Blah blah blah, technicalities and crap.
Fujishima Kosuke owns AMG and its characters. I own Xerangref and Daisen, Kruss, Kyuss and Shantar (previous statements about using all of them stand).
A/N: Certain events and plots are hinted and somewhat revealed in this work. If you haven't read at least up to or past volume 19, you may be confused at some points.
I honestly have no idea how long this fic will be, it depends on whether or not I believe it's finished.
I'm trying to figure out the best way to continue this. I have many many ideas in mind, but only one can be used.
More new characters are always fun, eh?
Happiness' End
End of Chapter 25:
Thor turned to look at his nephew and his friend with a smile. The elder god was apparently unwinded and looked like he hadn't shed a drop of sweat at all.
"A bit disappointing, but still fun, eh lads!" Soon Thor's hearty laughter could be heard ringing throughout the arcade. He turned to his other comrades, only to find Urd remaining.
She looked at Thor and nodded, then smiled.
"To think that I would get to see you fight twice in my lifetime, Thor. It is honor, but also scares the crap out of me."
Thor laughed again at this, while the two other gods grinned at her response.
"Well, we're done here, let's go home," Urd said as she motioned out of the arcade and towards the temple.
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Chapter 26: Troubles in Recovery
The three gods and Urd arrived at the temple to see something extremely disturbing going on. Skuld was running around yelling, trying to vent frustration while Peorth was just sitting on the newly restored couch with a grim look.
As soon as Skuld spotted Urd, she stopped her ranting, ran over, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to Keiichi's room.
The gods looked at this in confusion while Peorth watched the entire scene play out without raising an eyebrow.
"Venez, I will explain what is happening, since you missed out on the update," Peorth motioned for them to sit as she took a deep breath to calm herself before starting a most painful explanation.
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Urd wasn't sure what to expect when she walked into the bedroom, but she knew Skuld was upset. But with Skuld, that could mean any number of things set her off.
As she opened the door, Urd could almost feel and taste the sadness and gloom that hung in the air.
Belldandy was kneeling next to Keiichi and crying, looking down at his still figure. Urd noticed that the young man seemed noticeably more pale than the last time they had seen him. He looked pained and weak as well.
Belldandy turned her head as she heard someone enter the room, "Nee-san! Please, help him!"
Urd looked confused at her for a moment, "Me? Why? Can't you just heal his wounds?"
Belldandy shook her head, "It seems that the other demon used some sort of poison on the blade he used for torture…I can't heal him at all with my powers, the wounds just reopen themselves! His life signs are slowly slipping further and further away! Please! You must help him!"
Urd walked over to look at Keiichi and check his wounds. The areas that were cut were still seeping out small amounts of blood, while the areas around the entry wounds were turning an odd shade of yellow.
"It's a poison that stops clotting from occurring, it's easy to fix if I can find the base ingredient in the poison. There could be several combinations. Give me a skin and blood sample and a couple minutes and I'll be able to tell what it is."
Urd quickly floated to her lab and came back with a small set of tools and slides. She carefully scratched a few flakes of the yellow skin off and took a drop of blood, then returned to her lab. Keiichi's breathing was becoming labored. If it had to be her guess, Urd would've said he had lost about maybe two full pints of blood over the past half a day of continuous torture and bleeding. The human body normally holds around eight pints of blood. She would have to work fast, as Keiichi had already lost a quarter of his blood supply. A human could live with up to three pints gone, but after that an immediate blood transfusion was needed. She hoped she could find a cure before that three pints ran out, as the only person she knew that was related to Keiichi or might have his blood type was Megumi.
Urd needed to get to work, and fast.
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Peorth had just finished explaining the problem when Skuld came back and told them that Urd was working on some sort of antidote for a poison she claimed was reversing the healings and making him bleed further.
Thor looked solemn while the four younger gods looked helpless. They were but mere friends in combat, not skilled in anything but fighting or negotiations.
Only a few minutes later, a scream emerged from Urd's room. Everyone rushed to her doorway to see what was going on. Everything appeared to be normal, aside from Urd slamming her fists against the table. She stopped as she heard someone clear their throat behind her.
"Oh…uh…hey guys. Just letting off some stress…this is really pissing me off!"
All of them looked in confusion at Urd. She pointed to the two empty jars on the table.
"What's so special about two fioles vides, Urd?" Peorth asked with irritation.
