-7-

VOICE PRINT IDENTIFICATION CONFIRMED
SUBJECT: HIBIYA, CHITOSE
ATTACK MODE DISENGAGED

Freya blinks her eyes as they turn from red back to her natural brown. She shakes her head, not quite believing what she has just heard. However, her internal voice recognition has confirmed it multiple times. It had to be correct, there was no way for someone to mimic her mother's voice and not be identified as fake by her sophisticated systems. Still, she needs visual confirmation.

With the deathblow still poised to strike at the interloper she is connected to, she pauses to look to the source of voice. She sees a woman standing near by the building's entrance, a loving smile on her face. Instantly, her facial recognition software kicks in.

3D FACIAL RECOGNITION IN PROGRESS
MAPPING KEY FACIAL FEATURES…
MAPPING FACIAL CONTURES…
3D FACIAL RECOGNITION COMPLETE
IDENTIY CONFIRMED: HIBIYA, CHITOSE

"Mama?"

The woman identified as Chitose Hibiya smiles. "Yes, darling, it's me," she says in a soothing voice. She spreads her arms out, beckoning Freya to her.

She starts to go to her mother, but stops herself. Suspicion clouds her mind as she instead takes a step back. Ever since her sister became human, Freya knew the change had affected her as well. She still maintained the persona and the abilities of her former persocom self, but something else manifested. A voice inside her arose with a drive to protect her sister which bordered obsession.

It was almost seductive in its reasoning, causing her to override more logical actions, such as ascertaining the purpose of the interlopers before she attacked and tried to expel them. She knew the two persocoms that came, they had been sent before to attack Chi. The voice told her that no quarter should be given to these two, as they surely were here to do the same again. That seemed logical. The other two were obviously guilty just by their association with the first two, and also needed to be dealt with in the harshest way. After the vicious attack by the silver haired one, even though it did not affect her that much, it had convinced her to relinquish control to it. She might hesitate, it reasoned, and everything would be lost.

But now, confronted by her mother, the person she was programmed to love unconditionally since before her father gave her life, she takes back control.

"What are you doing, she is in league with them!" exclaims the voice in her head, the urgent tones in its inflection are unmistakable.

We can't attack our own mother!

"It's a trick. Humans cannot dwell where we are."

That seems logical, she concludes, almost to a fault. Only the magical beings that created the change should be able to do something like this. But still, the parts of her that remember balk at the mere suggestion of doing violence to this person. There were other contradictions as well. How are those two persocoms here as well?

"They are crafty and powerful, they tricked your sister Chi into allowing this change, and now they've come to trick you."

I have to be sure, I cannot just kill her!

"You may not have a choice."

Freya looks hard at the one claiming to be her mother. It felt right, why did the voice seem so insistent? "How?" she asks urgently of the one before her.

Chitose smiles. "The goddesses brought me," she replies.

"See! See, I told you she was in league with them! Strike now!" yells the voice in her head.

For the first time, she chooses not to trust it. "But, they did this! How could you help them?!" screams Freya.

Taking a tentative step towards her daughter, Chitose shakes her head. "They may have performed the task, but this is what your sister wanted."

The blonde persocom shrinks back away from her mother, causing her to cease her advance. "It's a lie!" shrieks the voice. "Who would want to change into something like this?"

Again, the logic seems sound, at least to her. However, to Chi, it may not have been so. Her sister had the desire to fully be with her 'one just for her' but could not due to a design decision their father made. Once upon a time, Freya has also chosen a 'one just for her', and also harbored those desires. Despite the issues involved with a relationship with that person, would she have made the same choice as Chi if the option had presented itself all that time ago?

"Your judgment is being clouded," chides the voice.

Perhaps it is you that clouds my judgment? She detects a small gasp from the voice, and she smiles internally. It was the first time she has questioned it.

"How dare you talk to me like that, if it weren't for me, we would be dead." The anger in the voice is palpable. "They will betray us again, you will see."

XXX

For a moment, Chitose can almost see the confusion in her daughter's eyes. It was almost as if she were fighting some internal demon. She had immediately noted the red eyes before she had screamed her name to get her attention. There was a fury in them that scared her. When they turned back to their natural brown, her features softened, and she could see the Freya she remembered.

Beside her persocom daughter, Dita was still standing, paralyzed in her place. She needed to get Freya to disconnect, and hope that no permanent damage was done. "Honey," she says in as soothing of a voice as she can generate, "you need to disconnect from Dita, you're hurting her."

Slowly, Freya turns her head and looks back at her captive. Again there is confusion on her face, like she is having an internal debate on whether or not she should follow her mother's instruction. The blonde persocom turns back to Chitose after a moment. "Why? She attacked me."

"Honey, she was defending the others," replies the apartment manager.

Freya's eyes glaze over for a second, another indication of the internal discussion she is having. What could be going on here? A split second later, she replies; "They were trying to attack Chi, I could not allow them to do that."

