eyes went wide in recognition. All at once he was ten years old again and sitting on Debra's bed with a blanket over his head. The blonde girl was sitting next to him with a comic book and a flashlight. She was always more into those than Barbie, My Little Pony, or anything else marketed towards girls. She and Megumi were two peas in a pod when it came to tom-boyishness. The floor began to creak for no apparent reason. Debra's eyes went wide as she put her finger to her lips. "Quiet!"

When the faery reappeared, Keiichi stared at her in fascination. "That was you?"

"What?" asked Belldandy and Amethyst in unison.

"Something Debra told me when we were little! It lives in the groans of the wood and the creaks of the hinges," he replied. A shocked look appeared on the face of the faery. "That's what she told Megumi and me when we would stay the night!"

Amethyst dove down at Keiichi and stopped just in front of him. She took a deep breath, then let it out. "We thought you smelled familiar," she said, and then floated back away from him. A smirk formed on her face. "We had much fun scaring you and the Golden Girl." She crossed her arms across her chest for emphasis. "Serves her right for not releasing us."

"Wouldn't whatever bound you here be gone if the human died?" asked Keiichi solemnly.

The faery sniffed and turned away from him. "We know the Golden Girl has gone beyond the veil," she replied gruffly.

"Well...?"

"Well, we likes it here," announced the faery with a shrug as if anyone should have known this. "The Dad is good man and needs to be watched over." With that, Amethyst silently floated off, disappearing though the door.

Keiichi harrumphed and shrugged. "I think there is more to it than that," he said with a smile.

"More to what?" inquired Belldandy next to him.

"Nevermind," replied Keiichi, waving the comment off. "So, she just came out of the woodwork?"

"Yes, she said that she was drawn to me," said Belldandy as she stood up.

Keiichi cocked his head to the side. "Does that mean that your powers are coming back?" he asked hopefully. There had still been no trace of any magic coming from the goddess, and it was beginning to worry him more as time passed. She had been putting up a brave face so far, but he wondered how long it would last. He had seen multiple instances, subtle as they were, where she seemed to become frustrated over doing something by hand that in the past she had used a little magic to handle. Now she was little better than a human, albeit still quite a bit stronger and more spiritually 'aware' than what would be the norm.

Belldandy shook her head sadly. "No, she came to me out of curiosity. You see, normally, Earth-bound spirits like Fae do not interact with deities," she said. "We only seek each other out of necessity, or as in this case, curiosity. She was extremely curious and a little worried for me that I seemed to have no powers."

Keiichi stood up next to the goddess as her demeanor saddened for just a moment. A chink in the armor that she had up in full force since Debra's death. He startled her when he took her hand. "Hey, everything's going to be fine," he said and pulled her into an embrace. Belldandy fell into it easily. They stood there and did not let go for several minutes. Neither made any sounds other than what might have been a few shuddering sobs from the goddess.

XXX

Dinner that evening was a somber, yet upbeat affair. The Morisatos actually outnumbered the Johanssons by a wide margin as Debra only had one aunt and cousin who attended. Takano had made quite of few of her special dishes, along with a couple she knew Debra had liked. Joseph was very grateful for the assistance. The conversation was light and jovial, with a number of funny anecdotes about Debra, and in many cases, Keiichi and Megumi when they were young, were told to much fanfare.

In spite of all this, the highlight of Keiichi's afternoon actually was Amethyst. The little faery flew around Joseph and fussed over him constantly even though the dark-haired man knew Debra's father could not perceive her presence. Several times, she alighted on his shoulder and sat there playing with the tufts of hair around his ear. He never noticed it, and Keiichi assumed it was because she could not actually make physical contact with him. She was just going through the motions. Still, it was clear that the small creature had developed some affection for him, as she never really left his side.

As the evening wore on; however, Keiichi started to get restless. It wasn't the conversation or the company. It was the memories. Reminders of Debra were everywhere. There was a softball trophy still sitting on the mantle from a tournament that Debra (and Takano) had insisted that he attend to cheer her on. There were also a number of pictures on the wall, including one that showed himself, Debra, and Megumi sitting on the front porch of Joseph's home eating bomb pops they had just bought from the ice cream man. On another wall was a picture of Debra in her Norfolk Police Department dress uniform next to Keiichi in his dinner dress blues when they had attended one of the Navy Balls. He could not remember if they were married or just dating at the time, or even why Debra had insisted on wearing her uniform rather than a formal gown, which was more customary for woman going that event.

On second thought, he knew exactly why she wore that uniform, tom-boy that she had been all her life.

But it wasn't just that. At one point, Aiko had entered the room, and when Keiichi noticed her, he had seen Lind in her place. It was only for a brief moment, and when he did a double take, the vision vanished. When he noticed his sister looking back at him with an inquisitive stare, he waved it off, but the damage had been done.

But the worst one for him was later. It was extremely subtle, but powerful at the same time. Keima had left the house and returned. It wasn't that act that triggered anything specific, it was what he had with him; one of his good bottles of Sake. Keiichi saw it, and nearly fell into the gaping hole in his life that Urd had left with her death. He realized then that as devastating Debra's death was to him, Urd's might be more so. Though it had taken time, Keiichi had moved on from his relationship with Deb. In a sense, he'd gotten over her once already, but he had never been allocated that opportunity with Urd. Over the years, his relationship with Urd had arguably been closer than his relationship with Debra, even when they were married. There were things that he had either done with or told the silver-haired goddess that he would never have with his ex-wife. Things like sparring. Things like drinking outside on base in the 'Deid while listing to the evening call to prayer. Things like when she would mysteriously show up in some seedy bar that had cheap booze he had ended up in where he would listen to her bitch about her lack of progress or lack of cooperation in her search for Belldandy.

