Sayoko was frantic.
Mana had lost it, more so then she had when Dawn had been killed. Regardless wither or not the Queen accusation's were true, Mana still saw their Hild as a surrogate mother of a sort, much like she herself had seen in Skuld, and Shinji and Asuka in Misato. Regardless what that Queen was saying, Mana couldn't kill her. The doublet system still functioned here.
But how was she going to stop her? She still didn't have access to her powers, and those that she had wouldn't be nearly enough to stop the enraged Mana.
Then she saw it, something Mana had dropped on the ground.
A modified moon rock bracelet.
Sayoko leaped at the bracelet.
"Now Queen." Mana said, raising the sword high over her head. "Your reign ends."
Hild closed her eyes as the Demoness brought her sword downward. After a moment of not being hit, Hild opened her eyes. Mana was now lying across the hall in a heap. Hild turned and looked in the opposite direction and saw a sight that sent chills through her body.
Sayoko was up and on her feet, her eyes glowing an intense white. Hild knew the Goddess had most if not all of her power back. As if to confirm it, the alarms began to blare all over hell, signaling the arrival of a God. Mana slowly rose to her feet, glaring at Sayoko.
"Why!" Mana growled.
Sayoko's eyes faded back to their regular blue color.
"Think what your doing Mana." Sayoko said softly, "Think of where you are. You can't kill her. The Doublet System still works here." Sayoko walked a step closer to Mana. "And don't listen to what she says. She's trying to piss you off. And she's succeeded. You're stronger then this. You've let her manipulate you."
The glow of Mana's eye began to fade as her anger lowered.
"You and I both know your Hild cares about you." Sayoko said, "You can ask her yourself when we get back. Don't let her," Sayoko pointed at the Queen. "tell you otherwise. Listen to it from our Hild."
Mana said nothing for a moment, then turned and stared at the fallen Queen.
"You will leave the Goddess Sayoko, and her family alone." Mana said softly, but firmly. "Should you attempt anything against them, I shall revisit you and finish what I started here."
Mana turned her back on the Queen, not even waiting for an answer and looked up at Sayoko. Her eye was no longer glowing and her demon markings had completely faded.
"I want to go home." Mana said softly.
Sayoko nodded and put an arm around her friend. She then sent a quick telepathic message to Asuka, informing the Guardian it was time to go.
One hour later.
Sayoko stood silently on the porch, looking out to where Mana was sitting. While they had been gone in hell, Belldandy had kept herself occupied by fixing the temple grounds. The only thing that wasn't repaired was the fallen cherry tree, which Belldandy avoided like the plague. Mana was sitting beside a small pond, watching fish swim about, occasionally tossing in a rock.
"How long has she been there?"
Sayoko jumped slightly as Asuka walked up behind her.
"Since we returned from hell." Sayoko replied, "The Queen said a few things that bothered her, to the point she lost control of her powers and...well...like before."
"ST type?" Asuka said, not wanting to say the name of the hated demon from Sayoko's past.
Sayoko nodded. Asuka looked back over at Mana.
"Skuld has finished the calculations." Asuka said, "We can go home at any time."
"Alright." Sayoko said, "Start the preparations, I'll go talk to Mana and..."
"No." Asuka said, "You won't."
"Why not?"
"Because the other Sayoko beat you to it." Asuka said, pointing.
The words the Queen had spoken continued to flash through Mana's mind over and over again. As they did, memories from her childhood flashed by as well. What made it eerie was that some of the things the Queen had said, seemed to mesh with things overheard from long ago when Mana was but a child.
But even so, Mana was still unsure. And the only way to know for sure would be to ask her Hild when she returned.
"Miss Mana?"
Mana turned slightly and found herself looking into the face of the young Sayoko.
"Yes Sayoko?"
The young goddess hugged her doll tighter to her chest. "Do you really have to go?"
"Yes." Mana said, "I don't belong here and there are people at home who would miss me."
"Could you come back and visit?"
"I don't know." Mana replied, "You sure you want a demon visiting you?"
"Yes."
"Even though Demons are bad?"
"Mana's not bad." Young Sayoko said, "Mana good person."
Mana sighed and wrapped her arms around the young goddess.
"Thank you." The Demoness said, "I needed to hear that."
Thirty minutes later.
Sayoko, stood silently in a circle, concentrating. Surrounding her on the ground was the ultimate circle, still burned into the ground after all this time, now once again being used to transport people across time and space. Standing in the other circles were the Guardians, as well as Mara, Mana, and Arael. Communications had been sent, the those in the future would be waiting.
Outside the circle, Keiichi, Belldandy, Young Sayoko, Urd, Skuld, Peorth, Megumi, Lind, even Chihiro and the sempeis waited and watched.
Then, Sayoko's communicator beeped. Sayoko opened her eyes and began to chant, rising off the ground by a foot. The circle beneath them began to glow. Soon, the people within the circle began to fade slightly, just as another appeared within the circle across from Sayoko. Unlike the previous time, those of this time period did not see Peorth standing within it, but an older Belldandy.
