I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series

"What do you mean we can't go back right now? I've even switched back at being a freaking goddess, so it should be alright for me to enter the Gate to Asgard!"

Leaning away from the annoyed Norn of the past, Naudiz nervously scratched her head while trying to come up with some way to calm the goddess down. "It's not really my decision whether you'll be allowed back in Asgard or not, Urd. Until they officially announce that the state of emergency is over, I cannot simply open the Gate to Asgard. I could send you to Earth though, but I highly recommend you to wait until the whole situation is sorted out."

Muttering a curse under her breath, Urd crossed her arms and broke eye contact with the demoness to calm herself down. After all, it was highly unlikely that Naudiz could do anything to help them, especially given the ongoing crisis that obviously took priority over her own desires. "Very well. Can you at least allow me to make a call? I need to tell my sister that we're doing fine, but I can't do it on my own right now."

"Oh, that's perfectly fine! Just give me a few minutes to make the arrangements and I'll let you know when you can call," said Naudiz with a slight smile, happy that she avoided a major blowout from the already stressed Norn.

"Thanks." Turning around, Urd walked out of the light frigate's bridge and headed for the cabin where Skuld and Keiichi waited for her. It's been only a couple of minutes since the demons picked them up from Seymour's den and while she was no longer a demoness -having switched back to her original configuration- no one really treated her any differently than before; which was a good thing of course. Except that in a roundabout way, it reminded her of that damned Valkyrie and the all those insults she so eagerly threw at her. 'What's her beef anyway? I kind of get it that she might hate demons, but I've spent most of my life as a goddess in Asgard. And it's not like I've been too much around my mother for most of that time.'

Stopping for a moment, Urd wondered if it was a good idea to use this opportunity to dig into that Valkyrie's past. 'The demons should have a file for every member of the Fighting Wings, so, if she's actually been in service for as long as she claims, then there's definitely a record about her. Perhaps I should ask Naudiz if she's got anything, but first… let's check on the kiddo and Keiichi.'

Not a moment too soon after she thought that, the unmistakable sound of Skuld's startled scream, which immediately caused Urd to bolt across the hallway and in her hurry she nearly punched the door's opening mechanism. "Skuld! What's going-... on?" Her senses were on high alert and even though she had her second class goddess restrictions placed onto her, Urd was still far from harmless. She was more than capable of causing some serious damage, especially if someone close to her was threatened and when it came to her sisters, Urd was even more protective than normal. But what she witnessed inside the cabin forced the eldest Norn to come to a grinding halt and take a step back in order to assess the situation, as she was far too baffled to even comprehend what was going on.

A brunette version of herself was giving Skuld what was known as the marshmallow Hell.

It wasn't the first time she saw something like that, with this being one of her mother's signature greetings -to those she liked at least- but given past experiences, Urd felt rather cautious about this familiar looking demoness. She even checked herself to make sure that she was still a half goddess and her demonic self wasn't on the loose, as impossible as that sounded, given that it actually took Mara a lot of effort to make that happen. But if that wasn't the case, then Urd began to worry that the next most likely possibility would be one of those doppelganger dryads that apparently loved to imitate members of her family, with two of them already copying Hild and even Belldandy. 'So, I have one too, huh…'

Noticing the newcomer, the brunette let go of Skuld who was still dazed by her sudden bear hug, or even the stunned Keiichi that stood nearby with a kiss mark plainly visible on his cheek. "Ah, there you are! I was informed that you three were on board this ship, so I came here as soon as I could to say hello." Striding confidently towards the fellow hybrid, the demoness offered her a somewhat friendlier smile, even though there was still some underlying mischievousness to it. "But where are my manners? I'm Hel, your new first cousin, so I came by to introduce myself… and also make sure that you're doing fine."

"Cousin you say?" asked Urd raising an eyebrow, her voice laced with doubt. "Sorry, but I'm not buying this unlikely story. Judging by your appearance, you must be from my mother's side of the family, but… she's got no siblings; let alone any nieces."

"Ah, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. I was using that word in a broader sense, as it's technically incorrect anyways. I'm partially a construct made by your uncle, Loki, if that helps explain things a bit. However, I don't wish to waste your time with boring details, so let's just say that I'm part machine and part an artificial being."

Predictably enough though, this description caused Skuld to perk up and stare at her sister's lookalike with renewed interest. "Eh? Did you just say… machine?"

Rolling her eyes at her sister's dreamy look the moment anything mechanical related came up, Urd decided to play along and accept that explanation; for now. "Very well… I suppose it's not totally against uncle Loki's interests to… create someone like you. Although why are you really here?"

"Other than checking on you?" shot Hel back at Urd with a raised eyebrow. "Well, I suppose I wished to take a closer look at Keiichi-kun. After all, as a mortal he falls into my domain of influence and I'd rather meet him now, rather than in several decades."

"Eh? Why?" This time it was Keiichi who seemed skeptical about Hel's intents with him, worrying that he was about to deal with yet another immortal -if the term was applicable to her- with him in her agenda. "I mean… why would you have to meet me in several decades?"

Yet for some reason that eluded Keiichi and even the Norns, Hel's lips curled up an amused smirk. "Ah, you see that's kind of due to my… job? No… probably the word purpose or role is more applicable, but suffice to say that while the whole matter is the subject of intense negotiations, if things stand they way they currently are… then you're staring at the retainer of mortal souls. Although to be more precise, those souls who no longer stand amongst the living. In other words… you've looking at death, Keiichi-kun."

