Chapter 4
The air was tense in the home that night as Belldandy spun the unholy tale. They'd gathered at the table, though the tea had long grown cold. At great length, she explained the trials and difficulties her mind had faced, gazing apologetically to her family the entire time. In disbelief, they sat unmoving, gawking at her…because who would ever believe a first class goddess would listen to a demon's words and speak them as truth?
And yet, they all knew Belldandy could not tell a lie, she wouldn't…never to them. Never about Hild. Still, they couldn't believe, try though they might. The fragments wouldn't click together in their minds. It was then, when nothing else seemed to work, that Holybell emerged from her master to show off the reality that was before them.
"Gods in heaven!" Urd gasped, seeing the sight of Belldandy's angel for the first time. "How long have you been hiding this?" She reached out her hand, but fear gripped her heart, and she pulled her hand away.
"Long enough." Belldandy sighed, averting her eyes.
"Big sis…" Skuld couldn't find the words she wanted to say the most. "Holybell, you're suffering too, aren't you?" One glance at her sister's angel was all it took to make her want to back away lowly. She'd seen an angel with an illness before, but never something quite like this.
The angel tried to offer a smile, but it seemed to strike fear into the hearts of those around her. Even her wings were riddled with spots, impurities that a healthy angel would never have. Disheartened by the reaction of her peers, and ashamed to look her mistress in the eye, Holybell crossed her arms over her chest, and hid from the scrutiny.
"This isn't natural." Urd murmured, almost afraid to find out just what exactly might be going on. "You're sure Hild didn't put you under some kind of manipulation?" That was a shot in the dark, but at least it was an answer Urd could accept, if it had been true. "Have you eaten anything strange, or perhaps forgotten to purify yourself? Even one missed bath can weaken your powers, you know."
"Of all thing things I may forget to do, that would certainly not be one of them." Belldandy said with a blush. "Just as you have your pride towards being a goddess, I do too." No, she would never forget to do something like that. "On days I spoke with Hild, I made sure to not only purify myself in the usual manner, but I also spent several hours in the forest singing heavenly praise to rejuvenate the good fortune in the area."
Skuld looked between her two sisters. "So, if you've done that, it isn't a manipulative spell, and it probably isn't a bug or system error either." The youngest goddess was at a loss. "It could be a virus, couldn't it?" Skuld asked, though she wasn't sure of her own words. "What if Hild hacked into something she should have, and Belldandy's the victim of a viral outbreak."
"That's forbidden." Urd said carefully, she wouldn't put it beyond her mother, but she also expected that Hild, of all demons, would be smarter than that. "The crime is too heinous, at least I don't think she would." There was only one way to find out. "Elegance…" She ordered, her angle peeking out when called. "Find out what's going on with Holybell."
It was a sight Keiichi had seen before, but as odd as it was seeing goddesses kiss, it was even more mind boggling to see two angle doing it. He swallowed hard, unsure what they might find out. As wisps of magical code fluttered around, it was clear that Holybell wasn't feeling well, even wincing several times through the process, as if it pained her greatly. Belldandy continued to look troubled, but none of them made a move until World of Elegance finished searching.
When the two angels separated, World of Elegance turned to Urd. The problem is decidedly spiritual in nature, I don't detect any viruses, and if it is coming from Yggdrasil, it's only due to a code set in place by the system administration. She floated over to her master, sitting down beside Urd and Skuld. I couldn't find any indication that there was an error code, or a corruption in her source file.
Urd nodded. I didn't think you would…but I just had to be sure.
I did sense something off-putting, but when I went to inspect it, Holybell resisted me. She refused to allow me to see that part of herself, as if she was blocking me. World of Elegance said, rather indignantly at that. Shall I dismiss myself, or dig deeper to find the root cause? The angle asked coolly after her task was over. I could force my way in, if you really wanted to know what's going on.
"For your own safety, return to me, Elegance." Urd replied before explaining it to the others. "It isn't viral, and it isn't a data corruption either. This is Belldandy's own doing…in fact, Holybell is going so far as to block out my angel."
"It's a sensitive topic, Urd." Belldandy sighed, coming quickly to Holybell's defense. "What we're discussing is going to change fate as we know it. I'm not even sure I'm alright with this, and yet to even talk about it makes me so confused." Belldandy forced herself to take a breath and steady her voice. "What should I do? I'm a goddess, surely you of all people can understand my tribulation in the matter."
Oh, she could, she just didn't want to think about it. "So, my mother wants Keiichi to be a demon..." Urd knew better than most just what a raw hand they were being dealt, and after a bit of thought, she shook her head. "We shouldn't consider it."
"Does…" Keiichi gulped, feeling bile rise in his throat. "Does it hurt?" He asked, his voice shaking.
"In some ways." Belldandy admitted, though she tried to put on a brave face, for his sake. "It feels cold, Keiichi."
"That settles it." Keiichi was angry, but he wasn't sure at what. "Where's Hild?" Annoyance was just the tip of the iceberg, he didn't know what lurked underneath. "I want to talk to her, now." His eye cut to Urd, who shrugged unknowingly. "Find her then…" He said.