With a slight roar of building energies, the group began to fade away. Just before they had finally disappeared, Mana turned and gave the young Sayoko a small wave. Sayoko reciprocated the wave as the group finally vanished.
"Well that was interesting." Tamiya said in awe.
"Think we'll ever see them again?" Chihiro asked.
"I don't know." Keiichi replied, "Isn't one Sayoko enough?"
"One Mara certainly is." Urd muttered.
Belldandy just smiled, then bent over to carry Sayoko into the house. As she did, she noticed that Sayoko wasn't holding her doll, she was holding something else.
"Yoko?" Belldandy said, "Where's Dolly?"
"She didna wanna see Mana go." Sayoko said, "So she stayed inside."
"Well what do you have there?"
Sayoko held up what she was carrying. It was one of the Gods Communicators. Belldandy looked at the others in surprise, then back down at her daughter.
"What are you doing with that?" Skuld asked.
"Mana gave me it." Sayoko said, "She said if there was anymore bad demons coming around to call her and she'd come. She also said I could just call her up if I wanted to talk to someone."
"Did she now." Belldandy said with a slight smile.
"Uh huh." Sayoko said with a smile. She then turned and skipped indoors.
"Do you think it's wise for her to have that?" Peorth asked softly.
"It is from another Universe." Skuld said, "And the future, maybe we should..."
"No."
The goddesses turned and looked at Keiichi.
"No." he repeated, "If we took it away, she'd be upset."
"But what if she..." Urd began.
Keiichi shook his head.
"You're not understanding. Sayoko is a young Goddess growing up on Earth."
"Well, yeah." Skuld said, not fully understanding.
"You remember what you told me, that as she grew up, and she gained her powers, things might happen?"
"Yes."
"She's part mortal, and though you might tell her everything is fine and that, she'll still worry. There's no one else besides us that she can talk to about her power. Mana and that Sayoko grew up as half mortal half deity. They understand what she'll be going through better then any of us." Keiichi sighed, "All I'm saying is that it might help her to have a friend or two to help her along."
Belldandy smiled, "I think that's a wonderful idea Keiichi." She then turned and faced the others. "She can keep it."
2563
Kristine and Sentaro passed back and forth in their living room on Terra 2, something they had been doing ever since they had been told that Yui had found their mother. Their father, having gotten tired of their pacing, had gone outside.
"How mad do you think Mom will be?" Sentaro asked.
"You know she won't hold a grudge." Kristine said, "At least I don't think she will. And Grandma will be here to make sure it isn't too bad. But when Grandma leaves..."
Sentaro sighed, "Chores?"
"Probably until you reach high school."
Sentaro sighed. "And I thought Grandma's punishment was harsh."
The rumble of thunder from outside distracted them. Within seconds they heard a loud cry from their father, followed by another equally happy cry by their mother.
"She's back." Sentaro said.
"Yep." Kristine said, "Ready to face the music?"
Sentaro rose to his feet. "Time to get this over with."
The two children stepped out of the house. Out on the lawn, their parents were hugging each other as well as kissing the other happily. The Sayoko saw her children. Releasing Kensuke, she raced over the lawn towards them. Sentaro expected many things. He did not expect his mother to grab him and his sister and hug them tightly together.
"Mom." He said, "I'm..."
"Hush." Sayoko replied softly, "Don't talk. I know." She then hugged her children tighter.
Celes stepped out from inside the house and watched the three. When Sayoko was finally done hugging her children, they and their father headed towards the house.
"Where's Mana?" Celes asked when Sayoko had gotten close enough.
"Something was bothering her." Sayoko replied, "So she went to seek answers."
Hell
Hild sat quietly in her throne, looking out the window over Hell. She knew something was off with Mana, Mara had told her that before they had returned from the past. She also knew it had something to do with her, or that other her. All she needed to do was wait for Mana to arrive, then all would be known.
She didn't wait long.
Mana walked into the throne room and knelt down before the throne.
"Rise." Hild said softly, "And approach."
Mana rose and walked to the Queen's side.
"Something troubles you." Hild said, "What is it?"
"When your guards rescued me from my father." Mana said, "How did they get there so fast? I know how well they perform. I've trained them. They couldn't have gotten there unless they were already nearby."
Hild sighed and looked back out the window.
"Did you want me as a weapon?" Mana asked, "To use against Heaven?"
Hild continued to stare out the window.
"Auntie." Mana said, "Please...tell me."
"Yes." Hild finally said.
Mana blinked, then dropped her head.