And the worst part about it was that he could not mourn for her. No, he and Belldandy needed to keep up the pretense that Urd had merely left the group, and it was killing him. Not that anyone had seemed to notice, and he had wondered on more than one occasion if there was some sort of magic involved. Magic like the System Force that had kept Peorth in the house with that blasted wish she'd kept ragging him about. Magic like what had led him to meet Urd. Regardless, everything came crashing down when he saw that Sake bottle. He started catching hints of silver hair here, bronze skin there. It reminded him of some of the precursors to the flashbacks he started having after Afghanistan. And that was all he needed right now. That had been a dark time in his life, and he was damned if he was going to fall back into it.

Belldandy was the only one who saw him nearly bolt from the room. Through the kitchen and out the back door and across the back deck. He passed a dilapidated swing set that he, Debra, and Megumi had played on when they were young. Joseph had at one time promised to restore it so that his grandkids could play on it as well. And sitting in the swing, lazily rocking back and forth, was Urd. Keiichi dug the heels of his hands into his eye sockets as he tried to rub the image away before he bolted past it.

The back yard sloped gently down to the edge of a creek that marked the border between Joseph's house and the residence behind it. There were no fences here, like in other neighborhoods, which allowed all of the children unfettered access to everyone's back yards. It was dark out, it being almost ten in the evening, so all of the kids should have been inside. Keiichi stopped at the edge of the creek and stared morosely into the trickling water. This was not a good spot to get away from his memories either, but at least Urd was not haunting him here, yet.

A lone tear streaked down his cheek as began to sob. "Oh Urd, I'm so sorry," he said as he knelt down next to the creek. A few more sobs wracked his body as he fought what might have been a losing battle against breaking down completely. "I should have made Belldandy go back." He fell forward onto his knees and punched the ground hard enough that his knuckles welled up in pain. He didn't care, though. "I should have made her go back."

"Yes, you should have."

The dark-haired man did not react to the voice of his girlfriend as she knelt beside him. She placed a hand on his back, yet he did not register it. Instead, he rocked back and sat in the grass. It was a little longer than normal, Joseph was pretty fastidious when it came to the care of his lawn. That, of course, had fallen pretty low on the priority list with the unfolding of recent events. "I already miss her so much," Keiichi said. Belldandy held her silence. He turned to her and saw that she was now seated on the ground next to him. "As much as this is hurting me, I can't imagine what you are going through."

"It's... been hard..." she started then paused before continuing. "To watch everyone mourn Debra and not be able to do the same for my own sister, it's been hard." She sucked in a deep breath before slowly letting it out. "But at the same time, I keep going back to what I saw in my vision."

"Dream Bell, it was a dream."

"That may be so," admitted the powerless goddess. "Certainly, I cannot see that I could be able to have such visions in the state that I am now." She sighed again and looked up to the sky. "But it seemed so real. I cannot help but think that my father is struggling to save her even now."

Keiichi pursed his lips, but said nothing. He suddenly felt a pang of pity for the woman. But he was not going to contradict her. If there was anything he had learned from his psychologists when he was being treated for his PTSD it was to let her deal with it on her own rather than to force the issue. That would only drive a wedge between then that could very well be irreparable, like what had happened between him and Debra. He still recalled some of the vivid dreams he had of them as a couple, sharing a meal, a laugh, or even a bed, only to wake up and find the space next to him empty. He sucked in a breath as more images of the deceased came unbidden to him, drawing Belldandy's attention.

"What's wrong?"

"Too many memories here," he said as he shook his head. He debated about whether to tell the goddess about it before deciding he should. "I feel like I'm on the verge of a flashback," he said. "All these memories of Debra, and with what happened to Urd, I... keep seeing her everywhere." The man stood abruptly, then looked down at his companion. "I need to get out of here. I feel like I could seriously lose it if I don't."

Belldandy got up off the ground and patted herself off. "Then tomorrow we will head home," she said.

"No!" yelled Keiichi abruptly, startling the goddess. He took a breath and reined himself in. "No, there are all kinds of memories there as well. I... I need to get away from everything."

Belldandy gave him a sympathetic eye. "What do you suggest?"

After a moment of thought, Keiichi snapped his fingers. "A road trip. Mac gave me two weeks emergency leave, and we are only on the fifth day. We could drive back. Yellowstone is on the way, that... that's honestly something that Debra and I never discussed doing."

"So, you want to avoid anything that might bring up memories Debra... or Urd?"

Keiichi shifted nervously, recognizing the grenade his girlfriend had unknowingly pulled the pin on. "I just need to get away from here," he said quickly, trying to deflect the incoming explosive.

He succeeded. "Then it is settled, we shall leave tomorrow," replied the goddess. "Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go take care of the kitten." She turned and sauntered off back towards the house, leaving Keiichi to breathe a sigh of relief. He hoped that Bell would come to terms with what happened to Urd soon because he could only evade so many grenades thrown his way before one of them finally blew up in his lap.

XXX

The snow bank he landed in was soft, powdery, and frigid. A fresh snowfall, it had not yet compacted into something solid, and as soon as he hit it- as soon as Tyr touched ground on it, weighted down with a dying Valkyrie and a fading daughter- it enveloped him. Before he had time to react or even realize what was happening, the snow had parted to devour the Daitenkaicho and his companions utterly. He gasped as the cold assaulted his injured hand, and the air that prickled his lungs was sharp, cold, and cruel.

The man grimaced, struggling to move within the snow bank, and peered around as he attempted to gain his bearings. The Valkyrie, Lind, lay almost on top of him, and some part of Tyr noted that she looked less asleep and ever closer to a corpse. Urd was no better where she lay in a collapsed heap of limbs and tail, the Tendee's breath rapid and sporadic. High above their heads, a blue sky so bright it was painful peered down at them; a blue eye encompassed by the white edges of the snow bank.