"What?!"

XXX

Valhalla, Asgard

"That was totally uncalled for, Sanngrid! What made you think that you could attack one of our own like that?"

For the first time in her military career, Freya was genuinely outraged by one of her subordinates' behavior, which was so callous that left her in a state of shock when she first heard details about the incident. Despite some concerns about Sanngrid's state of mind, after dealing with demons for such a long period of time, Freya had actually supported her request to remain in active service; a decision that she now came to regret. Perhaps her own personality was to blame too, as Freya's history as a head of the Earth Help center made her very supportive of her subordinates, but then again, wish granters didn't experience the horrors a warrior would. Even in these peaceful days their duties as members of the Fighting Wings put a lot of pressure on them, and considering that even the toughest mind had a breaking point, it was generally though as good practice to reassign Valkyries in non combatant jobs for a set amount of time, to prevent such issues from becoming a real problem.

"In all due respect, I wouldn't go as far as call a demoness as one of our own. Of course, I'm fully aware of the half demoness' nature, but anyone who willingly changes side -no matter the circumstances- is not one I'd remotely consider as trustworthy." Despite her calm and collected demeanor that allowed her to remain in service for so long, Sanngrid was by no means truly apologetic about her actions. Nothing in her tone nor her body language hinted such a thing, which only aggravated her superior even more, yet Sanngrid didn't seem to care. She had long decided that her once contender wasn't truly worthy to become her commander, and as such her opinion was more or less irrelevant. One day, justice would be served, but until then she would do her best to comply.

"Urd is unique amongst us, and to blame her for what she is and how she came to be is simply too petty for any goddess worthy of a first class license."

"Yet to ignore the risk she presents to everyone here isn't worthy of a Valkyrie, regardless of her license," countered Sanngrid without missing a beat. "Besides… if she was this concerned about us, then she would've at least change into her previous state during an emergency, rather than prioritize her own desires before her obligations."

"And you're not?" Narrowing her eyes at her lieutenant, Freya decided that enough was enough with her. If that goddess wanted to patronize others, then getting a taste of her own medicine was the best treatment. "You're a Valkyrie, and as such it's your duty to follow orders and certain procedures. Yet instead of that, you're acting like some sort of vigilante, acting as if you're allowed to go about and enforce your rules on others. Which you can try of course, but not as a Valkyrie and definitely not without being arrested because of it. For now though… I'm having your license suspended for gross misconduct and severe breach of protocol."

"Is that all? Can I go now?" asked the shockingly calm and detached war goddess, causing her superior to briefly wonder if she was even paying attention to her.

"Yes you are, but remember that this is far from over."

Turning around, Sanngrid headed for the door, only to pause for a moment and look over her shoulder. "Despite how much we might disagree, in this case I believe that you got it right. This is indeed far from over."

XXX

Helheim

"Negotiate with you? As much as I believe in negotiations, unless I feel that I have a fair chance to present my case, then I'm not willing to partake in what seems like a farce. What you clearly seek here is to have me legitimize an arrangement I never approved, and as the Daimakaicho, I have more than enough reason to refuse."

Standing proud before her opponent, Hild tried to maintain an air of confidence around her, despite the uneasiness she felt from staring at Hel's partially constructed avatar. When Surt finally reported that he and the rest of the recon team had discovered Hel's location, she was expecting to find a fully assembled version of Loki's original mainframe. Instead of that though, her team had located a very similar lab to the one Loki had set up in her mansion to construct Hel's humanoid body, and judging by the looks of it, this one served the same exact purpose but on a much larger scale.

So much so that there were already eight assembly stations, each centered around a glass tube where Hel's humanoid bodies were contained; with the exception of one, that was already empty. Which probably meant that -according to the reports- the version of Hel currently present in Muspelheim was the model constructed here, rather than Loki's prototype that was most likely still back in Niflheim with her… parents.

More importantly though, what truly worried Hild was that Hel's behavior was somewhat atypical of a computer that simply went haywire. There was deliberation and planning behind her decisions, no matter how random they appeared to be at a first glance, and for the Daimakaicho that represented a much greater threat than any celestial would currently pose. At least those guys tended to be rather predictable, while Hel seemed to be using Loki's own strategies to distract those around her from what Hild now considered as the hybrid's true goal; to single-handedly establish herself as the third most influential person after Tyr and Hild herself. 'And by enlisting the Tree's assistance to gain a monopoly over the dead. Not even father had Yggdrasil's help when he drove the dragons to near extinction; and yet somehow Hel not only established contact with the Tree, but also persuaded it to create this necropolis for her.'

"Rules are set by those who can enforce them; that is the only legitimacy I'll need to justify my actions. Actually, I wouldn't care any less about your so called title, daughter of Ymir. It's the fact that I deem you worthy that prompted me to offer you the chance to sit on the negotiation table as equals." Hel's voice came out grim and almost mechanical, as her embedded vocalizer had to compensate for the incomplete lower half of her face, which would've normally assisted her to articulate like the organics did.

"Equal, huh? That's quite the statement for someone who didn't even exist a day ago," said Hild with a raised eyebrow. More than anything else, what actually surprised her was how different this Hel behaved compared to the one Loki made; so much so that she even considered the possibility that these networked entities with individualized personality and memories, rather than avatars of the same mind.

