Finally updating ;;

Chapter 24

"Do you promise?" Hild whispered, in the girl's hair.

Megumi raised her head and looked into the other woman's eyes. "I--"

"NO!!" Keiichi screamed in a torn voice. He didn't want to lose Megumi.

"Please don't!!" Peorth cried, tears welling up in her eyes. For some reason (AN: oh dunno why ;P) she seemed to have grown rather fond of Megumi, lately.

Belldandy frowned worriedly. "You can't swear Megumi.... If you do... then..."

"Shut up!" Hild growled, cutting her off. "It's for her to choose what she wants."

"Then lift your spell." Keiichi snapped advancing towards her. He said it in a very un-Keiichi like way, but it was understandable... his sister's life was in danger.

"What?" Hild felt her heartbeat accelerate.

Keiichi took another step foward, anger and fear battling inside him. Anger for what Hild did but fear because even though he already met her a couple of times and that he's used to super-powers, he didn't forget that this woman was The Queen of Hell. "Lift your spell and we'll see if she'll still choose you over us."

Hild subconsciously squeezed Megumi tighter. "I'm not letting her go." She growled again, but this time, she seemed less confident.

"You're afraid of seeing her turn her back on you?" Belldandy quietly asked. "Because Father, Urd and Mara did..."

The queen's eyes shot daggers at Belldandy. "SHUT UP!!! It's none of YOUR business!!" Hild screamed at the goddess, making her wince.

Keiichi's already bad mood worsened, seeing his fiancé getting yelled at. "If you acted like this, I understand why Kami-Sama would want to ditch you." He uncharacteristically spat at her.

"...what?" Hild paled, making him realise that that last comment maybe had been pushed too far. He didn't repeat or elaborated, as Hild had requested.

But it wasn't everyone who wanted to leave it at that. "You're always hurting everybody!!!" Peorth continued for him, obviously, the feelings of the woman that stood before them were the least of her worries. Right now, all she cared about was for everybody to be left alone. "How can you think they'd stick with you when all you do is hurting them and everyone they love!??!"

It hit Hild like a slap in the face. "I don't...." She began, a little distressed.

"You don't??!!?" Peorth cut her off, enraged. She pointed a Urd and Mara. "You think you're not hurting them??!"

Urd held Mara in her arms and waited for her mother to look their way. Hild's eyes were avoiding her daughter's and found Megumi's.

"I can silence them, if you want me to." Megumi coldly suggested. Hild didn't gave an answer; she just caressed the girl's hair. Megumi took that for a yes and disengaged herself from her mistress' embrace and rushed to Peorth who didn't have time to get in a defence stance.

Megumi punched the goddess to the ground and got to Urd but predictably, Mara put herself in the way and got slashed through with the sword, making her arm almost come off.

She fell to the ground, screaming in pain. Urd, though, managed to stay on her feet and proceeded to take on the possessed girl. The white haired goddess gave a high kick, that was easily dodged, but, bringing her leg down, she managed to disarm Megumi.

The girl wasn't about to give up just because she had lost her sword. She threw an impressive combination of punch and kicks, successfully landing half of her hits. But even if it was only the half of the attacks, Urd wasn't able to take it too well and gradually, Megumi had the advantage.

They all watched the fight, most of them unable to interfere because of their already severe wounds (Mara, Belldandy, Rind and Skuld) and the others too scared or out of it to try anything (Keiichi, Peorth and Hild).

As the fight progressed, Urd managed to land a lucky blow on Megumi's neck, making her a little dizzy. It was all she needed to take the advantage and she proceeded to beat the shit out off the brown-haired girl.

Peorth watched in horror as Megumi's body was beaten up by the woman she lo- -. She stopped the thought right in its track because she just realised it wasn't the truth anymore. Seeing the mortal helpless under the wrath of the goddess, Peorth lost it a second and punched Urd, stopping the attacks. Then, she realised just what she did.

Urd stared at her incredulously, a hand on her cheek. "... Peorth?.. What the...?"

The goddess stared at the ground, stunned by her own actions. 'I hurted Urd' She kept repeating in her mind. Looking behind her, she reckoned Megumi's horrible state and met the green eyes at the goddess in front of her. "....You were killing her, Urd."

Urd's looked over at Megumi and to notice that yes, she was in fact killing her. "I wouldn't have--"

"I'm not so sure you 'wouldn't have', Urd." Peorth sadly cut her off. "You seemed enraged."

"You didn't have to punch me to stop me." Urd stared a bit coldly at Peorth.

Everyone stayed silent, waiting for something else to happen. Megumi proceeded in healing herself as Urd just stared at Peorth who was defensively standing in front of the brown haired girl.

"..... I.. couldn't help myself... I don't know why I.... I did...." the brown haired goddess sighed. "I'm sorry.... I..."