"Look, you dolt. That's exactly the problem! They're empty! How could I have missed it! I use Roots of Mandrake and Buds of the Honorflower all the time! Don't you think I would've noticed that they were getting low!"
"Well…can't you get more?"
"Well yea, but the needed supplies are stored in my personal sub-space dimension attached to my quarters in the heavens. Only I can get in."
"So? Just go and get it already, Urd!"
"It isn't that simple brat! Someone else would need to start the processing and mixing of ingredients, and unless any of you are inclined in the field of alchemy and potion making, then I'm the only one left to do it!"
Peorth started laughing at Urd, much to her dismay, "What the hell is so funny, Flower girl?"
"Ah, mes pauvres Urd…Are you really si bête as to forget your own abilities?"
Urd was glaring at her as she grinned back and simply made a small duplicate of herself. Urd stared at her for a moment, and then hit her forehead.
"God! I can be so dense sometimes! Alright, I'll leave a miniature version here to help guide one of you through setting up and mixing the basic ingredients while I go and get more of the needed items."
A mini-Urd appeared in her hand and the leapt off, perching itself on Peorth's shoulder.
"Since you seem to enjoy screwing with my potions Peorth, I've elected you to do the beginning stages for me!"
Peorth groaned as Urd exited her room and walked down the hall.
"Give me about ten minutes! I should be back and ready by then. And Skuld, tell Belldandy what's going on!"
A sudden flash of light later, the house was quiet. Then, a spew of instructions was issued at Peorth as she ran around Urd's Castle room to gather everything to prepare.
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Belldandy sat hoping for the best while Skuld was telling her what was going on; Urd had apparently found a cure for the poison, but needed ingredients from her storehouse in the heavens. Skuld said that she would be back soon with the necessary ingredients.
Belldandy had sat and watched Keiichi the entire time everyone was discussing what to do. His condition seemed to be slowly getting worse. His breathing more getting more labored and sweat was beading off of him rapidly. All Belldandy could do was try to comfort him as best she could, which she felt wasn't enough.
After a couple more minutes she could hear her older sister yelling out instructions to the people down the hall. There was a loud sound of people scrambling and then a thump and a yelp. From what Belldandy could guess, Urd had yelled at everyone to move and give her space, or to get out of her room. The resulting shuffle and scrambling had cause either Skuld or Peorth to fall over and hit something or someone.
After a series of chants, there was a slight explosion and a round of coughing from more than one person.
Soon after, Urd appeared with a pill and a glass of water in hand, "He needs to take this, but seeing as he's out, either you or I will have to give it to him."
Belldandy nodded and held out both hands, signaling she wished to be the one to give it to him, but in private knew that it was a selfish reason that she didn't want her sister to kiss Keiichi. She had never learned that Urd had done so a couple times in the past to give him 'medicine' to help out.
After placing the pill in Keiichi's mouth, Belldandy took a small amount of water in hers and leaned down. She gently placed her lips on his and separated them a little and pushed the water into his mouth and down his throat, along with the pill.
After Urd saw the bulge travel through Keiichi's throat, she pulled Belldandy back, as she suspected that Belldandy was getting a little too into giving Keiichi his medicine.
"We need to give it a while, and then you should be able to heal him. He also needs a lot of rest. After his rest, we need to find someone with the right blood type to donate to him, he lost a fair amount of blood, and it could cause problems if he doesn't have a transfusion."
Urd pulled Belldandy to her feet and pushed her out the door, despite her constant complaining and protests.
Urd looked back at Keiichi and sighed before shutting the door. The poor guy had definitely gone through hell and back in the past couple of months.
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Peorth, Urd and Skuld had tried to keep Belldandy preoccupied and busy to keep her mind off Keiichi, but it wasn't working. Belldandy was worrying herself sick while the others could only sit and watch.
It was then that Thor had told the four gods to spar to keep in practice. Skuld was excited about the prospect, as she had only seen the fighting second hand when everyone rescued Keiichi.
Peorth and Urd were both intrigued as well. They had seen the weapons that both Daisen and Shantar used, but not the twins, Kyuss and Kruss.
When the time came, Daisen challenged Kruss and Kyuss went up against Shantar. When all four gods were set in their battle attire with weapons, it looked like they were going to go to war.
Everyone had seen what Daisen's battle attire and weapons consisted of, so it wasn't much of a surprise. Kruss, however, proved to be a much different story.
