Arc I: Chapter Two

Dark Voices

Keiichi wondered, for only a moment, why a burst of cold air would make him feel so ill at ease. His concern about the unusual weather was crushed by the blood halting shriek let out by the Goddess before him. The young mortal had never heard her make a sound so full of pain and fear.

Her eyes widened as she dropped the sack of groceries that she had just snatched from him, and tears seemed to have already formed in her sapphire eyes by the time her hands had come up to cover them. She was trying to say something through her screams but couldn't articulate it.

The black haired college student was completely stunned, unable to move or speak as she twisted back and forth, as if trying to evade an unseen attacker. He vaguely felt the bag he was holding slip from his arm, but he could hardly care when it landed on his foot, causing the contents to spill out onto the sandy path around the temple.

Only two or three seconds after it began, though it seemed more like an hour to Keiichi, her voice faded and her jarring movements slowed. In the blink of an eye he realized that she was falling, and in another blink he had moved to stop her descent. His awkward catch didn't allow for him to hold her up for long, and as he frantically pushed the hair away from her closed eyes, he laid her as gently as he could on the stone lined path they were on.

"Belldandy? Belldandy?" he excitedly called as he cradled her features in both hands. He vaguely realized that his breathing had grown rather shallow and quick, but it hardly mattered. He nearly hyperventilated as he tried several more times to wake her, but to no avail. He finally took a deep breath, but it was only so he could yell toward the temple house, "Urd! Urd, something's wrong with Belldandy!"

Not sure what else to do when only silence responded, he sat Belldandy up, put one of her arms around his shoulder, and lifted her up while trying to move as fast as he could toward the house. With a strange mix of adrenaline and fear induced clumsiness, Keiichi carried her in a way no normal person would carry another. He held her from the side as her legs drug the ground between his legs. It would have been a comical scene if not for the frightening situation.

Sliding the front door open with his foot hard enough to make it slam and close halfway again, he again kicked it aside as he entered his home. "Urd!" he screamed out again, but this time when he listened for a response, he could hear the faint sounds of someone crying.

Adding a layer of confusion to the jumble of emotions inside, Keiichi gently laid the Goddess he loved so much near the entrance as he went to investigate why Belldandy's elder sister was ignoring his calls.

Kicking off his shoes and running down the wood floored hall, he was looking at the door he knew led to Urd's room, but slid to a stop when he realized he had already passed the source of the crying. Backing up several steps, he tried to catch his breath as he stared at the sign on one of the doors marked 'Skuld Labs'. He hesitated for a moment, worried about what waited on the other side. Glancing back at Belldandy's unconscious form, he screwed up his courage and threw open the door.

Banpei, Skuld's mechanical helper and resident security robot, was moving very strangely and making a number of sounds that Keiichi had never heard before. The humanoid little robot kept jerking around the room, randomly looking this way and that, pointing his stockpile of weapons at invisible enemies that seemed to be everywhere. Strangely enough, though it was apparently searching for a target, Banpei didn't seem to notice the human who had just slid the door wide open.

Finding himself at a complete loss for what seemed like the tenth time in the last five minutes, he shook it off and began to search for the source of the crying. Keeping an eye on Banpei as he crept across the floor, he found one of the tool benches, littered with unidentifiable gizmos and alien-looking tools, was crooked. Pushed back from the wall, the feminine sobs were coming from behind it.

Peering around the piece of furniture, he found a young girl in her mid teens. She was curled up into a shivering ball, her arms wrapped around her knees and her dark hair falling haphazardly as she hid her eyes. Every choked cry resonated throughout her pink garbed body. What the hell is going on around here?

"Skuld?" his voice was gentle as he softly gripped her shoulder, "It's me, Keiichi. What's wrong, Sk-whoa!" In a flash she had flattened him, burying her face in his chest as she lay sprawled across him. He patted her head as he struggled to push both of them into an upright position. "I'm right here, Skuld. Tell me what's wrong."