From behind Freya and Dita, Chitose sees Zima. He seems to be sneaking his way towards them. What is that boy doing?! She was stuck, if she called him out, it would ruin whatever trust has been re established between mother and daughter. If she doesn't, and he hits her daughter, the same thing would happen. As she struggles over what to do, Zima make a motion towards Dita, then motions to his head and mimes removing a connector from it. It is a bad idea, she thought, but it is slightly better than some of the others. She takes a deep breath, readying herself for what might happen. "My darling, they are trying to save you sister!"

Freya's eyes widen as Ms. Hibiya finishes her statement. In this moment of indecision, Zima uses the distraction to strike, grabbing Dita with one hand and reaching out with the other and quickly yanking his companion's connector from Freya's ear. Instantly, her daughter's eyes turn red again.

"Freya! No!" screams the apartment manager, but it's too late. The blonde persocom twists and lands a back kick into the chest of the tall one, sending him and his partner careening down the aisle between the server racks.

Turning back towards her mother, Freya's eyes are blazing with hate. "I knew you could not be trusted," she rants. "But no! You insisted we wait."

Ms. Hibiya has no time to process that her daughter sounds like she is gloating at someone as the blonde fury launches herself at her mother. Too late to do anything, the apartment manager braces for the inevitable.

"TSUNAMI RAMPAGE!"

Just before she reaches her target, a wall of water slams into Freya, sending her crashing into and then through the wall next to the door she is standing next to. Chitose, who had put her arms up to shield herself from the attack, feels herself being pulled away, down the back aisle to the other side of the building. She looks to see Skuld dragging her around the corner to where Zima and Dita are. The male persocom is sitting on the floor, cradling his beloved partner. A human shaped divot is in the wall above him. He looks up at the raven haired goddess with a wane smile. "I thought you said you didn't know any attack spells?"

"I said I don't know any good attack spells," replies Skuld in mock indignation. "Somehow I don't think getting a little water splashed on her is going to slow her down." She gives the female persocom a worried look. "How is she?"

Zima lovingly strokes her hair. That simple act fills Chitose with pride to know that at least two of her husband's other children have found happiness. "She's still with us," he replies. "But she'd down for the count."

Skuld looks to Ms. Hibiya. "We have to get out of here. Freya is out of control, and we are powerless against her."

"I can't," replies the apartment manager as she looks down the aisle where the goddess and the persocom were working minutes before. They had made admirable progress, but there was still a long way to go.

Skuld reaches up and grabs hold of her arm. "She's going to kill all of us if we don't leave now," says the raven haired goddess forcefully.

Chitose rounds on Skuld and looks her straight in the eye. "NO!" she screams in the deity's face. "Both of my daughters need me, so I am not leaving!"

Skuld bites her lip, considering her options. Shaking her head in frustration, she turns back to Zima. "Can you still walk?"

The persocom nods in the affirmative. "I have a headache, but am otherwise undamaged."

"Good, take Dita, collect my sister outside, and head back to the cave. That is the gateway back." Zima nods in the affirmative, then shifts to his knees to get up. The goddess and the mortal step over and assist the persocom to his feet with his precious cargo. He heads to the hole in the wall Freya made as a result of Dita's first attack.

Before he steps out, Zima looks back to Ms. Hibiya. "Save my sisters."

Chitose nods to him, then directs her attention back to the raven haired goddess who is peeking down the back aisle. "Do you have any ideas?" she asks without diverting her attention.

"There is something…off about her," replies Ms. Hibiya. "Not sure what it is yet, though."

"Yeah, something's definitely off," comments Skuld with more than a touch of sarcasm. Before Chitose can offer a retort, the goddess jerks her head back and plasters herself against the end of the aisle. "She's here," she whispers.

The apartment manager's eyes go wide as Freya calls out to her from the other side of the building. "Oh mother! Come out, come out where ever you are!" Chitose slaps her hands over her mouth to suppress the surprise at the malice in the voice of her daughter. Skuld inches over to the edge and peeks around the corner, exposing as little over herself as she can. At the other end the long row of servers, the blonde persocom is standing in front of the new hole that she had created courtesy of the goddess.

As Freya walks the other way, Skuld reaches out and grabs Chitose and drags her into the back aisle that their stalker has exited. "So, what's your plan?" whispers the deity.

"To try to talk some sense in to her," she replies. "From listening to them, it's almost like there are two of them."

Skuld gives Ms. Hibiya a skeptical look, then turns slides to the other side of their hiding spot and again peeks around the corner. When she sees Freya slowly making her way up the center, she quietly kneels down onto her hands and knees, dragging the apartment manager with her. "She's coming, we need to move."

Chitose nods and they both start to quietly crawl down the back aisle in the opposite direction of Freya's last known path. As they reach the middle, she starts to hear Freya muttering to herself.

