I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series
The Daimakaicho's throne room, Niflheim
Waiting patiently for her guests, the blonde demoness couldn't help but feel the anticipation as well as the sense of dread from the upcoming encounter that was to determine the future of demonkind.
Or rather… that should've been the case, as the one sitting on the throne had already experienced this more that once already, and no matter how many times she got to relive this moment, the outcome was eerily similar to what happened in reality.
'Stupid dream! Am I really cursed to go through the most embarrassing moment of my whole life again and again? Is this horrible memory going to haunt my dreams from now on? I just messed up once in my entire career and now I must suffer for it? It's just not fair!'
Drumming her fingers on the armrest, Hagall had to admit that she was utterly frustrated with her predicament. This counted as the fourth time she was going through the same memory and while she did try to do things in a different way to ensure her victory, every single time those two managed to outsmart her.
'Let's see… I've tried putting earplugs on, and he ended up kissing me to pass Hild-sama's one millionth avatar in my body; which also resulted into a huge jealousy storm from his girlfriend. Then I've tried hovering above his reach to keep him from getting hold of me and the shorty managed to jump high enough to grab my clothes… resulting my top to give away and end up in a worse jealousy storm. I even tried a hazmat suit on and guess what! That time it was Urd and Skuld the ones who showed up, and that goddess or… should I say demoness was still halfway out of control! Talk about my least favorite scenario by far! There must be a way to win this, but what?'
Hearing the door open behind her, Hagall rotated the throne around to face her two visitors and realized that as long as they were staring on the floor, she had the element of surprise; something that she never used on any of the other scenarios. Wasting no time with needless introductions, she instantly activated the energy absorbing mechanism that was installed on the chamber's ceiling and grinned when she heard the goddess' startled gasp.
"Belldandy!"
"Don't even bother, lover boy! Your girlfriend is currently sucked dry of the last remaining scraps of divine energy that remains in her body. Soon, I'll be ready to start the transfusion of demonic power and then… the perfect demoness will be born! Oh, and I'm Hagall by the way. Nice to meet you and all that."
Snapping her fingers Mokkurkalfi's device approached Belldandy and started the first phases of the procedure to turn her into a demoness, leaving Hagall to deal with the only remaining obstacle in her path: Keiichi.
"Turn her into a demoness?! You think I'm going to let you do that?"
"Oh? And what are you planning to do when you're made out of stone?" Grinning, the blonde demoness saw Keiichi try to shield himself from an imaginary attack, only to come to an abrupt halt a moment later and then remain frozen in place as if he was petrified. 'Good! That's what I should've done in the first place! Without him able to move in any way, I can finish this without any interruptions. I'll probably unfreeze him once I'm done.'
Happy that everything was progressing they way she wanted, Hagall could hardly wait to see the outcome of her master plan. Unlike all other scenarios, this was the first time she had gone this far and as the skull shaped machine started to inject Belldandy with demonic energy, it seemed that her victory was all but reassured.
As a matter of fact, the goddess didn't showing any signs of rejection and adjusted to the change so easily that it was almost too hard to believe. 'Hm… I wasn't expecting this to be this straightforward. Not that I complain, but… Oh well, it's probably just a dream and I should enjoy it as long as it lasts; unlike those others where I had my ass kicked so bad it wasn't even funny. At least in real life, it wasn't that embarrassing."
Moments later, the two power rods retracted and the conversion machine hovered away, allowing Hagall to approach the newly converted demoness and offer her a hand.
"Are you feeling alright, Belldandy? You're not in pain or any other discomfort, right?"
"Eh?" Looking around with a puzzled expression on her face, the new demoness slowly took in her surroundings and then accepted Hagall's hand with a small blush on her face. "Thank you… my… lady."
"Oh! I see you're already adjusting!" said Hagall with a smile, dismissing the adoring look she was getting as nothing of great importance. However, as the goddess changed her outfit from her combat uniform to the one, Hild had offered her during the Angel Eater incident, the blonde demoness couldn't help but wonder if she was trying too hard to impress her. Especially after she saw the back of her outfit when the brunette demoness turned to take a look over at Keiichi and found out that Belldandy had changed the lower part into what appeared to be a thong. One that was so indecent that Hagall had to take a double take to believe that she wasn't imagining things. 'Hold on a sec!... Did the clothes Hild-sama gave her back then look like this? I… I thought they covered a lot more skin than that!'
"Um… Could you please turn poor Keiichi back to normal?" asked the brunette demoness with a worried expression.
Scratching her chin, Hagall wasn't entirely sure if that was a great idea, but reasoned that offering her boyfriend back would be a nice gesture and as such, she canceled her hypnotic spell over the mortal who simply stumbled backwards. "Here, he's totally unharmed!"
"Thank goodness! I was so worried…"
"B-Belldandy? Are you really… okay?"
Rolling her eyes at the lovey-dovey couple, Hagall had to endure this in order to create the perfect world for the demons. 'Ugh… the cuteness is killing me…'
"Of course I am, Keiichi! Although in all honesty… I've got this terrible itch, that's driving me insane!" said Belldandy with a husky tone that made both Hagall and more importantly Keiichi stare at her as if she grew a second head. However, there was no sign of her noticing their reactions; providing that she even cared at this point. "Although, it's nothing a good shag can't fix, to be honest with you."
"Belldandy? W-Wha-?!..."
"Hush, dear! You're come to enjoy it, trust me on that! And besides, it's your birthday! What' better than have a nice, hot threesome with me and my new boss? Also, you don't have to worry about me getting jealous or something that silly, since I'm far more open minded now and not to mention that I totally dig this top heavy blonde, too," said the brunette demoness, licking her lips in a manner almost impossible to imagine for anyone who knew her. Or at least… her previous self as a goddess.
While Keiichi made several failed attempts to say something, considering how shocked he was, Hagall took a few steps away from the approaching brunette who clearly had something really perverted in mind as she continued to give her that hungry look. "Why are you acting like this?! This… this wasn't supposed to happen!"
"Oh? Then pray tell me, Hagall-sama… What did you honestly expect to happen once I became a demoness? Especially after spending all this time without as much as kissing or hugging anyone?" asked Belldandy with a cheerful expression, despite her new attitude.
"Um… Well…" All in all, Hagall had to admit that she was right to a certain degree. Her original plan was to recruit her as Niflheim's trump card, but, she never really considered the possibility that the change of power source would've such dramatic results to her personality.
"You see… I'm not that naive and innocent goddess anymore and while you can count on me to do my job… I have different needs. And I doubt that it's going to be possible for Keiichi to satisfy all of them just by himself."
"Uh… t-that's nice and all but… H-How about we keep this on a purely professional level and.." Stopping abruptly as she reached the edge of the narrow path which connected the throne to the room's entrance, Hagall was about to hover away from her overly affectionate subordinate, only to realize that she was far too late.
In that brief amount of time, Belldandy had crossed the distance between them and caught the blonde in a tight embrace, bringing their faces dangerously close.