Her large, light brown eyes glistened with tears as she peeked up at him. Clamping them shut again and forcing a new stream of tears down her cheeks, she cried out, "Make them stop!" Skuld's new round of terrified screams very much reminded Keiichi of something he had already heard. She's scared to death of something, but what? Is it the same thing that made Bell pass out? It has to be, there's no way this is just a coincidence.

He gently nudged the young Goddess in his arms, "Come on, Skuld, let's go find Urd. She can tell us what's going on here. She'll be able to make them stop, I'm sure of it." All she did was wrap her arms around his neck, quickly making his shoulder feel as damp as his chest already did. He sighed, decided that she would forgive him later for handling her in such a familiar way, and wrapped his left arm under her legs. With her still clinging desperately to him, he again kept a careful eye on the malfunctioning Banpei as he gingerly made his way back to the hall.

Now to find Urd. Once he was out of view of the insane robot, Keiichi moved further into the house as quickly as he could. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest and his lungs still felt tight. It was only seconds more before he was kicking another door open, "Urd, where are you?"

The mortal college student had never felt comfortable in Urd's room. It wasn't just because of her propensity to make inappropriate innuendoes and equally inappropriate grabs at his more private areas (though she wasn't as bad as she had been in the past in this regard), but it also had to do with the fact that her chambers doubled as a sort of alchemical laboratory.

Keiichi had always been a mechanically minded person, drawn to engines and frames and all sorts of engineering marvels since he was small. Urd's room was the complete opposite, littered with beakers and jars that were filled with God knew what. Nothing in her room ever seemed to obey the laws of physics, or even the rules of common sense. That room had almost always been a source bad luck and confusion for him, but this time was different. He was hoping that for once, this room would give him some answers that he could understand.

"Urd?" Only silence answered him. Taking a few slow steps through the open door, he looked around at the tables that were set haphazardly around the room, with equally disorganized looking glass vials and silvery scales. He was about to call out one more time when he saw a shock of long white hair curling around the corner of an alchemist's desk to his left. Circling to the other side, he found Belldandy's elder sister sitting on the floor with her back against the oaken piece of furniture. She made no sign that she noticed him, only hugging one knee and staring at nothing.

"Urd," he tried not to sound too agitated, but didn't quite succeed, "Belldandy is unconscious in the hall and Skuld is freaking out. Just what the hell is going on here?"

"I don't know," she rasped, not at all the usual confident Urd, "I can't keep all the voices out of my head."

"What?" Keiichi didn't find the comfort he sought from the Goddess, in fact he felt even more scared than before. "Urd, you have to help your sisters!"

A tear fell down her cheek as the expression she wore intensified. "I can't even move, Keiichi. I can't do anything." Her voice shook with effort, as though she was barely able to keep from crying herself.

Keiichi struggled with the churning emotions within him as he closed his eyes and breathed deep. Whatever was happening, it was as hard on Urd as it was on her younger sisters. Thinking of his beloved laying in the hallway, he pushed his fear and uncertainty aside. He would be the strong one. "Don't worry, Urd," he spoke as reassuringly as he could, "I'm going to get Belldandy, then we're all going to sit here and wait this thing out together, okay?"

He put a hand over hers and gave it a squeeze. Her emerald eyes seemed to soften as another tear made a path down her tanned cheek. He set Skuld down beside Urd, who moved just enough to hold her youngest sister. "Thank you, Keiichi."

He gave a small smile, and put everything he could into sounding confident, "Don't worry about it. I'll be right back, okay?" She didn't move or make a sound, but he was sure that his words were heard.

Heading back into the hallway, he began to walk toward the front door where Belldandy lay. What do I do now? I'm just a regular mortal, I can't do anything! Only a few minutes ago he was quietly and contentedly working on an uncooperative valve in his beloved BMW motorcycle. There was little time to adjust to the stresses on his mind and body. The dark haired boy rubbed his face, realizing too late that he had left streaks of oil and grease on his features. Hanging his head for a moment, he looked up at the wooden ceiling and clasped his hands together. "Please Almighty, we really need some help down here."