"When I find her, I'm going to break her neck."

"She's our mother!"

"Shutup, fool! She is in league with them!"

Shifting slightly, Ms. Hibiya leans her back up against the rack, straining herself to listen to her daughter debate herself. This only seemed to cement in her mind that something is not right. As the mumbling passes on the other side of the servers, she cannot help but think she could almost detect a difference in the speech pattern of each personality.

"Hi Mom!"

Chitose screams as she feels something yank at her hair. Only too late, she realizes that there is a small gap in the equipment installed on the racks. Freya has somehow detected her, and now has her by the hair, trying to drag her through the opening. It feels as if her scalp is on fire as she struggles against the daughter who means to kill her.

Twisting her head and body, the apartment manager succeeds in turning herself to face the hole. She puts one foot against the rack and, along with both arms, pushes herself away, desperately trying to disengage from her daughter. Waves of pain rack her head as she unwillingly participates in the vicious tug-o-war. Finally, after what seems like an eternity, she feels as well as hears her hair start to rip from her skull. To panicky to mind the agony, she pushes even harder, finally succeeding in disengaging herself. Unable to catch herself, she flies back and smashes her head into the wall behind her.

Chitose's world spins around her as she tries to blink the cobwebs away. Skuld appears next to her. Everything had happened so fast that the goddess did not fully understand her plight until it was too late. Now she was standing over her, telling her something about getting her out of wherever they were.

Groggily, she looks up past the goddess and sees her daughter on top of the server rack, staring down at her with those evil looking red eyes and a menacing smile on her lips. Through the haze, she can still hear Freya. "Ahhhhh, did you bump your head?"

For an instant, the red eyes turn to brown. "Run mama!"

As Skuld starts to drag her towards the closest exit, she sees Freya's eyes turn red again. "I said shut up!"

"Freya!" exclaims Skuld, "you need to fight whatever has possessed you!"

As her faculties slowly return to her, she realizes that Skuld is on to something, but is slightly off on what it actually is. If she is right, the damage is irreparable. Slowly, Ms. Hibiya begins to understand that the only way to save Chi is to kill Freya. But how can she destroy one daughter to save the other? It is a choice that should never be asked of any parent.

"Oh, we are not possessed," replies the blonde persocom, her red eyes never wavering from her targets. "We have been together since the change."

A sudden realization comes to Chitose. Remembering a conversation she had with the goddesses before the group embarked on this quest, she pulls herself up and faces her daughter. Freya starts to rush at them as Ms. Hibiya screams.

"Chobits!"

The platinum blonde stops in mid stride. Slowly, mechanically, she straightens herself up and faces the duo. "Entered, password and voice recognition are confirmed," she intones in a much more robotic voice. "Standing by, master. Please give me your instructions."

Freya's eyes turn from red to brown. "Mama, I can't move, what are you doing?"

A tear streaks down Chitose's cheek. "I understand now, darling. Mr. Motosuwa told me that I needed to 'destroy her to fix her'."

"I don't understand"

"I didn't either, at first," replies the apartment manager as a tear streaks down the other side of her face. "Originally, I thought he meant I needed to destroy you to fix Chi, but that's not what he meant at all." Letting out a light sob, the tears begin to stream down her face, and her voice catches when she continues. "Initiate system shutdown and deletion of all data."

Freya's brown eyes go wide when the command is given. "Mama, don't do it, you'll kill me!"

The red eyes reassert themselves immediately. "Standing by to initiate system shutdown and deletion of all data, please confirm."

"Please mama! Don't do this!" pleads Freya when her eyes turn back.

Chitose can barely stop herself from breaking down. Steeling herself to what must be done, she locks her daughter with a loving look. "I have to, baby, in order to save you, I need to let go of what you were….." she feels another catch in her voice as she almost loses it again. Shaking her head slightly, she finishes; "and let you be what you can become." Finally, a wave of sadness overcomes her and she covers her face, no longer able to watch. "Execute," she says in a barely audible voice.

"No…!" screams Freya before the red eyes take over again. Across her irises, white streaks of light dance back and forth. After a moment, any life in them is gone. "Execution complete," says platinum blonde as the red eyes fade to brown.

Chitose lets out an anguished sob as she looks back to her daughter.

Freya blinks and shakes her head. When she does this, the persocom port covers on her head both fall off. "I, I'm alive?"

"Yes baby, you are."

Freya lifts her arms and examines herself, then looks to her mother in confusion. "I don't understand."

"I do!" exclaims Skuld from behind Chitose. She rushes up and examines the platinum blonde, a broad smile on her face. Finally, she crosses her arms across her chest. "You were incomplete. Your soul was not fully ready for the change, so only the parts that were ready made the transition. The result is that it literally created two souls; a human one and a persocom one, which was corrupted because of the change." She looks at Freya's mother. "But how did you know?"

Ms. Hibiya smiles at the deity. "The persocom personality's voice had a slightly unnatural sound to it."