"Now, my bodacious beauty… let's make you purr…"
XXX
Hagall's villa, Niflheim
"NOOOO!"
Shooting up from her bed, the tormented demoness ended up on her bedroom's floor with a soft thud. Inspecting her surroundings to make sure that she was back in the safety of her villa, Hagall finally let out a sigh of relief now that the whole ordeal was over.
'Talk about a bad nightmare… I… I don't even wish to know how this one was going to end...'
Shuddering, the blonde demoness got up and dusted herself, trying to forget the horrid nightmare and checked the clock on her nightstand.
'Hm… it's almost morning already, so I might go ahead and start my day a bit earlier. With Hild-sama taking a day off to spend some time with her mother and daughter, I'll have to do most of her paperwork… Ugh… it's almost as bad as that stupid nightmare. Anyway, I'd better go and drink some coffee, before I take a shower.'
Heading towards the kitchen, Hagall failed to notice the shadowy form that lurked in the far corner of the room. Almost like a real shadow, it moved along the walls and then towards the now empty bed where it started to take a more defined shape.
Four limbs emerged from what appeared to be a torso and then a head also became visible, with a pair of red eyes looking towards the direction Hagall had taken off. Soon, three red markings were were visible on the intruder's face, in the form of an elongated number 8, albeit drawn with straight lines instead of curves. One was vertically on the forehead and two on the cheeks of this somewhat feminine entity as she kept shifting into an even more humanoid form, with fair skin and long, brown hair.
Almost as if she had emerged from Hagall's nightmare, this was the very demoness that had terrified her moments ago: a wicked, devilish version of the middle Norn, clad in the exact same outfit the blonde had seen her wearing.
As a matter of fact, if it wasn't for the different eye color, the markings and the obvious fact that this was a demoness, one might've mistaken her for the gentle goddess' twin; even if she only had two sisters and none of them looked exactly like her.
'Mm… how delicious!... I like it when I get to eat such a tasty nightmare. But I'm afraid I need to find another source for my little meals. At this rate she's going to get suspicious if I keep pestering her dreams; especially after the last one. Maybe Keiichi and his wonderfully innocent wife would prove to be a great meal too? Although… poking my nose there would cause all sorts of problems. Hm… I think it's better to go and see what that kid is doing, instead. I bet he's struggling with all the loons he gathered on that stolen ship of his. Someone needs to show them who's in charge here and Odal's too good for his own good!'
Grinning, the brunette demoness opened a portal and disappeared back into thin air, but not before she took what she had originally came here to retrieve: the copy of Ratatoskr's report about the rogue god and his accomplishes.
XXX
Divine Leathers, commercial district, Asgard
Adjusting her fedora for the umpteenth time, the mysterious figure donning a blue trenchcoat tried to stay in as far away from the rest of the goddesses as possible. To say that she was hugging the wall in the most literal sense wouldn't be an exaggeration at this point, and yet no matter how hard she tried; it was all but impossible to remain out of everyone's sight.
Most likely due to the very method of concealing her identity, since her outfit was far from inconspicuous even on Earth at this point and time, let alone Asgard where it was almost too out of place. On an afterthought, relying on something she had seen on an old TV show featuring private investigators may had been the wrong source of getting ideas as to how she could maintain her anonymity while browsing the rather… colorful selection of undergarments available on this shop.
'S-Skuld c-came here?!'
Lifting a rather skimpy leather thong that had a mesh she could almost see through it, Belldandy's mind was too overwhelmed by the idea of her little sister visiting this… shop unsupervised; not that having someone with her would've made matters better. This wasn't a place for proper goddesses of any age, social standing, marital status or even affiliation with the Fighting Wings, given the rather… numerous variations of their combat uniforms available here and none of them intended to be used on the battlefield.
'S-She found this place… normal?! Is there another shop by the same name and I mixed them up? Please!... Let it be the case!'
"Excuse me, but you're Belldandy, right?"
The voice of the shop owner behind her made the Norn of the present almost scream as she tried to pull hard on her slightly oversized fedora in order to hide as much of her head as possible. Despite that, from such a close proximity it was all but impossible to hide her facial features from her fellow goddess who smiled brightly at the sight of one of Asgard's most respectful and upstanding citizen.
"Oh, it is you! It's such an honor to meet you in person!" said the red haired goddess as she smiled brightly at the still embarrassed brunette who acted almost like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
"T-Thank you?"
"No, it's actually me the one who should be thanking you, Belldandy!" said the excited shop owner as she offered the goddess of the present an adoring look; much to the latter's confusion. "You've really saved my business, after nearly losing most of my customers to that huge mall! Please, buy anything you like here! I'll offer you a massive discount and throw in a couple of gifts too!"
Blinking, the baffled brunette couldn't help but wonder just what was going on here, since this was the first time visiting this establishment, let alone advertise it at any point in the past. "Um… I'm afraid that I don't understand what I've done to deserve such praise."
"Oh, my apologies!... I assumed that you knew about it, but your collection of outfits are the hottest thing in my shop! They're selling like hot pancakes!"
"My... outfits?" Tilting her head in wonder, Belldandy was absolutely confused as to what was going on anymore.
"Of course! Please, take a look over there! We've got a special stand dedicated just for you!"
Following the shop owner's gaze, Belldandy's eyes widened in utter shock and embarrassment when she saw a life sized poster of her wearing that outfit she had during the Angel Eater incident. Raising an eyebrow, the brunette goddess approached what appeared to be the most crowded part of the shop that she had previously avoided to prevent being recognized by the other patrons. "This brings back memories…"
"Actually…why not take a closer look at some of the ones we've got on display?" said the shop owner, pointing towards the mannequins that wore some different color variations of the outfit in question. "Your opinion would be quite valuable as a matter of fact."
Nodding, Belldandy approached the one that looked the most to what she wore back then and inspected it from up close. "I must admit that this is an excellent replica of mine. The color and even the texture matches it almost perfectly and…"
Pausing as she got behind the mannequin, Belldandy's eyes went wide when she got a glimpse of the lower back of the outfit. "I don't remember it being like this!"
"Huh?... Oh! That's not the classic option, which was the one you wore during that incident, I'm afraid," said the nervous shop owner, realizing that perhaps it wasn't the best of ideas to show her some of the more popular variations they had available. "You… must understand that customization is important in order to personalize what they're buying and aside from the color scheme, we can offer some other possibilities. For instance, this is our best seller: the T-back design; named after the distinctive shape of lower part of course!"
"Really? It looks to me more like a Y to be honest. Look how it that it curves around the hips."
"Hm… You do have a point, actually. I might rename this variation later but for now, how about getting this one for free?" suggested the shop owner with a smile. "As I've mentioned before this is one of our most popular outfits and could be worn even in public, since it's not as audacious as some of the other variations."
