Chapter 12

Terra 2

Cherry hurried about the kitchen making breakfast. Bloodberry watched from the bar as she drank her morning sake. Every now and then, Cherry would glare at Bloodberry. Finally Bloodberry through her hands in the air.

"What is it already?!"

"It's too early in the morning to be drinking." Cherry said angrily.

"It's my choice." Bloodberry replied, "So deal with it."

Cherry slammed a pan down on the stove.

"But it's not right! It's not healthy and it's too early in the day to drink!" Cherry pointed at a clock. "It's not even 8am!"

"….And some people are trying to sleep!" came a shout from upstairs.

Cherry sighed and looked towards the stairs.

"Sorry Lime!"

Cherry turned back to the stove and Bloodberry turned back to her drinking. They were joined soon by Keima. He sat down and placed his head on the counter.

"Ohhhh my head." He muttered.

"Hangover?" asked Bloodberry.

"No. I didn't have any alcohol."

"The soda?" asked Cherry.

Keima shook his head, then moaned in pain from the motion.

"No. I don't get drunk off of soda."

"We have aspirin upstairs in the medicine cabinet." Bloodberry said, "Always helps me with my hangovers." Bloodberry then glared at Cherry as she muttered a "Yeah you would know" as she cooked.

"Mortal medicine won't help me." Keima said.

Lime then stomped down the stairs. At each stomp, Keima winced. Lime took a seat next to Keima and glared at Cherry and Bloodberry, before turning to her boyfriend.

"Good Mo…."

"Shhhhh!" Keima winced, covering his head. "Too loud."

"Sorry." Lime then gave Keima a curious look. "I didn't think you were drinking?"

"I wasn't." came the muffled reply.

Cherry sat a plate of food in front of Lime who began to eat. After a few bites, she looked around.

"Where's Yui and Arael?"

"Out." Bloodberry said, "Don't know where, but they left earlier this morning." A low moan returned her attention back to the local deity. "Is he going to be alright?"

Lime rested a hand on Keima and leaned toward his ear.

"Are you going to be ok?" she whispered softly.

"I will once Thor's hammer finishes pounding its way out."

"Maybe you should go back to bed and sleep it off."

Keima sat up. "Yeah, sounds good." He stood up. "Until later ladies." He turned and started off towards the stairs. Halfway there he stumbled and fell to the floor.

"KEIMA!" Lime was instantly by his side, as was Bloodberry.

"I'm fine." Keima muttered. He stood back up and smiled at Lime. "I'm fi…..ne…." His eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed into Lime's arms.

"Keima?! Keima wake up!"

Bloodberry placed her hand on his forehead. "He's burning up. We have to get him upstairs."

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Several minutes later, after much huffing and puffing, Bloodberry and Lime had finally gotten Keima into his bed. Lime sat besides him gently stroking his head while Bloodberry leaned against the wall.

"Geez……he may not look it but he weighs a ton." Bloodberry then smiled, "Must be all muscle."

"Yeah." came Lime's soft reply.

Cherry came in with a damp cloth.

"Here." She said, "Put this on his head."

Lime took the cloth and placed it on Keima's forehead.

"Can't we give him something?" Lime asked.

"He said mortal medicines wouldn't help." Cherry said softly.

"What about Yui and Arael? Would they know?"

"They aren't here." Cherry said.

"Well maybe we can call them." Bloodberry said.

"How?"

"Well…….." Bloodberry looked around. "Doesn't Keima have that electronic thing, the communicator."

"It's over there." Lime pointed to the device, sitting on a dresser, "But he never showed me how it works."

"Well how hard can it be?" Bloodberry grabbed it and looked at it. "Umm…….."

"What?" asked Cherry.

"I can't read it. It's all a bunch of squiggly lines. Maybe this does something." Bloodberry pressed a button.

"Thank you for pressing the Self-Destruct button. You now have 30 seconds to clear the area."

The three stared in shock at the device.

"Bloodberry," Lime said, "What ever you did, undo it now."

"Uhhh." Bloodberry fiddled with several more buttons. The air above the device shimmered and a game of Tetris appeared.

"You now have 20 seconds to clear the area." The device said.

"Bloodberry…….." Cherry said, slowly backing away.

"ummmmm…….."

"HURRY!!" Lime leaped over the bed and pulled Keima with her down the other side.

"!0 seconds to…..BEEP……You have deactivated the Self-Destruct. Have a nice day."

"WHO THE HELL PUTS A DESTRUCT DEVICE IN A COMMUNICATOR ANYWAY!?!?!" Bloodberry shouted.

Lime poked her head back up from behind the bed.

"Keima did say his Aunt used to make bombs."

"Great." Bloodberry muttered, "So what do we do now? We can't call for help."