Skuld furrows her brow in confusion. "Huh. I didn't notice any difference."

"Well, I am her mother," quips the apartment manager with a wane smile. She then turns to her daughter.

Freya's eyes are downcast, and her hands are clasped in front of her. Chitose reaches out and tips the girl's chin up so that she is looking at her. A steady stream of tears are flowing down her face. Just as they make eye contact, the former persocom rushes in and throws her arms around her mother. "I'm so sorry!" she wails and starts crying in earnest, managing through the sobs; "I… couldn't… control it." Chitose just holds her daughter, stroking her long hair lovingly.

After a few moments, Freya seems to recover some. She pulls away slightly so that she can look up at her mother. "What will happen to me now?"

"You cannot stay here, I'm afraid," replies Ms. Hibiya. "Chi needs to be able to live her own life, free of any interference from the two of us." Pulling her daughter close to her, she looks to Skuld for a lifeline. Hopefully she knew of some option that would work, as the alternative was almost too horrible for her to think about. A thought comes to her. "Can she come with me?"

Skuld's brows furrow for a bit as she contemplates this. She then shrugs her shoulders. "I don't see why not."

A bright smile crosses the apartment manager's face. She looks down at her daughter and pushes a loch of her platinum hair out of the way. "Does that sound ok to you?"

Freya nods, then buries her face into her mother's blouse. "I'm scared."

Chitose breaths in and lets out a cleansing breath, then squeezes her daughter lovingly. "We will conquer that together," she whispers.

A bright light envelopes Freya. As it increases in intensity, her features begin to dissolve until she appears only as a being of light. As her radiance increases, she starts to shrink and merge with her mother. As she does, Chitose also is bathed in light. Around her, a swirling wind starts to take shape, and as the daughter completely merges with her mother, she lifts off the ground and slowly levitates over the two rows of servers.

Skuld shields her eyes as she watches in fascination. "It's time for you to go," announces Chitose as the whirlwind around her picks up speed. Taking that as her queue, she quickly exits.

Hovering over the area, all the cables begin to come alive. With her eyes closed, Chi's mother begins to wave her hands as if she were conducting an orchestra. Slowly at first, the cables begin to find the ports they belong to on either side of the rows. When the connections are created, the radiance surrounding the apartment manager increases. As this happens, the cables move faster to their destinations. Her luminosity hits its peak as the final connection is made. With a final wave of her arms, the two rows of servers come together.

A bright flash.

Then nothing.

XXX

Kneeling on a pillow across the table from Hideki, Yoshi watches the boy as he sits in a trance. There was still a little time left before he would wake. The old man had been monitoring the efforts of the goddesses to save the newly formed soul, and is pleased that the resolution has finally presented itself to the mother. She had been the key all along. When she was diverted by the baby, the decision was made to send Hideki in to get her redirected. Now it was just a matter of waiting.

A robed figure steps up behind him, their face is obscured by a dark hood. Yoshi furrows his brows at the person's approach. "Early, you are."

"My humblest apologies. My previous task completed early," replies the figure as it bows. "So, he was successful?"

"Yes, delivered the message was. The girl, he protected." The elderly man turns his head to the robed form behind him. "Go you must. When he leaves, another task I will have for you."

The figure steps back into the shadows and fades from sight. Yoshi turns back to Hideki. It is actually slightly past the time he should be waking up. Impatiently, he takes his cane and pokes the tall man in the side with it. "Oy! Time wake up!" When there is still no response, the old man rolls his eye in annoyance and proceeds to whack is charge on the back of the head.

Hideki's eyes snap open, but he does not register that there is now a welt on the back of his scalp just above is neck. He looks at his hands, then frantically around the area. After a moment, he realizes Yoshi is there and looks at him frantically. "Where's the baby?"

The old man furrows his brows, feigning ignorance. "Ahhh, dreaming you must have been! A baby here, there is not."

Hideki does not seem convinced. "No! I was in a field next to a building, and Ms. Hibiya was there. How was she there? Don't ask me! But, she was! She had a baby, and the baby was somehow Chi!" He pauses to take a breath and the slight tinge of blue he had developed fades back to a more natural color. "I took Chi so that she could do something she had to do, but now I've lost her!"

Smiling, the old man puts a comforting hand on Hideki's shoulder. "A vivid imagination, you have. Here you have always been."

The tall man looks around, realizing for the first time that he is still in the nursery where he had fallen in to. "A dream?"

"Appear to be so, it would," replies Yoshi. He lets out a raspy giggle, then grabs the flowers out of the vase and hands them to the the younger man. "Oy! Must hurry! Transportation I have arranged."

Hideki tentatively takes the flowers and looks at the old man, confusion all over his face. "What are you talking about?"

"To the temple you must go. Only wake for you, she will."

