Keiichi lay still in Belldandy's arms.

"CAYLA!" Belldandy cried, "CALL AN AMBULENCE! LIKE I SHOWED YOU!"

Cayla scrambled off to the phone while Belldandy clutched Keiichi to her.

'Just start beating again.' She thought towards his heart. 'just beat again, for me.'

Her prayer was answered with a soft thump.

Chapter 18

One Day later

The mood of the Council of Heaven was very grim when they met. All were present. Belldandy had temporarily left her vigil by her husband's side to attend as the meeting involved her missing daughter. She had gotten no sleep in the last 48 hours and looked very haggard. Urd, Peorth, Mist, and all four Guardians were present as well. Urd currently stood before the council giving her report.

"As you are all aware, yesterday, the Ultimate Force nearly crashed, almost bringing down the main system with it."

"Do you know what caused the Ultimate Force to fail?" asked Athena.

"A contract breach." replied Urd, "The Ultimate Force tried to correct it, but failed."

"What was the contract?"

"We don't know." replied Urd, "In order to stop the creation of more bugs, I was forced to delete the Contract. Nothing of it remains in the system."

"So we don't know why the system almost crashed?" asked Apollo.

Peorth stood up. "Sir, if I may?"

Kami-sama nodded at Peorth. Peorth moved next to Urd.

"Just before the error occurred, there was an event on the surface. An Angel related event."

That got everyone's attention.

"Are you saying the Angels are……." began Athena.

Peorth shook her head. "No. There're not back. But the event was related to them, specifically, the 12th. A castle in southern Germany vanished as the result of an Inverse AT-Field created by a faulty S2 Engine."

"What does that have to do with the Ultimate force crashing?" asked Apollo.

"There were 13 mortals present at the time the castle disappeared completely, and never showed up either here or in hell.." Peorth said, looking around at all those present. "Only one of them had previous contact with a God or Goddess. Kensuke Aida."

Urd, Mist, and the four Guardians stared at Peorth.

"Kensuke is…….gone?" asked Shinji.

"I'm sorry." said Peorth.

The four Guardians closed their eyes and dropped their heads.

"What gods was the mortal around?" asked Saturn.

"He was around myself, Urd, Skuld, Belldandy, Cayla, Mist, and all of the Guardians……….." Peorth was quiet a moment, "……and Sayoko."

"Well then…….did any of you form a contract with the mortal?"

"Ahem." everyone turned and looked at Kami-sama. "The Guardians and Mist are not capable of granting wishes, or making contracts. That is known." He glanced at Peorth and Urd. "You two I assume did not grant any wishes." He glanced over at Belldandy. "And I know you have not either. That leaves Cayla, and Sayoko."

"Sir." Mist stood up. "Cayla couldn't have it. She was never alone with the mortal."

Kami-sama nodded. "Then it must have been Sayoko."

"Where is Sayoko now?" asked Saturn.

Belldandy looked down at the table. Kami-sama glared at Saturn.

"She is missing, as you well know." replied Kami-sama.

"Is it possible she has had a relapse?" asked Saturn, "Has she returned to the Demon's control?"

Kami-sama glanced at Peorth. Peorth shrugged.

"There has been no power fluctuations in her PDS." replied Peorth, "Neither has the virus reappeared."

"Then where is she?" asked Saturn.

"We do not know. All search scans have been negative. We know she's on the surface, just not where."

Saturn looked back at Kami-sama. "Sir, I suggest that the Goddess Sayoko be considered fallen. She's obviously back under Demon control."

The everyone in the room stared at Saturn, then looked to Kami-sama for his reply. Kami-sama stood up and looked over the room.

"I will not declare Sayoko as fallen until it has be proven that she is indeed under the influence of the demon. End of discussion. This meeting is over." He then turned and left the room.

The other gods stood up and left, until only the guardians, Peorth, Urd, Mist, and Belldandy remained.

"Why do they think Sayoko granted Kensuke a wish or whatever?" asked Touji, "I didn't think they got along."

"Neither did I." added Urd. She glanced at her sister. Belldandy was still staring at the table. "Bell, do you know why Sayoko might….."

"Because she loved him."

Everyone looked at Mist. Mist continued. "And he loved her."