Even though she really doubted that she'd even walk around like that in plain sight, Belldandy remained silent as she wasn't mentally prepared to learn what those other variations looked like, just in case the shop owner tried to prove her point. "T-Thank you, but I wasn't here to get something for free… Actually, I was just browsing and…"
"Oh, it's perfectly fine, I reassure you! It's thanks to you that my business was saved and a little gift like that is the least I could do to repay the favor!" insisted the red haired goddess. "I'm fairly sure that your husband will love it!"
Blushing a bit at the memory of Keiichi's face ending up in her cleavage when she wore the original version of this outfit, Belldandy briefly wondered what he actually thought about her wearing something a bit more… audacious than normal. Sure, with everything else that was going on at that point of time, his impression of her appearance was totally irrelevant, but now that they are married it could be interesting to show him that she's not that shy. At least not to the point where her little sister knew more about this stuff than her. "I… I must thank you for your generosity… I really hope Keiichi likes it."
"Excellent! Let me pack this for you and…" Retrieving her datapad, the shop owner wrote down the purchase, along with its 100% discount, but paused when she noticed a rather peculiar name in the client list. "Um… excuse me for asking this, but… are you certain that you've never ordered anything from us?"
"Huh? Yes, I'm fairly certain that this is my first time visiting this shop. Why?"
"There's a purchase under a name that… must be a typo or something," said the shop owner, raising an eyebrow.
"Are you sure?" said Belldandy, as she couldn't help but feel a bit curious. "What's that name anyway?"
"Verthandi."
XXX
Odal's cabin, on board CMV Skidbladnir, unknown location
Polishing the front fender if his newest possession, the rogue god was very pleased with the result of his efforts to bring this bike back to its original state; almost as if it just rolled out of the factory. With Fenrir taking care of his robots' upgrades, Gram monitoring Celestin's progress at adapting to his mechanical body and Vidarr trying to teach a few things to the amnesiac Ilmr, there was very little for him to do.
This gave the rogue god the best opportunity to do something else for a change and given how he enjoyed tinkering with all kinds of machines, Odal decided that he should pay some attention to the souvenirs he had brought from Earth. There was a wide variety of items that had attracted his attention, including some primitive computers back from the early 80s and even a few gaming consoles from the same era. But aside from the electronics which were the bulk of his collection of souvenirs there was also a pretty unique item amongst them: a bike. And to be more precise, it was a rather famous one too, since a Brough Superior was often considered as the Rolls Royce of motorcycles.
'There! Now I can finally say that I'm happy with the result! Hm… perhaps I should try restoring my C64 next? Or maybe the Famicom? So many choices…'
"ACHOO!"
Letting out a startled scream at the sudden interruption, the god nearly jumped and immediately looked over his shoulder to see who the intruder was, although he did have a fairly good idea as to her identity. "W-Wha-?..."
"Boy… you scream like a little goddess!" Using a handkerchief to blow her nose, the brunette demoness kept hovering just behind the startled god. "What are you doing, anyway?"
"That's my line! Why are you sneaking up on me like that?" asked Odal, pointing an accusatory finger at the demoness.
"I wanted to see how you spend your spare time now that you've got more immortals to socialize with and… you're still acting like a geek!" replied the brunette, narrowing her crimson eyes at the rogue god. "After all the trouble to save Ilmr from her prison, why don't you try to woo her too? I mean… it happens all the time in those stories! The knight in shining armor and all that!"
"I'm fairly certain that causing someone to lose their memories doesn't happen in those stories, though," muttered Odal, crossing his arms in defiance. "And don't even try to convince me that she's not aware of it right now. Sooner or later, she will realize what's going on and more importantly, whose bloody fault it was and then what?"
"Hm… okay, I'll admit that you've got a point there," said the demoness, scratching her chin in thought. "Which is exactly, why I've got a plan B, in case you cocked this up; which you did by the way."
"Huh? You can restore her memory?"
"No, but I did find a nice demoness for you!" said the brunette with a grin. "She's quite the looker too; especially with those big hooters of hers!"
Groaning, Odal shook his head as he was already used to her attempts at finding him a date, which all ended up in the same argument. "Look now… For the umpteenth time, I'm supposed to be hiding from everyone and their dogs, meaning that dating others is all but out of question!"
"Not so fast, pal! You existence is no longer a secret, which means… that whether you like it or not, you'll have to try and find more allies if you want to succeed and in the process you could also get a lovely girlfriend too!"
Staring at the demoness for a while, Odal decided that given that she was far more stubborn than the already obstinate goddess she so much resembled, he was just wasting his time trying to argue with her. The best option was to just agree and then hope that she simply forgets about it; at least for the time being. Still, there was one thing that he was kind of curious about what she said and while he had a bad feeling about it, he just couldn't stop himself from asking. "Um… you know… I get that you're trying to entice me with the idea of dating someone, but… Why is it important for them to have big… owls? I mean, sure… cute pets are adorable and everything, however when it comes to it, I prefer kitties."
There was a long pause as the demoness simply stared at the rogue god with an almost unreadable expression on her face. However, the electric pulse that coursed through her body, from her fingertips all the way to her antennae hair where it started to arc… was more than enough proof that this was best moment for the rogue got to bolt.
And that's exactly what Odal did; while trying not to look back at the pursuing demoness.
XXX
Asgard
"She's late…"
Checking his watch, Keiichi wondered what was taking his wife so long. They've agreed to meet in front of the Odin's statue at the most popular square of the celestial capital, right in the middle of the commercial district and for the nervous mortal, it almost felt like a date. After all, this was the first time he was going to take her on one while they were here on her own home town, although… the looks he was getting were kind of embarrassing.
Not that he blamed the celestial denizens for their stares, given that he would've done the same if he saw anyone walking around handcuffed to a goddess. "Um… Lind? Is this really necessary?"
"Thrud let you out of sight for just a couple of minutes and look what happened," muttered the Valkyrie as she stood next to him. Thankfully for the mortal she was in her civilian attire, than her battle uniform, which avoided making him look as if he was apprehended for something. On the other hand, it made the whole situation a lot more embarrassing.
"Oh, come on! Don't tell me that you'll keep me chained like that for as long as I'm outside the house!" said Keiichi, pointing at the cuff on his right hand. While the chain itself was long enough to give them some freedom of movement, it still kept him within an arm's reach. "Besides, I want to go on a date with Bell!"
"I… don't see what this has to do with anything. I'll release you once Belldandy takes over," said Lind, much to the mortal's confusion.
"Takes over? You don't mean… this?" asked Keiichi pointing at his handcuffs.
"That's correct. I trust her enough to let you under her direct supervision while I'm several meters away," said Lind with a nod, while Keiichi stared at her in horror.
"A few… meters?! No way! What about our privacy?"
"Security comes first, and if we can spare you some privacy, then I'll definitely consider it. In the meantime, you're not going anywhere," said the adamant Valkyrie, despite the crestfallen look on Keiichi's face.
"You know…" came a voice that was so close to the mortal that one might've thought that it was Keiichi's. "This is going to make the rumors a lot worse."
