Chapter 8
"Power is coming up." said Ceres.
Proserpine/Hatsuho smiled. "Excellent. Prepare to engage the impulse engines or whatever this thing has Ms. Sulu."
Ceres growled. "Knock it off with the Star Trek names. I'm not Scotty or Sulu."
"Yeah whatever." Proserpine began to type commands into the console. The ship began to rumble, slowly lifting off of the seabed where they had set it down. Light soon poured into the cockpit from the view port in front of them.
"Alright." said Proserpine, "We still in stealth?"
Ceres glanced at a screen. "Yeah."
"Then lets get back to the mindless destruction we were doing before we ran into those Guardians."
The ship then rocked slightly. Proserpine glared at Ceres.
"I thought you said the engines were fixed!"
"They are!" shouted Ceres, "That was something else!"
"What? What could it possibly be?"
Ceres glanced at a screen. Her face went pale.
"Proserpine..."
"What?"
"Get this crate moving. Now."
"What for?"
"I'll give you four reasons."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
"You missed." said Touji.
He, Asuka, Shinji, and Rei floated 500 feet above the Sea of Japan, looking down at the Alien space craft.
"How could you miss?" repeated Touji, "It's only the size of a soccer field!"
"Listen stooge!" shouted Asuka, "Sayoko's on that ship! I don't want to go back to her mother OR her grandfather and tell them that we blasted her!"
"Uhh guys." said Shinji.
"But if we don't stop that ship we'll never save her!" shouted Touji.
"Guys.."
"But we won't save her if we blast her into pieces." shouted Asuka.
"GUYS!"
"WHAT!?!?" shouted Touji and Asuka together as they turned and looked towards Shinji.
"The ship is moving." He said pointed.
Asuka and Touji turned just in time to see the ship race off along the surface of the ocean, faster then they could fly.
"Well shit." muttered Asuka, "Dammit stooge! This is your fault!"
"My fault!??!" shouted Touji, "Where did you come up with that idea?!?!"
Shinji sighed as Asuka and Touji continued to argue. He then looked around.
"Hey! Where's Rei?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
"Lost them." said Proserpine.
"I don't know." muttered Ceres, "There's something wrong here."
"Quit worrying." replied Proserpine, "Now, where do you want to go? Berlin? London 2? Moscow? Chicago?"
"How about back to Hell?"
Proserpine frowned and looked at Ceres. "You know we can't go back to Hell! Hild would skin us alive!"
Ceres stared at Proserpine, her face completely white. "I didn't say anything."
Proserpine began to pale. "You didn't?"
"No?"
"Then....?"
"Me."
Both demons turned to see a smiling figure in gray robes wearing a helmet. They also noticed she held a staff on them.
"Hello. Rei Ikari, Guardian of Heaven, nice to meet you." The figure said.
"Uhhh..Hi?" said Ceres weakly, "I don't suppose we could just forget this happened and go our separate ways?"
"Nope." Rei turned her staff towards the console and fired.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Shinji, Asuka, and Touji flew along as fast as they could along the path of the UFO.
"This is all your fault Stooge."
"What is my fault?"
"The fact Rei is all alone on that ship! You distracted me!"
"I distracted you!??! You were the one arguing with me!"
"You bring out the worst in me! I don't know why we had to bring you along anyway. We were doing fine enough without you!"
"KNOCK IT OFF!!"
Both Asuka and Touji went silent as Shinji had turned in flight and glared at them.
"Rei and Sayoko need us and here you two are fighting! I'm sick of it!"
"Whoa." muttered Touji staring just past Shinji.
Shinji turned back to see a large fireball erupting from the front end of the ship. The ship began to list to the left and began to slowly descend. Then the left side hit the water. The ship spun about and began to skip across the surface of the water repeatedly before finally coming to a rest with a large splash. The ship floated, but listed heavily into the water.