Just as he finished his prayer, Keiichi almost jumped through the wall when the phone rang on a small table right next to him. Quickly picking up the receiver he answered, "Hello?"

"Keiichi?" came a feminine voice over the static filled line, "I need to speak with Urd or Belldandy right now!"

"Peorth, thank goodness! Something is seriously wrong!" He quickly relayed everything that had happened from Belldandy's scream until the phone rang. He could feel the panic returning to his voice, but he did his best to stay composed. "What's going on, Peorth? Can't you help them?"

For a moment she didn't reply, and he could hear bustling sounds and chattering voices through the static and digital distortion. It was a strange mix of sounds, and it made Keiichi wonder just what had happened to make a call from Heaven sound like that.

"We aren't sure what's happened down there yet," she finally answered, "All the sensors on Earth were scrambled by whatever it was. Yggdrasil is a mess right now, so it's going to be a while before we can get anyone down there."

"What?" he blurted out, no longer worried about keeping the desperation out of his voice, "What about Belldandy? Urd and Skuld, too, they need help, Peorth! They need…"

"Listen Keiichi," she interrupted him firmly, "You are just going to have to try and keep them comfortable until we get things under control up here. Whatever it is that's affecting them is probably the same thing that affected the system. There's no hard evidence to suggest that you're in any physical danger right now, but you should still stay in the temple till we get there. It might give you some protection."

He gulped nervously before giving her a shaky reply, "Okay. I'll try my best."

It was another moment before she spoke again, this time more softly, "I know you guys are having a hard time right now, and I'll come down personally as soon as I can, but until then I need you to be strong for them, okay?"

"Alright Peorth," he said as bravely as he could, "But please hurry."

There was a small laugh that he was grateful to hear. "Thatta boy, Keiichi."

"So what do you think is going on?" Gilgamesh queried as he and Xander soared across the cool blue skies of Heaven.

"Don't ask me," he replied with a confident grin, "Maybe it was just a power surge and it somehow set of the alarm."

The younger God turned a dubious look toward his companion, "Power surge?"

"Sure, why not?"

"There hasn't been a Heaven wide system error in, what, ten years?"

"It's bound to happen sometime," Xander nodded, though he quickly grinned and scratched his head, "Well, maybe not now, but what else could it possibly be?"

"I have no idea," Gilgamesh acceded the point with a nod, but looked around with a glint of skepticism. "But you have to wonder what exactly would make everyone in Heaven go nuts like this."

Everywhere the pair looked Gods and Goddesses were zipping through the air, several times more than one could expect to see even on a busy day in Heaven. Gil wondered to himself how many Celestials he was not seeing at that moment. The sheer numbers of bustling workers made him worry about how bad the situation, whatever it was, could possibly be.

As they descended, he noticed Xander was looking to his right. Yggdrasil tower was where several of Gilgamesh's friends worked. Ere, Chrono, and the one that Xander was likely thinking about, Ex, all worked within the titanic structure. The huge, egg shaped structure that contained the computer that controlled reality, Yggdrasil, was a majestic landmark. Now, Gil thought, it looked more like a bee hive. So many Goddesses swarmed about it almost seemed alive.

"I wonder how Ex and the other girls are doing over there," Xander's words were hardly more than a whisper. Gil wasn't sure if he was meant to hear, but he decided to answer anyway.

"I'm sure the bridge bunnies are fine," the young God smiled as he dealt out a friendly hit on the shoulder, "They're probably single handedly saving the day over there."

Xander returned the blow with a laugh, "Yeah, I suppose they're going to make us pay for dinner."

