-6-

Hideki twists and looks down as he flies through the air, only to see the top of a building rushing up to meet him. He tucks himself into a ball, bracing for the impact to come. The roof barely stops his descent as he falls through. It is just enough, though, to make his landing relatively softer. It helps that his aim is good, as he lands in the middle of a mound of soft soil. It almost completely envelopes him as his momentum comes to a stop.

Sitting up, he shakes the dirt from him head, then reaches up and wipes some of it from his face. As he blinks his eyes and focuses, he sees that he appears to have landed in some sort of greenhouse. Flowers of all types grow in long boxes supported by wooden sawhorses, arranged in neat rows to allow easy access for tending. Hideki thanks what little luck he has been having today that he did not land in the middle of one of the flowerbeds. That would have been even more painful.

A light tapping on the hard floor draws his attention to the approach of a short, elderly man with a cane wearing black kashaya robes. As he gets closer, Hideki can see that one of the man's eyes is covered by a black patch with an ornate, gold dragon on it. The tall man lifts himself out of the dirt as the elderly man stops and appraises him.

"Fertilizer grows more than flowers, it seems, hrm?" A raspy giggle escapes from the old man's throat as he looks up at Hideki.

"Heh, no, I fell through the roof," replies the taller man.

"Mmmmmm, harsh mistress, gravity is. Yes." The elderly man turns and starts to walk back down the row, waving for Hideki to follow with his free hand. "Come, come, Yoshi knows where one can get cleaned up!"

With a shrug, Hideki falls in line behind the old man, who leads him to a small bathroom in a small room adjacent to the greenhouse. After he enters, he does his best to clean his face and hands, but realizes that his clothes are ruined. As he contemplates what to do about that, a knock at the door startles him for a moment. He opens it to find the old man standing just outside with a fresh set of robes. Hideki takes them from him and looks them over. "Where did you get this?"

"It is not to ask, it is only to accept an old man's kindness," replies Yoshi with a smile.

"I really cannot take th...OUCH!" Hideki jumps back on his left foot, after the old man smashed his cane down on the instep of his right.

"Oy! Hurt old man's feelings!"

Hurt his feelings?! A couple of choice words come to him. Rather than speak what is on his mind, Hideki graciously accepts the robes and closes the door. A few minutes later he emerges from the bathroom wearing the perfectly fitting kashaya robes the old man had provided. How did he find some in my size so quickly?

Yoshi claps his hands and smiles in glee. "If a haircut you get, an excellent monk, you would be!"

Hideki gives the old man a wane smile. After visiting so many stores today, he is exhausted, and not particularly in the mood to humor the old man. "Thank for the robes," he says without a hint of emotion. "I will find a way to pay you back."

Yoshi looks Hideki over with a critical eye. "Why so glum are you, hmm?"

"I think karma is trying to punish me," replies Hideki, almost under his breath.

The old man perks up. "Karma? Ahhh! Powerful goddess is she, powerful goddess." He steps over and pokes Hideki with his cane. "Good to be on her bad side, it is not!"

The word goddess is the last thing Hideki wants to hear right now. He's had it up to the top of his six foot one frame with goddesses. With the exception of Belldandy, all of the ones he has met so far have done something to seemingly ruin or endanger his life, especially Peorth and Urd. If it weren't for the fact that what he was looking for would help Chi, he would have abandoned this quest a long time ago. He immediately squelches any anger he is feeling, the old man didn't know the source of his misery.

"So? What is it that you seek?" asks the old man. "Maybe help I can provide."

Hideki scoffs at the idea. "I doubt it, no one seems to have what I need."

"Tell Yoshi what that may be."

With an audible sigh, the younger man contemplates whether or not to say anything. Surely if he mentions that a goddess had sent him on a quest to find what seems to be a non-existent flower, the old man would think he was crazy. After a moment, he decides to tell him half. "Purple and gold snapdragons with rectangular shaped leaves."