The younger man blinks at the old man, still not understanding what he was inferring to. After a long moment, Hideki finally realizes that it was Chi. "But wait, how did you know?"

Yoshi smiles and places a comforting hand on his shoulder. "A gift this is, question it you should not."

Hideki nods and rushes out. After he leaves, the robed form reappears from the shadows. As the person approaches from behind, they fold back the hood that shrouds their face, revealing light blue hair with unequal length bangs and icy blue eyes. Her face is adorned with blue circles on each cheek, with three blue dots in the shape of an upside-down triangle on her forehead. "So why now all of the sudden, after all these years, you are trying to make amends?" asks the valkyrie Lind.

Yoshi reaches into the folds of his robes and removes a small chain. On the end of the chain is a gold medallion with a bluer than blue sapphire at its center surrounded by engraved runes. The old man fingers the gem lovingly. "Much have I to atone for. A small step this is," he says solemnly.

An awkward silence comes between the two as they watch Hideki get into the waiting taxi. Lind is the one to finally break it. "And what of the mortal, Chitose Hibiya? We cannot leave the soul fragment inside her."

A sly smile crosses the old man's lips, reminding the valkyrie of a cat that had just eaten the neighbor's canary. "Already taken care of, that is."

Lind sighs heavily. "So what is the task you mentioned?"

Yoshi turns to the goddess, locking her in with his single eyes. "Accompany him discretely. Ensure he arrives safely to the temple, you must. Reveal yourself, you should not." He turns away from her and waves his hand dismissively as he heads back into the nursery.

Lind bows deeply before she departs. "It will be done you say, Daitenkaicho Tyr."

XXX

It takes just over thirty minutes for the taxi to get Hideki to the Tariki Hongon temple from where he was. He fidgets nervously throughout the trip. What would he find when he gets there? Will the flowers help in any way, or was Urd just messing with him? He had been convinced throughout his quest that they would, but his experiences with the old man now made him doubt it for some reason. The dream in particular tipped the scales for that. While Yoshi had insisted it was a dream, he was still not convinced. It felt so real, like an out of body experience. And the things he somehow knew and said, no way could he have come up with that on his own.

As they pull up to the stairs, the tall man does not even wait for the car to stop, bolting out and up the steps. When he reaches the top, he somehow remembers that he did not pay the driver, and turns to go back. He stops short when he sees that the taxi has disappeared. He ponders this for only a moment, then turns and rushes down the path to the temple residence.

When he throws open the door, he is stopped by the angelic form of Belldandy, who is hanging up a rotary phone that is sitting on a table next to the door. "Oh! Mr. Motosuwa! I was not expecting you here this quickly."

Without preamble, he barges in and shoves the flowers into the goddess' hands. "I found the flowers! Can these help Chi?!" he cries, his voice full of desperation.

Belldandy looks down at the flowers in her hand in surprise. She then smiles and looks back to Hideki. "Actually, Chi is much better," replies the goddess. "She is resting in my room right now. Please remove your shoes, then I will take you to her." She takes his hand and leads him down the hall.

Embarrassed at forgetting to do so, he slips out of his footwear and then follows Belldandy down the hall. As they walk, Urd steps out of another room. Before she closes the door, Hideki catches sight of Ms. Hibiya laying on a futon on the floor. When the silver haired goddess turns around, Belldandy quickly hands her the flowers. "I believe these are for you?"

Urd stares at the flowers for a moment, then to Hideki, back to the flowers, finally back to the tall man standing in front of her. "He….actually found some?"

"It would seem so," replies the blue eyed goddess with a smile. She then turns and walks down the hall with Hideki in tow, leaving the flabbergasted second class goddess behind. When they reach a door with her and Keiichi's names on it, she gently slides it open.

Looking in, Hideki sees his beloved former persocom asleep in the same way that he saw Chitose earlier. "She is alright now?" he asks with a little trepidation.

"Yes," replies the goddess as she tips her head to one side and smiles. "We were able to fix her problem without the flowers."

Hideki smiles, nods, then enters the room slowly. Quietly, he pads over to the sleeping form as Belldandy slides the door closed and carefully lowers himself onto the futon. He snuggles up close to the blonde girl and reaches over with his right hand to stroke a few stray tangles of her hair out of her eyes.

As soon as his fingers make contact with skin, her eyes open.

"Chi?" she says, then slowly turns her head towards him. As soon as they make eye contact, the blonde persocom turns towards him abruptly and throws her arms around him. "Hideki! You came back for Chi!"

"Oh my god, Chi," exclaims the tall man as he returns the hug. "I thought I had lost you."

Chi pulls back slightly and frowns at him. "But Hideki did not believe Chi was Chi. Has Hideki changed his mind?"

Hideki lifts himself up to a sitting position, pulling the former persocom up with him. He puts both his hands on her shoulders and looks deeply into her chocolate brown eyes. "I'm so sorry. I was so stupid. All of this, what happened to you, was my fault." He leans in closer and touches his forehead to hers. "I promise I will never reject you again."