"Come on." said Shinji as he flew off, "Rei's going to need help."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Ceres awoke slowly to a world of pain. Her first thought was that Hild and the other demons had finally caught up with her. Then she remembered the ship. She opened her eyes and looked around. The console that had contained the flight controls was now a smoking ruin. It was also detached from the floor and laying against the wall beside her. She looked over to see Proserpine, still in the alien's body, bleeding from the forehead. Nearby, the Guardian lay in a heap, her staff missing and a dent in her helmet, blood dripping out from underneath it.
Ceres stood up and slowly wobbled over to Proserpine.
"Hey." she muttered, "Wake up!"
Proserpine blinked. "What is....Ouch!" She grabbed her forehead. "Damn all mortal bodies! This hurts!" Proserpine looked around. "Where are we?"
"What's left of the cockpit." replied Ceres.
"And the Guardian?"
Ceres pointed, "Back there."
"Good. You kill her."
"ME? Why me?"
Proserpine narrowed her eyes. "Because I'm the only one who knows how to fly this ship." Proserpine stood up and stumbled towards the hatch. "Now get it over with before she wakes up." She vanished through the hatch.
Ceres turned towards Rei. With a sigh, she began to walk towards the unconscious Guardian, pulling out a knife as she did so.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Proserpine stormed through the corridors, passing doorway after doorway, heading towards the engine room where she hoped to regain control of the ship. At least that's what the memories from the mortal's mind said so. Suddenly she stopped. She took several steps backwards and looked into the open doorway. The room wasn't anything out of the ordinary, just a storeroom. What was out of the ordinary was a large hole in the ceiling with sunlight streaming in. Judging from the looks of the hole, something or someone had blasted their way in. Proserpine reached up and touched a piece of the twisted metal.
Still warm.
"Oh shit." muttered Proserpine. She quickly left the room and began to run towards the engine room.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Belldandy paced the living room the apartment, praying for any word on the condition of her daughter. Keiichi was sitting on a recliner chair watching her.
"Bell, sit down."
"It's been almost 30 minutes!" replied Belldandy, "They should know something by now!"
"Bell..."
Belldandy stopped and looked at Keiichi. "Why are they taking so long? They shouldn't be this long."
"Bell, come here."
Belldandy walked over to Keiichi. She gasped as Keiichi reached out and pulled her down onto his lap.
"Keiichi! What?!"
Keiichi wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him.
"Do you trust them?"
"What?"
"Do you trust Rei, Asuka, Shinji, and Touji?"
"Yes." replied Belldandy without hesitation.
"Then relax. You aren't doing any good working yourself up. You might end up like me."
Belldandy sighed and leaned into Keiichi. "I'm sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry for. You're upset. So am I."
"But you're so calm."
Keiichi scratched his head. "Well I have to be. If I start to panic and have a heart attack, you going to be even worse then you are right now."
A small smile appeared on Belldandy's face. She kissed Keiichi on the cheek. "Thank you."
Keiichi smiled back. "No problem. Now don't worry. Everything is going to turn out fine."
"How do you know?"
Keiichi leaned back and closed his eyes. "Because I have faith." He then let out a yawn and fell asleep.
Belldandy laid her head against Keiichi's chest, listening to the soft thumping of his heart.
'Just keep beating.' she thought silently, 'Keep beating and don't stop.'
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Proserpine entered the engine room and looked around. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she closed the hatch and sealed it behind her. She then turned and headed towards the main engineering console. She began to enter commands into the console when she heard a clang. She whirled around and looked around the engine room again. She still saw nothing out of place. She turned back towards the console again. The next thing she saw was a gloved fist coming at her face. The impact sent her tumbling across the engine room floor, coming to rest against the wall. Proserpine sat up and spat out the vile fluid the mortals called blood. She looked back at the console to see a red head in robes smiling back at her.
"You." muttered Proserpine.
The red head smiled, "You know, I have the feeling I'm going to be hearing that a lot more in the future." A staff appeared in her hands and she lowered it at Proserpine. "Surrender."
Proserpine grinned. "You can't kill me. Anything you do to me will affect the mortal as well and you know it. "
"Yeah we know."
Proserpine glanced to her left to see one of the male guardians off to her side. A quick glance to her right confirmed the presence of the other. Proserpine looked back at the red head.
