Chapter 1
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"How is she?"
"Nervous."
"Nervous?"
"Well she's never met him. Wouldn't you be nervous?"
"True."
Sayoko and Asuka moved quickly down the hall towards Belldandy's office. They paused only briefly to nod to Cayla, then entered the office. Belldandy was quietly talking to someone over the phone. She waved for them to sit down and continued talking.
"So any idea what our kids are up to?" Asuka whispered.
"No clue." Sayoko replied, "Sentaro is being…….…well Sentaro. Kristine says very little about what she's doing down there. It's like she's trying not to give away something."
"Yui is doing the same thing." Asuka commented, "She's been traveling a lot between Heaven and Terra 2."
"Arael?"
"You betcha. And it gets better."
"How?"
"Arael has been hanging around with your mother's assistant."
Sayoko glanced towards the door that hid Cayla from view.
"What the hell is going on around here?" Sayoko muttered.
Belldandy choose that moment to end her call.
"Well?" Belldandy asked.
"Mana should be arriving within the hour." Sayoko said, "At least, that's the last estimate by Dawn."
Belldandy chuckled. "Mana's nervous isn't she?"
"Petrified." Sayoko replied, "Even though I've told her many times not to worry."
"She should worry." Belldandy said with a sigh. "Saturn is going to be there with the rest of the council."
"We warned her about that asshole." Asuka said, "I'm hoping she'll insult him."
"If she does that won't win her many friends in the Council." Belldandy said.
"No but it will make me laugh." Asuka replied, "I really want someone to knock Saturn down a peg or two. You know he actually tried to order me to protect him from the Demons?"
"Ordered?" Belldandy replied with a raised eyebrow. "How did you respond?"
"First she laughed in his face." Sayoko said, "Then she said he wasn't you so she didn't have to listen."
"He got all puffed up and red and swore at me in Roman." Asuka said with a grin, "I just increased my vocabulary again."
"And the next meeting he'll probably want you removed from leader of the Guardians." Belldandy said with a sigh, "Followed by demanding the Guardians be removed from my control."
Asuka leaned forward and narrowed her eyes.
"They'll find out we will only accept commands from certain people. And it will most definitely NOT be any of Saturn's stooges."
"That won't endear you at all with the council." Belldandy said.
"I'm not interested in a popularity contest." Asuka replied.
The door to the office opened and Cayla stuck her head in.
"The Queen's Bodyguard has begun to arrive."
Asuka looked back to Belldandy who was already rising to her feet.
"Mana's early." Asuka stated.
"Let's find out if it's a good thing or a bad thing." Belldandy replied.
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Rank after rank of Demons lined the walkway in the garden just outside Yggdrasil. All wore the uniform of the Queen's Bodyguard, troops selected for their loyalty and their fighting skills for the express purpose of defending the Queen of Hell. This group was filled with those trained personally by Mana herself for Hild. The Queen's Guard felt they had lost face when Hild had died under their watch.
There was no way in Hell, or Heaven, they were going to let anything happen to Mana.
Directly across from the Demons, the Legion was forming up. These gods, dressed in the armor of the Roman Empire of old, glared at the forming Demon forces. These were the Gods who had replaced the Valkyries as Heaven's primary defense. And while they answered to the Council, they obeyed Saturn.
The two groups glared at each other even as Belldandy, Asuka, and Sayoko entered the garden, followed by a dozen Valkyrie.
"Well this is a charming group." Asuka muttered.
"Hush you." Sayoko whispered, "The last thing we need is a brawl."
"Dibs on a Legionnaire."
"You're on the same side as the Legion."
"Am I?"
Before Sayoko could respond, there was a bright flash in the garden, followed by a rumble of thunder. Mana had appeared, along with Dawn, her adoptive Valkyrie daughter, and Mara. Mana approached Belldandy who gave a slight bow.
"Welcome to Heaven Mana."
Mana smiled, "Boy I've missed that."
"Missed what?" Belldandy asked, confused.
"Simple plain Mana. Not you highness, not your majesty, not Milady, just plain Mana." Mana sighed, "I really missed that."
"That why you came early?" Sayoko asked.
"Somewhat." Mana replied.
"Mom was hyperventilating earlier." Dawn stated.
"Dawnie!" Mana shouted.