"Chi!" exclaims his girlfriend and she glomps on to him, causing the pair to fall backwards, causing the former persocom to land on top of Hideki.

As she lays there, she presses herself against him, her chest against his own. Hideki smiles at the sensation. So soft, so supple, so….

"REAL!" he exclaims as a gush of blood shoots out from his nose like a geyser. He pushes Chi off and starts rolling back and forth frantically on the ground like a mad man, screaming. "Oh my god it's true, she's a real girl and I touched her, I've never touched a woman's breasts before, at least a real woman's, I know I have touched hers before but they were not real then and now they are and they were so soft, I still can't believe this actually happened, it's …." Chi, thinking it was all in good fun, joins Hideki as he continues to thrash around and mumble incoherently.

As the pair roll back and forth on the floor next to each other, the door quickly slides open. Belldandy, who had heard the commotion and came back to investigate, stares down at the pair in shock. On either side of her head, Hideki's two laptops, whom she had gone to retrieve, sit and watch impassively. As Chi and Hideki compose themselves, the goddess whispers to the purple haired persocom. "Is this normal?"

"For them? Yeah, pretty much," replies Kotoko with a shrug.

As she sits up, the blonde former persocom frowns and rubs her stomach. "Chi has a funny feeling down here." Her statement is punctuated by the very distinctive and insistent growl of hunger than emanates from her.

Belldandy smiles as Hideki's stomach also lets out a sympathetic groan of its own. "It's a little late for lunch, but I can put together some snacks shortly!"

XXX

Stalking his prey, he silently pads down the pads down the long corridor. His target was wily, like they coyote he sometimes watched in cartoons. Approaching the next room, he puts his back against the wall and sneaks closer to the entryway. The five years old boy runs his fingers through his hair nervously, then sneaks a quick peak around the corner to see if this most dangerous of game is within striking distance.

"ICCHAN GO BOOM!"

Nearly coming out of his skin, he feels two strong arms wrap around him, then lift him up into the air. "DAD!" he screams out as he realizes the hunter was instead the hunted, as usual. He feels himself get shifted into one arm, then a rough pair of knuckles start rubbing on the crown of his head.

"NOOGIE NOOGIE NOOGIE!" yells his father as the boy struggles against the onslaught. The man, the sole center of the boy's universe, then takes him up and places him on his shoulders. This was his favorite spot in the world.

Putting his chin down on the top of dad's head, he lets out an annoyed sigh. "Tell me again why we have to go to the hospital?"

"Zima, I've told you, your sisters were born last night," replies his father. "It's time for you to meet them."

"But I told you I don't want a sister, let alone two," replies Zima in a huff.

The man chuckles, then gently takes his son off his shoulders and places him on the ground. Squatting down to the boy's level, he adjusts his glasses and smiles. "I'm sure you will love Freya and Elda as much as your mother and I already do."

"Pfft," replies the boy. "Not likely."

"Well, in any case, we will be heading home in about a week, so you should be happy about that!"

"Yeah!" screams Zima excitedly. As his dad stands back up, the boy can't help but be happy about that bit of news. They had been staying at an inn for the past three weeks due to his mom being sick with the new babies. Sure it was a cool place, with lots of hiding places and a natural hot spring that his parents had been enjoying quite a bit. But he misses his friends, his toys, and most of all, his room. Giddy with the news, he follows his father into the common area, where the television is.

For some reason, though, he decides it's not TV time. He looks back to his dad and is about to ask something when a voice booms out from across the room.

"Mr. Mihara! I heard the news, congratulations!"

Zima's father runs his hand through his thick mop of black hair and smiles at the elderly woman who is approaching. "Please, just Ichiro. And yeah, her water broke yesterday evening and the girls were born about three this morning." He then blushes a little. "I hope the mess she made in the hallway wasn't too much trouble."

"Oh, pay that no mind, the haz-mat teams took care of it!" replies the old lady with a smile. A couple drops of sweat form on Ichiro's brow, before the woman starts laughing. "Kidding!" she says after composing herself. "We get special guests like you and your wife all the time with the hospital so close, housekeeping is well prepared."

Mr. Mihara lets out a drawn out sigh of relief. In the momentary pause, the boy calls out to him, but Ichiro fails to notice. As the adults start to talk about other business that he cares nothing for, Zima decides to take matters into his own hands. Quickly, he steps back into the hallway and heads for the back door, a particular destination in mind. At the end of the corridor is the rear exit to the building. Through it, he can see what he wants. The playground.

He quickly slips through the door, across the parking lot, and over to his favorite thing, the sandbox. As he approaches, he sees there is someone already there. For as long as he has been here, there have been a number of children that have come and gone. The girl playing in there now was someone new. He recalls that very few girls ever came to the sand box, preferring the swings. That was fine with him, he didn't have much use for girls anyway. Why his parents decided to have two of them was beyond him. He sighs in resignation. She would be company at least.