"So we are at a stalemate. You can't win. So why don't you just let me go."
The red head shook her head. "Not going to do that. You have a friend of ours."
Proserpine looked at the red head puzzled. "Eh? The alien is friend of yours?"
The 3 Guardians frowned.
"No." replied the red head, "We mean the goddess."
"What goddess?"
"The goddess you kidnapped."
Proserpine frowned. "We didn't kidnap any goddess."
"Liar!" shouted the red head, "Release the goddess and the mortal now!"
"No."
"Then we have no choice. Shinji."
"Hey catch!"
Proserpine turned towards one of the males just in time to see an object heading towards her. She caught it before she realized what it was.
A lucky charm.
"Oh shi......" Pain flared through Proserpine's body. Just as quickly, the pain went away. Proserpine opened her eyes to find herself laying on the floor, the alien laying on the ground in front of her. She looked up to see the red head holding the staff just inches from her face.
"Ahhh I don't suppose we could talk about this?" asked Proserpine nervously.
"Nope." The world went bright for several seconds, and then dark.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Asuka and Shinji walked through the hatch into the cockpit of the ship. They quickly spotted Rei laying against the wall. They were by her side in seconds. Her helmet lay off to the side of her with a large dent in it. A bandage made from a piece of fabric cut from her robes was wrapped around her head. Shinji gently rocked her.
"Hey Rei. Wake up."
Rei opened her eyes, then blinked. She then grabbed her head.
"That was really stupid..." she muttered.
"What was?" asked Asuka.
"Shooting out the controls while the ship was moving." Rei rubbed her head. "Thanks for bandaging me up."
Shinji frowned. "Rei, you were already bandaged when we got here."
"What?" Rei looked up confused. "You didn't?"
"No."
"While I know I didn't." Rei then looked around. "Where are the demons?"
"We caught her in the engine room." replied Asuka, "Touji's down there right now watching her and helping the alien."
"What about the other demon?"
"Other demon?"
"Yeah, there were two: the one that possessed the alien, and a blond."
Shinji quickly turned and raced out of the cockpit. Rei looked at Asuka curiously.
"We've only seen the one." replied Asuka, "Skuld's on her way here right now with the other two aliens. It'd look pretty bad if that demon popped out."
Rei nodded. "What about Sayoko?"
"We haven't seen here. Demon said she wasn't even here."
"Lying?"
"I think so."
The cockpit was then lit up by sparkles. Skuld blinked several times trying to get used to the lighting of the cockpit. She then looked over at Mizuho and Maho.
"I still think that's the coolest thing. You sure you won't be missed at school?"
Mizuho shook her head. "The class rep knows what needs to be done and I already told the principal that I might have to run out."
Skuld nodded then spotted Rei and Asuka. "Rei? You alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine."
"Where's Mom?" asked Maho.
"Engineering." replied Asuka.
Maho and Mizuho immediately raced out of the room. Skuld smiled and glanced at Asuka.
"Sayoko?"
Asuka shook her head. "Haven't seen her. She might be in part of the ship we haven't been through yet."
"She's not here."
Asuka stared at Rei. "What?"
"She's not here." Rei repeated.
"How do you know?" asked Skuld.
"We're Guardians remember?" replied Rei, "We're able to sense gods and goddesses within a certain distance. I can't sense Sayoko."
Asuka closed her eyes and concentrated. She opened them seconds later.
"You're right."
"So if she isn't here where is she?" asked Skuld.
"Well fortunately we have someone who might know." replied Asuka with a grin, "Better put a call in to Mist. We have a little present for her."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Mizuho and Maho entered the engine room at a run. The first thing they saw was a man in gray robes kneeling on the ground. Then they saw who he was kneeling next to.
"MOM!" they shouted, running to her side.
"Oh, Hello." Hatsuho said with a smile.
"Are you alright?" asked Mizuho.
Hatsuho looked up at Touji. "Am I ok?"
Touji shrugged, "I don't know. How do you feel?"
Hatsuho shivered. "I remember everything she did." She looked over at the frozen demon. "What's going to happen to her?"