"Well you were! Unless there was some other reason you were breathing into a paper bag?"
"I….you see….there…..well….." Mana began to stutter.
Belldandy chuckled, then gently grabbed Mana's arm.
"Come with me." She said, leading the Demon Queen towards the main building. "I have some wonderful soothing tea to introduce you to."
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Terra 2
Keima sat quietly at the lunch bar in Otaru's restaurant, reading a paper. His sister in-laws scurried about, serving customers as well as making food. His wife, Lime, was acting as hostess as well as helping with the serving of food.
Keima let out a sigh.
He had wanted to be in Heaven to be there when Mana arrived, but his mother had told him his presence wasn't required. Of course he wasn't the only one who wanted to be there.
"Mortals not invited." Celes Victoria growled, "I'm not mortal!"
"You're also not alive." Keima replied, still reading the newspaper. "Besides, you don't see Sentaro or Kristine complaining."
Celes glanced over to where Kristine, Sentaro, and Megami were sitting. Surprisingly, Kristine had been spending a lot more time near her brother. Megami had been showing up more as well, despite Sentaro's claims they weren't dating.
"Sentaro is still readjusting to having Sayoko back in his life." Celes muttered, "Despite the fact that he saved Heaven, I think there are a few people up there that really don't care for him." Celes turned her head to Keima. "And you are at the top of the list."
Keima blinked.
"Don't you look at me like that." Celes said with a glare. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. Ever since he and your sister fought, you've given him the cold shoulder and flat out made it clear you don't like him."
"It's his…." Keima began.
"Sayoko AND Sentaro were both at fault." Celes interrupted, "Or did you miss that part when Sayoko was talking to us?"
Keima's eyes narrowed at Celes.
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The Heavens.
Mana stood before what had to be the largest office doors she'd ever seen in her life. Even the doors to the Queen's throne room in Hell weren't this big. Flanking it were two Legionnaires.
"You sure this is his office?" Mana asked.
Sayoko and Belldandy looked at the Demoness curiously.
"Well, yes." Belldandy replied. "Why?"
"See there was this old movie called Jurassic Park…….."
Belldandy chuckled.
"I remember that. Keiichi took me to it."
"Dad took you to Jurassic Park?" Sayoko asked, "How did you handle it?"
Belldandy blushed. "I spent most of it in your father's arms, hiding my face."
Sayoko and Mana looked at Belldandy curiously.
"Velaciraptors?" Mana asked.
Belldandy shivered.
"That's a yes." Sayoko said. She then turned to Mana. "Grandpa doesn't bite. Are you ready?"
Mana took in a deep breath.
"Yeah." She squeaked.
Sayoko turned and approached the door, her mother and Mana right behind her. The massive doors swung open revealing an enormous room. Huge floor to ceiling windows covered the far wall. Just before them sat a large desk. Behind the desk was a large chair. If someone was in the chair, Mana could not tell because of the light streaming in from the windows.
Belldandy and Sayoko continued walking until they were approximately six feet from the desk, then dropped to their knees and bowed their heads. Mana looked at them for a moment, wondering if she should follow suite, then her brain fired back that she was the Queen of Hell and was thus the equal to Kami-sama, even though she didn't feel like it.
Mana turned her gaze back to the desk. She could now see that the chair was completely rotated around, so that it's back was facing her. Thus, she did not know if the chair was occupied or not. A voice from the chair quickly cleared that up for her.
"I've told you many times you do not have to bow to me."
"Yes Father/Grandpa." Belldandy and Sayoko replied together.
"Leave us please."
Belldandy and Sayoko bowed, then stood up and headed towards the door. Sayoko gave Mana one final smile before the doors closed. Mana looked back at the chair. It slowly turned around, revealing Kami-sama.
"At last we meet." He said, "I have heard much about you Mana."
"Really sir?" Mana replied.
Kami-sama chuckled. "You don't have to 'sir' me. Kami-sama will do. Hild had many names for me, most of them unpleasant."
Mana smiled. Kami-sama waved his hand and a chair appeared before his desk.
"Please have a seat." He said.
Mana sat down and placed her hands on her lap.
"We have much to discuss." Kami-sama began, "There were many things known only to Hild and myself. Things that no other deities know."
"Such as?" Mana asked.
