Arc II: Chapter 04

Allies

Captain Rojas groaned as Gunny Taff helped him to sit down inside the temple. His bones ached something terrible. He imagined this must have been how old people with severe arthritis must have felt. Plus he was covered in the oily blood of those things, as were they all.

The last two miles into Nekomi, Taff had strapped the Captain's pack onto his own, carrying both to make things easier on Rojas. Even then, the commanding officer of the company had difficulty walking.

Not that it had mattered much. All of the Marines were moving slower now. Almost a third of them had been killed in the surprise attack, nearly seventy men. Those who survived were either injured or forced to carry their fallen comrades or supplies. A squad of Templars had arrived shortly after the battle ended, and helped a great deal, but it still took close to an hour and a half to make the last two miles.

"Would you like something to drink?" Rojas looked up to see a Japanese boy, short with dark hair. He set the tray he was carrying on the short table before them before taking a seat himself.

"Sure, maybe it'll take the chill out of me." The Captain's uniform was soaked, despite the fact that he had been wearing a poncho all day. The cold that had soaked deeply into him certainly didn't make his aches feel any better.

The boy nodded as he began to pour a cup of hot tea. "How about you, sir?" He was looking at Gunny Taff now. The enlisted man raised his hand as he, too, took a place at the table.

"Nah, I've got something else to warm me up." The Arkansas native reached within the small pack he brought inside, pulling out a small metal canteen. Rojas could guess what it was filled with, and apparently the Japanese boy figured it out, too. He nodded with a knowing smile.

A ceramic cup filled with steaming tea was pushed across the table toward the Captain. He noticed that the young civilian's hands seemed rather calloused. He must do quite a bit of work around here. "Here you are. By the way, my name is Keiichi Morisato. It's a pleasure to meet you both."

The Mexican-American bowed slightly as he took his tea. "I'm Captain Javier Ramos, United States Marine Corps. Thank you for your hospitality."

The other Marine winced a bit as he swallowed a bit of the liquid warmth from his non-standard canteen. "Gunnery Sergeant James Taff. Thanks for lettin' us rest here."

"Not at all."

The door slid back as the three men looked up. Marler walked in first, a somewhat uncaring look on her face. "Feeling a little better now, human?"

"Ah, a little, I guess. Thanks." Marler gave him a satisfied smile, as if that was the answer she was looking for.

The Goddess Urd followed, that ridiculously huge sword in hand. She gave the two Marines a small smile and she shrugged, as if to counter the blond haired Demon's attitude. She, like Marler, was still splattered with the thick blood of their enemies, which was now starting to look and feel like half dried syrup, though it still smelled something awful.

The Infernal sat heavily at the table to the Captain's right, letting out a long breath before popping her neck a few times. Urd told Keiichi to scoot over a bit, dropping down next to him and across from Ramos. She, too, stretched a bit, straining as she reached over her head. After a moment of this, she set her elbows on the table and looked at the two Marines.

"I suppose that I should start by thanking you and your men." Her simple statement confused the two men, who looked at each other before he gave his response.

"What do you mean? You guys were the ones who helped us. If you hadn't been there, we would have lost a lot more men, if not everyone."

Marler smirked. "That's true."

"True it may be," came a male voice as the door slid open again, "but you and your Marines averted what would have been a serious attack on this city." Ramos gave what must have been a dumbfounded look to Keos as he moved across to the table. "You see, that enemy force that you fought against was a raiding party, and a big one. Probably the biggest we've seen."

The Goddess picked up the explanation. "They usually come from the north, but this time they were west. If they had hit us in such an unexpected direction, where our defenses are weak, they probably would have killed a lot of people. They might have even taken a couple of Templars with them, something we can't afford."

"You humans ran into them first, though," Marler continued. "I think both groups probably surprised the other, which is how you survived until we got there. Since we engaged them outside the city, we managed to keep casualties low, and we took out a whole friggin lot of them. It's gonna be a while before they can organize something like that again." She seemed proud of their decisive victory.