"She'll be taken to the heavens for questioning." replied Touji, "We want to know what the rogue demons are planning, and most especially, we want to know where a missing Goddess is. We think she was taken by that one and is on this ship."
Hatsuho frowned, "The only other one on this ship was the other demon."
Touji frowned, "Another demon?"
"Yeah." said Shinji as he entered the engine room, "Rei said there was a second one, but the demon seems to have left."
"Sayoko?"
Shinji shook his head. "Haven't seen her."
"I'm telling you there was only those two...demon things." said Hatsuho.
Touji glanced at Shinji.
"You know what this means right?" he asked.
Shinji nodded with a sigh. "We'll talk to Skuld. But I definitely don't be the one to tell her, or Keiichi.
"Dammit!" swore Touji, "Where the hell is she?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
"So..." began SEELE 1, "She has been taken."
"This is not part of our scenario." added SEELE 6, "How much does she know?"
"She knows only as much as this one."
Before the monoliths kneeled the form of Ceres. She listened as they talked.
"How much does this one know?" asked SEELE 10.
"Only what we have told her," replied SEELE 2, "To create chaos and mayhem on the earth."
"And what of the other?" asked SEELE 10.
"The same."
"What shall we do with this one?" asked SEELE 6.
"I will handle her." Stepping out of the shadows strode the brown haired demon. Ceres cringed as the demon walked right up to her kneeling form.
"You will handle her?" asked SEELE 1, "Why should we allow you to determine her fate?"
"You forget yourself Keel." replied the demon, "You do not command me."
"You would be wise to obey me." replied SEELE 1.
"And you would be wise to remember I do not respond well to threats." the demon said with a glare. "Our fates are forever entwined together. Remember that!"
SEELE 1 was quiet for several moments.
"Very well." He finally said. "Do with her as you wish."
The monoliths vanished, leaving the demon and Ceres alone.
"Rise Ceres." the demon said, "Rise and walk with me. I have need of your assistance."
The demon turned and walked into the shadows, followed closely by Ceres.
"Power is coming up." said Ceres.
Proserpine/Hatsuho smiled. "Excellent. Prepare to engage the impulse engines or whatever this thing has Ms. Sulu."
Ceres growled. "Knock it off with the Star Trek names. I'm not Scotty or Sulu."
"Yeah whatever." Proserpine began to type commands into the console. The ship began to rumble, slowly lifting off of the seabed where they had set it down. Light soon poured into the cockpit from the view port in front of them.
"Alright." said Proserpine, "We still in stealth?"
Ceres glanced at a screen. "Yeah."
"Then lets get back to the mindless destruction we were doing before we ran into those Guardians."
The ship then rocked slightly. Proserpine glared at Ceres.
"I thought you said the engines were fixed!"
"They are!" shouted Ceres, "That was something else!"
"What? What could it possibly be?"
Ceres glanced at a screen. Her face went pale.
"Proserpine..."
"What?"
"Get this crate moving. Now."
"What for?"
"I'll give you four reasons."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
"You missed." said Touji.
He, Asuka, Shinji, and Rei floated 500 feet above the Sea of Japan, looking down at the Alien space craft.
"How could you miss?" repeated Touji, "It's only the size of a soccer field!"
"Listen stooge!" shouted Asuka, "Sayoko's on that ship! I don't want to go back to her mother OR her grandfather and tell them that we blasted her!"
"Uhh guys." said Shinji.
"But if we don't stop that ship we'll never save her!" shouted Touji.
"Guys.."
"But we won't save her if we blast her into pieces." shouted Asuka.
"GUYS!"
"WHAT!?!?" shouted Touji and Asuka together as they turned and looked towards Shinji.
"The ship is moving." He said pointed.
Asuka and Touji turned just in time to see the ship race off along the surface of the ocean, faster then they could fly.
"Well shit." muttered Asuka, "Dammit stooge! This is your fault!"
"My fault!??!" shouted Touji, "Where did you come up with that idea?!?!"
Shinji sighed as Asuka and Touji continued to argue. He then looked around.
