Arc I: Chapter Five

Keikai Templare

Skuld awakened with a start. The terrifying voices were gone, but she still felt the chills in her soul that they had left behind. Her breathing was rapid but slowing as she unconsciously pulled the white sheet covering her up to her chin.

The young Goddess examined her unfamiliar surroundings. It appeared to be some kind of huge hospital ward. Walls of carved stone reached up to a vaulted ceiling, at least fifteen meters high, with beds lining both sides. The long hall ended on one side with two large, ornate wooden doors, and the other with a balcony that overlooked Heaven's cityscape. The massive room was empty of people except for herself and the sleeping form of Belldandy that occupied the bed next to her own.

As her bare feet touched the cool, polished stone of the floor, she found that someone had changed her clothes. She now wore a plain white cotton dress, simple and comfortable. Slowly she made her way across to her sisters bed, sitting on the edge of it. Skuld held her dear sister's hand in her own as she whispered, "Belldandy? It's me, Skuld."

The Goddess of the Present showed no response.

"Sis, please," her voice held a tinge of worry, "Sis, just tell me you're all right."

"You should let her sleep a while longer," came a voice from behind her.

Skuld looked quickly to see a young God, apparently not much older than she. He stood a little taller than Belldandy. His long dark blue cloak stretched almost to the floor and partially concealed the blue and white armor he wore under it. The long hilt of a sword hung across his hip, the rest hidden under the blue folds of cloth. He stood a few feet away from her sister's bed. Seeming to realize that he had startled her, he smiled a bit and held his hands up, "Don't worry, I'm here to protect both of you."

Skuld's eyes narrowed suspiciously, "Protect us from what?"

He put his hands down, "From yourselves, I suppose. I am here to make sure neither of you return to Earth until you have recovered from your ordeals. You slept for half a day in here. I've just been standing guard." His eyes softened a bit, "I'm trying to help you both." She continued to eye him apprehensively, however. She was still feeling ill at ease from those horrid voices, and this stranger's sudden entrance didn't make her feel any better, even if he was a Celestial.

He seemed at a loss as to what else to say. A frown replaced his attempt at a comforting look. He stood like that for a moment, arms crossed, thinking to himself. Skuld was about to ask him to leave when he suddenly snapped his fingers, and a smile broke out across his face.

"I almost forgot to tell you!" he said excitedly, "Just before we left, a human that was there told me to relay a message to you and Lady Belldandy." Skuld's face went from suspicious to curious. "He told me to tell you that the next time he sees you, he will buy you the biggest ice cream you have ever seen." He looked at her expectantly, a ridiculous smile on his face. She couldn't help but let out a small giggle. Is he really so happy that he remembered that, or is he just trying to make me feel better?

The smile suddenly scaled back to an apologetic one, "Er, I forgot to ask him his name. He was short with dark hair. Lady Peorth and Lady Urd seemed to know him quite well."

"Keiichi," she replied, "His name is Keiichi Morisato."

"Keiichi Morisato, eh?" he replied, nodding approvingly, "He seemed like a good man. For a human anyway."

She nodded, vaguely remembering being in his arms, crying and afraid as he tried to comfort her. Did he…" Skuld paused a moment, wondering if she should ask or not. The God's head tilted a little as a curious face appeared. "What did he say to Belldandy?"

His face turned warm, which made her feel good and a little nervous at the same time for some reason. "To Lady Belldandy, he said that he loved her."

She felt her heart flutter a bit, and her happiness showed on her face. Of course. What else should I expect Keiichi to tell my dear sister?

The raven haired Goddess stood and moved toward him, "My name is Skuld, Goddess second class, limited." As she spoke she held her hand out to the man before her.

He took her hand gently in both of his, "I am Gilgamesh, Templar of the Second Order. I am at your service, Lady Skuld." Before she realized what was happening, he had knelt and bowed deeply, as if she were royalty.

Skuld quickly pulled her hand back, turning toward to her sister to hide the color that came to her cheeks. What are you doing, Skuld? So he's being overly polite, what's the big deal! "So, umm," she tried to bring a new subject to take her mind off her own embarrassment, "So you're a Templar? I've seen you guys before but I never had the chance to meet one."

He chuckled a little at her words, which quickly changed her embarrassment to annoyance. Spinning back around to face him, she planted her fists on her hips. "What? Did I say something funny?"

"Oh, no Lady Skuld, not at all," he said quickly, holding his hands up in front of him, "In fact, you and your sisters are quite popular among our ranks."