He chuckled at the prediction which would likely, Gilgamesh thought, come true. He did know that the three Goddesses probably knew everything about the anomaly, whatever it was. It would have been nice if he could talk to just one of them right then.

Thoughts of his friends at Yggdrasil flew from his mind as they touched down on a grassy field near the Halls of the Templar. Predictably enough, there were members of Heaven's military everywhere, and more were still arriving. The Templar were not as numerous as the workers at Yggdrasil, in fact they barely outnumbered the Goddess Relief Office. Still, to see several hundred of Heaven's finest gathered in one place was enough to give Gilgamesh a thrill of pride.

"Xander, Gil, I wondered when you would show up."

The pair grinned at each other before turning to the burly source of the voice. Gil made his reply first, "Sorry to keep you waiting for so long."

"Yeah, Barbarus," Xander chimed in, "If we didn't live halfway across Heaven, we could have been here ten seconds after the alarm, too."

"Well, it was more like thirty two seconds," the orange haired Templar replied with a chuckle that sounded more like that of a bear. Barbarus wasn't much taller than average, however he had an Olympic physique that looked more like warm marble. Gil remembered with a slight wince that it felt like marble when he took a real swing at you.

Not wasting any time, Xander began to look around at the gathered Templars as he spoke, "So what's the deal here, Barbarus? What's going on?"

"No one knows," the large God replied with a shrug, "They haven't told us anything."

Gilgamesh arched an eyebrow, "What, they've just had everyone standing around staring at each other for fifteen minutes?"

"Par for the course, little brother," Xander nudged him with an elbow.

Barbarus huffed, "True enough. If I had a stein for every hour I've spent standing around this stupid field…"

"You'd be passed out before you drank half of them," a new voice interrupted. Gilgamesh knew the God, but not particularly well. Keos was slender, lithe, and had a penchant for sarcasm. "So I take it that no one knows what we're doing here?"

"You would be correct," Xander nodded.

Gil hesitated for a minute before asking something that had been dancing around the edge of his mind, "Has anyone thought that maybe there really was an attack?" The other three Templars looked at him for a second before bursting out into laughter.

"Yeah, Gil," Xander gasped out between breaths, "That's probably what it is."

The young God frowned as he began to feel a little warm. He was wondering what would be a good remark to zing his friend with when Barbarus gave him a nudge.

"The Templars haven't deployed in thousands of years, kid," he said bracingly, though he still wore an amused smile, "Besides, even if it was an attack, that's what we're here for. We'd just crush whoever it is and go back to business as usual. It's our job, that's all."

Keos rolled his eyes, "Great, so you're telling me I could have stayed in bed for a while longer? I had just drifted off to sleep, too."

Xander looked sideways at Gil, "What is it with you guys and sleeping in the middle of the day?"

"You should talk!" the young God retorted, pointing his finger squarely between the eyes of the blond haired offender, "How many times did I have to wake you up last Sunday, big brother?"

This drew a hearty guffaw from Barbarus as Xander leaned away from Gil's finger, seeming worried that it might go off, "You only woke me up once, the other times I was just resting my eyes."

"You mean the other eight times?" Gil was beginning to feel the flush in his cheeks as his irritation at his friend's frivolous nature reared its head.

"Easy there, Killer," Xander put his hands up, "It was only six times!"

"How would you know?" Gil retorted, "You were asleep!"

"Woah now," Keos slid his way forward and had a reassuring arm around Gil's shoulders in the blink of an eye. "Xander obviously doesn't appreciate the bliss that is the afternoon nap. You shouldn't waste the good feelings from a nap by getting angry at a guy who can only go out to play when Ex says it's okay."

Barbarus gave a snort at this, and even Gilgamesh couldn't suppress a smile. Xander wasted no time and jumped at Keos. The two began a little grappling match while Barbarus egged them on.

AN:

I should have said this earlier, but I want to say thanks to Moonraker One for helping me to improve my writing on this story. It's been a big help!

Katamari Damcy