"Don't misunderstand us, Captain." Keos spoke up again. "We aren't saying that it's better your men die than ours. You just participated in one of the most impressive victories that our side won in this entire war. We Templars study the military forces of Earth during our early training. If I recall, American Marines value honor, courage, and commitment as the greatest of virtues. Your men earned a great deal of honor and glory for themselves today. You should be proud of that."

Javier Ramos was speechless. It sounded like something a General would say to his troops. The Templar's words reminded him of the pride he felt when he first became an officer in the Marines, a feeling that he belonged to the greatest organization in the history of mankind. With everything that had happened, though, that pride felt oddly distant, as something that happened a lifetime ago would.

After several seconds of silence, his senior enlisted man spoke up. "In a way, your words are probably more true than you realize." Everyone looked over at the thirty two year old man, who looked aged well beyond his years. "Most of the Marines were only supposed to be in Japan for a year or so, three years tops. For most of them, their families are still in the States. Their loved ones are too far away to draw comfort from, assuming anyone back home survived. For a lot of us, all we have left to hold onto is honor, courage, and commitment."

Ramos knew that Taff had lost his wife and daughter on the day the Hell Storm hit. He was one of those Marines whose identity as a father and husband was gone. James Taff was a Marine, and that was all. The Captain realized that the words of this God had likely affected the Gunny even more than himself.

"There's something I'd like to ask," Ramos said. "That thing you did where you blew away half the forest." Urd and Keos suddenly looked a bit uncomfortable. "If you guys can do something like that, then why would it have been such a problem for those things to attack here?"

Urd gave a nervous sort of laugh as the God scratched his head a bit. "Well, truth be told," Keos explained, "we weren't sure that would work."

The quizzical expression he received prompted the Goddess to explain further. "It's called a tandem program. If you can pull it off, it geometrically increases a spell's power. It's rarely used, though, because the participants have to be in perfect sych as they cast whatever it is they're trying to boost. Actually, it's so difficult, none of us had ever seen it done."

Keos nodded. "It's a miracle we pulled it off as well as we did."

"So, what would have happened if you'd messed it up?" Taff was looking at the two Celestials with a raised eyebrow. "Would it have just fizzled out?"

"Well…no," the Templar answered slowly. "The program goes off no matter what. "It's a matter of how well it's controlled."

Ramos was curious about why they were acting so odd. "What's that mean, exactly?"

Marler, apparently tired of everyone beating around the bush, got straight to the point. "What they mean is that if they had screwed up just a little more than they did, they would have toasted all of us. Myself included." She shot an unhappy look at the Goddess.

"Now, now, I already apologized for that."

"We're sorry for taking such a big risk with your lives like that," Keos added, though he didn't sound very apologetic. "Unfortunately it was the only way we could win." He wiped a bit of sticky blood from his eye as he finished.

Urd looked up at the Templar, studying him with a careful eye. "You look like you're about to fall over, Keos." This was true, Ramos thought. The God was looking a bit ragged. "Sit down and rest. We've still got a lot to talk about."

"That's not necessary, Lady Urd," he replied. "It would be rude to make either of our guests sit double with me." He motioned vaguely toward the two Marines, who each had a side of the square table.

"That's okay," she said with a smile, "you can sit double with Marler. She won't mind."

"The hell I won't mind!"

Keos looked at the blond woman angrily. "As if I would want to sit next to a Demon like you!"

A hand slammed onto the table, bringing the bickering to a sharp conclusion. Everyone was looking at Urd, who had a dangerous gleam in her eyes and a deadly serious tone to her voice. "I'm getting sick and tired of you two acting like children! If I hear one more argument from you two, I'm going to lock both of you in the closet until you can learn to play nice!" There was something frightening about her led the Marine officer to believe that she would resort to anything to ensure that her threat was carried out.