"I had gotten information out of Yggdrasil regarding god of mixed backgrounds." Hild explained, "It stated that they tended to be more on the stronger side of things. One God even theorized that a half-breed might one day be born with more power then Kami-sama himself." Hild raised her voice slightly when she said that, then settled back down. "We in Hell never allowed a half-breed to exist, thinking they would weaken us as a whole. I decided after reading the paper, that I would try and get a half-breed demon. But there were problems. I couldn't just order a demon to go out and have a child, and there was still the notion of having a half-bred child would be a sign of weakness. I even had spies go out whenever a demon was on earth, watching to see if they did take a mortal. Always, though, the mortal would die. When that Morisato Goddess was born, I began to make plans to kidnap her, to make her a demon. Mara argued against it, mostly because she had been fighting to break them up for so long, and failing at it, she knew we could never succeed. Still, I had Mara keep an eye on Sayoko." Hild then looked over at Mana. "Then one day, a spy came to me and told me that your father was accessing the Demonic System quite frequently. You see, your father was the son of..."
"The Soultaker." Mana said, still looking at the floor.
"She told you didn't she?" Hild asked.
"Saw her in a dream." Mana replied.
Hild sighed. "She was always a persistent one. Because of his mother, I had spies following him. So when he accessed the Demonic system, I had to know what he was up to. Turns out, he was searching for a mortal, and her child. We didn't think anything of it, until the spy remembered the mortal as being one your father had attacked and left for dead. The spy thought she had died, but instead, gave birth to a baby girl, you Mana."
Mana remained silent.
"But we couldn't find either of you." Hild continued, "Unfortunately, when he did find you, the spy wasn't able to send us a signal quickly enough, thus, your mother died before my guards got there. But now, I had my weapon. A half-demon half-mortal to go against heaven with. No one knew of my plans for you. I told Welsper and Mara they were to train you to be the best." Hild sighed. "And this is where failure comes in. I had such high hopes that you would grow to be an evil, vindictive demon, but you were quite the opposite. I suppose, it may have been your mother. It may also have been that Welsper and Mara had become too soft being near those Morisatos for so long. After you were defeated by Sayoko, I knew that you wouldn't become the weapon against Heaven that I had hoped for. But by that time, I did not care." Hild gave Mana a smile, even though the Demoness couldn't see it. "Though you called me Auntie, you became the child I never really had. Urd was long taken away from me when she decided to become a goddess. You however, though you disliked being a Demon, stayed by me. In time, through fighting the Rogues, you became the powerful weapon I had originally hoped for, but I no longer had an enemy to point you at. Things have long since changed." Hild turned and looked back out the window. "I never wanted you to know about this. I know this would affect you greatly, in light of your friendship with the Gods. But it is the truth of why you were brought to Hell and trained."
Mana remained silent. Several minutes went by, before Mana slowly rose to her feet.
"Thank you for telling me Auntie." Mana said, finally looking up.
"You'll always have a place by my side Mana." Hild said softly, "No matter what you think of me now."
"You are a Demon." Mana said, "And you did what Demons were meant to do, prepare to destroy the Heavens. I can't hate you for that."
Hild smirked, "You've been around those Goddesses too long." She then sighed, "Maybe I have too."
"Perhaps." Mana said. She turned and started to walk out.
"There is one more thing."
Mana stopped and looked back at Hild. The Queen of Hell was looking down at the throne room floor. Finally she looked up.
"There was one other reason why there were guards on your father."
Mana looked at Hild curiously.
"They were there to protect my Nephew."
Mana's eyes went wide.
"My father was..."
Hild nodded.
"That would make the Soultaker..."
"My sister." Hild said softly, "She tried to take Hell from me, and I banished her because I couldn't kill my own sibling."
"Does Urd know?"
"No one does." Hild replied, "Though I should probably tell my daughter she has other family besides goddesses."
Mana thought that over, then turned to leave.
"Where are you going?" Hild asked.
Mana stopped.
"There is a power within me I don't have complete control of." Mana said. She then turned and looked back at Hild. "I don't wish to hurt those I love anymore."
"And how will you do that?"
"I will seek out the one who has mastered her own powers." Mana then turned and left the throne room.
Terra 2
"You're not mad?"
"No."
"Not even a little?"
"No."
"Not even a tinsy wh..."
"Sentaro I'm not mad at you but that will change very quickly if you don't stop asking the silly questions."
"Yes Mom." Sentaro quickly scurried from the room.
"He's been like that since you vanished." Kensuke said, "Always acting like I'm about to punish him severely."
"He does deserve some punishment." Sayoko replied, "But...I just can't do it."
"Not punishing him could make him worse." Kensuke said.
Sayoko looked over at her husband.
"He already feels bad enough, I can tell." Sayoko leaned back and closed her eyes. "Punishing him may make us feel better, but I don't think it will help him. So, I'll leave it to his conscious."
Heavens
Lind sat quietly on a rock, over looking a pond. Behind her, her two angels, Spearmint and Coolmint fluttered about. The scenery allowed the Fighting Goddess to relax, something she hadn't been able to do in years, manly due to the Rogue Demons.
Lind took in a deep breath and sighed, letting out all her frustrations.
"Lind?"
Lind jumped and turned around, swinging her ax in an arc. It clanged almost immediately against a sword...
A demonic sword.
Lind blinked in surprise.
"Mana?" she asked, lowering her ax.
Mana knelt in front of Lind's rock, putting her sword away.
"I need to ask you a favor Lind." The Demoness said.