Kami-sama smiled, "Let us start with the easier ones. Then we shall discuss the more……..stranger ones."
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"Ready?" Loki asked.
"What kind of a stupid question is that?" Draco asked, "I've BEEN ready!"
"Right." Loki turned and faced a computer terminal.
"Let's rock." He murmured as he pressed enter.
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Terra 2
"…….and another thing…."
Keima held his head in his hands.
"Please……." He begged, "No more."
Celes ignored him. "I seem to remember Arael being VERY forgiving after you called her a horrible monster to her face."
Keima snapped his head up.
"That's not fair!" he shouted, "I didn't know she was an Angel! I'd just found out Onee-sama piloted an Eva on Earth. I wanted to know what she did in the Eva! Auntie Misato said……."
Celes held up her hand. "I can already guess what she said."
Keima sighed. "Arael asked me what I'd been up to and I told her I was learning about the Angels."
"I believe your exact words were: 'I was learning about these cool monsters called Angels. They did horrible things and killed lots of mortals.'"
"I was a kid." Keima protested, "I was only four!"
"Arael understood that. That was why she forgave you."
"Sentaro is……"
"Compared to you, also a kid." Celes interrupted, "Hell, the closest one to his age in this family is his sister!"
"OK!" Keima shouted, "I'll try ok?"
Celes smiled. "Good."
Then the world rocked.
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Heaven
Belldandy and Sayoko grabbed the walls as the entire building seemed to be trying to shake itself apart.
"What's happening?" Sayoko shouted to her mother.
Belldandy watched the Legionnaires tumbled to the floor before answering her daughter.
"I don't know!"
The doors to Kami-sama's office then opened. Kami-sama floated out of his office, followed closely by Mana. He immediately headed towards Yggdrasil control. Mana paused to look at the two Goddesses.
"Coming?" she asked.
Belldandy quickly floated off after Kami-sama. Sayoko followed with Mana, grumbling about smart ass demons as she went.
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"Urd I swear, if this is your fault…….."
"Dammit Flower girl! I didn't…….."
"Status!" Kami-sama called out before his eldest daughter could respond to Peorth's comment.
"We are being hacked." Peorth said as she typed rapidly at the SysOp console.
"By who?" Belldandy asked as she, Sayoko, and Mana entered the control room.
"By whom you mean." Urd said, "There are two of them."
"Two!"
"Yes." Urd said, "One is basically smashing its way through the firewalls. The other is going through them WITH the pass codes."
Kami-sama frowned. "I thought we changed them."
"We did." Peorth nodded, "Last week."
"Damn!" Urd muttered, "Blew through another firewall. I'm throwing everything up and at them and they aren't slowing down!"
"The one is." Peorth said, "The other one is still blowing through with pass codes."
"Whose!"
Mana touched Belldandy on the arm.
"I think I'll return to Hell." She said, "If it's the Rogues, they might try there next."
Belldandy nodded in agreement.
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Terra 2
"MAKE IT STOP!" Lime screamed.
"HOW!" Keima shouted back.
"KRIS!" Sentaro shouted from under the table, where he was being held in a tight grip by Megami.
"ALRIGHT ALRIGHT!" Kristine shouted, "I'M GOING!"
Kristine leaped to her feet and jumped at the mirror. Just as she vanished into it, the mirror dropped from the wall and shattered.
"CAN THIS GET ANY WORSE?" Keima hollered towards the ceiling.
Celes' communicator chose that moment to go off.
"YOU HAD TO ASK!" Celes growled.
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Hell
Mana grabbed hold of the display table, using it to steady herself as she stared down at the screen.
"Well!" she shouted.
"Whatever is happening to Yggdrasil is affecting us." The Hell Operator said.
Mana looked over at Mara who tumbled into Hell's control room. Mara leaped to her feet.
"WE are being hacked." She stated.
"WHAT?" Mana shouted, "By who!"
"One party." Mara replied, "and it's strange. They know the passwords."
"That sounds familiar." Mana muttered, "What exactly are they getting into?"
"We don't know." Mara replied, "But they are using your codes."
"WHAT!" Mana screamed. As soon as the word had left her mouth, the shaking stopped.
Mana and Mara looked around, as did the other demons.