The two in question both seemed quite thunderstruck by the declaration. They looked at each other, the contempt obvious in their eyes. After a few seconds Marler looked away, grumbling under her breath as she shifted to one side. Keos, stony faced, stepped forward and silently sat beside her. Both had their arms crossed as they pretended to be interested in something in the opposite direction. The pair even seemed to be leaning away from each other. Is this how Gods and Demons are supposed to act around each other, or is it just these two?

Taff scratched at the stubble on his chin as he watched the strange situation, and Keiichi was smiling uncomfortably. Urd simply sighed, shook her head, and tried to act like nothing had happened. "So what were you guys doing wandering around the country like that? I mean, you must have come a long way."

Rojas thought for a moment, wondering if he should reveal their orders to someone they had only met hours before. Eh, what the hell? If I can't trust a Goddess, who can I trust?

"We came from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, near the southern end of the main island. The Hell Storm damaged our base heavily, fuel depot trashed and all communications were cut off. It wasn't long before those monsters started to show up, and a lot of people from the surrounding towns came to the base for protection.

"The problem is, we're basically just an airport. We've got weapons, and we all know how to use them, but with no supplies coming in, we don't have enough food, potable water, and ammo to last more than another month or two. Our base is going to be overrun if we don't starve to death first." Rojas paused for a moment as the others listened intently. "It was decided that we needed to make contact with other bases here in Japan. The idea's to try and combine forces with other GIs, or even the JSDF, so that we could last a little longer. Maybe we can scrounge up enough fuel to fly one of our C-130s to the US and get some help sent over.

"We sent some Marines to Okinawa by boat, but we're afraid that the tidal waves caused by the Hell Storm might have flooded the whole damn island. My company was sent out on foot to make contact with Yokusuka, a Navy port on Tokyo Bay. We aren't expecting much, but at least we might be able to find some supplies." He sighed as he shook his head. "Only problem is we got our asses handed to us in our first real skirmish against those monsters. All the weapons that are really effective against them have to be mounted before they can be used properly. We have a few with us, but if we get surprised again, we won't be able to set the damn things up in time. The way things are looking, I don't see how we could possibly make it to Yokusuka and back."

Everyone was silent for a few minutes. Urd and Keos both scowled in concentration while Marler was yawning and scratching the back of her head. Keiichi also appeared to be thinking as he drank his tea, while Taff took another swig from his flask.

The Goddess finally sighed, leaning back on her arms, one of her hands falling on her huge sword. I think they said it was called Masamune. He was still having trouble wrapping his brain around the idea of a sentient sword, but stranger things had happened today.

Less than a second after her hand touched the sleek, black sheath, she sat bolt upright. "Now why didn't I think of that?"

Everyone looked at her quizzically, though Marler was the first to voice the question they all had on their minds. "What are you talking about, Urd?"

The white haired Celestial leaned forward, elbows on the table and her fingers intertwined in front of her pleased smile. "I think I have a solution to your problem that will also benefit Nekomi and the Templars defending it."

"I'm listening, Miss Urd."

"The Templars guarding this city have been stretched quite thin over the last month," she explained. "We've had quite a few refugees of our own, and the perimeter we're defending is almost too big. We don't have enough Gods to cover this growing town, and weaknesses are starting to form in our lines. That's why the creatures we fought today posed such a threat to us, which brings me to my point." Her hands came down as she leaned forward a bit more. "You said that you have weapons that are effective against them, but only if you have time to set them up, right?"

The two Marines nodded simultaneously.

She sat up straight again, flipping her hair dramatically. "Alright then, here's the deal. You keep your men here in Nekomi to help strengthen our defenses, and I'll have someone sent to the Navy base to find out what you need to know. That way, the civilians in this city are protected and your men are less vulnerable to an attack. Plus, we can get there and back far quicker than you and your men can."

Rojas crossed his arms, ignoring the stiffness in his joints, as she looked at him with confidence. Glancing over, Keos seemed to be thinking it over, too. He was nodding as he spoke. "Lady Urd has a sound plan. Your Marines could definitely help plug the holes in the perimeter."