"Touche. Although I only speak the truth. However, I'm not seeking to antagonize you, as I can see the benefits of collaborating with you. And considering that this realm originally belonged to you, I'm perfectly willing to negotiate a conditional annexation of Helheim, should you allow me in your Inner Circle as its regional commander," offered Hel, much to everyone's surprise.

"For someone who wishes to enforce her own rules, Isn't that a bit of a step back? To serve under me will subject you to my rules, and to some extend the treaties we currently have in place with the celestials," said Hild in a clearly intrigued tone, as she really wanted to find out what Hel was up to. It was highly unlikely for a computer to oversee such a glaring flaw in her way of thinking, and unless she was plotting something, then Hild had no idea what the hybrid would gain from becoming one of her direct subordinates.

"I never said that I have issues following your rules, especially when we can both benefit from such an arrangement. Should you provide me with the materials I need for fabricating spare parts for myself, as well as a security detachment to defend this realm, then I've got no issues to share some of the excess energy I can harvest from the billions of souls I've got stored within my servers. After all, I'm producing more than I need for myself by giving them a dreamlike 'afterlife' instead of just keeping them lying around as useless information." And to further present her case, Hel projected a hologram from her right palm which contained all the relevant information about her current power consumption, as well as the estimations her annual energy surplus.

Taking a moment to study the data presented to her, the Daimakaicho couldn't help but wonder if Hel was exaggerating. Those numbers clearly implied that by the end of the year, Hel will most likely produce more energy than Niflheim's wish granting business. And considering that the latter was notoriously unpredictable thanks to the uniqueness of each individual contract along with its corresponding profit, this… alternative method could solve a lot of their problems. "Are you absolutely certain that those values are valid? They almost look too good to be true…"

"Please… I wouldn't bother with a scam, as it would've taken you no time to figure it out. These numbers are absolutely valid, and I think that they present you with a great opportunity. So… what do you say? Yes or no?"

XXX

Muspelheim

"Did you just say… death?" Keiichi had been through a lot of crazy situations during the last couple of years, but this was the first time he heard such an audacious claim. And the fact that the self proclaimed personification of death wanted to meet him, definitely wasn't a good omen for his future.

"That's quite correct, Keiichi-kun. Although, I'm merely assigned to this domain, rather than being the phenomenon itself. Just like the concept of time predated the Norns' existence, I too only represent death," said Hel with a surprisingly cheerful expression in her face, trying to calm Keiichi down from the scare she gave him.

Yet before the mortal could reply, Urd decided to step in and have a few stern words with her so called cousin. "Even if that's true… what's up with all this familiarity? Keiichi-kun? Really? Is that how friendly you're towards everyone you meet?"

"Well… technically speaking… both your mother and even Lind calls him Keiichi-kun," said Hel in a deliberately sultry voice that earned her a growl from the fellow hybrid. "However, unlike them, I have every right in the world to show such affection towards my betrothed."

As if her previous proclamation of being death wasn't enough, Hel's new statement stunned the trio to silence for a good couple of seconds as they tried to convince themselves that they had indeed heard right. "Your what?!"

"My betrothed," repeated Hel in a slow manner to let them hear the word more clearly, all while she maintained an almost dreamy look in her face. Which under any other circumstances would've been nightmare fuel to those around her, although on this occasion everyone was too busy freaking out to pay that much attention to her. "In a couple of decades from now, he's going to join me in my realm and then we can be a proper couple!"

"Oh no you don't!" snapped Urd before any of the others had a chance to say a thing. "We already have more than enough to worry about, and adding you to the list is one problem too many! What do you want from Keiichi anyway?"

Undaunted, Hel maintained her smile despite the more than obvious glare she was getting from Urd. "My, my… someone can't quite take a joke. Although, I must admit that aside that little joke of mine, the rest of my statement stands correct. Once our favorite mortal passes away, he will end up in my datacenter."

"When that time comes, will we be able to meet him?"

Not only was that question totally unexpected, but the fact that it came from Skuld startled even Hel, who despite all the processing power of her main body, never predicted such an outcome. And perhaps for the first time the goddess part of her forced Hel to back off and reevaluate her approach of the subject. "You might, but then again… it's too early to contemplate such distant events, even if you're the goddess of the future. What can be said though is that having the right connections can really come in handy both in life and death."

Noticing her little sister's body language relax slightly, Urd somehow felt less annoyed by this lookalike of sorts, and with a heavy sigh she decided to let her go; for now. "If that's true, then how about you show us what your connections can do? We're kind of stuck here in Muspelheim, and I'd definitely appreciate any help getting back to Asgard."

"Oh, is that all? I can open the Gate for you, if that's what you want!"

"Right, you can…" said Urd, fully expecting a no, but then came to abrupt halt and stared at the smiling hybrid. "Wait a moment!... You can? How?"

"Like I said, I've got connections. Both figuratively speaking and physical ones as well," said Hel with a wink. "Now let me inform the demons that I'm transferring you over to Asgard, and I'll open the Gate in just a minute."

XXX

Asgard

It was supposedly such a simple task that even became the basis of a popular saying in the celestial capital, yet finding a demon in the middle of Asgard was proving to be much more of a challenge for Lind. Granted, the demoness in question wasn't exactly on her own, and considering just who was accompanying her could explain why none of the patrols spotted them so far.