"You're right." Belldandy said softly, "He told me himself."

Everyone was quiet for several minutes.

"So what do we do now?" asked Rei.

No one had an answer to that.

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Nevada

UN Base

Judy Clark quietly emptied the desk of her former boss and placed the items into a box. After checking for anything classified, it would be sent, along with other personal items, back to his family.

Judy was about halfway through when the phone rang. She looked at it curiously as everyone in the UN knew Kensuke Aida was dead. The phone continued to ring and ring. Finally Judy grabbed the phone.

"Hello?"

"Kensuke Aida please." came a rasping female voice.

"I'm sorry, he's not here…….."

"Please, I need to speak with him."

"I'm sorry ma'am." Judy tried to think of something to say. Finally she decided on the truth. "He……he's missing, presumed dead."

The phone line went silent.

"Ma'am? Are you there?"

She could hear the faint sounds of sobbing before the line went dead.

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Tokyo-2 University Hospital

Belldandy walked back into the hospital room of her husband. Inside, Megumi, his sister, and Skuld sat by his bedside. Cayla hovered against the wall.

"Has he…..?" asked Belldandy.

Megumi shook her head. "He's still unconscious. Yui doesn't know if he'll make it."

Belldandy nodded and sat down beside Keiichi, running her hands gently through his hair.

"What did the council say?" asked Skuld. Skuld had finally finished helping to debug Yggdrasil, the night before, only to learn about Keiichi and Sayoko. She had stayed up all night long, keeping vigil with Belldandy, and then continuing it with Cayla. It was only after Megumi had arrived that Skuld had gotten some sleep.

"Saturn is asking for Sayoko to be declared Fallen." Belldandy said quietly.

Both Skuld and Cayla stared at Belldandy in shock, while Megumi looked confused.

"What does that mean??" asked Megumi.

"It means," Cayla said softly, "That Lady Sayoko would be stripped of all her goddess powers, her immortality, her markings, everything. She'd basically be a mortal, unless she decide on the other option…….."

"And that is?"

"Demon." replied Skuld, "She'd become a demon."

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Ikari Apartment.

"How long have you known?!"

Asuka shifted nervously in her chair. Of all the people she expected to be grilled by, Rei was the last on her list.

"For awhile now." replied Asuka

Rei frowned.

"Why didn't she tell me?" Rei muttered to herself, "We're best friends."

"She didn't tell me." Asuka said, "I found out from Kensuke."

"Figures he'd go and boast about it."

"He didn't. I sort of………Hikari and I talked to Sayoko earlier. Then when I talked to Kensuke, some of the things he said were similar to Sayoko. I put two and two together and……he admitted it."

Rei thought about for a few moments.

"Do you think he really loved her?"

Asuka looked over at Rei. "Yes. I think he really did."

Rei looked out the window. "Do you think she knows he's gone?"

"I have a feeling she does……..where ever she is."

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Lake Kizaki

Maho sat in the apartment all by herself. Mizuho and Kei had gone off to some movie, Marie and Miruru were off…….interfacing….with each other (boy she didn't want to see that).

'So here I am.' she thought, 'Stuck on this back-water planet, watching alien entertainment on the TV, all because Mom didn't want to bring me along when she got the ship fixed.'

Then the doorbell went off. Maho frowned.

'Who could that be?'

She walked up to the door and opened it.

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Two days later.

Heavens

Peorth sat in the SysOp chair, staring blankly at the main screen. On a usual day, one could hear pleasant conversation all over the room. But not so the past three days. The bug infestation had dampened everyone's mood. Peorth felt even worse though. Skuld had been keeping her and Urd up to date on Keiichi, and as the hours passed, it seemed more and more likely that Keiichi would be in a 'Welcome to Heaven' Orientation. Peorth had already talked to the Goddesses in arrivals to keep an eye out for him just in case. It was the least she could do for Belldandy.

She looked over her console. Everything seemed in order……..wait. She frowned and looked at the console again. Everything seemed to be within norms, but she could have sworn that she saw a power level spike.

Maybe she was working too hard…….