Glancing at his senior enlisted man, Taff gave an approving nod to his commanding officer. The Mexican-American looked back at the Goddess sitting across from him. "It sounds like a good deal. We'll stay here, but we need a day to bury our dead. We can work out the assignments for our teams tomorrow. Just remember, we only have so much ammunition. We can't take them on indefinitely."

Urd smiled. "Don't worry, Captain. We just need you to supplement our own forces."

"So, Urd," Marler finally spoke up, "who do you plan on sending all the way to Tokyo Bay? It's not like we have the people to spare."

"Actually, the person I have in mind is in Heaven right now." The smile on the Goddess' face faded a bit as she replied. "I just hope they don't mind waiting a little longer to come back here again."

"Sorry for just dropping by like this, Belldandy." Ceres wore an apologetic smile as she entered the room.

The other Goddess shook her head as she motioned her to sit down. "Not at all! I'm happy to see you Ceres, especially since you've finally been given some time off. Would you like some tea?"

"That would be wonderful, thank you." The two Goddesses settled down at an elegant glass table near the open window. Ceres could see the lush landscaping of Belldandy's back yard, all the way back to the stone water well at the base of one of the largest trees in Heaven. The soothing smell of the flower garden wafted in, gently filling her nose.

"Skuld went out a few hours ago with Gilgamesh," Bell said as she strained the tea leaves. "They're buying parts. She's started working on a new invention." A small wisp of steam rose as she filled the beautifully etched cups. "They should return before too long, if you don't mind waiting."

Ceres took a small sip, hesitating to speak. "Belldandy," she began uncertainly, "truth be told, I didn't visit just to see how you and Skuld are doing. In fact, I need to get back to Yggdrasil soon."

The blue eyed Goddess looked back with a mix of curiosity and concern. "Is there something wrong, Ceres?"

"Belldandy!"

The two Goddesses turned toward the door to see Skuld rushing in, a childlike smile on her face. Gilgamesh, who was almost hidden from view by all the boxes and bags he was carrying, came in at a considerably more measured pace.

"Look at all the neat stuff I bought!" The raven haired girl hugged her sister enthusiastically, and then pointed at the mass of merchandise her companion was struggling with. "We've been on Earth so long, and our back pay has been building up all this time! I had more than I knew what to do with when I checked my account."

"You spent every last cent of it, too." The Templar dropped everything into a pile near the doorway. "You cleaned those places out!"

Turning an annoyed eye on the God, Skuld looked ready to stick out her tongue at him. "Stop whining! You were the one who insisted on carrying my things. I didn't force you to do anything."

Gilgamesh stretched his arms as he came over to the table, plopping heavily into an empty chair. "I offered to carry that new ratchet set. You just kept handing me stuff after that."

"You're just being a wuss." Skuld took the last seat, directly across from the Templar. "If you're just going to complain like that, then don't offer to help me next time!"

"I'll remember that."

Ceres could see the Belldandy's smile as she watched the young pair quarrel. This sort of exchange had been standard fare the last few times that the sandy haired Goddess had seen the two of them together. It was rather amusing, she had to admit. They were kind of cute when they got like this.

"So, Lady Ceres…" The God decided to change the subject. "It's been a while since we saw you. How long are you able to visit today? The three of us are going out to eat later, maybe you could come along?"

Skuld nodded emphatically. "Yeah, you should come with us! We hardly ever get to see you. It would give us all a good chance to catch up!"

The Yggdrasil watch commander blushed a little at the invitation, but shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'll be going back to work soon. I actually just came by to tell Belldandy something."

Bell tilted her head a bit. "Tell me something? What did you need to tell me?"

"We just received word that they're going to need you for a mission when you get back to Earth," she replied. "I know that you were looking forward to seeing Mr. Morisato, but we need you to do this first."

Ceres was an emotional person, though she tried to push it aside when it came to work. She was very aware of how much Belldandy missed the young human, of how much she wanted to see him. Ceres knew that this would be disappointing news to the Goddess.

"Oh, I see." Belldandy stared down at the tea in her hands. "I'll do whatever is needed of me, of course."