A huge smile spreads across the old man's face. "Ha! Have exactly what you are looking for, Yoshi does!"

Hideki blinks in surprise. "What! Wow! Can I have some?" he exclaims. Forgetting any semblance of decorum, he drops down to his knees in front of the old man and grabs hold of his robes. "I really need some, PLEASE! The florist all said they don't exist!"

"Florists, bah! Fools they are, always so smug in their beliefs," replies Yoshi as he breaks free of Hideki's grasp. If he was offended, he does not show it. "Outside of their quaint little shops, their minds are closed to what is possible."

Trying to follow the priest on his knees, Hideki starts to beg. "If you give me some, I swear I will pay you back. I'm a good worker, I was raised on a farm!"

The old man walks over to a corner to a small table. There are two red sitting pillows on either side. In the middle of the table is a cup with a single stick of incense burning away. "Come, sit!" offers Yoshi, gesturing to one of the pillows. "To keep an old man company, your payment will be."

Hideki starts to balk. He does not have time for this. "But I really need to…"

"Oy! Time is short, yes?" interrupts the old man. "Come, meditate on this we will."

The younger man balks at this. If time is short, then why should they be meditating? Shouldn't they be hurrying? After a moment, he relents and bends down onto the pillow and sits on his knees. "But I don't know how….."

"Oy! Smell the flowers, you will," says Yoshi as he removes the stick from the cup and replaces it with snapdragons. Each one has a slender stalk, with a whorl of flowers taking up the top foot or so. Each of the petals is a rich, deep purple, rimmed in a glittering gold. Hideki is so mesmerized by the beautiful plants, he does not register that they seemingly came from nowhere. A sense of calm overtakes him.

Yoshi sits down across the table from Hideki and smiles. "Let them be your guide."

XXX

The TV room at the Tariki Hongon temple has been completely emptied of furniture, save for a chair on one of side of the room. In it, Chitose Hibiya watches as the two first class goddesses work. Using what appears to be finger paint from Belldandy's youngest son's room, they are in the process of finishing up an intricate design on the floor consisting of three circles in a triangle pattern joined by a larger, central circle. Inside the central circle are three more circles in a row that bisects the triangle, one that takes up nearly half of the area inside, with the other two on either side of that. One side of the two circles is touching the outer circle, with the other touching the edge of the inner.

As Belldandy had explained to Chitose earlier, she and Peorth would have to work together on a spell to send Urd, Skuld, Zima, Dita, and herself into Chi's soul in order to fix whatever damage has been caused. The spell circle they are drawing is supposed to help them focus their power so that they can accomplish this.

Standing to her left are Zima and Dita. The tall persocom is watching in rapt fascination, while his smaller counterpart appears to care less about what's going on. To her right sits the goddess Urd, filing her fingernails while floating three feet off the ground.

"Are we there yet, mommy? I'm hungry!"

Peorth's head snaps up, glaring at the origin of the snide remark. Urd smirks back at her as she pushes back a loch of her silver-white hair.

"Almost honey, just a few more minutes!" replies Belldandy, who is so completely absorbed by her project that it does not register to her where the comment came from. This elicits a slight giggle from her sister and a roll of the eyes from the rose goddess.

After a few moments, the goddesses stand and look over their worth. Belldandy turns to the four spectators. "Zima, can you please assist me in getting Chi to the middle of the mandala, please?" Ignoring the audible sigh from his companion, the tall persocom walks around the design on the floor to the other side of the room. Chitose looks on as he helps the blue eyed goddess pick up her daughter and carry her. "Mind the lines, please," says Belldandy as they tip-toe through the design and deposit the platinum haired girl in the middle. Everyone in the room notices that she does not respond in any way to being carried over. In the last half hour, Chi's condition has deteriorated to where she is nearly comatose.

"We must make haste," says Belldandy with more than a little worry in her voice. She moves to the inner circle to Chi's left, while Peorth steps into the one on the right. "Ms. Hibiya, please come sit here," she says, indicating the outer circle that could be called the top of the triangle they form.