Kruss was wielding dual clawed gauntlets, with four blades that extended out in front of his hand a good foot and a half. Attached to his chest in an X formation were two dark brown leather dagger holders. Each strap of leather carried two sets of small, sharpened throwing daggers. At his left side was a wakizashi sword; a sword slightly shorter than a kodachi, but still light and powerful. Strapped to his left side was a fairly long dagger.
Everyone turned to look at Kyuss, who also held his weapon and was observing his brother and Daisen. Kyuss seemed to only carry his long bo staff. It was very ornate and decorated, as well as colored a beautiful mahogany color. He appeared to be carrying no other weapons, but no one knew if he was or not. That was something that even his friends and brother didn't know either.
Shantar was also dressed as before. His robes flowing around him in the wind. He had his long bow shouldered and was watching as Kruss and Daisen took their places in the temple courtyard. At his left side was a katana in its sheath. He didn't seem to have any other weapons, but Daisen had hinted that he hid two small daggers somewhere on his person. Where exactly, no one could guess, as he rarely had to use them.
Everyone was outside as Daisen pulled on his shield-sword, which he named Unbesiegbar, meaning 'Invincible' in German. Although, his friends shortened the name to simply 'Siegbar.' Daisen was wielding his epee like sword in his right hand as the two began to spar. Their movements were extremely quick and fluid. It seemed like this was simply a dance that the two were taking part in as they attacked and countered each other with ease and finesse.
After about half an hour of watching the two young men fight, Urd brought Belldandy back into the house to check on Keiichi. Grunts and sounds of clashing metal could be heard, even inside the complex.
Inside, Keiichi seemed to be resting easily. It was a relief to see that his breathing had calmed down and that the sweat was gone. Color was returning to his face, as the cuts and slashes were finally starting to clot and mend. Belldandy rushed over to his side and immediately began healing the largest and most painful looking wound of all. There was a large gash on his stomach area, a gash that looked almost to have cut through all the layers of his skin and almost at the brink of hitting his stomach and intestines.
To Belldandy's delight, the wound healed quickly and vanished before her eyes. She turned around to look at her older sister to thank her, but Urd simply nodded her head.
"No need Belldandy, just take care of him. He's like family, right?"
Belldandy nodded and turned back to Keiichi to continue with his healing. Not long after, she was finished with her work and turned back to ask her sister a question, but Urd was gone.
Belldandy sat at Keiichi's side hoping for the best for the next few hours. Over the course of the first hour and a half, things seemed to get more violent and rowdy outside. To her astonishment, it seemed that Daisen and Kruss were still sparring with each other; neither able to score a hit on the other to end the match. It seemed that each god had his own little cheering section, as she could hear both her sisters cheering Kruss on, while Peorth and Thor were supporting Daisen.
After almost two and a half hours of dueling, Kruss finally managed to score a small hit on Daisen, ending the match. Both men were exhausted, but were heavily complimented for their skills as they sat down.
Next up were Kyuss and Shantar. It would be an interesting battle, as both men used long distance weapons to fight and for self defense. Shantar had the longer ranged weapon, however, giving him the slighter advantage.
As Thor signaled the start of the match, Belldandy was brought back to her current thoughts of Keiichi as she heard him groan and move slightly.
Belldandy looked at him hopefully as his eyes seemed to flutter open and focus. They still seemed rather fogged, but that was normal for someone who had just woken up.
She heard a hoarse whisper soon follow another groan, "Where…where am I?"
Belldandy leaned forward looking at him lovingly, "It's alright now Keiichi, you're safe at home."
He looked at her in surprise, "Belldandy?"
She nodded, "Yes, my dear, I'm here for you, now and always…I just hope that you feel the same."
Keiichi moved over slightly and rested his head on her lap and sighed, "We'll talk about it in…the…morning…"
As he trialed off, his consciousness left him again. As he slept with his head in Belldandy's lap, she was smiling down at him and running her hands through his hair and stroking his cheeks.
She hoped that things would return to normal in the morning. At least he was willing to hear everything out before judging her or labeling her.
That was what she loved about him; he always listened. Belldandy slowly bent over and kissed him gently on the forehead before finally allowing herself to sleep as well. Sleep she hadn't had in almost three entire days.
A/N: Man, has this been one weird weekend. Ideas just don't stop as I think about how to continue the story line. Look for more in the future!