"I'm sorry, Belldandy," Ceres said, sympathizing. "Yggdrasil is so bogged down right now, and Goddess Relief is working triple overtime. The Templars are stretched thin, too, and they say there's no one who can be spared. If there was anyone else who could go, I would send them in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, you are the only one available. The mission will only take a day or two, and then you'll be back in Nekomi."

Skuld gave her sister's shoulder a comforting squeeze, drawing a faint smile. Gilgamesh leaned forward on the table. "So what is the mission, Lady Ceres?"

"There's a group of human military personnel in Nekomi. Apparently they were searching for other surviving bases, but ran into a big fight with the Cruel Angel's servants. Now Urd has some sort of agreement with them. They will stay in the city and aid in its defense." She turned her eyes to Belldandy as she finished. "In exchange, we send someone to get information on the Navy base that they were trying to contact."

The dark haired Goddess looked up at Ceres. "That's it? All she has to do is find out about this base and go back to Nekomi?" She received a nod in reply. Skuld suddenly leapt excitedly into the air and ended up hovering at the height of her jump. "Why don't you let me go instead?"

The other three Celestials were taken unawares by her sudden request. Her new protector was the first to react. "Wait just a second!" Standing up and pointing a finger only a centimeter from her nose. He apparently needed to ensure that everyone would understand who he was speaking to. "There's no telling what kind of creatures are wandering around out there. You'd just be a walking target for them!"

She batted his arm away, floating halfway over the table to get in his face. "That's why you're coming along! You're supposed to fight those nasty things, aren't you?"

He was looking a little pink, trying to maintain his composure with the Goddess so close to him. Gil quickly shook it off, though, and slowly pushed her back to her side of the table. "Are you out of your mind, Skuld? You're just asking for trouble!"

Finally settling back into her seat, she crossed her arms and turned away from the Templar. "Fine then. If you're too scared, then you can just let my sister go face all those bad guys by herself then."

Ceres saw his shoulders slump a little at this. His eyes went to Belldandy, who smiled sweetly for the conflicted God. "It's alright, Gilgamesh. If you think it's too dangerous for her, then you don't have to do it. I can take care of myself, so don't worry about it."

The Templar fell back into his chair, rubbing his eyes and quietly groaning. "Well, I'm sure you can take care of whatever comes up." He sighed as he looked up at them. "Still, what kind of man would I be if I let a lady go on such a mission alone? At least this way the messenger will have some protection. Besides, Belldandy still has a couple of days before she can get the spiritual sensitivity mod. Skuld and I could leave tomorrow morning."

Skuld spun around, flashing a winning smile. "Please, Ceres? We can definitely do it!"

The sandy haired Goddess had to stop and process everything she had heard in the last few seconds. It was true that Belldandy wasn't quite ready to head down yet. Since the two younger Celestials didn't have to wait, it could cut the mission completion time in half or better.

"Alright, you two." Ceres relented with a slight shake of her head. "Be at Yggdrasil tomorrow morning at eight. We'll brief you and gate you to the region."

Wrapping her arms around her sister, Skuld gleefully chirped, "Now you can go back home like you wanted, Sis!"

Belldandy could only smile and hug back. "Thank you, Skuld. This means so much to me." Releasing her younger sister, she leaned over and pulled the young Templar into an embrace as well. "Thank you, too, Gilgamesh. I know you'll take good care of Skuld while you're gone."

Blushing, he tentatively returned the hug. "Sure, no problem. Consider this your Christmas present."

Otaki stared at the place that had once been an empty construction site. In the days after the Hell Storm, it had become a crowded graveyard. The headstones were not of the highest quality, since so many had been produced in such a short time, but the names were clearly and lovingly etched into the small monuments.

There was no sign of the blond man's trademark grin. It left him every time he came here. He simply looked, the only sign that he was even breathing was the puffs of fog from his nose and mouth. A bottle of sake was gripped in his hand, something he planned on sharing with his best friend later.