Urd steps into one of the outer circles, then looks around. "Where is Sk..."

She is interrupted by the door sliding open. Skuld steps into the room as if she were a conquering hero. "I'm ready!" she announces, throwing one of her fists into the air.

A couple of guffaws escape from Urd and Peorth. Chitose herself suppresses a slight giggle. The raven haired goddess is wearing what appears to be the skeletal remains of half of an oversized soccer ball on her head. It reminds the apartment manager of a scene in a classic movie from the eighties where a time traveling boy first meets the past version of the scientist that sent him back in time. The image is completed as Skuld reaches up and pulls two cables from the contraption, then walks over to the last empty circle. "Dita and Zima, take these and plug in."

The two persocoms move to her side and comply. Immediately, they go still, a slight humming noise emanating from inside both of them. Their eyes go blank, with the exception of some white lines streaking across their irises. Skuld then looks at Belldandy and nods, indicating she is ready.

The blue eyed goddess returns her sister's nod, then turns to Chitose. "Peorth and I will begin the spell that will allow us to channel the five of you into Chi's soul. We will maintain it throughout, but you will not have much time. In order to augment the spell, we will bring forth our angels. Please do not be alarmed."

Ms. Hibiya nods. Belldandy turns to Peorth. "Angel, come forth!" they both command in unison. Chitose's eyes go wide with shock as two luminous beings with bright white wings rise from their backs. Belldandy's appears to be riding on some sort of tornado, while Peorth's seems to emerge from a tangle of thorny vines. The two blonde entities glance to her and wink. She returns the gesture with a shy wave.

The surprises do not stop for the apartment manager. The two goddesses and their angels begin to sing, the melody of which touches her soul directly. This is the most beautiful song I have ever heard! She closes her eyes and puts her hands over her heart. She senses more than sees that she is standing in front of a tunnel of light. Vaguely, she can tell that there are four others with her, beckoning her to follow. With the calming influence of the song washing over her, she does as they request.

XXX

Urd blinks and looks around. She finds herself exactly where she expected to be, in a cave. The other four are also here. The tall persocom, Zima, looks around in wonder.

"It actually worked!" he exclaims. He looks down to his smaller companion, who is looking around with a big smile on her face. "Careful, love, your face may get stuck like that!"

"Be serious!" retorts Dita after punching him in the arm.

The silver haired goddess snorts in laughter. "Ok, Peorth said that there is a building we need to find. It should be in the middle of the valley outside the cave." She glances down at Ms. Hibiya. "You need to especially be careful, I'm afraid that you may get overwhelmed by this." She puts a hand on the woman's shoulder. "Please let Skuld or me know if you start to feel like this is too much."

Chitose looks up into the goddess' violet eyes and smiles. "Please, do not worry about me, we are here for my daughter," she replies, her voice full of determination.

Urd nods in acknowledgement then waves towards the mouth of the cave, indicating to her companions that they should follow. As they step out into the daylight, they can see the building Peorth spoke of. It, along with the cliff walls surrounding it, are a lot closer than what had been described to them. A pang of worry strikes the goddess, and she hopes that they are not too late.

After a few moments, the group is on the ground and approaching the building. As they get near, Urd can see decay starting to set in, as if the building were aging at an accelerated pace.

"Do you hear that?" comments Zima as he stops and cocks his head at an odd angle.

Everyone stops and holds their breath for a second. On the gentle breeze running through the valley, they can hear a soft, shrill wailing sound coming from the building. "Could it be Freya?" comments Dita.

To Urd, it sounds vaguely familiar. "Come on," she says, urging the group forward. They will know soon enough. The wailing sounds gets louder as they approach. A moment later, Skuld breaks out in a full on run, Chitose following in hot pursuit. Urd watches for a second before it registers finally what is making the noise. She too starts to run, followed by the two persocoms.