"I want to know what they accessed." Mana said, "I want to know who and why!"
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Heavens
"I want to know who and why!" Kami-sama said, before turning and leaving the control room.
Belldandy watched her father leave, then turned to face Urd and Peorth.
"Can you?" she asked.
Urd and Peorth looked at each other glumly.
"The one that shattered the firewalls, maybe." Urd said.
"The pass code one," Peorth shook her head, "as strange as it sounds, we already tried to track it, and it led nowhere."
"There has to be a trail." Sayoko said.
"Not for that one." Urd replied, "It's like it vanished."
"MOM!"
Sayoko and Belldandy both turned as Kristine ran into the control room.
"What is it?" Sayoko asked, "I thought you were on the surface."
"I was!" Kristine replied, "Japoness was shaking, like last time!"
Sayoko whipped around to face Peorth. Peorth was already shouting orders to the admins.
"Bringing up Terra 2 now." Chronos said.
"Status is currently normal." Erie added, "Though it does seem to have experienced massive quakes."
"Earth has also experienced quakes." X tossed in.
Sayoko turned back to her daughter.
"Go back to Terra 2. Tell them we're working on what happened."
Kristine nodded, then pulled a sliver of mirror out of her pocket. She vanished into the sliver, which Sayoko caught before it could shatter on the floor.
"I've got something else!" Chronos shouted, "There's some kind of disruption on Terra 2. Location Japoness."
"What kind of disruption?" Belldandy asked. Before Chronos could answer, Sayoko let out a shout as the sliver of mirror leaped violently from her hand. Kristine burst out of the sliver and tumbled across the control room floor. A second later the mirror sliver shattered against the floor.
"What….?" Sayoko began to ask.
"Why am I back here?" Kristine shouted.
"The gates are closed!" Erie shouted, "I can't open them!"
"What about our access to Hell?" Belldandy asked.
"Also closed."
"Dammit!" Kristine shouted.
Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and looked at the young goddess. Suddenly Kristine felt really small. A side glance showed her mother with her face in her hands, while her grandmother looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"I uhh…." Kristine swallowed, "You see……"
"That's actually what I was thinking." Belldandy finally said. She then looked at Peorth and Urd. "Keep trying to find out who hacked us and how to reopen the gates." Belldandy then turned to Chronos. "What was the disruption on Terra 2?"
"I've been able to analyze it further." Chronos said, "Something was deposited in Japoness, something that came through a temporal portal."
"A what?" Kristine asked.
"Time." Sayoko replied, "She said something came from another time."
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Japoness
Celes moved slowly towards the smoking crater, followed closely behind by Imperial Guard, Baiko and Tamasaburo.
"The temperature is well within safe limits." Baiko stated.
"Right." Celes muttered.
She reached the edge and peered into the crater. At the bottom lay a young girl barely five years old or so. She wore robes that reminded Celes of a Goddess, but the girl lacked the facial markings. Her hair color was reddish, though she couldn't tell the shade. The girl seemed to be asleep, clutching a teddy bear tightly to her chest.
Laying in the crater beside her was a strange device. Lights blinked across it's surface, showing that it was still working. Baiko and Tamasaburo moved up beside the vampire.
"Female," Baiko said, "age: 4. Identity: unknown."
Celes pointed at the device. "What do you make of that?"
"It seems to be a computer component of some kind." Tamasaburo replied.
"Right. Take it to the castle lab, then get a hold of Lorelei, find out if she can come take a look at it."
"Why Lorelei?" Baiko asked, "The castle techs……."
"Because," Celes said as she carefully bent down to lift the child into her arms, "this girl is wearing what looks like a goddess robe."
"Yes."
"Then the possibility exists that she could be from heaven."
Baiko and Tamasaburo looked at each other.
"All files and items pertaining to Heaven or Hell are classified." Baiko stated.
"Only authorized personal have access." Tamasaburo finished.
"Correct." Celes said, "How many castle techs are cleared for this?"
"None." The two Saber Marionettes replied.
"Exactly." Celes stated towards the castle. "I'm taking her to the infirmary. After you get Lorelei, go and get Keima Morisato."
"Yes ma'am." The Sabers raced off, leaving Celes alone with the girl.
"Let's see if we can't find out who you are." Celes whispered softly to the girl.