"I think she likes me." Megumi stood up, her healing completed. Urd raised an eyebrow. The girl rested her hands on Peorth's buttocks and slowly let her hands wander to her hips and just before they slipped between her legs, the goddess seemed to snap back to reality, slapped the hands away. "See?" Megumi smirked as Peorth took a few wavering steps away from the girl.

Urd narrowed her eyes but didn't answer, observing the other goddess attentively.

Peorth angrily blushed. "It's not true! She...." She gulped, not wanting to tell everyone what happened in the bathroom. 'I didn't resist...' She realised. 'Until I noted she really wasn't Megumi.... I didn't resist... and I liked the feeling of her body....'

"..She what?" Urd tried to get the other goddess to finish her sentence.

Megumi pushed past her 'protector' and grabbed Urd, sending her flying through a brick wall, almost knocking her out. Before she could attack further, a sharp order stopped her.

"Don't." Hild warned, finally snapping out of her thoughts.

Megumi stared at her eyes wide open. "But master...."

Hild opened her arms and Megumi understood she had to come back to her. She wordlessly let herself be embraced by the taller woman. After staying immobile for a time, the queen demoness finally shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. "They're right." She chocked on her words. Megumi looked clueless. "How can I expect Urd to love me after all I put her through?" She whispered to Megumi.

"But Majesty.... you gave her everything and she chose to be a goddess.... She turned her back on you." Megumi murmured, holding firmly onto her queen.

"She...." Hild looked over at the lovers. "She loved Mara.... She didn't mean to... leave me..." It dawned on her. Urd never meant to abandon her. She had no choice; she loved Mara too much to be able to cancel the pact they made. She had to go.

"What are they talking about?" Keiichi annoyingly asked his girlfriend. "Can you hear them?"

Belldandy shook her head. "I can't really hear..." She looked at Urd, over her shoulder. "But it's about you."

Urd rolled her eyes. "Like I didn't know..." She said, removing her hand from Mara's head and arm, where the wounds used to be. "Feeling better?"

"Yea, thanks." Mara smiled at her.

Rind approached them, Skuld's body craddeled in her arms. "Are you ok?" She asked, her voice full of concern.

Belldandy raised a hand to her mouth. Rind's state was miserable; her usually immaculate white clothes were dirty with blood and soil. "Rind, the question is: Are you alright??"

The battle goddess tried to straighten herself but winced, the deep cuts over her body letting their crisom liquid pour out more freely. "Ugh.." She fell to her knees, being more careful to Skuld than herself.

Keiichi and Belldandy both rushed to her, the boy taking Skuld, relieving her of the weight and the goddess taking her in her arms.

"Rind..." Belldandy caressed her forehead and hair worriedly, trying her best to heal her quickly. Rind rested her head on her chest, relaxing. Keiichi frowned, not going unnoticed by Urd.

A short moment passed, where nobody moved, nothing beside Bell healing her fellow goddess and Hild sorting her thoughts out seemed to be happening.

When most of the wounds had disappeared and Rind opened her eyes, raising her head from where it was resting. "Looks like something's happening." She nodded towards their two enemies.

Finally, Hild had released her embrace on Megumi and stepped back. "Urd, I...." She struggled to get it out. "I'm sorry." She said, and with a quick movement of her wrist, the star that was chained to Megumi's chest was shattered to pieces.

The girl's eyes rolled back and she screamed, holding her head as all the dark forces left her body at once. She fell to her knees, panting. Keiichi anxiously waited for her to look up. When she did, he saw the red markings had disappeared and her eyes were back to their usual chocolate brown.

"....Kei?" She quietly asked and he ran up to her, tears rolled down his cheeks as he hugged her.

"You're back." He sobbed. "It's really you... I... I was afraid I'd lose you forever. "He confessed.

Hild brought a hand to her mouth. Watching Keiichi hug his sister made her realise how wrong she had acted. "....really sorry..." She gritted her teeth, turning back, leaving.

"I forgive you." Urd whispered to her mother as she watched her go.

Mara gazed at her lover. 'How sad... she's not allowed to love her own mother... what kind of god creates a world like that?' She turned her angry stare to the sky, as if she defied Kami-sama himself.

Megumi hugged her brother. "What happened?" She asked, trying to soothe his tears.

He quickly pulled away. "You.... don't remember what happened?"

"What..." She looked at herself and saw her demon clothes. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT??" She jumped back. "MY....?!?!" She folded her arms over her chest. "Kei give me your shirt!!!!" She cried.

"What?!?! No way!!!" He backed away.

"Come on!!! You're a guy!!" She whined. "It doesn't matter if you're not wearing any shirt!!"

"Well it's not like you're nude!!!" He backed more.

"My breasts are hanging out!!!" She cried, making a few girls laugh.

"That's not true!!!" He glanced at her.

"DON'T LOOK! PERVERT!!" She whacked him.

The set of goddesses observed the scene.

"Can't live without 'em, heh, Bell?" Urd chuckled.

Belldandy smiled.

To be continued....