Having trouble keeping up with the mortal woman and her sister, she watches as they round the corner of the building and disappear from sight. The wailing is much louder now, stirring instincts in her that she had only discovered just under a decade before. She skirts the edge of the building where she lost the other two, and finds them huddled together, holding something.

When she finally reaches the pair, Urd notices that the wailing has stopped. Skuld gives her sister a worried look, then takes a step back from Chitose, revealing that she is holding something. Closer inspection reveals what it is.

A baby.

Its short, platinum hair and chocolate brown eyes immediately reveal its identity. "It's ok, Chi, mama's got you, shhhhh," coos Chitose to the baby as it reaches up and strokes her cheek. A single tear streaks down her face.

Skuld looks to her older sister. She also has tears in her eyes. "Do you think we're too late?"

Urd shakes her head. "No, not yet, but time is shorter than I expected."

A rumbling in the ground punctuates her statement. The two goddesses steady themselves against the building until it passes. Chitose rocks unsteadily, but catches herself, then sits down in the grass while still cradling the child.

"Let's go, everyone," says Urd as the shaking passes. "We need to hurry!" Three in the party comply.

"Urd! Ms. Hibiya isn't getting up!" cries Skuld.

The silver haired goddess looks back and sees that Chitose has not moved from her spot. Skuld is trying to get her attention waving her hands and making weird faces, but is getting no response from the apartment manager. "Dammit, I was afraid of this," says Urd in frustration. "We don't have time, Skuld, just leave her. We'll get her on the way out."

Skuld looks down at the mortal, who is still rocking the baby and comforting it, then reluctantly complies with her sister. The group rounds the corner and finds the entrance to the building. As they are about to enter, Zima interrupts. "I'm sorry, but I am curious. Why did Chitose give up?"

"She didn't give up, she is just a little lost," replies Urd as she reaches for the door. "It's difficult for a mortal to process this. Quite frankly, we were expecting that it could happen, and hoping it wouldn't." She looks over to Dita. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," is the reply.

She opens the door, and Dita rushes in as if she was breaching a building like a member of a SWAT team. Urd follows in the same manner. Looking around, the goddess and the persocom see no trace of their possible opponent. Nodding in satisfaction, Urd beckons for the rest to enter. "Ok, you guys know what to do, we'll look around."

XXX

As he enters, Zima appraises the inside. Quite frankly, it's a mess. On the ground in front of them, he can barely see the floor itself through all the cables that are lying around. There are two racks of what looks like servers on either side of the row they are standing in front of. Half of them appear to no longer be running. Is this what everyone's soul looks like on the inside, or is it because of her origin?

A light tap on his should breaks him from his thoughts. Skuld hands him a disconnected cable and says, "Might as well start here."

He nods and takes the cable and connects it to a data port on his left side. He then extends one of his cables from his right and plugs it in to the nearest system. In theory, he should be able to detect which cables go where by analyzing the response. The group had hoped that Ms. Hibiya, being the girl's mother, would instinctively know where to plug things in. However, since she is seemingly incapacitated, this was plan B. It was going to be tedious, but it was the only way other than blindly plugging things in and hoping it works.

As he confirms that the data is not compatible, he disconnects from the server and connects to the next port. When that one also does not match, he starts to methodically work his way down the rack. Meanwhile, Skuld sets about trying to organize the cables in some way to aid them.

As he works, Dita comes up beside him. He glances down at her as he moves to the next port. Her eyes are darting back and forth, looking for any threat that may present itself. "This is so cliché," she mutters to herself.

"What, is it too quiet?" he asks with a smirk. Before she can answer, his attention is drawn to the port he just plugged in to by a small, almost imperceptible electrical jolt. "I think I have one," he says as he monitors the data going back and forth. Satisfied with what he is detecting, he removes his cable. "Here goes nothing," he deadpans as he removes the one he is testing and plugs it in.