Tyr moved his right arm behind him in an effort to prop himself up. The limb sank down to his elbow as soon as he rested his weight against it. The man's lips peeled back in a snarl and gingerly, he brought his right arm out of the hole. Snow clung to the length of his sleeve and covered the metal band that protected his stump. Even though the metal was lined with a soft cotton sleeve, it was still almost painfully cold. The Daitenkaicho then looked at his left hand with open dismay. The hand was a lost cause; bone and torn tendon peeked at him from the deep ruptures inflicted from grabbing Urd's injured horn. Two thirds of his pinky was gone and his thumb dangled in a broken stump. The ring finger remained attached only by a flap of skin. His middle finger and pointer finger were both unresponsive, hinting at possible tendon damage. He could see come of the bones of his hand clearly through the top of his palm, and everything was coated in blood. It throbbed with an intensity so great that Tyr could feel it through the ghost of his left where either hand, real or lost, sent bright bolts of pain to his brain.

Need to get out of here, he thought to himself, looking at the surrounding walls of snow. Losing a hand will be the least of your worries at this rate. Frowning, the man braced himself before resting the injured limb in the snow, grateful of its light consistency even as he hated it for burying him. There wasn't much change in the pain, but its loose grip made it easy to cover the hand without damaging it further. Resting his weight on his left arm, he leaned over to cover the left hand in as much snow as possible, burying it in the cold and allowing the snow to work its magic. When the pain departed in favor of numbness, Tyr uncovered his hand and began to move, pushing the Valkyrie off him as he got his feet beneath him. Stabilized, he tried to stand and failed as his feet once more plunged into the loosely-packed snow. The man swore. It'd been centuries since he'd been in snowfall so deep. After taking up the mantle of Daitenkaicho, he'd moved south to Asgard's capital region near the Halls of Valhalla, where snowfall was still a thing, but never in so much depth as his original home. This was a severe change from Asgard's coldest temperatures, and this in what was supposed to be summer.

Glancing one last time at his injured hand, Tyr sighed, resigning himself to the fact that his hand would only be further damaged in this latest trial. Taking a deep breath, the man plunged into the wall around him and began to swim, doggedly ignoring the burning on his face, his arms, and every other area of exposed skin victimized by the frigid cold in the desperate need to escape the icy prison.

His teeth were chattering by the time he reached the surface, and his face, neck, and arms felt like they were on fire. If felt as if he'd been punched in the gut with the resulting pain, and the air he sucked in was no better, still as cruel and icy and dry as before. He could no longer feel his hand, which was a small blessing, though somewhere in his swim the ring finger had torn off and been lost. Perhaps, if the snow ever melted in this icy hellhole, he'd find it still frozen and preserved. More likely a wolverine would find it and eat it instead, and so Tyr considered it a loss unworthy of mourning.

Instead he looked around, dismayed to find nothing but a long landscape of white dunes unscarred by trees or animal trails. Urd, the Valkyrie, and Tyr had landed in the worst place possible; an icy desert of such desolation that not even the local animals bothered with it.

A fine mess you've gotten yourself into now. Ansuz's voice was scolding in his ear. You better get the children out of here. They won't last long in their current state. There came a pause before Ansuz spoke again, as if his wife had paused to gather her thoughts while treading snow right beside Tyr. Does Urd's blood remain hot while she is a serpent? Ansuz queried. Or does it cool like the creature she fashions herself after?

A fine question to consider, and one that re-emphasized the need to get the women out of the snow bank and into some kind of shelter, at the very least. If Urd became cold-blooded in her Tendee form, then she might have even less time than Lind. I'll need to melt a trail if I want to dig them out, Tyr thought, and that was its own problem in and of itself. He'd need to use his magic to free the others, which required energy; energy that might be quick to run dry without prior knowledge of a road or a trail that might lead him to the Valkyrie's people. The Inua were supposed to be a migratory people, following caribou herds or seal and whale pods depending on the tribe, and Tyr's knowledge of Lind's tribe, the Saavittuk, was almost non-existent. And he'd already spent so much energy just getting to Chugach. The instantaneous teleportation without the use of a Gate was draining, even as Daitenkaicho. Adding to that his own injuries...

Listen to you, bleating like a sheep, he berated himself. Your eldest is dying and you make excuses? Urd needs you now more than ever. Now is not the time to balk. This is but another challenge to conquer. Now was not the time to act irrationally either though, and charging off without a plan was a fool's gambit that he'd seen first-hand leave more people dead than alive.

Then use the Sight, a piece of him whispered. Use the tools you were born with, Dundr. Find the direction that is most likely to lead to success and set out.

By Odin's beard, he hated using the Sight though.

If ever there was a chance to slip into madness...

Urd, wounded and dying, appeared in his mind's eye, and Tyr winced. To risk madness or his daughter. By the Elder Gods, as if he'd choose anything else. Just a moment, he thought to himself. I need just a moment. Just enough to point us in the right direction. Any more could be disastrous. Could leave him caught in the tides of his own subconscious, fighting to stay afloat as a riptide of Possibility fought to drown him. Don't keep me, Tyr requested as he closed his eyes, feeling himself sink into himself as he stood perched in the snow. I'm vulnerable right now. If you keep me too long I'll die and so will the girls. Only the bare minimum. Just enough to keep us all alive.

...And the white bear towered before him, flanked by all the creatures of the sea. It stared down at him, wearing the hide of a man draped around its shoulders like a berserker with a grizzly's pelt, its black eyes hungry as it barred the way to Chugach. I'll eat you. Its eyes screamed. One bite, two bites, three if I want to savor you, and then I'll eat your Nimiàiaq. I'll grow fat on your meat for the winter snow, and as I dream I shall hunt your spirit forever.