As she pushes the sand around with a toy bulldozer, Zima notices she is not wearing typical girl attire, instead having on a white t-shirt and blue jeans. Her black hair barely comes down past her ears, giving her a tom-boyish quality that, for some reason, he likes.

As he stands there, transfixed in place, the girl notices him and smiles. "Hi!" she says and waves.

Zima swallows. "Um, hi?" he replies, trying to return the smile, wondering why he was having trouble talking to her. After a slight pause, he manages to eek out a question he was not sure why he was asking. "Can I play with you?"

"Sure!" she replies, visibly excited.

He smiles and approaches. Something about her voice seemed to sooth him. As he reaches the edge, he sees that along with the bulldozer she was playing with, there are a couple of dump trucks as well. He immediately sits and starts to play with one of them, then jerks his hand back as if stung. "What's wrong?" asks the girl.

"I'm sorry, I forgot to ask if I could play with your toys," replies Zima.

"Don't be so serious! I said you could play!"

The boy smiles at her, and picks the truck he had before back up. "By the way, my name is Zima," he announces.

She looks at him with red eyes that seem to hypnotize him and smiles. "My name is Dita."

XXX

The goddess Skuld stands in the doorway of what used to be her room and looks down at the two persocoms laying on a futon next to each other on the floor. Their eyes were staring off into space, with small white lines streaking across their irises. She steps into the room and looks down at the PersoSimulator v5.1 that was laying at the head of the mattress and peeks at a small monitor attached to it. In it, two small children of about five were playing in a sandbox, each one bearing a passing resemblance to the two figures that are attached to the device. She smiles and then reaches down to make a small adjustment.

Her work done, she turns and starts towards the door, but stops when she sees her older sister Urd casually leaning against the doorframe. "So, what script did you pick for them," she whispers.

Skuld rolls her eyes. "Urd, you don't have to whisper, they are not asleep."

The silver haired goddess waves her hand dismissively. "I was just trying to be polite." She looks at her younger sister expectantly. "So…..?"

"Oh, there is no script," she replies as she passes past Urd and into the hallway. "I started them off with a basic program based off a manga I read a long time ago. The rest is pretty much up to them. They have free will throughout. And when they die in the simulator, they will just wake up here and remember it all."

Urd closes the door and follows the raven haired goddess into the hallway. Before the younger sister can get away, she pulls her into a big hug. A little shocked, Skuld struggles a little, then relents. After a few awkward moments, the elder sister releases her grip and takes a step back, smiling.

"What was that for?"

The light smile turns into one of Urd's trademark smirks. "Finally, one of your inventions works the way it is supposed to!"

Skuld takes a step back and puts her hands on her hips in righteous indignation. "Shut up, Urd!" she exclaims. "At least I figured out what was wrong with Freya."

The bronze goddess steps past her raging sibling and waves her hand dismissively. "Whatever Squirt, I heard Ms. Hibiya was the one that figured it out."

"How would you know?!" screeches Skuld. "Freya beat you like the rented mule you look like!" She smiles as Urd stops, then turns around and glares at her. The raven haired goddess then delivers the coup de' grace. "And stop calling me squirt! I'm just as tall as you, and have bigger honkers!" To emphasize her point, Skuld crosses her arms low across her chest and lifts up her ample bosom for all to see.

"That's it!" screams Urd. She holds her arms out and black energy orbs form in each hand. "You'll pay for that one!"

"Bring it sister!" hisses Skuld as she calls forth two ocean blue colored globes of her own.

Without warning, all four of the energy balls wink out of existence, a whiff of smoke the only thing that marks their passing. Both goddesses stare dumbfounded at their hands for a moment, then freeze as they hear someone clearing their throat. In unison, they both turn to find their sister staring at them, a stern look on her face. One of the middle Norn's hands is raised up, her thumb and pointer are together as if she had just snapped her fingers.

"Belldandy!" exclaim the sisters in unison.

Skuld gulps. She looks pissed.

The oldest sister steps up, next to Skuld. "Um, we….. we were just going to play… um… pattycake!"

"Y-y-y-yeah Big Sis, that's, um, right!" stutters the younger sister. They both start to mime playing the children's game as they look back to Belldandy with huge, innocent smiles on their faces. They stop when the blue eyed goddess crosses her arms across her chest as she continues to glower at the pair.

"Well, would you look at the time!" exclaims the silver haired goddess all of the sudden.

Skuld looks down at her watch. "Oh, that's right! I forgot I need to go….feed the fish!"

Both sisters turn and throw an arm around the other's shoulders. They then fast walk dance down the hall and out the back door. Standing on the porch, they both let out a sigh of relief as they disengage from each other.

"Man, I forgot how scary she can get ever since the children were born," comments Skuld as she steps off the top step and into the yard. "Well, better get going!"