She blinked at him, "Popular? What do you mean?"

"Well, you three have more than a few admirers among the Templar order," Gilgamesh spoke with some light amusement in his voice, "Sort of a fan club. Most Templars would do almost anything just to see one of you smile at them."

Skuld realized her mouth was hanging open and quickly shut it. A fan club? She had always wanted to be treated as an adult, and lately she had been treated as one more and more, but to hear that she was an idol of sorts was more than a little surprising.

"So, are you part of this little 'fan club'?" she asked, suddenly curious.

"Er…well, I suppose," he managed, pretending to examine the wall behind her.

"So who's your favorite?" the Goddess grinned somewhat mischievously. Her tension had disappeared as she watched him fidget with his cloak.

"Well, I always thought very highly of Lady Belldandy," he spoke very rigidly, "but of late, one of her sisters has forced me reconsider that."

Skuld's face scrunched up, as if she smelled something unpleasant. "You know, Urd may act all coy and seductive, but she really isn't very nice once you get to know her." Gilgamesh looked like he was going to say something, but she wasn't finished, "I mean, she's inconsiderate, and rude, and she steals my ice cream all the time, and she always gets drunk, and she's always trying to test out her latest potion, she can't cook, she's messy and loud, she takes forever to take a bath, she blows up the Temple every other week, she always breaks my inventions, and she has horrible taste in clothes."

The God waited for a few seconds, making sure she had finished, before he spoke, "I, uh, wasn't really talking about Lady Urd."

"Oh," she responded simply. Then the cogwheels in her brain clicked and she felt her face start to blaze. Turning back to Belldandy, she considered just what his statement meant. It was fairly simple, but her mind was having a difficult time reacting to it.

After several seconds of self-conscious silence, she came up with her response. Change the subject. "Well…have you spoken to the Healers yet?"

"Yes, I did. Lady Belldandy suffered the most shock out of all of you," he said, seeming to be happy for the new topic as well, "It seems she had her senses opened all the way when it hit. It overloaded her psyche, but the Healers say that she didn't suffer any permanent damage. You both just need to take it easy for a while until your spirit patterns return to normal."

"And how long will that take?" Skuld asked, staring at the unconscious Goddess again.

Gilgamesh had moved to sit on the bed she had awoken in minutes before, "It's hard to say, it could a week or two, probably no longer than a month. It will likely be another day or two before she even wakes up. The Healers will be able to make a better estimate after they talk to her."

She brushed Belldandy's hair with her hand. Poor sis. I wish I could help you.

"Your other sister, Lady Urd, is still on Earth," he explained, "She bore everything amazingly well. We were all very surprised that she managed to hold her mind together as long as she did. She is a very strong person."

Skuld looked across at him, "Wait, she's still on Earth? How is she able to bear that noise? Did it disappear?"

"No, it is still there," he said solemnly, crossing his arms, "She received a spirit modification as soon as we got there. It reduced her sensitivity, so the voices can barely be heard. We Templars have some degree of control over our own sensitivity, so it wasn't an issue for us, but I can imagine what it must have been like for the three of you."

The voices. She could barely contain a shiver as she remembered the hellish words that they screeched into her mind.

"Because you two had received such a shock," he continued, "Lady Peorth didn't want to risk damage to you, so you will get the mod later, when we're sure you're better."

She felt cold again. Just the thought of what had happened chilled her through and through. "So…what was it? What caused that…whatever it was?"

A sigh escaped Gilgamesh's mouth, "We still don't know very much. We can't tell from up here due to the spiritual overload, so we had to send teams down. I was in the first team, the one that came to your temple. We could tell we were relatively close, probably within two hundred miles of the center of that tempest. It was sheer luck that we came that close to begin with. I've heard that part of the team is preparing to travel to the origin of the disturbance on foot, but I was given orders to escort you and your sister back to Heaven, and to keep you both safe."

He seemed a little disappointed that he wasn't still down there, marching toward the showdown with that evil force, "I have been in touch with Lady Ceres at Yggdrasil, she says nothing has changed there since the system stabilized. They are still repairing some of the damage to different parts of the system, but nothing critical, according to her."

"She also said that there seemed to be some odd activity in Hell. We are pretty sure that they weren't the ones who started all this, since they seem to be having some trouble as well. Other than that, Lady Ceres wouldn't say much. Said it wasn't an issue to us. But what bugs me is if the demons didn't do this, then what the heck did? It's not like there's much on Earth that's capable of something this powerful."