Almost immediately, they all feel the ground shift slightly, causing Dita to fall against Zima as he steadies himself against the rack. On the other side of the aisle, Skuld is doing the same.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

The trio's heads all snap up at the shrill voice that comes from above. Floating in the air is an exact duplicate of Chi, clad in a black, ruffled dress. "Well, that's rather inconvenient," quips the tall persocom as the apparition that could only be Freya turns and starts to rush at them.

XXX

In an instant, Dita shifts from search mode to defense mode. Calculating her target's descent, she determines the best time to intercept. She jumps up to meet Freya half way, flipping as she goes, landing a wheel kick into the chest of their attacker. The platinum blonde apparition's trajectory takes a ninety degree detour as she flies down the aisle and crashes into the wall. Dita nimbly lands on her feet and looks at Zima and Skuld. "Keep working, I'll take care of her."

Unfortunately for the small persocom, taking her attention away from her target proves to be ill advised when she looks back. Instead of seeing Freya still crumpled on the floor, she finds herself staring into chocolate brown eyes. "Well, that was stupid," she admonishes herself.

"You can say that," deadpans the platinum blonde doppelganger, the corners of her mouth curling up in a menacing grin. Before Dita can react, Freya slams both of her palms into the persocom's chest, sending her flying in the opposite direction. Unable to block or dodge, but expecting the attack, she is able to control her body, turning in the air. When she hits the wall, her feet are underneath her, and she springs off of it back towards her attacker. Upon impact, she rolls over the top of Freya, grabbing hold and slingshotting her back down the aisle, through the wall, and out of the building.

This time Dita's attention does not waver. Immediately, she jumps through the hole in hot pursuit. Locating Freya, she slams into her with both her fists. The platinum blonde retaliates, grabbing hold of the smaller persocom. They grapple for a moment, before Dita succeeds in hooking Freya's arm. With a slight shift of her center of balance, Dita tosses her attacker to the side, getting her further away from the building. She maintains her defensive stance as Freya stands and stares back at her with hate in her eyes. "Urd! Now!"

From behind, a bunch of chibi-Urds jump out from their hiding places in the server racks, through the hole and into the daylight, reforming into the full sized silver haired goddess. Before Freya can react, Urd raises an arm above her head, spreading out her fingers as she prepares the spell.

"DEPTH CHARGE DESCENT!"

The platinum blonde has time to look up and see a beam of light come down and slam in to her. Dita watches in awe as a huge explosion engulfs her assailant. For a moment, there is nothing but light and a howling wind, causing the persocom to cover her face and eyes while the air screams around her. As everything dies down, she lowers her arm and sees a large crater where Freya had been just a moment before.

Their strategy was simple. They were gambling that Peorth's previous ineffectiveness had been a result of the weak spell she had used before. The first class goddess certainly had more powerful spells at her disposal, but she had to hold back in order to keep the collateral damage to Chi at a minimum. So they had decided their best plan was to get the building's protector outside so that Urd could hit her with the depth charge. With the area clear, Urd has no such limitations.

The goddess and the persocom both warily approach the smoldering crater left in the spell's wake. Upon reaching the edge, they find no trace of their platinum haired attacker.

"That was…surprisingly easy," comments Urd.

Dita gives her partner a withering look. "Famous last words," she replies sarcastically.

As if punctuating the statement, the ground starts to violently shake. "No way!" exclaims Urd as the center of the crater starts to heave upwards. From the top of the growing mound, two hands appear, then arms. The head and body follow. Much to Dita's chagrin, Freya seems unfazed. Finally free, the platinum blonde floats up above the duo. The persocom notes that the eyes of the rising apparition are closed as she ascends. When she does open them, rather than the normal chocolate brown, they are completely red.

"She looks pissed," comments Dita nonchalantly.

"The other one should have told you that you would have no power over me here," says Freya, a slight smirk forming on her face.