"Even if Urd did call Hild, what would you do?" Skuld asked him. "She's the queen of all demons for a reason. You've seen what she can do, her power isn't something you can stand up against."
"You two don't have to do this." Urd said, coming to her own conclusion on the matter. After having heard the story from Belldandy…having seen Holybell for herself, it was all too much to take. "The two of you shouldn't be held responsible for my refusal." She looked at the little black egg and shuttered, the idea that anyone might swallow it sickened her. "When the time comes, I will succeed Hild. That will make her happy."
Holybell, who was sitting behind her master, hugged her goddess tightly. Keiichi doesn't have to do this. I have endured, and I will continue to do so…for his sake, it is all I can offer to prove my devotion, so if that's the way it has to be, I will endure. She told her master, begging her to reconsider her current choice. I will not be destroyed. I won't falter.
"No, you won't." Belldandy said aloud as she looked to her angel. "I will not allow you to be destroyed, Holybell." She held one of her angel's hands in her own. "We are one entity, to lose you, would mean to lose my very soul, and that can't happen." She swallowed hard looking to the others. "However, I can't possibly risk the chance of destroying creation." Belldandy sighed. "It's come to this."
"I'll go." Urd said again, hating the idea at her very core. "I'll do it, so that no one else has to worry."
"It has to be Keiichi." Belldandy murmured. "Just look at Holybell, she's fading away, Urd." Belldandy closed her eyes to hide her sadness. "Even if you did take your mother's place, his fate and mine likely wouldn't change. I would lose myself eventually, and so would the rest of you."
"Like hell." Urd hissed, her grip on her sake bottle so hard, it crumbled to dust in her grasp. "Holybell will not fade away, and you won't lose yourself." Urd shook her head. "This is all just because Hild is getting to you…you're letting that monster toy with your head. She's ruthless, Belldandy."
"Big sis, Urd is right." Skuld chirped from behind her bowl of ice cream. "You can't shoulder this all by yourself…besides, he's just a mortal." Skuld looked over to Keiichi. "If you swallow that pill, and then take a devil's egg into you, there's no telling what it could do." She shook her head. "And I've never built a machine to convert a demon back into a human."
"You wouldn't dare anyway." Urd told her youngest sibling. "Not after what happened last time you tried something like that."
"Well…maybe not with Keiichi as a test subject." Skuld admitted. "But, it would be interesting to try…" Stowing away the thought for a later time, she stuffed another scoop of ice cream into her mouth. "But, you know Urd, that makes me wonder something. What does creation gain by making Keiichi into a demon?"
"Good question." Urd agreed, drinking deeply from her sake bottle, forgoing her glass entirely. "Since the one causing trouble is Hild, who knows…but, it isn't anything good I'll bet."
Master, please. Holybell begged. Don't give into a demon's whims.
"I've thought about that, at great length." Belldandy said slowly, as if not wanting the words to slip from beyond her lips. "The truth is, I've already begun to mourn him." She turned to Keiichi with a sad smile. "When I was in heaven, human life, while amazing to me, was short, and I thought it should be so." She turned to her sisters. "I didn't know that I would truly fall in love with mortal, whose very days would pass me by, while I remained stagnant and unchanging."
"Belldandy…this goes back to what you were saying before…" He said sadly. "She's lonely right, because I don't have an angel…she has nothing to connect to…no way to fully reach my soul." He felt sick just by saying it. "All of this time, you told me not to worry, but, just look at what that's done."
"A goddess's strength comes from love." She said to him, nodding softly. "To have a strong love that lasts through time, angels need their voices heard too…but, you can't understand her, and she can't reach you."
"There isn't any avoiding this." Keiichi finally said after giving it some thought. He scratched the side of his face, where his patchy five-o-clock shadow was beginning to grow in. "I've been blessed, and now, I'm being asked to return the favor I've been given."
"Don't be stupid." Urd looked upon Belldandy's angel. She was so different, so unlike the Holybell Urd remembered. "Even if you became a demon, that doesn't guarantee that you can suddenly make everything all better. It doesn't promise that you could even respond to Belldandy's spiritual needs."
"Maybe not, but…" He looked down to the pill on the table. "Hild is right, Belldandy." He told the women beside him, nodding his head so that they couldn't see his eyes. He was sure, if they did, they would see something he couldn't yet admit to himself. "I could live forever knowing that you're okay, I'd be fine with that…but, if something were to happen to you, I don't know what I'd do. Probably something horrible."
"Who's to say it would happen in your lifetime?" Belldandy assured him. "Chances are good that it wouldn't."
"Who's to say it won't?" Keiichi told her. "I feared this day would come…when I would be told that you'd be taken away from me." He looked her evenly in the eyes. "You're a goddess Belldandy, you were meant for heaven, and I took that away…and I would do it again in a heartbeat." He picked up the pill, held it in his palm. "If that makes me selfish, so be it. I don't care. Hild's right, it's worth this…if I can buy some time, why not?"