"Rumors? What rumors?" asked Lind as she looked at the front of Keiichi's jacket, which in reality was none other than Excalibur. Having assumed a form that allowed him to be extremely close to Keiichi while preventing the others from realizing that the mortal had an extra bodyguard with him.
"Oh… nothing…"
"Don't make such comments and then avoid my questions! I want answers!"
"Fine, fine!... According to Celestianet, which is the closest equivalent to Internet but with far less smut," said Excalibur for Keiichi's sake to understand what he was talking about. "There's a recent article that claims you like to put mortals on leashes for less than noble reasons and even comes with subpar photo-manipulated pictures in it. And not to mention a poll where you rank as the third most likely candidate to have taken his virginity before Belldandy."
"What did you say?!" screamed the aghast Valkyrie as she grabbed the shapeshifter jacket and shook him around; along with the unfortunate Keiichi.
"Hey, don't blame the poor messenger!... I'm just reported what I've found out after a bit of research…And please stop shaking Keiichi before he gets sick on me, thank you," said Excalibur in a flat tone.
Letting go of the synthetic shapeshifter, Lind could hardly hide her annoyance or… her blush. "Although… the third most likely candidate? The first must be Urd, but… who's the second? Peorth?"
"Urd's indeed first, although Peorth is fourth actually. The second one is Hild, especially in combination with option one in a mother-daughter three-..."
"Hush you! That's way more information than I've asked for!" grumbled Lind as she fiddled with her handcuffs, taking them off. "There! No need for any more silly rumors… But I still won't let you get out of my eyesight."
"No problem, Lind" said Keiichi, before he tried whispering to Excalibur. "Uh… was that really true?"
"Of course not! I just made it all up," replied the synthetic in a hushed tone, trying to avoid being heard by the Valkyrie. "I thought you needed some help, and besides… Do you really want Belldandy to see you and Lind like that?"
"Good point," said Keiichi, scratching his chin in thought. "Oh, and thanks for the save. I understand Lind's concern but..."
"Keiichi!"
Turning around, the mortal smiled at the sight of his lovely wife waving at them as she headed in their direction. Belldandy wore a variation of her typical robes; one that he had never actually seen before. Considering that for the past few years the Norn of the present along with her sisters lived together with him on Earth, most of their outfits were very similar to what humans tended to wear, but since they were on Asgard now, that restriction was no longer necessary.
As a result, Belldandy was wearing a brilliant, white outfit that unlike her official robes, hugged her form a bit more tightly although not to the point of restricting her movements. Furthermore, there was one slit on either side of her legs that went all the way up to the goddess' hips to make it even more comfortable to walk in. Although in Belldandy's case in order to avoid showing far too much skin, she chose to wear a stylish pair of leggings underneath it with blue floral patterns printed along the length of her thighs. Golden chains ran underneath her bust and all the way around her sides until they converged at the bottom of her dress' low neckline. Still, despite its seemingly revealing design, most of her skin was partially obscured by a layer of blue lace that reached all the way to her neck as well as providing her with a pair of sleeves, each adorned with a single white rose on their side, just below her shoulders.
"Wow… that's… amazing!" said Keiichi as he took the sight in. It wasn't often that Belldandy tried anything nearly this flashy, although he had to admit that he really had little idea as to what was considered as such here on Heavens.
"Oh, thank you, darling! I've decided to try one of my older dresses, since you haven't seen any of them." Smiling, the goddess twirled around for her awestruck husband to see more of her outfit. "Do you like it?"
"Of course! Who wouldn't?" said Keiichi after he realized that he was staring; even though it just made his goddess giggle at how silly his expression looked like.
"Peorth… Too much fabric and all that."
Blinking, Keiichi remembered about Excalibur and proceeded to remove his jacket and hand it to Lind, before the synthetic's comments ruined his date. And not to mention the practical issues of being unable to hug his beautiful wife while Excalibur was literally going to get in the way. "Here, I think the weather is warm enough that I don't need a jacket."
"Was that… Excalibur?"
"Yep, in all his snarkiness," said Keiichi to his curious wife, before he tried to keep some distance between them and his two bodyguards.
"It looks like you've earned yourself a reputation already," muttered Lind, as the synthetic resumed his humanoid form.
"What can I say? I'm such a colorful person. Now, how about we follow them and make sure he's safe?"
"After you." Nodding, the Valkyrie couldn't help but wonder if the whole aspect of going on a date was nearly as much of fun experience as everyone claimed it was. 'Hm… I suppose it might be interesting to observe Keiichi and Belldandy's interactions while they're on a date. That way I can get a better insight on the subject, compared to those books I've tried reading a while ago.'
XXX
Urd's apartment, Muspelheim
Peeking inside their bedroom, Mara tried to see what the commotion was all about. For the last minute or so, her girlfriend was laughing and quite hysterically too, making the blonde demoness wonder whether she found something absolutely hilarious to read or… she had experienced too much stress during the last couple of days.
"Urd? Are you…"
"Bwa ha ha ha!" Rolling from side to side on their bed, the half demoness was still holding the communicator Skuld had given her before she originally departed to the fire realm, making Mara breathe out a sigh of relief.
'Looks like she's just having fun by… whatever she's talking about with the pipsqueak.' Pausing before she turned around and head back to the living room and resumed watching her favorite show about the biggest accidents on Earth, Mara realized that Urd's sisters were going to become her in-laws, if everything went well of course. As such, having a friendly chat with them once in a while was probably the best way to gain their approval and given that, Urd was too busy laughing her ass off, the blonde demoness picked up the communicator and cleared her throat. "Hello?"
"Oh, is that you, Mara?" asked Skuld from the other end of the line.
"Yeah… I wanted to see what was going on with…" said the blonde, before Urd laughter caused her to glance in her direction. "Okay, seriously… what did you tell her?"
"Well… I called to say that I've got a new mentor."
"Really? And that was funny, because?..."
"It's Peorth," said Skuld with a groan, expecting the blonde to start laughing as well.
'Pff!... Serves you right!' Struggling not to lose her composure, Mara made a desperate attempt to keep her tone as natural as it possible. "Oh, how nice! I really hope you get along with her!"
"You're really enjoying this, don't you?" muttered Skuld in a flat tone.
"Yep!"
"Then I hope you're looking forward to the tricks she's going to teach me!" said Skuld in such a cheerful voice that made Mara pause and stare at the communicator with a raised eyebrow. "I've already asked her if I can learn how to summon four leaf clovers!"
"Y-You… pint sized sadist!" gasped Mara, shivering from the very idea of that dreaded plant.
"Thanks! I'm doing my best!" laughed Skuld, as she could easily imagine the horrified look on the blonde's face. "With you marrying into the family, someone needs to make sure you feel comfortable; being a demoness and all."
"It doesn't work exactly like that, but I'll give you some points for…" said Mara, before she actually realized what the little goddess had just told her. "Hey wait a freaking moment! Who said I'm getting married to anyone?"