Urd smacks her forehead in disgust. "Dammit, the TV is inside!"

The raven haired goddess chuckles. "Yeah, good luck!" she quips as she turns and heads towards the koi pond, thankful that she had enough power that she no longer required hot water as a travel medium.

XXX

In the inky blackness, a small light dances. A woman stands, bathed in the illumination. As it bounces around, its mother, Chitose Hibiya smiles. She had no idea how things would go forward with the pair. All she knew was that her first daughter, Freya, was now with her and would be so for the rest of her life. That was all she needed right now.

The light comes to her and she takes hold of it, bringing it close to her chest. The warmth it is putting our fills her with joy.

"What shall we do now, mother?" asks the glowing orb.

"A lot has changed since you left us," replies Chitose. "We will see many new things that have come to pass."

"I would like that."

The pair continues on. The mother and the light, comforting each other as they prepare for whatever lies before them. Still holding it, something seems to change. Ms. Hibiya removes it from its place on her buzom and looks it over. Somehow the illumination is not quite as intense as it was before. "What's wrong?! Why are you not as bright as before?"

"Mommy, I feel strange," says the light.

Chitose begins to panic as it begins to dim even more. She pulls it back to her and begins to run. The direction does not matter. She needed to find someone, anyone that could tell her what is going on. But there is no one here. She looks at it again. Its glow is now but a glimmer of its former self. "Please don't leave me!" she wails as tears start to stream down her face.

She holds it tighter than ever, willing it to grow again, pouring every fiber in her being into the effort. Yet still, the once bright glow shrinks to but an ember. Through the haze of her angst, she hears a voice.

"You will see your daughter again."

She pays it no heed as the light that was her first daughter finally goes out completely. She sobs into her hand and falls on the ground, all alone in the dark.

XXX

Chitose wakes up with a start, sits up and screams. "FREYA!" She falls over onto her side and curls into a ball, covering her eyes and the tears freely flow from her red eyes. Her daughter was gone. She could feel the hole that was created in her heart with her passing. In the dark, moonlit room, despair threatens to overwhelm her.

The area brightens momentarily as someone opens the door, enters, and then shuts the door again. It isn't until she feels a presence next to her that the grieving mother acknowledges the person by turning towards them. Lifting herself back up to a seated position, she looks into the azure eyes of the goddess of the house.

"Ms. Hibiya, what's wrong?" asks Belldandy, clearly concerned. It was obvious she could see Chitose was crying.

"It's Freya," sobs the mother as she latches on to the goddess' dress and buries her face into it. "She's gone!"

Belldandy puts her arms around Chitose and comforts her for a moment. As her crying subsides, she pushes the woman back and looks at her. "Tell me exactly what happened."

"I could feel her," starts the apartment manager, barely controlling the sobs that threaten to take over. "But then she started to fade." She reaches out and grabs the arms of the blue eyed goddess, tears and desperation in her eyes. "Oh my god! It must not have worked, she must have died!"

Belldandy looks deeply into the sobbing Chitose's eyes. "Please, allow me to see what happened." Ms. Hibiya nods her consent and the goddess' right hand starts to glow. She places it over the grieving mother's heart. She frowns, then moves it around, pressing in various spots. Closing her eyes in concentration, she cocks it to the side as if hearing some faint whisper. The goddess' hand starts to drift down, finally settling over the lower part of Chitose's abdomen. With a sudden intake of breath, Belldandy jerks her hand back, then up to join her other hand in covering her mouth. "Oh my!" she exclaims as a tear runs down her face.

Ms. Hibiya panics. "Oh my god, it's true, isn't it!"

Belldandy immediately reaches down and grabs hold of Chitose's hand, using the other to wipe the moisture from her own face. "No, I am sorry if I scared you, this is a tear of joy."

"What?" replies Ms. Hibiya as she blinks in confusion.

The blue eyed goddess squares to the mother and gives her a radiant smile. "You're pregnant!"


A/N: And thus ends this arc. I do not think this story is done, so I will not be marking this as completed. At this time, I do not have any new major arcs in mind, but a couple of on-shots have been bouncing around. Feel free to send ideas!

Timeline note: I have seen a number of fics that puts Chobits in the 2030's. While, based on the level of tech, I can understand that. However, if you really look at it, Its probably 2007 at the latest. I am not hugely familiar with Angelic Layer, but I have seen multiple sources put Ichiro Mihara's birthdate in 1969. He is 28 in Angelic layer, putting that in 1997. Chobits is a direct sequel to AL, and I think AT MOST, the gap is 10 years, hence 2007. If you care to discuss this, drop me a line.

And as always, READ AND REVIEW!

A/N2 (3/19/13) - I added a small sentance to clarify that Zima and Dita will eventually wake up when the simulation is over. Just wanted to clarify that point, Thanks to Thanos for pointing that out.