A woman, adorned in a parka of so many furs the Daitenkaicho could not make out her face, came to stand by the great white bear. Whereas the bear was massive, the woman was tiny; she barely reached the arc of the bear's massive paws. "Come this way, Qallunaat." He could hear the ocean when the voice spoke. The ocean and new ice cracking over water. "Bring our cub," the voice continued, "bring your snake." The hooded figure seemed to be growing, or else the bear was shrinking. "Bring yourself, and the elders shall decide your fate. But you will live. Come this way, though our people hold no love for your kind. Come this way outsider, Qallunaat, and live." The figure was growing larger. Not just in height now but in width as well. "Live." The figure seemed to swell, the belt around its waist and the buttons sewn into the hem of its parka straining against its mass. "Live!" The parka exploded, and from the depths of the furs and hides came all manner of ocean beasts; seals of all types and large, tusked walruses. Orcas and fin whales, humpback whales and blue whales, narwhals and sea otters, octopi, squid, and cuttlefish of all types, more fish than he could name, and even the great and terrible gurry shark.

The beasts came at him in a living wave, their cries drowning out the bear and overwhelming his senses as they engulfed him, knocking him down into the snow once more.

The snow.

Tyr was cold and shaking and chattering in the snow. Worse, he thought he might be starting to feel warm. Get up, get up, get UP! His mind screamed, yet to his horror the Daitenkaicho found his body unresponsive. The cold had wrapped around him with such a tight constriction that everything hurt, everything burned with pain, and in that moment a twinge of fear raced down his spine. Move damn you! Your life depends on it. Move or you'll die! His magic flared in reaction to his fear, and the fire that erupted from his wounded hand came with an agony that left stars dancing in his eyes. For a moment the man worried he might black out right then and there, and then his gaze cleared.

The snow around him began to melt in the heat produced by his flames, and with a grimace Tyr shifted the magic to his stump, freeing his injury from further exposure. Great, now you'll be wet as well. He thought to himself, before dismissing the thought. He could worry about that issue another time. Part of him was too busy savoring the warmth brought by his magic, though it was quickly burning through his reserves.

In his vision, the white bear and the sea woman had originated from the east, and with few other options available Tyr decided it was a good enough direction to start in. The snow melted easily at his magic's call, and taking a moment Tyr allowed himself to be engulfed in his own flames, if only to warm his own body enough to move. Wherever the woman and her bear were, he hoped it wasn't too far; exposure was going to be a real problem for all of them, not just Tyr himself. While the feathers helped, Urd's form was not suited for such deadly cold, and though the Valkyrie was still adorned in her weatherproof uniform, her own injuries left her vulnerable.

Burning energy that was only going to become more precious the longer he was outside, Tyr melted a trail to the women. The snow around him refroze as soon as his flames let it rest, and in such a manner created a sheet of ice that prevented the manmade walls from collapsing on top of him. For a time at least, he'd be okay to recover the ladies, but the ice sheet was thin; it'd crack on the way back up out of the snow, especially with Urd's larger form, but...

He'd deal with it when it came time. One step at a time. Put out one fire at a time.

Urd had grown conscious in the time since Tyr had clambered to the surface. She'd moved a great deal, Tyr saw, and in some areas the snow was streaked with her blood. She'd been clever though, injured as she was, using her own mass to compress the immediate area around her into a platform that could hold if not her weight, then at least Lind's. He could see areas where the Tendee had rolled on the ground, areas where the snow still crusted her body and where pockets of red were left in her wake. At some point she'd managed to pry the dead hound off her left flank, and the corpse now lay half-buried in the snow, leaving in its wake a trail of fresh blood from an injury that had only recently clotted. Now Urd lay on her left side, resting the injury in the snow around her as she watched Tyr with feverish, glowing eyes. She rested, curled tightly around the Valkyrie as if hoping to preserve the woman for just a moment more or else to surround herself with the only thing of warmth in the cold death-trap Tyr had dropped the lot of them in.

Something in the sight of it invoked a strange sense of sadness in Tyr. It almost appeared as though the Tendee had given up in despair. As if the creature had resigned herself to her fate, awaiting her death right alongside the Valkyrie and was content to make this place her crypt, despite Tyr's proximity to her.

The image made Tyr's heart sink.

The man sucked in a long breath. "Come on, Urd. Let's get out of here."

The Tendee raised her head, stared at Tyr a moment, and then lowered it once more, uninterested in Tyr's proclamation. The Daitenkaicho stared at Urd, a painful mixture of hurt, anger, and fear compounding in his chest. "Urd... come on, we need to go." He approached the Tendee, whose persona had changed from a once great and fear-inspiring beast to a withdrawn and almost doleful creature. "I know you're hurt, I know you're tired, but we can't stop here." Tyr's metal hand still sat punctured on one of Urd's fangs, where both it and the fang dangled like a snaggletooth from Urd's maw. It looked less like a metal hand at this point and more like the remains of some long-dead animal. Urd's broken horns pulsed with a neon-violet light that burned the eye when Tyr looked directly at it. He shifted his gaze back to the Tendee's own eyes, as bright and extravagant a violet as the light seeping from the injury on her crown. "We have to leave here, or we'll die." He knelt beside the Tendee and felt a spike of icy cold shoot into his knee. Had he been a lesser man, he would have screamed. Instead, Tyr ignored it in favor of resting the stump of his right hand against the side of Urd's head. This close, he could see the damage done to her left eye ridge, where a clean slice from a Valkyrie's sword had almost taken her eye. An ugly wound, one open to infection and would leave a scar without proper care.