"Are you trying to tell me that you're just fooling around with my sister?" asked Skuld with the most intimidating tone she could muster.
"No!... It's just that we've started dating too recently!" said Mara in her defense. "That Keiichi kept Belldandy waiting for years!"
"No argument there. Oh, and speaking of that… dad said that you two don't need to pass the Gate anymore. The system was even uninstalled from Yggdrasil and we had that Gate repurposed as a licensing test. So make sure you tell Urd that, okay? I need to go now, since Peorth's waiting for me."
"Uh… sure thing." Hearing the click from the other end of the line, Mara remained silent for a while, until a curious Urd floated next to her and waved a hand in front of her.
Getting no response from the blonde who seemed lost in her thoughts, Urd looked around and spotting the now empty bag of chips she had previously enjoyed and after inflating it, she held it next to her girlfriend and popped it without warning.
"Wahh!?"
"You've spaced out. Well? What did my sister told you anyway?" asked Urd, now that she had fully regained her composure.
"The Judgement Gate's gone," mumbled the blonde demoness almost as if she tried to convince herself instead of simply relaying that information to her girlfriend.
"So? I thought that, Surt and Skrymir got rid of that system already."
"No, I mean… for good! They repurposed the Judgement Gate for the licensing tests, completely dismantling all the servers that were meant to monitor romantic relationships!" said the blonde demoness, wondering why Urd barely even cared. "That's great news!"
"Talk about yourself… There goes the biggest source of authorized smut in Asgard," said Urd, sticking her tongue out at the wide eyed blonde. "Oh well… I can still access human's Internet, although, the quality there leaves much to be desired."
"Hey, I'm trying to be serious here!"
"Yeah… for once. Although, why are you making such a huge fuss about it? It's not like they would've forced us to pass it, given that I'm currently a demoness too."
"That… currently part is the problem, though," said Mara, looking away from her as she let out a sigh. "But what about when you'd return back into a goddess?"
"Hm… that would've certainly been a pain. Although, did you really expect me to just give up and dump you? I'm not such a cheap date, you know."
"I never said that, Urd. It's just that it was because of that stupid system that I never really considered asking you a long time ago," admitted Mara, trying to look away from her. "After all, I knew that when it came to it, you'd always choose to stay with your sisters and as a goddess you'd have to pass that dreadful test with me. I think it's pretty obvious what would happen if that came to be."
"Don't be so sure about that, Ma-chan. My sisters are growing up and while I'll always care for them, they're not little girls anymore. Belldandy got married and while Skuld's still young, she's definitely not as childish as she used to be. As much as I wish to protect them, at some point, they won't need my help anymore and the last thing I want is to become a burden to them. Of course, I had always thought that getting a couple cats to keep me company could be a nice alternative," said Urd with a melodramatic sigh, only to notice that her girlfriend started to laugh. "Hey! What's so funny?"
"You, taking care of cats? That makes you sound like an old lady," said Mara between fits of laughter. "Not to mention anything about the whole concept of taking care of anyone!"
"Oh really? What about you, Ma-chan? You're the clumsiest, most hopeless demoness I've ever seen!" said Urd with a big grin, poking her girlfriend's cheeks; much to the latter's chagrin. "Someone needs to take care of you."
"Cut it out! This isn't funny!" protested the embarrassed demoness, trying to swat the half demoness' hand in an almost comical manner, resembling a cat making an attempt to scratch someone. "And I'm not hopeless!"
"Aw! You so adorable!" grabbing her in a tight embrace, Urd proceeded to cuddle the protesting demoness who found herself in the hybrid's version of marshmallow hell, although she did take a look up to her and noticed the Norn's somewhat serious expression.
"Uh… Urd?"
"You shouldn't worry too much about that, Mara," said Urd much to the blonde's confusion. "I won't leave you, regardless of what I'm going to do about my sisters."
"Do you really… mean it?"
"Of course! When did I ever lie about…" started Urd but stopped as soon as she said that. "Actually, never mind about that… I don't need an answer."
"No kidding…" muttered the demoness with a mirthless chuckle.
"Now you're pushing it!" said Urd, despite her amused giggle. "Although in all seriousness, I hope you know what you're in for. At this rate, you're going to have a goddess like me around you forever."
"I don't mind having… Hey wait a freaking second!" said Mara, furrowing her brows when she suddenly recognized that line. "I'm not that shorty!"
"Aw… and I even got my sister's robes just for you!" With a melodramatic pout, Urd released her girlfriend and without any delay she changed her clothes into a red version of Belldandy's goddess attire, complete with that headscarf she used to wear back when she first visited Keiichi. "Well? Don't just stare at me like that, say something!"
Taking a few seconds to absorb what her bewildered eyes were seeing, Mara actually made a couple of attempts to offer a comment, but she almost instantly stopped, fumbling with her words. "Uh… it's… nice."
"I know, right?" Twirling around with a giggle that would've made her middle sister proud, Urd inspected her attire and appeared to be happy with it, despite how out of place it looked on her. "Although in all honesty, I don't know why Bell-chan never wore any shoes with this dress. Interestingly though, she's not even wearing a bra, too! Heh… she sure is my sister."
"Not so sure about that," said Mara, scratching her chin in thought. "You both act very differently, most of the time."
"Oh? is that a challenge?" asked Urd, raising an eyebrow. "How about I prove you that I can act like her for a whole day?"
"As weird as it sounds… I almost wish to see if you can pull it off," said Mara with a chuckle. "Mostly to have something to laugh at."
"Really? Want to make a bet about this?" asked Urd with a smirk, leaning closer to her girlfriend. "Whoever loses, will become the other's maid for a day."
It felt like a trap as far as Mara was concerned, yet part of her was fairly confident that it was going to be too hard for Urd to pull this off without a hitch, so she decided to go for it. "Sure! I hope you're ready to lose."
Instead of a snarky reply, Urd's expression changed into a bright smile, not unlike those her sister was so famous for. "Oh, that's so nice! I hope it's going to be fun for both of us. Now, how about I cook something for lunch?"
"Um… s-sure go ahead, Urd!" managed Mara, not knowing what else to say in a situation like that.
"Okay then! Be right back!"
Watching her girlfriend hurry to the kitchen made the blonde demoness scratch her head, wondering if this was how married life supposed to be, although a part of her seriously doubted that.
'Hm… who's going to take care of meals if we marry? I've got no idea how to cook, and who knows what she's going to put in the food if she's the only one who takes care of it. Sure we don't need to eat, but we both like it. Maybe… I need to start reading some cooking books.'
XXX
Ansuz's office, Vingolf, Asgard
With her vacations officially over, the teal haired goddess knew that sooner or later she would've to face the almost literal mountain of paperwork that awaited for her return. Even though Tyr covered for her while she was on the mortal realm, that still didn't eliminate all those reports that had to be reviewed and just the sight of those paper stacks was causing her a major headache.