Dita jumps back as the apparition unleashes an electrical storm down upon them, barely avoiding the attack. Urd is not so lucky, taking the full force of it. She lets out a blood curdling scream as yellow electricity flows over her like rain. The persocom rushes in and jumps towards their attacker in a desperate attempt at distraction, but is hit full force with another lightning strike, sending her flying back and into the wall of the building. Urd's screams quiet as she loses consciousness and falls to the ground. Only then does Freya let up on her attack. She looks back to Dita menacingly.

Assessing the situation and finding few alternatives, the persocom jumps back into the building through the hole. Rushing in, she skids to a stop in front of Zima and Skuld, who have been making some progress in her absence.

"It's no use, we can't stop her!" exclaims Dita. "We've got to get out of here!"

Skuld looks at her and shakes her head. "We can't leave her like this!"

"Dita my Queen, love of my life, we have to finish this," adds Zima with a smile.

"I'm not sure how much longer I can hold her off!" replies Dita, who is feeling a twinge of fear for one of the first times in her life. If the goddess could not stop Freya, then how was she going to be able to? She hears their attacker enter through the hole behind them, and turns to face her again.

XXX

There are two, conflicting feelings that Chitose Hibiya is experiencing right now. On the one side, she is completely lost. She was been warned of this possibility. A human entering another human's soul was almost completely unheard of. Belldandy and Peorth were originally against it, but she insisted and won out. Her insight is needed to help restore her daughter, and she was determined to do it.

However, seeing the baby brought all the feelings of regret over not being able to bare children herself back to her. Feelings she had locked away when her husband had presented her with their older daughter, Freya, the first Chobit. Now, those feelings have overwhelmed her, consumed her, and paralyzed her.

Yet, through it all, Ms. Hibiya picked up the baby and felt unbridled joy when she comforted her. The infant Chi's touch sent shockwaves through her body. She realized that this is what it is really like to be a mother. To hold, cradle, and protect another life, regardless of how it was created. As the baby coos happily in her arms, Chitose sings a lullaby her mother sang to her when she was a child.

Sleep, little pigeon, And fold your wings,

Little blue pigeon With velvet eyes;

Sleep to the singing Of mother-bird swinging

Swinging the nest Where her little one lies.

Away out yonder I see a star,

Silvery star With a tinkling song;

To the soft dew falling I hear it calling

Calling and tinkling The night along.

In through the window A moonbeam comes,

Little gold moonbeam With misty wings;

All silently creeping, It asks; "Is he sleeping

Sleeping and dreaming While mother sings?"...

But sleep, little pigeon, And fold your wings,

Little blue pigeon With mournful eyes;

Am I not singing? See, I am swinging,

Swinging the nest Where my darling lies.

As she finishes the song, a shadow falls over her. In her arms, Chi notices as well, and turns to see where it is coming from. Chitose looks up and sees a tall man approaching them. With the sun to his back, the shadow obscures who it is. Despite this, the baby seems to recognize him. As he approaches, she starts to squirm and reach out. Ms. Hibiya blinks, trying to make out anything recognizable.

"Ms. Hibiya?"

The answer to who it is comes in an instant. As the baby laughs in her arms and reaches toward the person in front of her, she says his name. "Mr. Motosuwa?" Hideki squats down in front of her and smiles. Chitose blinks in confusion. "But how?"

"I'm not quite sure myself," he replies as he looks down at Chi with a puzzled look. She also recognizes him, and is almost fighting her mother now to get to him. A broad smile forms on his face, the realization of the identity of the infant finally dawning on him. "Can I hold her?"

"No," she replies forcefully and turns away from him, causing the baby to start crying. She instantly regrets it. He was Chi's 'One just for me', wasn't he? Inside of her, a war is raging. In her heart, she knows where Chi belongs. Hideki is her one just for her and he is completely devoted to her as well. Together, they will get through this change and prosper, of that she has no doubt. But at the same time, Chitose has always had a way to keep tabs on her daughter. Her computers kept track of her movements, and notify her of any anomalies. Outsiders might consider this stalker like behavior, but she justified it because Chi was still naïve, and vulnerable…

And still a persocom.