At this point, Tyr would be grateful if scars were all Urd came away with.

Urd leaned her head into Tyr's touch and heaved a sigh that rocked her entire body, but otherwise made no effort to rise. I don't want to do this anymore, Pabba. The voice he heard was not that of the woman before him now but the younger voice of the past. I'm tired. Of all of it. There is pain everywhere I turn and I find no relief. I just want it to stop. Yggdrasil's roots, how often had he received such similar calls in Urd's younger years? As a child, as a young adult? As a girl on the cusp of womanhood? I don't know how much more of this I can take, Pabba. In his mind's eye he saw her: young, angry and defeated, frustrated tears slipping down her face as she stared up at Tyr.

The image vanished, and in its place the serpentine Tendee rested. "Bear with it a little longer, Urd." It was uncertain if the words were directed towards the Tendee before him or the voice at childhood's end. "This is just another challenge on life's road. One that's seen fit to challenge us both, it would seem." The man stroked the Tendee's cheek with his arm. "But it will be a challenge you won't walk alone. I will walk with you until we conquer what the fates have thrown at us, and together we will grow stronger from its passing. Just as we always have."

Urd huffed, then moved her head away from Tyr, where it came to rest near the fallen Valkyrie. Tyr still could not fathom how the Tendee had managed to move the Valkyrie so close to her, nor how even now, the woman still seemed to be alive; her breath still came, though it was short and rasping, her chest still rose, though it was short and quick, and he could see the fog leave her mouth in quick, sudden bursts. "Are you feeding her your energy?" Tyr asked. "Urd, that's dangerous. You're in no condition to be donating your own energy to her."

The Tendee stared up at him with one eye, but otherwise made no move to voice a defense. Instead, Urd curled a little more firmly around the Valkyrie, bringing her shoulder- and the vicious blades erupting from them- to angle at Tyr. The Daitenkaicho recognized the posture at once. Stop me if you dare, that action proclaimed. My spines will bite deep, and in the end I will not have moved while you will have been left bleeding.

"Damn it, Girl." Tyr pursed his lips, but did not attempt to move the Valkyrie. Not yet. "We're in the middle of a snowbank, and I can see no signs of trails or life in any direction. We can't afford to waste energy like this. Not when neither you nor I are outfitted against the cold."

Urd snorted, unconvinced. Her tail slapped against the flattened snow in one single, hard motion. Tyr recognized that too. I don't care.

"You stubborn ass," Tyr grumbled. "Does this Valkyrie mean that much to you?" he snapped. "That you would waste your own energy keeping her from knocking on Death's door when she already stands at his doorstep?"

Urd sent him a flat look. An impressive feat given her serpentine nature.

Tyr scowled, then took a long, deep breath. "You're prolonging her suffering," he tried again. "Do you realize that?" Urd jerked back, and Tyr watched as five long, curled, raptor-like talons flexed anxiously. "Urd... your friend is dying." The Tendee flinched. "And we're in a dangerous situation where we're ill-equipped for the current environment and need to conserve our energy. You need to stop."

His words were met with hostility on Urd's part, who bared her fangs and hissed. Tyr observed the act in silence, more aware of the cold settling into his bones than any threat borne by his daughter. The serpent curled a little more securely around the fallen woman, like a snake protecting her clutch. Though the Tendee didn't speak, a concerning fact in and of itself given how all Tendee retained their capacity for language alongside higher thought, the message was clear: Urd refused to abandon the fallen Valkyrie who had been assigned to her over the past eight years.

"You must care a great deal for this woman, to be wasting your own precious energy on her," Tyr murmured. Urd ceased to hiss, but still neglected to speak. "Who is she to you?"

Urd said nothing.

"Yet you will not abandon her."

Urd's gaze remained steadfast.

"And how would you propose we move her?" Tyr challenged. "I have a half a hand out of two and no protection, and my dear, you're covered in enough spines and horns to turn your Valkyrie into a shish kebob. I have no snowshoes and your current aspect is not designed for an arctic environment. I need to melt the snow to form a trail for us, which means I cannot carry her, and there are no trees in sight that might hold branches that can carry her."

Urd nudged him with her nose.

"You would have me change?" Tyr guessed. "To fall into one of my own Tendee aspects?" He smiled, though it came out a painful grimace. It was taking an act of all his will just to keep his teeth from chattering. His whole body was starting to quiver like mad, and the pain from his wounded hand was starting to flare up again. "Clever girl. I would love to, but that means is beyond me right now. I spent too much of my own reserves just getting us out of Asgard. Had I not been Daitenkaicho and gifted with additional power, I might not have even succeeded in that, and my energy is low; I am unable to shift, or at least shift successfully, and my own injuries would be magnified upon changing."

The Tendee made a distressing noise, and Tyr's smile became sympathetic. "Will you give me my gauntlet back?" the man asked. Urd's response was instant, tilting her head to an angle and offering the snaggletooth fang with its pierced gauntlet up to her father. The item was wedged up to the base of the fang, and looked uncomfortable for Urd. Tyr reached for it, only for the Tendee to rise without warning, maw parting as a long and drawn out hiss sent the Daitenkaicho jerking back.

The Tendee turned, its attention moving past Tyr and along the icy trail he'd crafted with his magic. With great effort, Urd rose to her feet, favoring her left hind leg as her eyes took on a muddy red hue. Alert now, Tyr could make out the sound of something- someone- crunching their way through the ice towards them. "Urd, stop!" the Daitenkaicho snapped, all too aware of how easy it would be for his daughter to fall back into her Destruction-Aspect once more. Urd's head jerked towards him, still hissing, still riled and ready and waiting, waiting, waiting to strike, like the ambush predator she had modeled herself after.