"Hey! Where's Rei?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
"Lost them." said Proserpine.
"I don't know." muttered Ceres, "There's something wrong here."
"Quit worrying." replied Proserpine, "Now, where do you want to go? Berlin? London 2? Moscow? Chicago?"
"How about back to Hell?"
Proserpine frowned and looked at Ceres. "You know we can't go back to Hell! Hild would skin us alive!"
Ceres stared at Proserpine, her face completely white. "I didn't say anything."
Proserpine began to pale. "You didn't?"
"No?"
"Then....?"
"Me."
Both demons turned to see a smiling figure in gray robes wearing a helmet. They also noticed she held a staff on them.
"Hello. Rei Ikari, Guardian of Heaven, nice to meet you." The figure said.
"Uhhh..Hi?" said Ceres weakly, "I don't suppose we could just forget this happened and go our separate ways?"
"Nope." Rei turned her staff towards the console and fired.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Shinji, Asuka, and Touji flew along as fast as they could along the path of the UFO.
"This is all your fault Stooge."
"What is my fault?"
"The fact Rei is all alone on that ship! You distracted me!"
"I distracted you!??! You were the one arguing with me!"
"You bring out the worst in me! I don't know why we had to bring you along anyway. We were doing fine enough without you!"
"KNOCK IT OFF!!"
Both Asuka and Touji went silent as Shinji had turned in flight and glared at them.
"Rei and Sayoko need us and here you two are fighting! I'm sick of it!"
"Whoa." muttered Touji staring just past Shinji.
Shinji turned back to see a large fireball erupting from the front end of the ship. The ship began to list to the left and began to slowly descend. Then the left side hit the water. The ship spun about and began to skip across the surface of the water repeatedly before finally coming to a rest with a large splash. The ship floated, but listed heavily into the water.
"Come on." said Shinji as he flew off, "Rei's going to need help."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Ceres awoke slowly to a world of pain. Her first thought was that Hild and the other demons had finally caught up with her. Then she remembered the ship. She opened her eyes and looked around. The console that had contained the flight controls was now a smoking ruin. It was also detached from the floor and laying against the wall beside her. She looked over to see Proserpine, still in the alien's body, bleeding from the forehead. Nearby, the Guardian lay in a heap, her staff missing and a dent in her helmet, blood dripping out from underneath it.
Ceres stood up and slowly wobbled over to Proserpine.
"Hey." she muttered, "Wake up!"
Proserpine blinked. "What is....Ouch!" She grabbed her forehead. "Damn all mortal bodies! This hurts!" Proserpine looked around. "Where are we?"
"What's left of the cockpit." replied Ceres.
"And the Guardian?"
Ceres pointed, "Back there."
"Good. You kill her."
"ME? Why me?"
Proserpine narrowed her eyes. "Because I'm the only one who knows how to fly this ship." Proserpine stood up and stumbled towards the hatch. "Now get it over with before she wakes up." She vanished through the hatch.
Ceres turned towards Rei. With a sigh, she began to walk towards the unconscious Guardian, pulling out a knife as she did so.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Proserpine stormed through the corridors, passing doorway after doorway, heading towards the engine room where she hoped to regain control of the ship. At least that's what the memories from the mortal's mind said so. Suddenly she stopped. She took several steps backwards and looked into the open doorway. The room wasn't anything out of the ordinary, just a storeroom. What was out of the ordinary was a large hole in the ceiling with sunlight streaming in. Judging from the looks of the hole, something or someone had blasted their way in. Proserpine reached up and touched a piece of the twisted metal.
Still warm.
"Oh shit." muttered Proserpine. She quickly left the room and began to run towards the engine room.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Belldandy paced the living room the apartment, praying for any word on the condition of her daughter. Keiichi was sitting on a recliner chair watching her.
"Bell, sit down."
"It's been almost 30 minutes!" replied Belldandy, "They should know something by now!"
"Bell..."
Belldandy stopped and looked at Keiichi. "Why are they taking so long? They shouldn't be this long."
"Bell, come here."