"Keiichi, do you really think Hild will hold up her end of the bargain?" Urd didn't dare believe it.
"Hild has nothing to lose by leaving me and Belldandy alone for a while. Besides, you all know when I'm going to die and go to heaven, but, I don't know that answer." The tablet seemed more and more like redemption each passing second. "Mortal people forget that they're mortal…they put it in the back of their minds, because our lives don't last very long."
"That's the way it should be." Urd agreed.
"I can't do that, because I have all of you with me." Keiichi told her, pointing to the ceiling above him. "I'm reminded every day, that there is an end someplace. Even if I can't see it, I'm just a normal guy at the end of the day." He didn't like thinking about it, but he knew the truth. "I'm going to die, one day."
"Yes, that is the plight of mankind. However, you'll go to a place that you shouldn't worry about." Belldandy promised him. "A place where you will one day belong. Trust me when I say that you have nothing to fear when it comes to what will happen afterward."
"I can't take comfort in that, Belldandy. I can't just let things happen like this, knowing you're going to suffer." He told her. "If I can extend unknown answers in my life, and become a demon, is that so bad?" He looked to Belldandy. "If I can offer you some measure of solace, why wouldn't I do that?"
"Because it's insane!" Skuld yelled at him.
He looked down at his hands, waiting for something, but nothing happened. No one would just give him the perfect answer. "I'll live up to my own expectations, and, the expectations of your father." Keiichi told Belldandy. "How can I be worthy of you, if I don't?" Keiichi told them all before swallowing the pill without water. "That's my job as a man…and it's the man I want to be, it doesn't matter if I'm a demon or not."
"Idiot!" Skuld shouted smacking him in the back of the head. "Why'd you go and do that for?"
"We're going to be separated anyway." Keiichi told them. "If it's when I die, or thousands of years from now…it doesn't matter…one day, it will happen. If that's the case, I will prolong my time with Belldandy as long as I can."
"That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard!" Skuld raised her hand again, but it collided into a force field.
"Skuld…that's unbecoming." Belldandy stopped her sister before she could begin another attack.
"Not unwarranted though." The eldest said. "That was completely stupid!" Urd said, her hand was able to break through the barrier easily, thwacking Keiichi herself.
"Girls!" This time Belldandy became cross. "This is no time to turn on one another." Still, she agreed with her siblings, diving in head first like that was dangerous. "Despite their violence, they're right. Keiichi, you should be more careful."
"I'm tired of being careful." He reached for the egg, but Urd stopped him.
"You are out of your ever loving mind." Urd said, snatching the egg from him. "This is a devil's egg." She ranted. "You do not, under any circumstance, swallow a devil's egg like it's a piece of candy. Stop taking this so lightly."
"I have no intention of doing this halfheartedly." Keiichi folded his arms, and closing his eyes. "Even right now, I feel different from before. I know that this isn't a game." He opened his eyes. "Give me the devil's egg, Urd."
"You can't support him." Urd said quietly.
"She's right, Keiichi." Belldandy nodded in agreement. "Powers take time to grow, sometimes, thousands of years. Plus, he won't be like an angel…he'll latch onto a more vindictive side of yourself, and he may even act out if you aren't careful." He could feel him slowly start to change.
"If I act fast, I can purge his system of the pill." Urd explained to Belldandy, building an array on the table. "Help me get him into place." Belldandy didn't move. "Skuld, go get some holy water, and the dove's tears I keep on the third shelf in my room." When the youngest sister didn't budge, Urd bit down on her lower lip. "Damn it." She said, her voice quaking. "You're just going to let him do this?"
"Urd, please try to understand." Belldandy asked her sister, so quietly, her words could hardly be heard.
Still the eldest Norn struggled with the truth. "Keiichi, you don't really want to be a demon! Think of what they are...what they've done to us in the past. Do you really want to be like that?"
"I took the pill, didn't I?" Keiichi said then.
Urd sighed, and put the chain that held the egg around Keiichi's neck. "He can still hear you in the egg, and if you protect him well and talk to him a lot, he may not be so evil when he hatches." She wasn't happy about it, but as she put her palm to his chest, she could already feel the demonic power flowing into him. "Keep him near to your heart Keiichi." She got up and left as if she'd been defeated by some unknown force.
Belldandy was barely suppressing her tears. "You're so foolish." She told him as she wrapped her arms around him. "Why do you insist on doing such dangerous things?"
"I love you." He ran his fingers through her hair, holding her as she cried into his shoulder. "That's why." He paused, when he felt something he'd never felt before. A soft, warm glow that came from her chest. When he closed his eyes, he could see the shining dull light, though he had no idea what it was, until he'd heard it for the first time.
"He will be like you." The voice said to him.
He could tell then from the voice, just who it was. "Hello, Holybell." He whispered in awe. He could finally hear her, and through Belldandy, he could feel Holybell's pain. "I'm sorry you've had to wait so long."