'And that's why I don't go on vacations very often…'
Taking off her cryptographic glasses Ansuz rubbed her temples and decided that she needed a break after a few hours of hard work. Technically speaking immortals rarely needed any form of visual correction, although they did employ several types of lenses and other kinds of optical devices to enhance their perception when necessary. Such was the case with detecting the normally invisible bugs or the similarly invisible text that was used to prevent those who lacked the proper authorization from reading a sensitive file.
Heading for the coffee maker her youngest daughter built as a gift for her hard working mother, the teal haired goddess couldn't help but smile at what appeared to be Skuld's most simple and yet reliable contraptions she's ever made. Consisting of a vertical cylindrical boiler that had a series of hollow tubes running all the way from its bottom to the very top, it was designed to be heated by a gas burner at its base, causing the hot air to pass through the tubes that came into contact with the water inside of it and therefore maximizing the heat transfer. And once the air pressure inside built to a certain level, a single tube at the center that reached almost at the bottom of the boiler allowed water to be pushed up and through it to a miniature tap where it dripped onto the funnel that held the paper filter with the ground coffee.
Despite its simplicity, it was one of Skuld's most robust contraptions so far as it lacked any complex parts and with only the bare minimum of maintenance it could keep working for decades; which it actually did already. As a matter of fact, it was back when a much younger Skuld arrived at her mother's office to bring her the gift that was nearly a third of her own size at that point of time.
'She was so adorable! I guess I never thought I'd say it, but I do miss those days… even if she was a pain to deal with when it came to all those experiments with explosives she secretly conducted. So many craters to fill… Oh well, she seems to be growing into a more responsible goddess, although… I really hope Peorth doesn't teach her anything funny.'
Visions of a scantily clad adult Skuld made Ansuz cringe her nose as she shook her head to disperse such horrible thoughts. After all, being the most rebellious of her daughters, the Norn of the future could end up imitating Urd instead of Belldandy. Not that Ansuz had a problem with it, as long as the young goddess doesn't surpass her eldest sister and even her newly appointed mentor.
Letting a sigh, the concerned mother watched the hot water drip on the coffee grounds and collect into the canteen below it; totally unaware of the tiny form of her other daughter hovering towards her.
"Hello mother, I wanted to ask you..."
Nearly jumping from getting startled like that, the teal haired goddess accidentally swat Belldandy's tiny form with her head winglets, sending her straight into the cupboard next to them.
"Oh no! I'm so sorry, dear! Are you okay?"
Poking her head out of the jar filled with macaroons, Belldandy made the one hand okay sign Valkyries used when they had to remain absolutely silent, both physically and telepathically. After all, she did end up with a mouthful of the sweet and soft cookie, and by the looks of it she had no intent of letting it go that easily.
"Well, I'm happy to hear that, but… what are you doing here? I thought that you were going out on a date with Keiichi."
"Mmph…"
"Don't speak with your mouth full, young lady. Although I'm happy that you like my homemade lemon flavored macaroons," said Ansuz with a proud smile on her face. "I wanted to try them before I send some to you and Skuld."
Nodding, Belldandy took another bite and couldn't help but wonder why this excluded a particular member of their family, to the point where she just had to ask. "What about father?"
The elder goddess' disgusted grunt spoke volumes of her scorn for the god in question. "Who cares? It's not like he's going to miss my cooking!"
"Uh… mother? Did anything happen?" asked the worried Norn of the present, not liking Ansuz's angry tone.
"You bet!" said the teal haired goddess, reaching for a document that was lying on her desk. "Just look at this! He's receiving an almost daily delivery of flat-bread and chocolate mousse from no other than Hild herself! Can you believe the nerve of that… that… philander!"
"But… mother! It's not cheating if he accepted Hild's food!" objected Belldandy, feeling that her mother was too unfair to her poor father.
"Oh, really? Then how would you feel if… let's say… Peorth starts sending Keiichi some sweets?" countered Ansuz, raising an eyebrow at her daughter.
There was a pause as the miniature goddess' grip on the macaroon got so tight that she ended up breaking it in half, while she narrowed her eyes menacingly. "That's… out of question… I won't allow it!"
"See? That's the whole point!" said Ansuz with a shake of her head, happy that she had made her point. "Although, why did you come here in the first place? Considering that this is merely a fraction of your main body, I doubt that you just decided to drop by to say hello; not that I mind of course."
"Well, to be honest with you, I've run into some rather bizarre information and I wanted to check something out," said Belldandy recalling her visit to that shop earlier in the morning. "Is there any goddess called Verthandi?"
"Huh? No, not to my knowledge…" said Ansuz while scratching one of her winglets in thought. "Actually, wasn't that what Skuld used to call you when she was an infant and couldn't quite speak clearly yet? She even called Urd a little bit differently too… Urth, if I'm not mistaken."
"I remember that, but… I've ran into that name earlier and I was wondering if there was someone else who's actually called that," said Belldandy, trying to avoid going into great details as to where she heard that name.
"Strange… I think it must've been a typo, but I can check it out if you want."
"I'd love that," said Belldandy, offering a nod to her mother, before she hovered back to the jar and picked another macaroon. "In the meantime, why don't we do something about father and his latest supplier of desserts?"
"Now… I'd love that!" laughed Ansuz, knowing that few could say no to Belldandy, especially when she got upset. "As a matter of fact, how about I check it and then go and have a few words with your father?"
"Yes! Let's..." started Belldandy, only to come to an abrupt halt when the sound of an alarm reverberated in her mother's office, causing both goddesses to stare at each other in shock.
After all, this wasn't a case of a bug outbreak which could be described as a relatively normal event, but a far more unusual one, especially these days: an intruder alarm.
And that only meant one thing… Demons.
XXX
On board CMV Skidbladnir, unknown location
"Come out coward! I know you're hiding in there!"
Tapping her heeled foot on the floor, Verthandi stood before one of the stolen battleship's hangars and scanned the numerous crates for any sign of the rogue god who used them as a cover. Of course, she knew that nobody would actually offer her an answer in a situation like this, so she had to use an alternative approach to get his attention, forcing him out of his hidey hole.
"You know… I've been to Jarnvidr and by the looks of it, Angrboda seems to have woken up from her slumber too. I couldn't find her anywhere, so I think it's safe to assume that she's gone for a walk."
"What?! Why didn't you tell me when you first came?!" shouted Odal, shooting up from behind a crate, his face as pale as a sheet of paper. "We need… no, we must find her before she finds anyone!"
"Aha! So that's where you've been hiding!"
"Who cares? This is really serious!" running up to the demoness, Odal grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her, hoping that she would snap out of it and realize just how grave the situation was. "If she finds anyone, it's gonna end in a bloodbath!"
"Oh, come on… she's not that bad!" said Verthandi with a smile that slowly turned into a frown. "Well… most of the time anyway."
"If you're trying to make me feel better, then you're definitely not doing a great job," muttered the rogue god, before he noticed that they had company, and more precisely, Fenrir and a few of his robotic subordinates.