"Well," Cherry said, "We can't call them, but we can call for someone else." She turned and started to leave the room.

"Who are you calling?" Lime asked.

"Mom."

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Lorelei pulled the thermometer from Keima's mouth and looked at it.

"He's got a temperature……….I think."

"What do you mean you think?" Lime asked, "Don't you know?"

"Look I've only seen two injured deities, Rei and Mara and both healed on their own." Lorelei sighed. "Lime!"

Lime the marionette peered into the room.

"Yes Lorelei?"

"Go get me another bowl of cold water."

"K!" The marionette vanished.

Lorelei looked back at Keima.

"How long has he been like this?"

"Since this morning." replied the mortal Lime.

"What about the other two?" Lorelei asked. "Are they sick?"

"They've been gone since this morning. I never saw them so I don't know."

The marionette Lime returned with the bowel of water. Lorelei took the bowl and wetted a washcloth before placing it on Keima's forehead.

"Until we get a hold of his mother or someone else in heaven," Lorelei said, "this is the best we can do."

"I just feel so helpless." Lime said, "To see him like this………."

"I know." Lorelei said, "I'm the same way when your father is sick. But we…ACKK."

A hand clamped itself around Lorelei's throat. Lorelei's eyes bulged as her air supply was cut off. Both the mortals and marionette turned their eyes in horror at the person whom the hand belonged too.

"Still feeling helpless?" Keima asked, his eyes glowing red.

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Cherry and Bloodberry sat downstairs at the bar.

"If anyone can help Keima it's Mom." Bloodberry said.

"I know." Cherry said, "I'm just wondering if the others have it."

"Yui and Arael? I don't think they do." Bloodberry shrugged, "They seemed healthy when they……"

A loud scream came from upstairs. Bloodberry and Cherry were on their feet and running up the stairs. As they reached the top of the stairs, something crashed through the door of Keima's room and slammed into the wall across the way. Cherry and Bloodberry stared in shock as their mother slid down the wall to the floor.

"MOM! LORELEI!" Both Limes ran from the room and to Lorelei's side. Cherry and Bloodberry soon joined them.

"What happened?" Bloodberry asked.

"Keima," began Lime, "he's…….."

"….tied of being Mr. Nice God."

Everyone turned to see Keima standing in the doorway of his room, his eyes glowing a bright red. Lime the marionette leaped to her feet and stood in front of the other four. A smile appeared on Keima's face.

"Let's have some fun."

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Dark clouds formed over Japoness. Lightning roared through the sky, slamming into several of the taller buildings. People ran about the streets, trying to avoid the falling debris. The pyrotechnic display in the sky caused many to miss seeing the display coming from a certain apartment.

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Sparks spat out from multiple cracks and tears in the marionettes skin, yet Lime continued to struggle to her feet, trying to protect the four mortals. Keima smiled evilly and formed yet another force bolt.

"I grow tired of you." He said, "You're just not that much fun anymore."

"How much longer can she keep going?" asked Cherry.

"I don't know." Lime said, "She looks ready to fall apart."

Keima tossed the force bolt. It slammed into Lime's (the marionette) shoulder, severing the arm and spinning her about. She then fell to the floor, still emitting sparks. Keima smiled and then looked at the mortals.

"Who's next?"

"Stop this!" Lime (the mortal) stood up and faced Keima. "I thought you loved me! Why are you doing this?"

"A God? Love a mortal?" Keima chuckled, "What nonsense is this?"

Lime felt tears forming in her eyes. "Then what has been happening between us these past months?"

"Ahh but that was before I was awakened to the true calling of the Gods." Keima said, "The complete and utter domination of the mortal world."

"What?!"

As Lime and Keima talked, the marionette Lime slowly began to drag her self towards Lorelei, still trying to protect her.

"Look at yourselves." Keima said, "You still fight each other century after century. Now that will all be put at an end."

"How?"

Keima smiled, "All will submit to the Gods. We will rule the mortal world as we should have a millennia ago." A force bolt appeared in his hand. "Once again, the mortal world will fear the power of the gods, starting here." Keima tossed the force bolt at Lime. Lime closed her eyes and waited for the end. She felt the air crackle with static electricity as the force bolt neared her, but she never felt it hit. She opened her eyes to see an orange hexagonal field surrounding her, her sisters, her mother, and Lime the marionette.

"What the hell?" Keima turned to the side just as a force bolt slammed into him, sending him crashing against the wall.

Lime turned around to see two fully armored figures on the stairs, one with gray hair and the other with red hair, streaming out from under their helmets.

Keima rose to his feet and glared at the two figures.

"How dare you interfere with….."

He never finished.

The red head muttered something before fired off a spell that slammed into Keima. Keima struggled briefly for a moment before his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed. The red head moved quickly over to where the mortals were and flipped up the eye shield revealing Yui's face.