The steps grew louder, the owner closer, and beneath the sodden glow of Urd's eyes Tyr could see the pupils dilating, shrinking into thin, black, vertical lines that only increased her daunting appearance. "Urd, no." Tyr's voice came out in a soft, soothing murmur, and without fear for himself- what had he to fear from his daughter?- he placed himself between Urd and the encroaching visitor. "Urd, I'm asking you, please calm down." The man reached out with his ruined left hand, resting it on the base of the Tendee's nose. The limb throbbed in tune with his heart in such close proximity to the creature's horns. He caught his daughter's eyes- long slits of glowing rage, strange and alien and filled with suppressed violence- and held them. "Hold your temper, Shimmy," he cooed. "Please, hold your temper. If not for me then for your friend, all right?" The rage in Urd's eyes did not falter. "We need help, Shimmy. I need help, especially if I'm to save both you and your friend, understand?"

This close, Tyr could feel Urd's breath heat his clothing; a warm sensation that steamed the air around him, and which left in its wake the painful, dangerous reminder of the cold. "I will take care of this, okay? I will see what is approaching, and I will protect us- all of us- if it is a threat. Will you trust me?" He stroked the Tendee's muzzle with his arm, his gaze sincere. "I won't let anything happen to you or your friend. All I ask is that you keep calm while I see to this."

A rumble emerged in Urd's throat, as if his daughter was contemplating his offer, and then to Tyr's relief she sat down, content- if only for the moment- to allow Tyr to take the reins.

"Thank you," Tyr murmured, and kissed the scales along the base of Urd's maw. The scales felt cold. Not for much longer, I pray, Tyr thought, and turned to face the stranger who was just starting to make itself visible. No, not long at all.

The stranger was short, barely reaching up to Tyr's chest. It stood on two legs like a human and was adorned in a fur parka like a human, and even wore a travel pack like a human. However Tyr, after his vision of the bear in the man-skin and the woman made of sea life, refrained from any sort of assumptions. The parka was large and thick, made up of multiple hides from beasts with long hair, beasts with short hair, and beasts with waterproof coats. It wore the hood of its parka up and drawn low, blocking Tyr's view of the face within. Its mittens were large and fingerless, covered in fur like that of its parka. Its boots were large and black and strapped to a pair of hand-made snowshoes, where snow clung like mud on a rainy day.

The stranger stopped when it came across Tyr, and the parka's hood rose by a smidgen as the person observed Tyr or Urd, the Daitenkaicho could not say. It stopped its short trek and beheld them both in silence.

"Do you speak Asgardian?" Tyr asked, and then asked the question again in Jotunn, Asgard's neighboring world that crafted the border territory of Chugach.

The stranger said nothing, nor made any indication of understanding Tyr's question.

A corner of Tyr's lips twitched downward, but otherwise the Daitenkaicho made no indication of his unease. "I would request assistance, if you can offer it," he continued, once more translating the words into Jotunn. "My companions and I need help. We have no furs and we are injured." He held up his left hand for effect, and watched as the stranger flinched back, as if horrified by the grotesque injury. The Daitenkaicho took it as a positive sign. Momentarily forgetting his missing right hand, he gestured to his left, the right arm circling around it as he mimed the action of bandaging his hand. If anything, this proved to be a poor choice of action, for the stranger took a step back as if in shock.

It made Tyr pause, staring at the stranger with consideration before looking back down at his stump. Cursing to himself, he held up both his arms. "Help?" he asked again and wondered if the stranger might take pity on him or be so horrified as to strike him down.

Fortune was merciful in that moment, for the stranger reached into a leather pack on its hip and withdrew a wrapped pouch. It opened it, then held the materials within it for Tyr to observe. It appeared to be a first-aid kit of some kind. Tyr gestured to himself, and the stranger nodded before dropping its pack into the snow and rifling through it. It came up with a cloak that might have been made of caribou hide, if Tyr were to guess. The medical kit in one hand and the cloak in another, the stranger offered the items to the man, who received them with a gracious and appreciative smile.

It was difficult to juggle the gifts in just his arms alone, and in the end Tyr gave up and dropped the kit into the snow, wrapping himself in the cloak before looking to his hand. The cloak proved to be gloriously warm, and with great relief Tyr began to work. The stranger watched him work, but did not offer any immediate aid, instead tilting its head to one side as it observed Urd. "Nimigiak?" it spoke, and its voice was masculine and rough. Tyr paused to observe the stranger, the tip of a bandage clamped in his teeth.

"Nrntgah?" he repeated, staring at the stranger in confusion, then to Urd, then back to the man.

The stranger nodded, then patted his chest. "Nimigiak?" it repeated. "Uvaij a?" Tyr stared at the man in bemusement and incomprehension. Even with the translation spell provided by his magic, he could not understand the man, who spoke in a dialect so uncommon that it was not found within the registry. The stranger seemed aware of the lack of understanding, and repeated the gesture. "Nimigiak." He once more pointed to Urd, naming her with that strange word he'd heard in his vision. "Uvaij a?" He gestured back and forth between himself and Urd, yet Tyr could not garnish the full meaning of the stranger's intended meaning.

The stranger sighed, as if expecting this language barrier. "Tuvaak," he said, and gestured once more to himself. He pointed at Tyr. "Tuvaak?" He mimed a thrusting gesture, as if armed with a spear, and then tugged on the hood of his parka. "Tuvaak," he repeated. Hunter. Again he pointed to Urd. "Nimigiak," he said. "Nimigiak-liak tuvaak?" He pointed to Tyr as he spoke, then once more mimed the stabbing gesture, this time towards Urd. Tyr had a sinking suspicion he understood the meaning, 'are you hunting Nimigiak?" And again, he gestured to himself, "Uvaij a?"