Belldandy walked over to Keiichi. She gasped as Keiichi reached out and pulled her down onto his lap.
"Keiichi! What?!"
Keiichi wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him.
"Do you trust them?"
"What?"
"Do you trust Rei, Asuka, Shinji, and Touji?"
"Yes." replied Belldandy without hesitation.
"Then relax. You aren't doing any good working yourself up. You might end up like me."
Belldandy sighed and leaned into Keiichi. "I'm sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry for. You're upset. So am I."
"But you're so calm."
Keiichi scratched his head. "Well I have to be. If I start to panic and have a heart attack, you going to be even worse then you are right now."
A small smile appeared on Belldandy's face. She kissed Keiichi on the cheek. "Thank you."
Keiichi smiled back. "No problem. Now don't worry. Everything is going to turn out fine."
"How do you know?"
Keiichi leaned back and closed his eyes. "Because I have faith." He then let out a yawn and fell asleep.
Belldandy laid her head against Keiichi's chest, listening to the soft thumping of his heart.
'Just keep beating.' she thought silently, 'Keep beating and don't stop.'
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Proserpine entered the engine room and looked around. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she closed the hatch and sealed it behind her. She then turned and headed towards the main engineering console. She began to enter commands into the console when she heard a clang. She whirled around and looked around the engine room again. She still saw nothing out of place. She turned back towards the console again. The next thing she saw was a gloved fist coming at her face. The impact sent her tumbling across the engine room floor, coming to rest against the wall. Proserpine sat up and spat out the vile fluid the mortals called blood. She looked back at the console to see a red head in robes smiling back at her.
"You." muttered Proserpine.
The red head smiled, "You know, I have the feeling I'm going to be hearing that a lot more in the future." A staff appeared in her hands and she lowered it at Proserpine. "Surrender."
Proserpine grinned. "You can't kill me. Anything you do to me will affect the mortal as well and you know it. "
"Yeah we know."
Proserpine glanced to her left to see one of the male guardians off to her side. A quick glance to her right confirmed the presence of the other. Proserpine looked back at the red head.
"So we are at a stalemate. You can't win. So why don't you just let me go."
The red head shook her head. "Not going to do that. You have a friend of ours."
Proserpine looked at the red head puzzled. "Eh? The alien is friend of yours?"
The 3 Guardians frowned.
"No." replied the red head, "We mean the goddess."
"What goddess?"
"The goddess you kidnapped."
Proserpine frowned. "We didn't kidnap any goddess."
"Liar!" shouted the red head, "Release the goddess and the mortal now!"
"No."
"Then we have no choice. Shinji."
"Hey catch!"
Proserpine turned towards one of the males just in time to see an object heading towards her. She caught it before she realized what it was.
A lucky charm.
"Oh shi......" Pain flared through Proserpine's body. Just as quickly, the pain went away. Proserpine opened her eyes to find herself laying on the floor, the alien laying on the ground in front of her. She looked up to see the red head holding the staff just inches from her face.
"Ahhh I don't suppose we could talk about this?" asked Proserpine nervously.
"Nope." The world went bright for several seconds, and then dark.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Asuka and Shinji walked through the hatch into the cockpit of the ship. They quickly spotted Rei laying against the wall. They were by her side in seconds. Her helmet lay off to the side of her with a large dent in it. A bandage made from a piece of fabric cut from her robes was wrapped around her head. Shinji gently rocked her.
"Hey Rei. Wake up."
Rei opened her eyes, then blinked. She then grabbed her head.
"That was really stupid..." she muttered.
"What was?" asked Asuka.
"Shooting out the controls while the ship was moving." Rei rubbed her head. "Thanks for bandaging me up."
Shinji frowned. "Rei, you were already bandaged when we got here."
"What?" Rei looked up confused. "You didn't?"
"No."
"While I know I didn't." Rei then looked around. "Where are the demons?"
"We caught her in the engine room." replied Asuka, "Touji's down there right now watching her and helping the alien."
"What about the other demon?"
"Other demon?"
"Yeah, there were two: the one that possessed the alien, and a blond."