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Outside the main building, gods, goddesses, and the deceased went about their business. Off to the side, near the trees was a highly polished statue. The sun glinted off it's mirror-like surface. The leg of the statue glowed briefly, before expelling a small figure. The figure stood up and looked around. It was a girl, maybe 12 or so with shoulder length black hair. She was wearing a blue and white goddess dress. She glanced around, then adjusted the pack on her back and began to walk towards the main building. She glanced nervously at the two Valkyrie standing guard on either side of the main doors. She hoped her goddess markings fooled them. Then she was past the guards and into the building. She stared in awe of the cavernous corridor. Quickly she continued on her way, trying not to look around in amazement. She was supposed to be a goddess after all. A goddess wouldn't be amazed at something she say everyday. She looked around, and ducked behind a massive pillar out of view. She opened the top on her pack and peered in.

"Well?" she whispered.

"MEE!" came the reply from her pack.

The girl winced. "Miruru turn down your volume. You'll give us away."

"Mee."

Maho, in the disguise of a goddess, peered around the pillar and looked up.

"Three floors up?"

"Mee."

"Right." Maho closed the pack and took off towards the nearest stair or elevator.

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Mara looked up as Urd entered the medical ward.

"How is she?" asked Urd.

Mara looked down at her former comrade, turned enemy, turned……..whatever she was. Ceres lay on the bed, still unconscious. She had not moved at all in the last 4 months. The virus that had taken hold of her had ravaged her to the point that she was not expected to live much longer.

"She's getting worse Urd." Mara said softly.

Urd nodded and looked down at the fallen Demon. "The Doctors may have found a cure for her, but they aren't totally sure about it."

Mara raised an eyebrow. "Well if they have a cure why don't they try it on her? It's not like she's getting better."

"It could make things worse."

"Oh." Mara looked back down at Ceres.

"They're going to try and awaken her, tell her what they know so that she can…….make a choice on her fate." Urd gave Mara a small smile, "I'm surprised at you."

"What?"

"You've been up here for almost 4 months and haven't complained at all about how nice, sweet, bright, cheery………."

"Yeah yeah," muttered Mara, "So it's starting to grow on me." She looked up at Urd hopefully, "Any word on the squirt?"

"No. It's like she's hiding from us."

"What about Keiichi?"

Urd let out a sigh. "He might be joining us up here soon."

"Ouch. Tell Belldandy…….well….you know."

"Yeah, I will."

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Maho moved past gods and goddesses as they moved about on their duties. When she reached a crossing, she looked up to try an figure out where she was. It wasn't easy. While she couldn't read the god's written language, she could recognize the symbols. She had memorized the symbols she was to look for before she had left. Now she just had to find them. With a sigh, she headed off down another corridor. As she walked, she spotted someone familiar. She gasped and put her head down, trying to avoid her face being seen.

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Skuld hurried down the corridor, heading towards the Main Control room. She had just come up after watching Keiichi while Belldandy slept. Now she was on her way to continue the search for her niece. While she had full faith in Peorth and Urd, she wanted to try and search on her own.

Sudden she stopped in the middle of the corridor, causing several collisions. She ignored the other gods and goddesses comments and glanced back down the way she came.

'I could have sworn that goddess looked familiar.' Skuld thought. 'Well of course that goddess looked familiar.' spoke another voice in her head, 'She's a goddess! You've probably walked past her before. After all, you haven't met EVERY god or goddess in the heavens.'

Skuld sighed and continued on her way.

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Maho glanced up at the markings on the door. This was one of the doors she was looking for. According to her directions, she only had to go further down the hall in order to find the second door. Behind that door was the object she had been sent here to retrieve. Unfortunately between her and the door was approximately 6 Valkyrie guards.

Fortunately, she had been told a way to drive the guards off.

"Miruru." She whispered, "Transmit now."

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Peorth sat up and stared at her screen.

UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED

BEGINNING COUNTER MEASURES

COUNTER MEASURES OVERRIDDEN

"….the hell?"

With a loud pop, the main announcement system went online. Everyone in the room turned and looked at Peorth, expecting her to say something. Peorth looked down at Erie.

"What the hell is going on?"

Erie tapped at her console before looking at Peorth.

"I don't know. I'm locked out."

Before Peorth could say anything else, the sound of classical music began to come out of the speakers.