Still, Lind wasn't one to give up that easily and having Excalibur with her was a great source of help, as he was nearly as obstinate than her. "Well… they're definitely not here, so, what's next?"

Furrowing his eyebrows, mostly to indicate that he was processing her request, Excalibur looked around until he finally seemed to home into a certain location. "I'm picking up some readings from a nearby cave system, although… it's quite strange. This level of activity is simply too high for just two immortals causing it on their own, yet whoever's behind that seems to be actively trying to conceal whatever they're doing."

"That sounds pretty contradictory, don't you think?" said Lind, before she immediately paused and made a grimace when it became apparent to her what was likely the case. "Actually… never mind. It must be one of the patrols searching for them, so, let's try somewhere else."

"Not so fast, I've already considered that possibility and I'm not quite convinced that's the case here," said Excalibur in a rather pointed fashion, as he didn't like the implied accusation that he had overlooked such an obvious scenario. Not that he actually thought that Lind was trying to insult him on purpose, but perhaps she didn't quite took him too seriously, even though he was a former member of the Fighting Wing's AI squad. "I've checked the tactical network and I cannot find any units assigned to that sector."

"You still have access to-" Cutting her inquiry short before she ended up hearing anything too incriminating that would've given her no other option but take Excalibur into custody, Lind did something she honestly never expected to do in her life and tried to turn a blind eye to what she just heard. It was definitely against her modus operandi and felt really awful of doing it, but considering Sanngrid's blatant abuse of her authority, Lind knew that she was dealing with a vastly different situation here than anything she'd ever encountered in the past. "Do you have any specifics of what's going on there?"

"Unfortunately, no… I don't. Which is exactly why I think that they're not just minding about their privacy, but whatever they're doing is potentially illegal to begin with."

"Fine, let's take a look and then we can decide what to do about it."

XXX

As the only Norn currently available, Belldandy was more or less Asgard's only chance to access Yggdrasil's low level time API in a desperate attempt to slow down the System's execution speed to give them some room for coming up with a more adequate solution. This was actually the same method Urd had previously used to stop Welsper's virus from locking down all system files, but despite knowing what she had to do, it was a lot easier in theory than in practice.

'How do they handle this sort of thing on a regular basis?' wondered the nearly overwhelmed Belldandy as her fingers danced across the harp-like interface she was currently using to input the necessary commands. No matter how familiar she was with the terminals back in the Goddess Relief Office, Belldandy never had to work under such intense pressure that made it almost impossible to properly concentrate on her current task.

"Please stay focused, Belldandy! Your command aria is starting to get off key! At this rate you'll lose control of the System's BIOS settings." Peorth's voice was quite commanding and confident, implying that she knew all too well of what she was talking about. Yet the rose goddess didn't move to take the controls from her, and instead she trusted her to get her act together and handle this with the same steely resolve she always displayed whenever the situation demanded it.

'I've been way too worried about Keiichi that it's starting to affect me. He's got my sisters with him to make sure that nothing wrong will happen, so, I can't afford to let them down either.' Despite not being an administrator, Belldandy relied mostly on her experience as a songstress to synthesize an aria that contained all the encoded instructions to reconfigure the time manipulation layer interface and reduce the main clock ratio to the lowest possible setting without cutting all synchronization with the World Tree itself. "Peorth?... Is it really such a great idea to reduce the execution rate to such a low value? The strain we're putting onto the System to keep up the synchronization with the Tree must be truly enormous. We only have a tiny amount of the System's true processing power, so… maybe we should set the ratio at a higher value?"

"Trust me, I know all too well how dangerous this is, but at this point of time, we cannot afford letting this go on like that." At that moment, a blink on Peorth's terminal caught the brunette administrator's attention and wondering if the problem escalated, she immediately turned her full attention to it. Yet as soon as she got a glimpse of the presented information, Peorth's expression softened and the goddess let out a sigh of relief. "Finally, some good news! Belldandy, I've just received a report that, Keiichi and your sisters arrived here!"

"Huh?" Pausing for a moment, the Norn of the present thought that she was hearing things, probably from all the stress of handling this delicate job on her own. So, it took her a few moments to register Peorth's smile and then follow her hand as the rose goddess pointed at her holographic terminal; and much to Belldandy's surprise, the images of her beloved Keiichi and her sisters brought a smile to the Norn's face as well. Sure, Urd appeared rather groggy as she had Skuld land on top of her, but the three of them were otherwise unharmed and hopefully once she was done here, Belldandy could go and greet them. "Thank goodness! What a relief!. Although… how did they manage to get here? I thought that the whole realm was on lockdown."

"Now that you mention it… you do have a point there." In her enthusiasm, Peorth had overseen this tiny and yet extremely important detail. Typing a series of commands on her terminal, Peorth's curiosity turned into confusion as not only did she verify that the restrictions on direct transfers were still in place, but the very location the trio was currently at… should've been out of limits; being so close to the World Tree and all. But rather than alert Belldandy and cause her more unnecessary concern, Peorth kept that information to herself and forced a smile on her face that allowed the Norn to go back to her job, as she assumed that it was probably nothing too serious and they could sort it out later.