Skuld took all the information in. They barely knew anything more than they did when all of this started. A shiver ran down her spine, and she couldn't hide the fright that the memories of that unholy chorus brought to her.

A hand gently gripped her shoulder as the young Templar knelt before her. "I know you can't forget what happened to you down there so quickly," he said in a quiet voice, "but you don't need to be afraid now. On my Honor, I will protect you from all harm, Lady Skuld."

For a moment, the feelings of fear and uneasiness left her, and she smiled as well as she could manage. "Thank you, but you don't have to call me 'Lady'," she touched his hand briefly, "Just Skuld is fine with me."

He smiled and stood up slowly, "You really should rest some more. You need to be strong for your sister, until she recovers." With that, he turned and walked toward the balcony that looked out in the direction of the large, egg shaped tower that was the home of Yggdrasil, his footsteps echoing through the hall where Skuld and Belldandy remained.

She found herself hoping for the success of that group of Templars that were heading to the center of the disturbance. She prayed that they would march in and simply put an end to this evil that so terrified her. Unfortunately, being the Goddess with domain over the future held its downsides, and she had a horrible feeling that things wouldn't be so easy as that.

"Can you guys still hear me up there?" came the male voice.

"We can hear you," Ceres said from her command chair at Yggdrasil, "Just a little static in the subspace transmissions. How do you read us, Xander?"

"There's a lot of noise down here," replied the Templar 'radio operator', "Those voices are getting pretty obnoxious."

Ceres looked down to the three Goddesses seated before her, "Ex, see if you can boost our transmission any more."

"Yes, Ma'am," the Goddess at the center console began her work.

It's amazing, Ceres thought to herself, this is the operation that would end this disturbance. Everyone here is on edge, worried about how things will turn out. Even though those three have been here for almost a day straight, with only two hours of sleep, they still work as fast as ever.

"Beta team, we have boosted the subspace transmission power," Ex spoke, "How do you hear us now?"

But then, I've been here for almost as long. Hopefully this will be over soon, and we can all have a few days to relax.

"Is that Ex?" the warrior's voice seemed to grow a little mischievous, "Hey, are we still on for dinner this Friday?"

The chuckles of other Gods could be heard over the transmitter, as could the giggles of most of the Goddesses in the control area. Ex sat with her mouth open for a moment while her face went red from embarrassment.

"Xander!" she scolded, "This is a mission, and this line is open for everyone to hear!"

"So is that a no?" came the man's amused reaction. Ex turned five shades darker as Ere and Chrono covered their mouths, trying hard not to laugh out loud. Even Ceres herself was having a hard time maintaining her composure.

The mortified Goddess whispered loudly, "We'll talk about this when you get back!"

A group of Templars near Xander could be heard saying "Uh-oh!" which gave rise to a new wave of giggles back at Yggdrasil.

Ceres smiled and shook her head, "Alright, that will be enough."

"Sorry, Lady Ceres," came Xander's apology, still holding a hint of the previous laughter.

"Chrono, how much longer until they reach the objective area?" she asked in a serious tone.

"Stand by," the Goddess at the left console, also back to business, began to calculate at lightening speed, "At their present rate of flight, they will reach the objective area in seven minutes."

Ceres sat back in her chair. She probably should have stopped the exchange sooner, but there was no real harm in a little friendly repartee. It had been almost ten hours since anyone had taken a break. Besides, Ceres had not been aware that Ex's boyfriend was a Templar, let alone on this mission. If the brown haired Goddess had known beforehand, she might have called in someone to relieve Ex. It was a little late for that, however.

None of the Templars seem to hold any worry in their voices at all. This must feel like a nice Sunday drive to them. After all their training, this group of the best Templars in Heaven finally has their chance to shine. The brown haired Goddess smirked for a moment. Up here you can feel the tension in the air. It's funny how we aren't in any danger at all, yet at the same time, we are the ones who worry most for their safety.

Another crackle of static, "Okay, we are within two kilometers. We're dropping down and continuing on foot."

"Roger, Beta team," she said, sitting up straighter in her chair. The time was getting close, and she felt the nervousness dancing in her stomach.

The entire hall started to quiet down. All the Goddesses present knew what was happening, and they stopped all but the most simple of tasks so that they would hear everything.

"Closing on target, estimate one minute to visual range," the Templar's voice reflected how much more focused he had become at the proximity of his objective. Ceres imagined that all thirty of the First Order Templars had become as sharp as a razor's edge.