"Hey! What's going on here? Why there's a half naked Belldandy here?" asked the baffled canine, while the demoness in question tried hard not to laugh.
"Oh, please!... Can't you tell that I'm not Belldandy just by looking at me; or by the fact that I'm emitting demonic energy?"
"Excuse me you thong wearing princess, but… looking at you only raises more questions than answers… So many as a matter of fact that I feel like chasing my own tail right now," said Fenrir with a snort, dropping his ears as he sarcastically narrowed his eyes.
"Actually… I'd love to see that, mister doggy," said Verthandi in mock excitement that made the canine's tail shoot up in annoyance.
"I'm a wolf!"
Deciding to intervene before this argument got out of hand, Odal stepped between them and gave Verthandi a stern look. "Enough with this nonsense! Instead of wasting our time like that, we must try to find Angrboda before she does anything stupid!"
"Well, that's easier said than done, Odal. She could be anywhere right now, so give it a break and relax a bit," said the brunette demoness, offering him a wink. "All this stress isn't good for you. Besides even if we wanted to go after her, it wouldn't just prove to be a wild goose chase, but also give our position away."
"That's true but…" grumbled the rogue god, slumping his shoulders in defeat, knowing all too well that she did have a point.
"Alright, now that we got that out of the way…" said Fenrir as he took a deep breath. "Can anyone tell me what the Hell's going on here? Oh, and while you're at it, who's Angrboda, too..."
Sharing a look, Odal and Verthandi did a really fast round of rock-paper-scissors and with the former losing to the latter's rock, it left Odal with his hand-sigh of scissors, which in all irony was the universal victory sign.
"Great… This sure isn't my day…" muttered the rogue god, while Verthandi headed for the door. "Hey, where are you going?"
"Where else? I need a nice, hot bath to keep this…" said the demoness as she reached back and smacked her own behind, much to everyone else's surprise, "nice and pert. Mm… I hope you've installed that jacuzzi I've asked you."
"Deck 4, sector 8, cabin 35," said Odal in a totally flat tone.
"Thanks! See you later, kay?" Offering the rogue god and the stunned bystanders, including the synthetic warriors a playful wink, Verthandi departed while shaking her hips in a lascivious manner.
Staring at her for several long seconds, Fenrir and his robotic entourage, turned to Odal who was pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance, unlike the rest of the stunned audience. And while the robots still respected their creator enough to remain silent as it was evident that this wasn't a topic he wished to discuss, the same couldn't be said about their current commanding officer who growled menacingly.
"Explanations! NOW!"
XXX
Ithavoll, Asgard
Opening the package he had received earlier this morning, Tyr was happy that he had something to make him feel much better after the… trying experience of dealing with Thrivaldi; the one who was in reality behind the whole debacle with Keiichi's physical examination. Not that he expected anything from that particular Councilor whose only ability was to annoy others with his bigotry and vile comments about alleged favoritism.
'I should've listened to Loki's advice to sic Thor on him a long time ago… But no! I had to be the nice god… Sometimes, I really need to do what must be done, instead of trying to be everyone's friend. Oh well, at least this will definitely cheer me up!'
Inside the package Hild had sent him was a cup filled with chocolate mousse carefully wrapped in a decorative cloth that doubled as a shock absorber and next to it were a few rectangular pieces of crispy flatbread. This particular variety had a series of holes punched to it, which in most cases were intended for allowing the bread to bake evenly while it remained flat; a practice also used by mortals on several occasions, although in Hild's case, the reason was a bit different. Unlike the almost perfect grid of holes one might've expected, the flatbread she sent to Tyr appeared to have a series of seemingly random placed holes throughout its surface that could've mistaken for poor culinary skills at a first glance.
However, closer examination would reveal that the explanation to this anomaly was a much more insidious one, that had more to do with a rather archaic method of storing digital information than cooking: This was an edible version of a punctured card and the best method to send messages without others realizing what they were in the first place.
It was a trick they used to communicate back when they first started to date each other a long time ago and wished to avoid their compatriots from finding out about their love affair. After all, nobody would believe them anyway and accusations of espionage and treason would be issued from both sides by their political enemies who would love to see them removed from their positions. Even before they became rulers of their respective species, Tyr and Hild possessed high ranking positions, with the former being head of the Fighting Wings while the latter was the ruler of Muspelheim succeeding Hyrrokin after her demise during a large battle in Midgard.
'With everything that's going on, it's a much better idea to exchange information is such a fashion, rather any sort of official means of communication. It's bad enough that idiots to the likes of Thrivaldi and his sympathizers are raising a lot of noise about Kvasir's incarceration, the last thing I need is to try and make it seem as if Hild was somehow involved in this.'
Such accusations were indeed common back when his love affair with Hild became widely known and perhaps the biggest reason why he accepted to pass the Judgement Gate in the first place. Without reassuring his loyal subjects that their relationship was a case of genuine love and not an attempt to rule the world together with Hild, his authority would've been severely undermined.
So, an alternative was necessary to get some information from Hild's own intelligence gathering services, as they were renown for their efficiency and thus far Tyr had learned a few interesting details about some of the more… respectable members of their society. Things that one would've never expected from such upstanding citizens, like extortion, bribery, intimidation and worse… falsifying records to make themselves look as if they were working hard by taking credit for some of their subordinate's own work. Not only such a thing was unethical, but it also counted as a lie and an attempt to deceive others, and considering that most of the offenders were first class deities, the implications behind that were quite serious.
Yet the infuriating part was that unless such evidence was brought forth by an investigation of their own, there was no way he could use what he got from Hild, as any such attempt would be simply dismissed as a political persecution based on demonic lies.
'Hm… at the very least I've got a good idea on where to focus my efforts and hopefully manage to catch them red handed.'
Lost in his own thoughts, the Daitenkaicho failed to notice a rather bizarre shadow shift in one of the office's dark corners, despite that there was nothing there to cast a shadow in the first place. It was only after the shadow started to take form, that it triggered the intruder alarm and made the god snap out of it and look around for the source of this disturbance; and what Tyr saw made him jump from his chair, ending up on the hard floor in utter shock.
Before him stood none other than Hild, even though there were a few peculiarities about her appearance, yet Tyr was far too shocked to pay too much attention to them at the moment, backing off from what he knew that was likely a very dangerous gamble for her.
"W-What are you d-doing here, Hild?! The curse will…. You… You're going to die!"
Chuckling a bit, albeit in a much less amused fashion that was expected of her, the platinum haired demoness moved forward swaying her hips in an almost hypnotic motion, which was further accented by her current outfit. A black bodysuit with vertical golden stripes that highlighted her generous curves and a low neckline replaced her typical pink dress. Even her almost iconic headgear was replaced by a golden hairpin that wrapped around her hair and extended upwards in a U shaped ornamental decoration.