He looked down again at the row of headstones he had helped to erect, the names of the people he had helped to bury. One of his old teachers from the Institute, a good man who used to race motorcycles when he was young. Reliable Akira from the parts shop, who seemed able to get anything you asked. Poor little Sora, who had been not five meters away from Otaki when the meteor hit.

"Yo!" The gruff call of Tamiya came from over his shoulder. "Take a look over there."

He followed his friend's gaze across the graveyard. The sun cut through the dark clouds as it settled on the horizon, casting long shadows across the ground and silhouetting a group of men. The camouflaged forms were in the far corner, and Otaki hadn't noticed them when he and Tamiya entered. The five of them had rifles slung over their shoulders as they stared at a group of fresh mounds at their feet.

"Let's go check it out," he spoke, walking across the damp soil.

The group of Americans looked up as the large pair approached. Otaki could see the fatigue in their eyes, physically as well as mentally. He may not have been the sharpest knife in the drawer, but it was painfully obvious that these men were burying fallen comrades.

"Friends of yours?" Otaki kept his speech as simple as possible, hoping the foreigners would understand him.

The wiry one wearing glasses nodded, speaking in uneasy Japanese. "Warrior brothers. Died fighting near town." The man's vocabulary seemed quite limited, but at least they could communicate.

"You guys Marines? Americans?" Tamiya was speaking rather slowly. "We heard you had come to Nekomi."

"Yes. Marines." The man thought for a moment, hesitating as he searched for his words. "Just finished…placing in ground." He could see the semi-dried dirt on their hands and knees.

There was a silence for a few minutes as they all looked at the three new graves. There was no marker for any of them, only some irregular shaped pieces of concrete, the dead men's dog tags sitting atop them.

Otaki had always considered himself a warrior of sorts. However, it was a day and age in Japan where the art of war was no longer practiced. So instead of becoming a fighter, he had chosen to compete in the arena of motor sports. He'd always been proud of what he had accomplished at Nekomi Tech. All the championships they had won, all the celebrations. In the college circuits, he had very nearly been a legend.

Now, seeing these men, he felt as though it might have been a waste. These men had taken up weapons and fought the creatures that threatened the world. They had gone into battle and lost their friends. Even still, they would continue the fight, knowing that they could be the next one to be buried in an old construction site like this. These guys were warriors, in the truest sense of the word.

Slowly, Otaki moved to the graves as he broke the seal on the bottle of sake. Pouring a bit on the first grave, he spoke solemnly. "These men died as warriors, they should be honored." He could hear the Marine with the glasses speaking in English, translating as best he could. He wet the other two graves with the alcohol before turning back. "This is our tribute to them."

The Marines seemed taken aback. They looked at each other, whispering in English, for several seconds before they began to show smiles, albeit weak ones. The one in glasses stepped forward and held out his hand. "Thank you."

Otaki's permanent smile returned as he shook it with gusto. "You men should come with us! We'll get you set up with some good food and a hot bath."

"Yeah!" Tamiya clapped the American on the shoulder hard enough to knock his glasses askew. "We'll get some sake for you guys, too!"

A/N:

Well, that wasn't too bad. Made a few changes to this chapter as well, mostly toward the first half.

I keep getting this feeling that I'm just floundering around in the dark as I write this. I keep expecting to get a review that points out some absurd mistake in the story. Something like, "Why the heck is Kenshin fighting Nazis? This is an OMG fic, you moron!" I guess I haven't done anything radically stupid so far, huh?

Avan: I think you are the first person to mention the Almighty in your review, which struck me as kind of cool, since I hadn't given it much thought. I'm glad you liked it!

(): I'm thoroughly enjoying the Keos/Marler banter as well. It's tons of fun to write.

Everyone with a signed review, I should have already answered you. If I didn't, I'm sorry I missed you.

I think that's about it. The next chapter will be totally new, and maybe a little more lighthearted. I think we'll probably need it considering what's on the horizon for our heroes.

Katamari Damacy