"You alright?" she asked.

"Mom's unconscious." Cherry said, "and Lime is………seen better days."

"I'm fine." muttered the marionette, "Help Lorelei."

"I will." Yui said. She then looked over at the unconscious god. "Just give me a second."

Yui walked over to Keima a looked him carefully over. He was laying on his stomach breathing slowly. Using her foot, she nudged him several times before finally rolling him on his back. Keima remained unconscious. Yui quickly muttered a spell. Ropes and other bindings flashed into existence, tying the gods arms and legs together. The bindings gave off a soft blue glow.

"All right Arael you can drop the AT-Field."

The hexagonal shield vanished and Arael walked over to where Yui stood next to Keima.

"Move him into his room." Yui said, "I'll take care of Lorelei."

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About an hour later

Lime, Cherry, Bloodberry, a fully healed Lorelei, Lime (the marionette), Yui, and Arael sat downstairs at a table. Lorelei was working off to the side of the rest, trying to repair as much of Lime as she could.

"What's wrong with him?" Lime (the mortal) finally asked.

"I don't know." Yui said quietly. "And I can't find out either. No one in heaven is answering."

"Can't you just take him up there?" Bloodberry asked.

"Normally I would, but without knowing the full extent of whatever he's got." Yui looked at everyone, "He could infect everyone else."

"We can't just sit here and do nothing." Lime said, "What about Sayoko?"

Yui shook her head. "I tried her already. Nothing. Just like heaven."

"I'll go."

Everyone looked at Arael.

"Why you?" asked Yui.

"I am useless here." Arael said, "You have him under the binding spell, I do not. Also I can go into heaven without using a gate."

"Alright." Yui conceded, "Get up there." She turned and looked at the ceiling where Keima's room was located. "I'd like to know what the hell is going on."

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Heaven

Arael appeared inside the garden just off the main Yggdrasil building. She had only walked a few steps when she heard shouting. From her vantage point, she watched as two gods fought. The fight ended when one of the gods viciously slashed the others throat. Arael was stunned. Such violence against a fellow god was unheard of. Arael waited until the god had moved off before stepping out of the garden and looking around. Smoke billowed from several sections of the heavens as well as from several floors of the Yggdrasil building. Only one thought was going through Arael's mind.

'What the hell is going on around here?'

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Elsewhere in Heaven

Asuka peered around the corner of the building.

"Clear."

From behind her, Shinji ran across the street, diving through the already shattered window of a store. A few seconds later Asuka followed.

"This is ridiculous." Asuka muttered as she peered out into the street. "We're the Guardians of Heaven. We shouldn't have to hide out of sight."

"Asuka," Shinji whispered, "The last three Gods and Goddesses that saw us tried to kill us."

"You forgot about that one God, he tried to help us."

"Yes and they killed him for that." Shinji ducked down as a group of Valkyries ran by the window. "We have to get back to Misato's. Then we can plan this out with the others."

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Minutes later Asuka and Shinji were looking down at Misato's house from a roof across the street. Several Valkyries were wondering about the street, smashing windows and other things that they didn't really care for.

"How do we get by them?" Shinji whispered.

Asuka smiled and held up a small gray box. Shinji's eyes widened.

"Not my SDAT!"

"I'll get you another one." Asuka said. She hit play and tossed it as far up the street as she could. A few seconds later, the strains of 'Ride of the Valkyries' could be heard. Even from the rooftop, they could hear the Valkyries snarl before they ran off towards the offending sound.

"GO!"

Asuka and Shinji leaped from the roof and ran into Misato's house, closing the door behind them. The house was intact, for the most part. Several rocks, bricks, weapons, and other items lay about where they had landed after crashing through the window. The two quickly and quietly moved into the basement, then tapped on a wall. After several moments, a section of the wall moved to reveal Rei in full armor.

"You're late." She said.

"Ran into some friends." Asuka replied as she and Shinji went through the door. Rei took a quick look around before shutting the door.

Long ago, the Heavens had been invaded by an army of demons. Due to events surrounding the invasion, Heaven was conquered and ruled by the demons for about a week. During that time, the souls who had lived in heaven had gone through hell. As a result, the souls decided to take certain precautions, just incase it happened again. As a result, hidden bunkers had been made underneath many homes, most of them connected to the rest, all without the knowledge of the gods. At least, the majority of them.

Asuka and Shinji entered the bunker and were immediately wrapped up in hugs from Yui Ikari and Kyoko Sohryu. Other friends and family began to filter in. They were all soon sitting around a table.

"How does it look up there?" Misato Ryoji asked.

"Bad." Asuka said, "Several areas are still on fire. Including the Yggdrasil building."

"What about the gods?" asked Hikari Suzuhara.