Still, the rose goddess discreetly opened a message form and quickly copied all the relevant information, before she labeled it as top secret and sent the encrypted message to someone who could do something about it. And with that done, the brunette resumed her work as if nothing was amiss, especially since one of their current problems was partially resolved, no matter how that came to be.

XXX

Pausing for a moment, Lind couldn't help but take yet another look at herself, and wonder how someone like Excalibur could ever come up with such a ridiculous idea of a camouflage; or how this method of concealing oneself would fool anyone under any circumstances to begin with.

"Excalibur… I appreciate your attempts to come up with something remotely plausible, but… I have my objections with this… so called idea." She was still having trouble standing upright thanks to the fact that her legs were constrained and that swiveling motion she had to resort to in order to move was making her feel as if she was about to topple over. Granted, all she had to do was stand still and allow the synthetic to do his job as the… lower part of her current body, but even that was really hard when it involved her prancing around in her current getup. An attire that was essentially nothing more than a stylized bikini top from the waist up, with the other half of her person being covered by Excalibur's morphed form.

"What's so problematic about this?" came a voice from below her waist, despite the lack of any obvious part that would've functioned as a mouth. "According to my information, there are a few lamia-type Earth Spirits in this particular part of Asgard, especially after they were relocated from Midgard. And on top of that, they do prefer to live in caverns, which is a nice excuse to approach that area without attracting too much attention to ourselves."

"I'm fully aware of that and I even took part in their relocation. Yet I cannot understand what dressing me as one of them would accomplish. Well, aside from me walking around in this kind of attire!" said the Valkyrie with an almost uncharacteristic groan. "I warn you… if this turns out to be some kind of a crude joke, then I'll do way more than just hurt your feelings."

"Duly noted. However, as I've stated before, I know what I'm doing. Just act as if everything's normal and don't make any sudden moves or anything that's going to attract too much attention. This disguise only conceals your true nature from those around you from a certain distance. So, unless they get far too close, it's highly unlikely that they'll notice what's going on, which is exactly why we can use this particular getup to try and blend into the environment as much as we possibly can."

"Do you think that a wig and some makeup will fool anyone?" asked Lind in a rather forceful manner, as she couldn't quite understand how someone as analytical as Excalibur was supposed to be could ever expect this plan to work. Even though they covered her facial markings and the dark wig helped her look somewhat unrecognizable, it was still far from enough in Lind's opinion. Worse yet… once they found out just who this lamia was, Lind wouldn't just be caught, but end up ridiculed on top of it.

"Should I mention that my specialization in the Fighting Wings was covert ops? If I'm suggesting something like this, then you should at the very least consider the possibility that I might know what I'm doing?" said Excalibur in a fairly calm and collected fashion, as he continued to slither across the uneven terrain of the forest trail that lead to the cavern they've previously detected. "Which is also why I think that whatever is taking place inside that cave is worth all this time and effort to investigate."

Taking a deep breath, Lind finally relented and decided to humor the synthetic, hoping that something positive would come out of this. "Understood. Let's get this over with…"

XXX

Although he had heard much about the so called World Tree, the moment Keiichi opened his eyes and gazed at the towering tree that stood before him, words weren't enough to describe how awestruck the mortal really was. As a matter of fact, nothing on Earth could compare with Yggdrasil's majesty, as the Tree stood taller than most skyscrapers and with a canopy that covered the same surface area of several city blocks all by itself… this was a sight so breathtaking that Keiichi couldn't help but feel feeble in comparison.

More than anything though, the sheer intensity of the Tree's emanating power filled the cavernous interior of the shell that physically surrounded Yggdrasil like a cocoon, yet for those inside of it, the experience was nearly overwhelming, almost as if a million voices spoke directly inside their very minds.

It was so much for Keiichi, that he didn't even register Urd trying to talk to him, until she began to shake him. "Huh?"

"Not huh? I was asking you if you're okay, but… I guess you're not." Searching for any obvious signs of injuries, Urd began to wonder if this was a case of neurological damage caused by a concussion as they materialized out of the gate Hel opened for them. Which was oh so conveniently about a meter above ground; just enough for Keiichi to take a tumble as he was too surprised even to rely on his angel to break his fall. "Okay, tell me how many fingers I'm holding up."

Rolling his eyes when the half goddess raised her index finger, Keiichi just didn't know if she was serious or just messing around with him. "I didn't hit my head, Urd! I… Can't you even hear the voices?"

Swapping the index finger with the middle one, Urd maintained her poker face, despite the groan such a gesture elicited from Keiichi. "Yeah… as if hearing voices is totally normal. I need to give you a full physical, just to make sure you haven't broken anything in there."

"He's not crazy, Urd!" said Skuld, as she interrupted her sister and stepped in between her and Keiichi, before she turned to give her brother in law a curious stare. "That's pretty strange, though… As a mortal, you shouldn't be able to hear Yggdrasil's chatter."

"The… what?" Trees didn't chatter, that much Keiichi was absolutely certain, but then again, none of the trees he had in mind were anything this massive. Even the mightiest Sequoia looked like a sapling in comparison, and the fact that this was supposed to be not only sentient, but also a reality warper in the most literal sense.

"Well… I meant the Tree's network traffic. What you're hearing is the closest equivalent to the blinking LED lights on the datacenters you have on Earth. You know… how they turn on and off when there's some activity? That sort of thing is happening here, only it's… different." She was struggling to find out the right words to explain things to Keiichi, and even then, in an extremely simplified version.

