A/N: So, I've started to do anime and gaming reviews now over at Hubpages, incase you didn't know. They're casual, and not extremely in depth. Just a way for me to pass the time. Anyway, if you happen to be interested in anime and gaming reviews, with perhaps a few other little tidbits on the side, check me out. If you have an anime or a game you want me to review, you can always pm me over there, and let me know...or just PM me here, and I'll answer you.

Over at Hubpages, I'm the same pen name as I am here, Sombereyes.

Anyway, I don't own Ah! My Goddess.

Chapter 23

It was like a twisting, murky bile that tickled the back of her throat. She could feel it, the utter illness that would soon plague the heavens and hells, purging them of old ways. "So this is what it comes down to?" Hild replied, her face little more than a mask of indifference. She was adept in the arts of potions, and knew well how to conjure illicit substances that most in heaven would surely covet, yet, there was no cure for this. "This malady is unheard of, but, undeniable proof is in your eyes."

"There must be something to help." Anzasu murmured quietly. "Something needs to be able to fix this, it can't be entirely incurable."

"Magic is futile." Hild said, studying Anzasu carefully. "I doubt we could seal off whatever the issue is." Odd medicines were her specialty, and this had to be kept quiet. "We can't cast a warding spell either. Barriers of any nature would probably just exacerbate this plague." If anyone else knew the nature of what was happening, panic would spread, and that wasn't good for anyone. "It isn't your angel that's afflicted, but rather it is you, yourself."

"Why not make a medicine, then?" Anzasu asked, not familiar with such the trade, but knew that Hild was quite renowned for it.

"There is no concoction, elixir, potion, antidote, or even salve that can remedy this." Hild had expected something to infect the angels and devils, but this was not something quite so simple. This was not an illness of the soul, but something else. "This my dear friend, is something far more sinister than we can imagine. The grim fact is that we are to be phased out, and, what better way to invoke extinction than incompatibility?" In Hild's thoughts, there was nothing else that could be so frightening.

"You're saying that the heavens and hells can't sustain us?" Anzasu sighed, she could feel the beginnings of the illness grasping her with chilly fingers of foreboding. She thought it to be a mere infection, until Hild bought up the problem over tea one day. "Is there any place in creation that could protect us?"

"I believe creation poisons us." Hild said carefully. "Anything that is created, must also one day cease to exist. Anything that ceases to exist leaves voids that must be filled. Voids that must be filled follow three paths. Either finding a replacement, phasing out, or changing entirely…and hence creation evolves with time." Their time was coming sooner than Hild cared to admit. "It will spread slowly until we either die, or merely disappear. I am not sure which holds true."

"If you were forced to guess?" Anzasu asked.

"I would plead uncertainty." Hild said. "I wouldn't presume to make such statements, as I have no way of knowing just how debilitating this sickness could become." There was only one thing that Hild knew for sure. "Creation will keep us around for precisely however long it needs us, and not a second more." She licked her lips, and found herself quite parched. She reached out to the tea Anzasu had offered, but found the taste quite bland. She made no indication of that, and merely let her mind toil with the truth, as it so boggled them.

"I have not told Tyr." Anzasu said then, worry etching her very being. "I doubt speaking of this would help at all."

"Tyr knows well of this outcome, as it is the selfsame outcome that so drove him to ignore Belldandy in the first place." Hild replied, her eyes darkening at bit at that. "One thing I do know, is that this illness is shared through one's doublet. Creation will be sure to purge equally, and that is the only way it can."

…

"That's just absurd! Her grades have steadily improved." Belldandy said, in a heated argument with none other than her very own father. "She was made for the combat unit. She belongs there." Belldandy said, knowing that to be the truth. "Father, please, don't force Skuld to become a goddess that she's unfit to be."

"She is my daughter." Tyr replied. "She will be anything that I decide for her to be, Belldandy. That is the way it must be." It surprised him to see Belldandy fighting so hard, struggling against his whims, and he offered her a sigh. "Skuld has potential, Belldandy." He then said placidly, in hopes to calm whatever notions that she had jumped to. "She is a goddess that embodies the future, and so, her fate is not etched in stone."