The reality that none of that is true any longer hits her like a ton of bricks. Even before she became human, Chi had blossomed into an independent girl with her own wants and dreams. Chitose denied it to herself that it was happening, even after they left the apartment complex so that Hideki could attend college.

As she comes to these realizations, she understands something else as well. Chi's place is with him, not her mother.

Chitose turns and offers the baby to Hideki. Chi smiles and giggles and reaches for him as he gently takes her into his arms. Holding her close, a soft glow envelopes them. He stands and shifts the baby in his arms so that she is facing her mother. Together, they both look down at her. "Ms. Hibiya, Freya needs you right now," says Hideki.

Chitose gasps as she looks up at him. "How do you know that?"

"Ok," he admits as he shrugs his shoulders, "this is really weird because I have no clue how. I just do." Hideki looks her straight in the eyes. "Freya is at war with herself. Right now, she thinks what she is doing is right, but what she is really doing is hurting Chi."

Looking back at him with a critical eye, he seems to be repeating this from memory more than knowing what he is saying. Then, a flash of insight hits Ms. Hibiya. "Is it because Chi was turned into a human?"

"I'm not sure," replies the tall man. "I was told to pass this along to you; in order fix her, you will have to destroy her."

As he finishes, the glow around them intensifies. "Wait! Don't go!" she pleads with them. "I don't understand!" Chitose shields her eyes as they begin to fade from sight.

"You will," he replies as they disappear entirely.

Confused, the apartment manager stands and moves towards the door. The only way she is going to find her answer is if she finds her daughter.

XXX

If we make it through this, I am punching Zima straight in the mouth. These are Dita's thoughts as she flies through the air after receiving a fist to her face courtesy of Freya. The way things are going, she will not get that chance, though. Since Urd went down, she has been on the receiving end of the blonde fury's rage, and is losing, badly. The brown haired persocom was giving as well as she could, but her calculations always came up with the same answer. This is Freya's world, that's where the control lies, and she will lose. Still, her mission so far has been successful. The platinum blonde's attention is focused squarely on her, allowing Zima and Skuld to continue their work.

She wishes that they would hurry, though. Progress is slow and tedious. Dita calculates that at the rate they are going, it will take hours for them to complete the job. She also calculates that she will not last anywhere near that long at the current pace of the fight. There is one trump yet to be played, but she needs to get close for it.

Slamming into the wall with enough force to leave a dent, Dita falls forward onto her hands and knees. Immediately, she springs up and assumes her fighting stance. Expecting an immediate follow-up attack from her adversary, the petite persocom is surprised when it does not come. Glancing back to where she was moments before, Freya is not where she is supposed to be. "Dammit," Dita curses as she looks up and around in vain for her attacker. Could she be going after the others again?

Worry strikes her, and she rushes around the corner to find Zima and Skuld still hard at work reconnecting cables. Freya had made a number of attempts to interrupt their work, but Dita had always been able to interject herself before it could happen. Breathing a slight sigh of relief, she approaches the duo, all the while her eyes scan for any trace of the blonde menace.

"Hail the conquering hero?" quips Zima and he plugs in another cable and smiles.

"Yeah, right, care to swap places with me?" replies Dita with a roll of her eyes. She glances around at the servers and is surprised that they are ahead of where she computed they would be. "You are progressing at a higher rate than I calculated."

"Yeah, well, it's a process of elimination," says Zima. "As we succeed, the number of candidates for the remaining connections start to dwindle." He smiles down at the petite persocom as she again looks around for Freya. "So, I take it that it's not going too well for you?"

Dita snaps back and focuses on her partner. Per usual, he has a penchant for stating the obvious. "I'm getting my ass kicked," she replies in exasperation. "Her place, her rules." The small persocom looks over to Skuld. "I don't suppose you can help?"