Which only made Urd snigger so hard that caused the others to stare at her as if she'd snap at them. "Can you imagine blinking lights on Yggdrasil? That would've been the biggest Christmas tree ever!"

'At least she's still in the mood for cracking jokes. Where she gets all that energy from, I don't even…' Shaking her head as she let out an exasperated sigh, Skuld had to admit that whether demoness or goddess, Urd was still… well… Urd. "Laugh it as much as you want, but we need to get out of here! I have no idea how she even managed to open a Gate here of all places, but without the proper clearance we might get out licenses suspended or even revoked!"

That last statement hit Urd like a proverbial brick wall, and motivated her to look around for the nearest exit. "You don't need to tell me twice! Let's get outta here, on the double!"

Despite having no idea what they were so worried about, Keiichi knew a few things to realize the fault in Urd's statement. "Uh… I'm probably wrong, but… If this is a place you need permission to enter… doesn't that also mean that you need the same thing to exit as well?"

"I hate to say it, but, he's right," admitted Skuld as she scratched her head, all while Urd was still freaking out at the prospect of getting her license suspended over something that wasn't even her fault.

"Screw that! We're not getting punished for something we've never done!" said Urd, still scanning the cavernous room for what she was looking for. "Aha! We should be able to use the access panels to get out of here."

"Urd… those are secured, as well," said Skuld with a sigh, not wanting to point just how obvious her sister sounded right now, at least for someone who was an administrator and knew great deal of things about the System's architecture. "Even if we manage to sneak into them, sooner or later, we'll hit a security panel and we'll be stuck. And don't even think of breaking through them, because that's a punishable offense."

"Oh, yeah? And what's your solution then?" Crossing her arms, the Norn of the past refused to admit defeat, and for the matter, so did Skuld who stared back at her sister.

Meanwhile, Keiichi decided to try and find if there was something productive he could do, rather than join his sisters in law in their argument. Not that he was worried about that, since it was far from unusual for Urd and Skuld to throw such arguments, and now that the former was a goddess, the latter apparently felt more at ease at challenging her. Still, having no idea how celestial security systems worked, Keiichi's next best guess was something he personally found as the most obvious thing here.

All trees had roots, and considering how massive Yggdrasil's root system seemed to be, the mortal seriously doubted that it was possible for this room to extend so deep into the ground to completely encapsulate the whole Tree. And if that was the case, then perhaps digging their way out of there was their best bet.

Searching around the roots, Keiichi walked further and further away from the quarreling sisters, until their voices became nothing more that background noise. With the World Tree being this massive, it would probably take him hours to look through every nook and cranny for any signs of loose earth they could use as a starting point for their tunnel. After all, digging their way out of here would definitely take a lot of effort, and anything that could speed up the process was a welcome change in his books. That and the mere fact that while he didn't wish to bring the subject up, but with him being a mortal, this was unfortunately a race against time.

This kind of reminded him the time he was stuck in that infinite room with Belldandy, and the problem back then was pretty much the same. Even if he tried his best, a human couldn't survive without water for more than two or three days, and the fact that he'd just been in a desert did very little to help. In all honesty, Keiichi doubted if he'd manage to go for more than a day, as he already felt somewhat thirsty, and all this walking around the Tree didn't improve things at all.

'Great… and now I know that if I die, I'll end up with a digital version of Urd. And one who's far more eccentric than her, too…'

In hindsight, perhaps he should've accepted Tyr's offer after all, and become an immortal, instead of trying to be the humble guy. Sure, he had no idea what was about to become his fate once his days were over, but joking or not, Keiichi had no desire to end up spending… who knows how long with Hel. Especially if he ended up meeting her way sooner than anticipated.

Coming to a stop, the mortal took a moment to catch his breath and leaned against the Tree's roots. A lot had happened as of late and Keiichi couldn't help but feel a bit fatigued; perhaps more than normal thanks to all the randomness associated with those events. And without even knowing, the mortal was fast asleep.

XXX

Darkness.

That was all he could see, that was all that surrounded him, that was everything.

Even the concept of himself was starting to sound like a fleeting idea, a distant memory, something of the past, or perhaps the future. Time was almost undecipherable of a concept too, as recalling what came to be almost sounded as simple as what will come to be, except for the latter leading to myriads of possibilities, each originating from equally numerous causes.

He was nowhere, or perhaps everywhere but either way it didn't matter. He wasn't even sure if he actually was at all, but then again if he didn't exist, then he shouldn't be able to ponder such thoughts.

'Actually... what's a thought? It sounds so familiar, but I don't quite remember.'

"Memories are all but recollections of events, placed in a chronologically order. Where time does not exist, so does no such order too. Memories have no more meaning than placing droplets in an order amidst the vast ocean of nothingness. Not matter how you arrange them, they're still fragments of nothingness itself. The order means nothing to anyone but yourself."

'I don't understand…'

"Ignorance is a bliss, linear one. It is the very reason your sanity was spared when you reached me, as you cannot understand. If you did… your ability to arrange those events in the limited order you call memory would've been utterly shattered. Yet as limited as you are, there are many more threads of events attached to yours, entangled like a never ending spindle of opportunities."

'Who are you? Or me for the matter?'