Peorth frowned.

'I know that sounds familiar. What could it……..' Peorth eyes went wide with recognition as the main theme echoed throughout the control room.

'Oh shit……'

The song was 'Ride of the Valkyries'.

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All over the main building, Valkyries stopped what they were doing and glared as the most hated song they knew of played. With a loud berserk cry that caused many to run for cover, the Valkyries proceeded to pound, smash, shatter, and otherwise destroy the offending sound producing devices.

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Maho smiled as the Valkyries guarding the doorway moved away in search of something to smash. She quickly moved to the door and placed a device over the lock control pad. Lights on the device flickered for several seconds before they all went green. Maho opened the door, raced in, and closed it behind her. She paused for a second to itch her fake goddess markings, then turned and looked at the room she was in. It was a large room. In the center of the room on a table was the object she was sent here to get.

The helmet.

Maho grabbed the helmet and put it into her bag. She ran back to the door and opened it slowly. She peered out into the corridor. No sign of anyone. She moved out into the corridor and headed back towards the other door.  She opened it easily and ran into the room. It was an office. The desk sat facing towards the door. Behind it was floor to ceiling window that lined the entire wall, showing a great view of the heavens. Bookcases lined one wall while pictures lined the other.

"Miruru. Time to get us out of here."

"MEE!"

Maho turned and stared at Miruru.

"What?!"

"Mee!"

"What do you mean you can't? This is the highest priority!"

"Mee!"

Maho sighed. "Ok. So where can we teleport out?"

"Mee."

"Ok, back outside."

Maho went back to the door and peered out. Still no sign of anyone in the corridor. She moved out of the office and headed back towards the front of the building. She was just a few feet away from the stairs when a hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. She found herself face to face with a Valkyrie.

"I don't think you belong here." The Valkyrie said.

The Valkyrie then frowned. She reached over and tugged on Maho's goddess marking. Maho froze. It must have gotten loose when she had scratched it. The Valkyrie stared at the marking that was now in her hand, then looked at Maho.

"You have some explaining to do."

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Medical Wing

Ceres' eyes slowly opened.

"Where am I?" she croaked.

Mara came into view.

"Hey bitch." She said with a smile.

"Whore." replied Ceres, "Am I in hell?"

"Well, in a way." Mara said, "After all, a demon could consider heaven hell."

Ceres' eyes went wide. "I'm in the heavens?!"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Ceres shivered. "Getting blasted by her."

A doctor came over.

"Ms. Ceres, when you were hit by that demon, she infected you with a virus. A very potent one."

"A Virus?" Ceres turned her head and looked at Mara. "How bad?"

Mara looked down at the floor. The Doctor spoke up.

"We can't help you, Demon Ceres."

Ceres closed her eyes. "So I'm going to die."

"There is another option."

Ceres turned her head and stared at the Doctor. "You just said you couldn't help me."

"I said we couldn't help Demon Ceres." replied the Doctor.

Ceres eyes widened. "Are you saying…….?"

"It's up to you Ceres." Mara said quietly, "You have to make the decision."

"But that means……"

Mara smiled, "Belldandy asked and he approved. It's all up to you."

Ceres looked at Mara then at the Doctor.

"I……….."

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Somewhere in Siberia.

Celes Victoria sat at a bar in a small town. The town was located to the east of the Ural mountains. It was said the town had been built to provide living space and entertainment for the workers of Soviet Factories during World War 2. Now the towns only purpose seemed to be for the recreation of the SEELE base workers.

Celes looked back at her drink, a Bloody Mary. She hadn't really drank any of it, she couldn't. Vampires subsisted on something a bit more Bloody and a lot less Mary. She sighed and paid for her drink, put on her sunglasses and left. She'd already been here for 2 weeks, and this was the first time she had been let out of the base for relaxation. The sun was out and, with little cloud cover and lots of snow, it was blindingly bright. She wasn't bothered by the sunlight, not like her master Arucard. Being out in the sun helped her to feel……human. It was the cold that got to her. The bone chilling cold seemed to get through even the thickest of coats. Maybe the fact she was dead had something to do with the fact she felt colder. She knew of only one way to get out of here and to some place warm.