"No..." Tyr let the edge of the bandage fall from his mouth. "No, I'm not- she's not- no, I apologize. She is not prey or a trophy. I cannot give her up."

The man seemed to understand the gist of his words despite the language barrier. He pointed to the first-aid kit, the cloak, and what came next was a slur of words so fast that Tyr couldn't keep track. Yet the man remained steadfast. "My answer remains the same. I will not give Nimi-ak up despite the gifts. I can offer you something else if you want- a reward for your help, after I've recovered, perhaps a weapon for your aid, but not Urd. Not- not Nimi..gak."

The stranger folded his arms across his chest in displeasure, and a deep, rough growl like a wolverine rose beneath the hooded parka. Tyr wondered if the stranger would grow violent, as some might when their aid is mistaken for charity rather than trade, and angled himself to one side in preparation for any kind of attack. Instead, still grumbling in his native tongue, the stranger's hood turned first one way, then the next, as if searching for another item that might be of interest. His attention fell on the Valkyrie.

"Nanuk?" he asked, and pointed to the Valkyrie for effect. "Nanuk-liak tuvaak?" he asked once more. "Nanuk uvaij a?"

Tyr considered the man in silence. Chugach was a land he admittedly knew very little of. He'd never held much of an interest in the borderlands nor the people who'd come to inhabit it, even with some of the more extreme individuals who made life in the borderlands difficult for his people. He knew that most of the natives were higher-level spirits, and that, much like the Valkyrie who was here with him now, a handful of those spirits had sought citizenship through the Stand at Arms program that offered Asgardian citizenship in exchange for military service. But that was, even in the kindest sense of the word, the limit of his knowledge. His vision had guided him and told him to look east, and the ones who he'd seen were spirits of the non-human sort. The person before the Daitenkaicho now, Tyr suspected, was of the non-human sort, though there was little outside of intuition to assert that claim. He didn't know the people of this region. He didn't know their culture, their values, or indeed if they were one united people or a scattering of warring tribes. He didn't know what this spirit wanted with the Valkyrie, nor if it would lead to further insult if the spirit's request wasn't granted.

Was this a person who knew the Chugach Valkyrie?

Would he bring her to her family?

Could he put her to rest when she finally passed?

It was a tempting scenario; to hand off the near-dead woman in exchange for aid for himself and his daughter, and then be out of the area once Urd recovered enough for them both to leave. He glanced back at Urd, and at once abandoned the idea. Urd appeared to be on her last leg of control; her body was tense, the spines along her back bristled, the feathers ruffled, and her long, serpentine neck curled up in a striking 'S'. One wrong move, one wrong word, would be enough to send her over the edge, lashing out at the spirit before it ever had time to retrieve the Valkyrie.

Tyr chose his next words carefully. "Are you kin?" he enquired, both in Asgardian and in Jotunn. He gestured to himself and Urd. "Like we are kin?" It was a stretch to see if the spirit would understand; Urd's current aspect did not exactly scream 'relation'. He paused and thought a moment when the stranger remained motionless. "...agitka?" He tried another Jotunn word he'd learned for family, one he'd picked up from an Asgardian ambassador who'd been filling out a report about the Jotunn's border region.

The spirit seemed to recognize something in the word, as his hood tilted to one side. For a brief moment Tyr thought he saw a thick mane of black, curly hair. "aIj aukaagaitka?" he asked, and then pointed first at Tyr, then at Urd.

With some hesitation, Tyr nodded, and then threw the word back at the spirit in a bad mimicry. "Alj aka...gait ka?" He gestured to the Valkyrie and to the stranger.

The stranger snorted, then shook his head. "Tuvaak," he repeated once more.

So you would hunt a Valkyrie near death already? Tyr wondered, or would you be providing her a merciful death? Either option didn't sit well with the god. "Then no, I can't give the Valkyrie-Nanuk-" The word felt strange on his tongue, "to you either." His vision had been clear for once, and Tyr was not of the opinion to ignore the advice given to him. "I cannot offer either of the women as compensation for your aid." He frowned when the man again growled at him in frustration, then looked back at Urd and her friend. The man's eyes lit up as they landed on the dead dog. It'd be a stretch, but...

With some effort, he clambered over to Urd, who was quick to move her body in front of him, guarding his back as he retrieved the hound corpse. "Urd, keep calm a little longer," he breathed, and reached up with his right arm to touch her. The Tendee leaned into his arm, as if seeking reassurance. "I'll get us through this. Just hold your patience with me- and with him- a little longer." He bent and retrieved the corpse, which was cold and stiff in his arms then turned back to the spirit. The tuvaak.

The stranger stared at him with what Tyr hoped was interest, and again the man's head tilted to one side in consideration. "Amaguk?" he asked, and Tyr, with no idea of what the word meant, nodded. Passing Urd once more, he approached the stranger, then laid the hound's body out in the snow for the hunter to observe. The hound was even uglier in death then in life; its body had swelled with the poison Urd had injected it with, and the saliva that had frozen in its mouth was a frothy red. Its eyes bulged in their sockets, and the snow clung to its wiry coat in large and heavy clumps.

The spirit kneeled down and ran a mitten through the coat, cooing in awe. It didn't occur to Tyr until later that the spirit had probably never seen a curly-haired dog before. He muttered once more in his regional tongue, then examined the paws with their long nails before pulling back its jaws to examine the teeth within. The hound's tongue rolled out, as black as its fur. The spirit grabbed the tongue and prodded it, then abandoned the organ in favor of further examination. He found the bite marks from where Urd had struck it, prodded the area like it had the tongue, and then finished the examination before nodding.