"Beta team," Ceres had allowed her voice to soften, "Our prayers are with you. May Fortune smile on you all."

"Roger," the static was getting worse, "thanks girls."

The seconds ticked by. Chrono brought up a visual of the area they were in, but very little was discernable. The spiritual energy that shorted out the system before was still there, so all the scanners had greatly reduced capacities to avoid another overload.

The bird's eye view of the landscape showed little but swirling and billowing mists. A series of blue icons represented each of the Gods in Beta Team. They seemed to be in a loose formation, making their way toward the center of the swirling mist.

"Visibility worse than expected," came the static filled voice of Xander, "Team leader has ordered us to move in closer."

Ceres knew that the danger for the team increased the closer they got to the center of the disturbance. She wanted to tell them to turn around, but she knew she had neither the justification nor the authority to do so. All she could do was wait and see.

"They are within one kilometer of the center, according to my calculations," Ere spoke up. The hall was nearly silent now.

"Those voices just got louder all of a sudden," Xander had raised his voice, apparently to overcome the spiritual noise emanating from the objective, though the transmission had not degraded at all. Everyone in the control center had stopped whatever they were doing now. "Something doesn't feel right."

Please, Almighty, she prayed, let them be alright.

There was complete silence for a few more seconds. Many of the Goddesses held their hands together in prayer. Static from the radio was the only sound in the hall. What happened next was engraved in the memory of every Goddess in the room, never to be forgotten.

"Garin?" came the static filled voice, speaking to his fellow Templars, "Where's Garin?"

As he spoke, a new, red icon appeared near them. Then two more. Then five more.

"What the hell?" he was alarmed now, "Target on the left flank!"

The new unknowns were appearing everywhere on the map, all around the Templar's position. Ceres was frozen for a moment, then yelled to them, "Get out of there! It's an ambush! Get out now!"

The sounds coming from Earth quickly became louder and more cluttered. The battle cry of a Templar here, the chanting of an attack program there, the clash of steel against steel resounding through the cavernous control room. "Barbarus, behind you!" Xander yelled. Soon after came a cry of pain, "No, Barbarus! Damn it!"

The blue icons that represented the Templars were blinking out, one by one. One of the attack programs flashed powerfully, momentarily whiting out the screen. At the same time a huge explosion could be heard over the static filled communication.

"Xander, listen to me," Ceres managed to keep most of the fear she felt out of her voice, "Xander, escape! I am giving you a direct order! Get out of there now!"

All they got for a response were the grunts of the young God as he fought whatever was down there, and the blood chilling screams of the things as they were destroyed by him. Then, "I can't…graah…I can't see any of the others! I can't leave without them! Ceres?"

The Goddess couldn't believe what was happening. This can't be! Almighty, this can't be true! "Xander! We've lost everyone else! You have to get away now!"

"Damn you!" he yelled over the hiss of another dying creature, "I'm on my way! I'm getting out of..." His speech stopped abruptly.

"Xander?" Ceres called, "Xander? Are you all right?"

Suddenly a cry of agony rang out, then the pain-tempered voice of the Templar spoke, "Ex, I...I'm sorry." Everyone turned to the trembling Goddess at the center console.

"I was going to ask…Friday." The sounds of hissing and growling could be heard getting louder and louder. "I wanted to tell you…I love you…" The communication ended abruptly. The static that they had grown used to disappeared with it. On the screen, the final Templar's blue icon vanished.

Ex began to shake all over, her mouth soundlessly wording "No," over and over. Her friends, Ere and Chrono, moved to hold her as the tears came.

Others in the control center bowed their heads in sorrow, or sank to the ground in shock and disbelief at what had just transpired. Thirty of Heaven's best, dead just like that. And they could do nothing but listen as it happened.

Ceres found herself wiping tears away as she leaned forward in her chair, elbows on her knees, and gave a silent prayer for the brave warriors that had been lost. And for the ones who lost them.

The only sound in the hall was now the hysterical cries of a devastated soul.

AN:

I don't know how exactly it happened, but apparently more people have read chapter 5 than have read chapter 4. I wonder if people are accidentally skipping a chapter when I put up two chaps in the span of a day or two.

Also, just so everyone knows, I'm imagining Skuld to be about 15 yrs old (in appearance anyway), and Gilgamesh to be around 18. I got a question about that and figured there are probably more of you who were wondering also.

Thank you for reading, and double thanks to my reviewers. Next chapter will probably be out Saturday.

Katamari Damacy