However as soon as the god had recovered from his initial shock, it became apparent that there was something profoundly wrong with her; namely her green eyes that certainly didn't match the purple ones he remembered and above all, her markings were replaced with what seemed like number 8 drawn in straight lines, as if it were two diamonds on top of each other.
"Wait a second… you're not Hild!" said Tyr, narrowing his eyes at his uninvited guest. "Who are you and how did you even get in here?"
"Your security systems are… lacking to say the least," said the demonic intruder with a sneer.
"You still haven't answered my first question. And if you think you're impersonating my former wife, then you're definitely doing a poor job at that."
"Oh, I assure you that I'm not impersonating anyone, even if my physical appearance bears a striking resemblance to Hild. I'm She who brings sorrow, or Angrboda for short and I aspire of becoming your new wife, providing that it gives me access to your resources and authority here on Asgard. Although, manipulating things behind the scenes is also fine with me too," said the demoness with a smile so forced that it seemed almost as if she had trouble on how to form one.
"My new what?" asked the baffled Tyr after a few seconds of wondering if this was a prank and someone was laughing at his admittedly silly expression. "I'm already married, thank you very much!"
"Oh, I beg to differ, as I've studied extensively to become a much better candidate for a partner than your current one," said Angrboda summoning three books and by their titles it was obvious that one was a cookbook, the other a home economics one, and the last a copy of Kama Sutra. "As you can clearly see, I know how to cook, manage a household and even prove a formidable opponent in the bed, although my real specialty is blowing things to smithereens and that too counts as another of my good points."
Blinking, the Daitenkaicho wondered if this was a prank of sorts, although a brief glimpse at his holo-screen verified that she was indeed a demoness, despite the troubling part that her identity was nearly impossible to verify.
'She's a rogue for sure, but… why does she look like her? And what's up with rogues showing up everywhere these days? We've already got that god and now a demoness too? What's going on here?'
As the troubled leader of Asgard wondered about this rather surreal situation, the door of his office flung open, revealing Ansuz and a miniature version of Belldandy sitting on her mother's head and holding on for dear life.
"Where's the intru-..."
There was an awkward pause as the teal haired goddess stared at Angrboda who turned to face the newcomers with contempt clearly evident in her face. "Would you be kind enough to leave us alone for a couple of minutes? I'm still trying to seduce that indecisive god you call a husband, and it's already hard as it is; I don't need you to complicate matters even further."
"EXCUSE ME?" shouted the outraged goddess at the audacity of this demoness. "You've infiltrated into our realm, and still have the nerve to say such a thing right in front of my face? And what's with that stupid disguise anyway?"
"Disguise? You mean…. my appearance? That's how I naturally look like. I'm not faking it in any way," said Angrboda, earning a strange look from the two goddesses who still found it a bit hard to accept that this intruder just happened to look exactly like Hild for no particular reason whatsoever.
"As if I'd buy that big, fat lie! Who are you and what do you think you're trying to pull here?" asked Ansuz while materializing her battle axe.
"I'm Angrboda, and I came here to take over this place from behind the scenes," was the short and rather brutally honest reply, which did little to diffuse the situation.
"That's out of question and it's better if you stop this nonsense and surrender before…" started Tyr, feeling that things were about to go out of control and his wife's reaction verified just how right he was.
A flock of magically summoned winged beasts were sent to rend the intruder apart, but the bronze skinned demoness didn't even blink at the sight of them; instead, she grinned and prepared her own reply in the most devastating way imaginable.
"Bye, bye… weakling." Raising her arm towards Ansuz and her summoned birds, a series of runes appeared in her palm as an attack spell formed and almost instantly, a blinding light flooded the office, followed by a powerful explosion that shook the whole building to its foundation.
XXX
On a different part of the celestial city, Belldandy and Keiichi were having a cup of tea in one of Asgard's best cafes as part of their first date in Heaven, which also counted as a tour of the capital. Since he was a newcomer here, it was deemed necessary to learn more about the city in order to feel more comfortable, as well as an opportunity for the brunette goddess to try visiting sites that were very popular amongst couples.
Yet in all irony, Belldandy had taken her husband to a less likely place to spend some time together: a museum that specialized in mortal history, with thousands of exhibits, ranging from ancient ones to the more recent developments. And given the sheer size of the whole complex, they decided to stick to the section dedicated to motorized vehicles, something that Keiichi most definitely appreciated. Even more, some of them were exact replicas of historic machines, especially ones that participated in an important race or an attempt to set a record. Naturally, it did take some effort to convince Keiichi that they should move on with their date and not spend the whole day there. to which he came to agree even with some initial reluctance.
"I never thought you could find so many legendary machines here on Heaven. There was even the plane Wright brothers had used! Well… a replica but still…"
Giggling, Belldandy couldn't help but smile at her husband's excitement who acted like a kid in a candy store, even though they had already left the museum. "We can visit the exhibition again tomorrow, so, how about we carry on with our date?"
"Of course, Bell!" said Keiichi with no hesitation as regardless of how interesting those exhibits at the museum were, spending time with his wife was a much greater priority right now. "Do you have any ideas where to go next?"
"I think that the botanical garden would be the best place to visit, since the environment is so beautiful and serene. Although if you want a more busy location, we could always try the local mall," suggested Belldandy with a smile, before her expression started to change all of a sudden; turning into a frown.
"Uh… is everything alright, Bell?" asked Keiichi, wondering if he had done anything wrong without realizing it.
"No… I…You'll have to excuse me Keiichi, but… something bad just happened and we must go to father's office as soon as possible!" Shooting up from her seat, Belldandy looked around until her eyes spotted Lind and Excalibur, who were also enjoying a cup of tea not far away from them, since they had insisted on following the couple just in case. "Lind!"
"Yes?" Getting up from her own seat, the Valkyrie could tell just by the tone of the brunette's voice that was some kind of emergency and her assistance was needed.
"We must go to my father's office! There's an intruded there and she just tried to blow my mother up!"
"Say what?!"
AN: I would like to thank everyone that has offered their feedback and support both here and on the Goddess Relief site.
There are a few things that I'd like to note for this chapter.
Angrboda (literally translates as "the one who brings grief" or "she who brings sorrow") was a female Jotunn in Norse legends and mentioned as the mother of Fenrir. However in other references, she's also the mother of Jormungandr and Hel, Loki's other two children. Additionally, it's possible that she's identical to Jarnvidia ("she of Iron-wood"), a female jotunn living in a location called Jarnvidr ("Iron-wood").
In this story, Angrboda and Verthandi bear a striking physical resemblance to Hild and Belldandy respectively, but they have no other connection with them other than that. Now, there is a reason behind that, but I'd rather not explain anything that could count as a major spoiler. All I can say is that this isn't a case of evil twins/copies/clones and other similar concepts that are more or less overused in popular fiction.
Also, I would also like to thank HotelKatz for offering an idea that was used as part of Excalibur's answer to Lind (the line "There's a recent article that claims you like to put mortals on leashes for less than noble reasons and even comes with subpar photo-manipulated pictures in it").