"Still crazy." Shinji said, "We got chased around by several Valkyries for a bit." He sighed. "Then a God stepped out and tried to convince them to stop. They killed him."

"He was the only sane one we saw." Asuka said.

"So it's possible there are others?" Yui asked.

"Maybe," Rei said, "But how do we find them?"

"We'll worry about that in a moment." Asuka said, "There's still a bigger problem."

"Besides rampaging gods?" Kaji Ryoji asked, "What could possibly be worse?"

"Yggdrasil." Asuka said, "We don't know who's running it or what they are doing to it."

"So when do we go?" asked Touji.

"'We' are not going anywhere." Asuka said, "It will be just Rei and me."

"WHAT?!" shouted Shinji and Touji together.

"Look," Asuka said, "Rei and I are the smallest compared to you two, we'll be harder to see sneaking around. Also, if we all go, who is going to protect everyone here? Hmm?"

Shinji started to raise his hand to argue, but then dropped it.

"Alright." He said.

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Arael looked carefully over railing into the main foyer of the Yggdrasil building. Somewhere further below, something was burning. The smoke drifted up from the lower floors and created a dark haze high up in the ceiling. Loud shouts echoed throughout the foyer.

Arael turned away from the balcony and headed towards the office of Belldandy.

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Asuka and Rei peered around the corner up the street at the main Yggdrasil building, the doors of which lay just fifty yards away. A large group of Valkyries stood in a circle, watching another Valkyrie sword fighting with a goddess.

"Can't go in the main entrance." Rei muttered, "Too many eyes."

"Yeah." Asuka looked up at the building. A row of windows caught her eye. "I think I know of a way in. Come on."

With a puff of smoke, Asuka shrank down to only a foot tall. Rei stared at the Mini-Asuka, raising an eyebrow.

"Well?" Mini-Asuka said.

Rei shrugged and soon was the same size as Mini-Asuka. Both were soon flying up towards the row of windows.

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Arael entered the short hallway that led to Belldandy's office, stopping for a second to view the surroundings. Four paintings had once graced the walls leading to the office, one for each of the Norns. Three of the paintings now lay in tatters on the floor. The fourth, the picture of Belldandy, had been shredded a bit, but one could still plainly see the moustache and beard put over the goddesses face.

Arael quickly moved to the office door, noting that the secretary's desk beside it was empty. She forced the door open and hurried into the office, shutting the door behind her. When she turned around to actually look at the office, she was visibly shaken. Everything in the office had been tossed about. Books, pictures, papers all lay scattered about the office. The desk itself had been overturned. But that was not what had shaken her the most. In one corner was a large block of ice, or what appeared to be ice. From within, Belldandy stared out. On the ground just behind Belldandy lay her assistant Cayla, looking battered and bruised.

Arael tried to reach out and mentally contact Belldandy, hoping the Goddess was someone still awake, but her calls went unanswered. Arael sat down on the floor next to the block of ice, wondering what to do next.

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Mini-Asuka and Mini-Rei landed on the narrow ledge just outside the window. From there, they could look out over the garden and the rest of Heaven. If not for the smoke, it would have been a beautiful sight. Mini-Rei looked carefully in the window.

"I don't see anyone." Mini-Rei said softly.

 Mini-Asuka brought up and armored fist. It began to glue a bright blue before she punched the window, shattering the pane. Both entered through the broken pane. They found themselves in Kami-sama's office. The office itself was empty. With a flash, both Guardians returned to full size.

"Where do you think he is?" Rei asked.

"I don't know." Asuka ran over to the desk and flipped up Kami-sama's terminal. "All access to Yggdrasil has been cut off." Asuka sat down in Kami-sama's chair and looked at Rei. "Main Control is the only place where we can access it."

"But can we get to it?" asked Rei.

"I don't know." muttered Asuka, "I just don't know."

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Yggdrasil Control

Two figures sat in the now silent and dark control room, one at SysOp control, the other at an Admin terminal. In the center, the three spindles of Yggdrasil slowly rotated.

"Anything?" asked the figure at the SysOp terminal.

"No." the other replied, "It's still disagreeing."

"Damn."

A loud thud echoed throughout the chamber.

"They're trying the doors again."

"Yeah yeah." The figure at the SysOp terminal sighed. "Let the basterds try."

A light began to flash on the SysOp terminal. The figure glanced at it.

"Someone's trying to access the system from Kami-sama's office." The figure entered several commands. The screen flashed to show a view of Kami-sama's office. Two figures, one with red hair, the other with blue, were bent over the terminal.

"The Guardians."

"What are they….." another light flashed on the terminal. "Another one?" The screen flickered to show a gray hair figure trying to access a secretary's terminal. "Arael too?"

"Apparently."

"We should greet them."

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