Shinji quickly turned and raced out of the cockpit. Rei looked at Asuka curiously.
"We've only seen the one." replied Asuka, "Skuld's on her way here right now with the other two aliens. It'd look pretty bad if that demon popped out."
Rei nodded. "What about Sayoko?"
"We haven't seen here. Demon said she wasn't even here."
"Lying?"
"I think so."
The cockpit was then lit up by sparkles. Skuld blinked several times trying to get used to the lighting of the cockpit. She then looked over at Mizuho and Maho.
"I still think that's the coolest thing. You sure you won't be missed at school?"
Mizuho shook her head. "The class rep knows what needs to be done and I already told the principal that I might have to run out."
Skuld nodded then spotted Rei and Asuka. "Rei? You alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine."
"Where's Mom?" asked Maho.
"Engineering." replied Asuka.
Maho and Mizuho immediately raced out of the room. Skuld smiled and glanced at Asuka.
"Sayoko?"
Asuka shook her head. "Haven't seen her. She might be in part of the ship we haven't been through yet."
"She's not here."
Asuka stared at Rei. "What?"
"She's not here." Rei repeated.
"How do you know?" asked Skuld.
"We're Guardians remember?" replied Rei, "We're able to sense gods and goddesses within a certain distance. I can't sense Sayoko."
Asuka closed her eyes and concentrated. She opened them seconds later.
"You're right."
"So if she isn't here where is she?" asked Skuld.
"Well fortunately we have someone who might know." replied Asuka with a grin, "Better put a call in to Mist. We have a little present for her."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Mizuho and Maho entered the engine room at a run. The first thing they saw was a man in gray robes kneeling on the ground. Then they saw who he was kneeling next to.
"MOM!" they shouted, running to her side.
"Oh, Hello." Hatsuho said with a smile.
"Are you alright?" asked Mizuho.
Hatsuho looked up at Touji. "Am I ok?"
Touji shrugged, "I don't know. How do you feel?"
Hatsuho shivered. "I remember everything she did." She looked over at the frozen demon. "What's going to happen to her?"
"She'll be taken to the heavens for questioning." replied Touji, "We want to know what the rogue demons are planning, and most especially, we want to know where a missing Goddess is. We think she was taken by that one and is on this ship."
Hatsuho frowned, "The only other one on this ship was the other demon."
Touji frowned, "Another demon?"
"Yeah." said Shinji as he entered the engine room, "Rei said there was a second one, but the demon seems to have left."
"Sayoko?"
Shinji shook his head. "Haven't seen her."
"I'm telling you there was only those two...demon things." said Hatsuho.
Touji glanced at Shinji.
"You know what this means right?" he asked.
Shinji nodded with a sigh. "We'll talk to Skuld. But I definitely don't be the one to tell her, or Keiichi.
"Dammit!" swore Touji, "Where the hell is she?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
"So..." began SEELE 1, "She has been taken."
"This is not part of our scenario." added SEELE 6, "How much does she know?"
"She knows only as much as this one."
Before the monoliths kneeled the form of Ceres. She listened as they talked.
"How much does this one know?" asked SEELE 10.
"Only what we have told her," replied SEELE 2, "To create chaos and mayhem on the earth."
"And what of the other?" asked SEELE 10.
"The same."
"What shall we do with this one?" asked SEELE 6.
"I will handle her." Stepping out of the shadows strode the brown haired demon. Ceres cringed as the demon walked right up to her kneeling form.
"You will handle her?" asked SEELE 1, "Why should we allow you to determine her fate?"
"You forget yourself Keel." replied the demon, "You do not command me."
"You would be wise to obey me." replied SEELE 1.
"And you would be wise to remember I do not respond well to threats." the demon said with a glare. "Our fates are forever entwined together. Remember that!"
SEELE 1 was quiet for several moments.
"Very well." He finally said. "Do with her as you wish."
The monoliths vanished, leaving the demon and Ceres alone.
"Rise Ceres." the demon said, "Rise and walk with me. I have need of your assistance."
The demon turned and walked into the shadows, followed closely by Ceres.