"Well, usually I would start taking things apart and building machines that could help," replies the raven haired goddess. "But I don't dare do that here because I don't know how it will affect Chi." She toes the ground a little in embarrassment. "And I don't know any good attack spells, yet."

"Not that it would matter, anyway." Sighing to herself, Dita looks around again, expecting an attack to come at any time. Freya's disappearance is a little unnerving, so she starts to walk down the aisle away from the duo. She stops at the end and looks in either direction. Still no sign. "Maybe she figured out we are trying to help?" she muses to herself.

"Well, if she did, it took her long enough," says Skuld sarcastically from behind the petite persocom as she hands another cable to Zima. "I mean, why didn't we just explain to her what's going on in the first place?"

Dita glances back over her shoulder at the goddess. "Yeah, like she gave us a chance," she replies. The petite persocom could understand, though. Freya is Chi's protector, in the same way that she was Zima's protector. No quarter would be given to any perceived threat. Even though her group is there to try to fix the damage that had been done before, to Freya they were invaders to be neutralized. It is similar to the way that a human body's natural defenses would attack anything foreign, regardless of its intent.

As Dita turns away from the goddess, she curses loudly when she comes face to face with the defender herself. Freya's now red eyes glow fiercely as she immediately reaches both hands out and grabs Dita by the neck with a strength that belies her petite form. While there was no way to actually choke the brown haired persocom out, a lot of damage could be done in that area.

Trying to keep her wits about her, Dita reaches up between Freya's arms, grabs a handful of hair from above her forehead, and yanks hard, drawing her attacker's head closer. With her other arm, she reaches out and slaps at the triangular port cover, and succeeds in opening it. As she feels the servos in her neck strain against the pressure Freya is exerting on her, Dita reaches up and pulls out a cable from underneath her hair, then slams it into the open port. This is her last shot, and she needs to make it count.

Dita is relieved when her hacking programs begin their assault on Freya. Despite having a soul, the blonde still maintains the visage of a persocom, with all the inherent strengths and weaknesses. Her hopes start to perk up even more as the code she is streaming into her attacker slams through the first set of firewalls it encounters. Freya releases her grip and takes a step back from the brunette persocom, doing nothing about the connection that has been established. For Dita, this is the first sign that there is something wrong. The second is the smirk on the blonde's face.

Without warning, the flow of data between the pair is reversed. A duplicate of Dita's hacking program assaults her, slamming through some of the strongest firewalls in existence as if they are not there. Like an amoeba, multiple fingers spread out and start to tear away at the code that makes up her brain, causing her to convulse as she lets out a blood curdling scream. She hears Zima scream her name, but it does not register as she tries to fight a losing battle for her very mind. Peeling away layer after layer of her programming and consciousness, it finally exposes her base operating system functions, the code that keeps her alive. As the virus reaches for it, Dita has one last regret. I never got to tell Zima how I really feel.

Dita hears a scream from someone behind the blond persocom before her own world plunges into darkness.

"FREYA!"


A/N: UHG! This took way longer than it should have! When I posted the previous chapter, I was about 90% done with this one as well. Then I had a birthday, then other things got in the ways. Gods above, it can be so frustrating at times! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you do, please do me the honor of leaving a review. I hate it when people say "I won't update unless I get xx number of reviews". I personally think that those types are not serious FF writers and are just looking for attention. If you enjoy the story you are writing, then all that should not matter. It does help to motivate me. :)

Speaking of, I generally do not respond to reviews in story, preferring to offer my thanks in person via PM. However, Matt is an anonymous reviewer, so I will first say thank you for taking the time to read my story! I also had confusion on Urd's eye color when I first started, partly because I am color blind. :) There are conflicting reports of what color her eyes are when you google "Urd Eye Color". However, the general consensus in the FanFiction community is that they are Purple, so that is what I went with.

Anyway, I have started the next chapter, for what that statement is worth. :) It will shed light on Freya's behavior.