"I am the one who exists in this vast nothingness, the void that currently surrounds you; Ginnungagap. I am the one who studies the threads of what came and what will come to be, the one who possesses infinite knowledge by knowing nothing. I am the one who imposes some semblance of coherence in the eternal stream of threads, and the enemy of the other one who disrupts them. To me, I simply am, but to you, all of you linears, I am the root of it all. The Tree who Terrifies, Yggdrasil. Now, as for who you are… there are countless threads that intertwine to a converging point called Keiichi Morisato, yet that is a mere sound. Tell me… linear… which one are you?"

There was an explosion of colors, sounds and sensations that threatened to overwhelm his mind. Some were eerily familiar, while other were totally new, yet all resolved around similar forms and sounds. They formed streams that rose from the bottomless abyss and shot off in every direction imaginable, often interacting with other threads. Sometimes intersecting them, sometimes diverging with them and occasionally running in parallel paths. Yet far too many to count, and always changing to even identify for any given amount of time.

"I'm one of them?"

"That is both correct and wrong. Most of these are Keiichi Morisato, but there are others here too. Threads that came to meet with yours and entangled themselves to yours. Such is normal of course, as all linears run such complicated paths, yet yours is entangled with endless threads; or what you refer to as immortals. And for a tiny, finite thread like you, such feat is highly unusual; and to a degree… unique."

"Unique? How can you say such a thing? There are so many here!"

"Because that is the nature of a linear. To only stick to one possibility; one set of memories. Here lies every Keiichi Morisato, and the threads of both mortals and immortals whose fates came to be affected and tied to his. So, I ask you once more; which amongst them is you?"

"I… How can I even tell? There are far too many for them to even count, let alone pick! Can you help me?"

"Fair enough, linear. I do not accuse you for what you are, and as such I'll only ask you one thing. Which of those two threads do you wish to accompany yours?"

All of a sudden a warm presence filled him, as the scenery changed to that of a familiar temple, where a brunette woman -yet of divine nature- poured tea in a cup. She was sitting on the traditional residence's front porch and stared at the rain that fell in front of her with a serene smile on her face, almost undeterred from the otherwise downcast weather. Untl she seemed to notice his presence and looked over her shoulder to greet him. "Welcome home, Keiichi..."

Then the scene changed dramatically, and he was inside… some place of undecipherable nature. Almost as bizarre as the one he was currently in; only more limited and static. He could feel numbers around him, and memories, a lot of memories from past events surrounding him like a pleasant dream. There were images of loved ones, of happy and even sad moments, of past accomplishments and hardships he and those around him had overcome over the many years he came to live, but… something was missing. He could remember and even relive those moments, yet he was alone. Perhaps with the only exception of one being that constantly lingered at the edge of his perception. A being of cold, calculating logic and yet paradoxically enough, one whose mischievous behavior reminded him of a certain Norn. "Keiichi-kun…"

Finally he was back in the emptiness, with all the countless threads further away from him, to give his overwhelmed mind some peace. "Do… do I even have to pick? The first one is far better than the second!"

"Is it now? It was the second one that seems to be most entangled with the thread that lead you to contact me. Yet do you desire the first? For… what you linears call… your future?"

There was a moment of hesitation, as he had no idea what to say. He wanted the first option, yet several years worth of life experiences taught him that this was greedy. Asking for what he wanted wasn't always the right thing, even if the option was available. It was akin to cheating his way to happiness, instead of working hard to attain it. Yet… in a situation like this, he was uncertain what to say. To a mere person he could just smile and say what they expected to hear from him, but to such an entity, he had no way to tell what it wanted to hear.

As a matter of fact, Keiichi had no way to tell that this entity didn't already know his answer, before he even uttered it; and thus, he hesitated.

"You're correct. I do indeed know what you want, but to me either outcomes are more or less the same. I have nothing to gain regardless of which one you choose, and yet nothing to lose either. From your perspective however, it could mean everything. I could also give you all other sorts of other possibilities, should you desire to live in them also, yet you asked for my assistance, and thus I've spared you to chose from an infinite pool of streams, each with its own set of intertwined threads. Between those two… there is one possibility you desire, so… linear one, tell me. Will you move along the thread that's referred as... Belldandy? Or should I attach you to the one referred as Hel?"

"Well… if you put it that way, I'd gladly pick Belldandy over Hel. Definitely Belldandy."

"So be it then."

All of a sudden the threads, save the one he picked disappeared and despite not feeling a body attached to his person, Keiichi could've sworn that not only did he became attached to that remaining thread, but he literally dangled from it; not unlike a man hanging from the gallows. Looking up, or at least his best interpretation of where up should be, he could see the thread attach to what seemed like a branch of an inconceivably expansive Tree that stood amidst nothingness.

And from there, his consciousness was yanked towards the Tree's roots, straight back to where he came from. The place he called home.

XXX

"Keiichi! Keiichi wake up! Wake up, damn you!"

He was violently shaken about like a ragdoll, and even slapped a few times, yet the slumbering man could hardly register his surroundings. It felt as if he'd been sleeping for ages, and… yet his head hurt; although not from the slaps. Those didn't do much more than attract his attention, bringing him out of his dreams and back to reality. Whatever that was anyways… as Keiichi had a lot of trouble to process what his eyes registered before him.