Tyr was careful to hide his relief. "I will give you all of it-not just the hide or the claws or the fangs but all of it, if you help me travel east." He gestured to himself, Urd, and the Valkyrie, and then pointed east. "I'm trying to return the Val-Nanuk-home. But I am ill equipped."

The man knew he was asking for a lot, even more for the tuvaak to understand him, but at this point he'd rather ask for too much than too little. At length, the spirit nodded. He pointed at Tyr, then pointed east, then pointed to himself and pointed east, before finally pointing to the hound and then himself. Tyr nodded. The spirit nodded, gathered the dog corpse onto his back, turned, and set off, loping along in his snowshoes. He stopped and looked back over his shoulder at Tyr, as if waiting for the man to act.

Tyr, cold, exhausted, and relieved, shoved the medical supplies back into the first aid kit and looked back at Urd. "Looks like we're heading East," he said. "Help me get your friend onto my back."

XXX

The announcement of their abrupt departure caused quite a stir the next morning, with Keiichi springing it on everyone at breakfast. Megumi and Aiko at least seemed to understand. Keigo was disappointed, but he figured it had more to do with the fact that Belldandy had decided to take the kitten with her instead of leaving it with him to take care of. Keima had denied Keigo's inquiry about it anyway, and had pointedly made sure to steer a clear path around it whenever Belldandy had it out.

When Takano inquired about where they were going, Keiichi would only say that he and Belldandy were heading east. This caused his mother to complain about how that answer was as vague as he could get considering they were about as far west they could get in the United States without getting their feet wet. Keima also made his objection clear, stating that there was a bike he needed help fixing. Keiichi doubted that it was any more than a ploy to get him to stay a little longer. In the end, though, they begrudgingly agreed, and even assisted in Keiichi and Belldandy's departure. When the dark-haired man had mentioned the need to stop and get a tent and some sleeping bags, Keima disappeared and returned a few minutes later with the required items in tow. As they were finishing up with the loading of the rental Keiichi had acquired for the trip, Takano shoved a lunch pail full of various onigiri in it, for which he was grateful.

It wasn't until just after noon that they were on the road. As they put distance between his home and the memories it elicited, there was one argument that he was unable to avoid.

From her place in the passenger seat, Belldandy jumped as what had started as a squeaking noise turned into a full-blown cry. She reached into a pouch that Takano had lent her and pulled out a wrinkled and grey squirming mass. "Keiichi, can we stop at the next station so that I can feed the kitten?" asked Belldandy.

Keiichi looked at the pitiful thing as its cries increased in protest to Belldandy's handling, as gentle as she was. When the goddess had initially presented the thing to him the day before and explained its origin, he had been overcome with an almost uncontrollable urge to simply drop it into a pail of water and let it drown. He had absolutely no desire to be involved with Hagal or whatever punishment had been deemed fit to be bestowed upon her. But Belldandy had been insistent that this it was her decision to keep it, and that it posed no threat to him as demon's spirit would only remember whatever treatment was given it after it perished.

As the kitten squirmed in Belldandy's hand, its appearance brought to mind a creature that he had seen once before in a documentary. "God that thing looks like a naked mole rat," he quipped. "You should name it Rufus."

Belldandy looked at him and pouted. "He is not ugly," she cooed at the kitten as she brought it up and rubbed its head against her cheek, eliciting more crying from it. "And Rufus is not a good name for him."

The baby talk was killing him. Since their initial discussion, Belldandy was going all in caring for the small creature, waking up every two hours or so to feed and take care of any other needs that it might have. He had watching on a couple of occasions as she had used a warm rag to wipe its bottom after it had finished its bottle and shuddered at the memory of the cloth turning a sickly yellowish brown from the animal's excrement.

"That thing didn't just get hit by an ugly stick, it was beaten within an inch of its life!" he quipped.

The goddess looked at him pointedly and held the kitten protectively to her. "He is not ugly!"

Keiichi shook his head. "Bell, that thing looks like a used teabag."

He didn't get the reaction he was expecting from that comment. Instead of getting angrier as he had expected, Belldandy perked up surprisingly. "Teabag," she repeated as she looked back to the kitten.

The Navy SEAL let out a chuckle. "Yeah, instead of the real thing, I could just throw that kitten at anyone that I killed!"

The goddess seemed to be oblivious to that last comment as she brought the kitten up to her face. "Teabag," she repeated. "What an interesting name."

The amusement on Keiichi's face swiftly faded into obtuse horror as Belldandy gave serious consideration to the name. "Belldandy, no, we are not naming a sphinx 'teabag'. They'll fucking call Animal Control on us for abusing its resemblance to a ball sack."

Belldandy looked him straight in the eyes.

"Belldandy yes."

It took Keiichi fifteen minutes to explain to her why it was a bad name to give to a cat, in spite of its looks.

XXX

As Keiichi, Belldandy, and 'Teabag' neared the Nevada border on Interstate 80, Joseph sighed as he looked around his living room. His target; the TV remote. He glanced at the coffee table, then back to the couch next to it. After rifling around the cushions for a few moments, he switched to his recliner and did the same. Frustrated at his inability to find the device, he happened to glance back to the coffee table.

There was the remote.

Without much thought, he reached down and grabbed it, then turned and flopped down into his recliner. "Thank you, Amethyst," he said with a smile as he pointed the remote at the television and pushed the power button.


A/N: Finally! Work for both of us has been stupid crazy for the past couple of weeks. Personally, I want to meet the person who scheduled a major IT cut over at my company for Easter weekend in a back alley. That's how stupid its been. It over now, though, so hopefully we can get to updating more.


Comments of a Madwoman: And so it beings anew...