Call Director Aida with the location.

She moved into an alley and pulled out a small device Aida had given her. She hit a few buttons and placed it to her ear.

"Victoria." came the Director's voice, "If you're hearing this, something has happened to me and I'm no longer able to help you. But don't worry, I didn't send you out there to find the base without a back-up plan. I want you to contact Mist. I'm sure you'll remember her. She can get help out there to you. To contact her, use this number…….." Celes memorized the number. "…….Good Luck Victoria, and don't worry. You will be taken care of."

Celes sighed, then entered the new number into the device.

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Urd walked into the control room. Crews were still cleaning up the mess the berserking Valkyries had made of several of the consoles before the music had finally stopped. Peorth sat on the floor, staring at what little remained of the SysOp console.

"Looks like I missed the fun."

Peorth turned and glared at Urd.

"Oh shut up."

Urd looked at the SysOp console. "Doesn't look to bad. Why are you sitting on the floor?"

"Have you seen the chair?"

Urd frowned and looked around. "Where is it?"

Peorth pointed. Urd followed her finger and found the chair. It was buried partially into the main screen.

"Oh."

The phone on the SysOp console then rang. Urd glanced down at Peorth.

"You want me to?"

Peorth shrugged. "You're closer."

Urd picked up the phone. "Operator speaking."

"I need to speak with Mist."

"Uhh hold on." Urd looked down at the three administrators. "Where's Mist?"

Erie's hands flew over her console. "She's in with Kami-sama."

"She's a bit busy at the moment." Urd spoke into the phone. "Can you call back later?"

"No I can't bloody call back later! Get me Mist now! It's an emergency!"

Urd frowned at the phone. "Well who can I say is calling?"

"Celes Victoria."

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Kami-sama sat behind his desk, staring across at the girl before him who seemed to be wishing for the floor to swallow her. Behind her was Mist, who had her hand locked around the small computer Miruru.

"So, you're Maho Kasumi."

Maho gulped. "Y..y..yes sir."

"My I ask, what were you going to do with this?" Kami-sama pointed to the helmet.

"I uh….you see….I was…" Maho stuttered.

"You can tell me child. I won't hurt you."

Maho relaxed slightly. "I was told to get it by……."

Kami-sama's phone rang. He frowned and picked it up.

"I'm busy at the……" He listened. "Oh?" He looked over at Mist. "Do you know why a Celes Victoria would be calling you?"

Mist looked confused. "Celes Victoria………" Her eyes then went wide in recognition. "The Nosferatu!"

Kami-sama handed the phone over to Mist who began talking almost immediately. Maho couldn't hear what was said, but from the look on Mist's face, it was good news. Mist hung up the phone then whispered something to Kami-sama. Kami-sama nodded, then looked at Maho.

"You were to get this helmet to a….goddess were you not?"

Maho nodded.

"…..A goddess you met not too long ago?"

Nod.

Kami-sama smiled and looked down as he wrote something down on a piece of paper. "Then I suppose you should bring it to her."

Maho looked at Kami-sama curiously. Kami-sama looked up and handed the paper to Mist, who then grabbed the helmet and placed it and the note into Maho's pack. She then handed the pack to Maho.

"The note is for her." Kami-sama said, "Please see that she gets it."

Maho nodded. Kami-sama clapped his hands and both Maho and Miruru vanished. He then looked over at Mist.

"Do you think she'll wait?"

Kami-sama shrugged. "Who can say what is going on in her mind? But I believe a part of her will obey." He stood up. "Go to Belldandy and the Guardians. Tell them where the base is, but do not tell them about her."

"Why not?"

"She is hiding from them for a reason. Let her decide when to approach them."

Mist nodded and started to leave.

"Oh one more thing."

Mist turned and looked back at Kami-sama.

"Assemble a Squad to go with you. Take best, and only the best. I want the Guardians to be well supported." He gave Mist and hard look. "And no fighting, taunting, or otherwise injuring the Nosferatu."

Mist started to speak but was cut off.

"There is nothing more to say on the matter. Leave the Nosferatu alone. I have spoken. Now carry out my commands."

Mist bowed and left. Kami-sama sat back in his chair and looked out the window, contemplating the future.