'Not this again! Although… come to to think of it… when was the last time it happened?' Blinking hard, he desperately tried to focus onto the pattern than emerged before him, and despite the sense of familiarity, Keiichi still needed a couple of seconds to finally recognize that it was actually the image of the goddess known as Urd. "I… ugh… mh…"

Furrowing her brows in worry as she tried to make sense of the sounds that came from Keiichi's mouth, Urd turned to the petrified Skuld who stood by and witnessed this scene from afar. "I don't care what'll happen, just hit the alarm and get us some healers in here!"

"B-But… Urd… he's…" stuttered the young goddess, unable to even say the word she knew was fitting to describe him.

"I can see that! Now will you get moving! I don't know what else to do on my own here!"

It was funny to see someone like Urd lose her cool like that, although Keiichi realized that this whole thing was unlikely to be a joking matter. He still felt disoriented and eerily detached from what was taking place around him, yet paradoxically enough he could register things he'd never thought possible. Like the details on the blades of grass across the room or even the erratic breathing of the two goddesses, even though they mostly did it in order to speak, as oxygen was unnecessary to them.

More importantly though, he wasn't totally certain what he was looking at. He knew that she was Urd, yet… there more moments when he almost saw something else standing in her place, cradling him like a broken toy; something not humanoid at all. And the more he tried to describe it, the worse his headache became, forcing his numb arms to move and clasp his head. "Ow…"

Turning her attention back to him, Urd held a hand on front of him. "Keiichi… how-"

"Urd… not this gag again! I've got a headache…" said Keiichi as his voice slowly returned back to him, even though he sounded pretty groggy at the moment.

"No, I'm not giving you the finger this time!" said the almost afraid goddess. "Tell me which direction I'm pointing… please, Keiichi."

That sounded so polite that he was about to ask her if she was the one feeling alright, but in the end he decided to humor her and stared at her finger. And he kept staring hard, as her ridiculously simple question suddenly felt like the hardest problem for his mind. None of the words he knew could properly describe what he saw and he even tried to imitate what she was doing, just to get an idea of this bizarre concept. "Uh… It's not up or down… Certainly that's not left or right either… Maybe… How should I say this? Inside?"

The half goddess immediately tensed up and withdrew her hand, turning sharply to her sister, who was still standing perfectly still, and almost shouted at her. "Skuld! Get the healers, now!"

"Okay, okay!" replied the panicked Norn of the future as she broke into a jog, heading towards the room's main entrance to ring the security alarm. It was their last resort way of getting out of here, but with the… current situation, there was no other way but to call for help.

And it was the loudest thing ever had the misfortune of hearing… although he was almost certain that he didn't hear it with his ears. Which didn't quite make any sense to him at first, although the noise was so damned loud, that he had no chance to properly think about it. He even tried to tell them to shut the bloody thing down, yet instead… he let out an almost ear shattering scream way louder than the alarm itself.

So much so, that the resulted shockwave hit the unsuspecting Urd dead on her chest, and sent her flying a few meters away from him, and into an almost comical fall on her backside. Which interestingly enough allowed Keiichi to accidentally look up her goddess robes and get a glimpse of her lingerie, in an almost unprecedented level of detail that he'd never thought possible even if she were to be standing right in front of him; let alone flying several meters away from him. 'Dear Heavens!... They're so tight I can see the shape of her-'

'Eyes down tiger!' Interrupting his thoughts in the most abrupt manner, that was accompanied with a well aimed karate chop on the head, Keiichi's angel decided to reign in his master's newfound observation skills, before he'd discovered something he wasn't meant to explore in the first place.

"Ow! What was that for, Terrestrial Spark?! Can't you tell I've got a headache?" said the stricken Keiichi, as he now clasped his head in different place than before. Turning back to face his angel who manifested all by himself, Keiichi prepared to give him a piece of his mind, until he found himself staring at a guy's six pack. Which wasn't exactly as exciting to him than Urd's panties, but it wasn't like he'd ever admit that out loud. Instead, he raised his gaze and towards the angel's face, who was definitely Terrestrial Spark, only with one… not so tiny difference. "Since when did you become this large?"

Smirking a bit as the now full sized angel crossed his arms and looked down at his master, Terrestrial Spark found it utterly hilarious that his master was still oblivious of what was going on here. 'Since the moment you became a god, and I finally got a full power supply from you.'

"EH?!"

AN: I would like to thank everyone that has offered their feedback and support both here and on the Goddess Relief site.

Now, there are a few things that I'd like to note for this chapter.

I was originally planning to make this into a somewhat longer chapter, but I realized that due to what's taking place here, the aftermath should've been left for the next chapter. Otherwise it would've felt rather forced to cut it short and I'd rather not replace the scenes I wanted with something akin of filler.

This is also the first time I'm writing any of Yggdrasil's direct interactions with anyone, and I apologize if it came out a bit too… let's say bizarre. Yggdrasil is a cosmic entity, rather than just another character and writing them in the same fashion like the others was something I never wanted. This resulted in that utterly bizarre scene, but the gist of it is that it was the World Tree who offered Keiichi an option of choosing his eventual fate, and this time around, he picked something that allowed him to stay with Belldandy; rather than end up in Hel (and by that, I mean the computer in this story).

For those who might be still wondering, Keiichi's not a mortal anymore. Yet he didn't achieve that in any of the most predictable manners possible, and that works with me.

In addition to that, Terrestrial Spark is no longer a miniature angel, either, as Keiichi should be able to support him in the same fashion like any other celestials support their angels.