"You're right." Belldandy agreed as she nervously clenched her fists at her side. "Her future is written in sand, so you know how easy it would be for her to simply wait for the waters to wash away the transgressions in her heart." She took a breath, finding her father an intimidation to face, and to disrespect. "It's because of who she is, that I know in my heart of hearts, that she was made to follow her own path." Looking Tyr in the eyes, seeing his lack of emotion to her plea, made her feel like crying. "It's because she is the goddess of the future, that she will change her heart many times. She must have that room to grow."

Tyr remained unmoved. "It is my desire, my most profound wish, that she learn and understand the ways of this office." Tyr replied evenly. "Belldandy, I beg of you to understand my plight as her father-"

"What plight might you have?" Belldandy retorted heatedly, cutting Tyr off. "What have you suffered?" She shook her head. "You know nothing about Skuld, just, as you know so little about Urd." She was so sickened by this man, this god before her very eyes that claimed to be her sire. "You didn't raise them." She had to leave, before her tears threaten to fall. She wouldn't give him that luxury. "You didn't raise me, Urd did."

It was that he didn't fight back, that pained her worst of all. She almost prayed he would. That his fury would cast down a hammer so harsh, that her unquestionable ire would be justified. He said nothing to this, and she began to feel ill.

"Urd raises my child now. She's the mother that Skuld and I were never allowed to have, and now she offers Megumi the same thing!" Belldandy exclaimed, with a harsh shake of her head. Her voice raw with her rage. "What's so wrong about all of this, is that I want to raise my daughter. I want to be there for her every day, but I can't even do that." She turned on her heal. "You won't even afford me that much." With her head held high, she stormed out of the room, and Tyr didn't stop her. "This is so wrong, on so very many levels."

That he didn't deny the claim, was his worst sin of all.

She would not have it spoken that she would simply let him continue on with his plans. Belldandy refused, she could not amuse him. Not this time. Still, she was his daughter, and a first class goddess. She had to be civil, if nothing else. So even as she stormed through the offices with a temper that was very much inherited from her mother, many in the offices gawked. After all, what else were they to do?

Creation was moving, it was changing, and for some reason, it felt unsettling. To add further insult to injury, her mother seemed insistent to move mountains if it meant getting Tyr to listen to her plea. Belldandy could only feel pain, but her mother seemed filled with ire that the elder goddess didn't seem to repress. It also seemed quite odd that Hild also seemed to take a stand at Anzasu's side.

Belldandy took a breath at that, she knew she wanted to help...and that this was a last resort on a thinning rope, yet even so, she feared this was too far.

Hild would often see fit to use a bonfire in place of a tiny spark, as was the way of many demons...in recent days, that list seemed to include Keiichi. To was today of all days, she was quite thankful he wasn't here to witness this. Belldandy thought the current tactic was a bit extreme, even for the two women conspiring to overrule her father. Yet she had to agree, the method was going to be effective.

With every ounce of her being, she tried to help mediate what she knew could end up being a very venomous, if not dangerous encounter. "I beg of you, please consider taking Skuld under your wings."

"Tyr would be furious." Lind reported coolly from her place. "I can't deny my betters."

"And just what in the heavens am I?" Anzasu hissed.

"I mean no ill will." Lind said, holding up her hand. "However, her father denies my desire to train her." Lind reported, strictly keeping the disappointment out of her voice. "He denies my requests to become her tutor with such distaste, that I'm sure the repercussions would be dire."

"I will deny him of his very breath, if he so opposes it!" Hild had heard enough, and quite frankly, she hated valkyries. "You'll do as we say."

Lind didn't bat an eye. "I'll do as I'm ordered by my commander. I'll abide by my unit…and if someone from the heavenly council tells me to do something, you can bet my life that I shall follow the order through to the letter and the intent." Her weapon at the ready, she faced Hild down, knowing that if she did start a battle, it would be her life on a silver platter. As a heavenly warrior, her life was expendable, even with the doublet.

"You play a dangerous game, valkyrie." Hild cooed, as if she were toying with the mouse with its tail caught in a trap. "You don't really want to strike me with that brutal weapon, now do you?"

"Suppose I did?" Lind growled.

"That is by far enough!" Belldandy stood between the two women. "I beg of you, stand down, Lind." Belldandy asked softly. "Keiichi would be upset, if you brought harm to Hild."

"We are family, after all." Hild smirked, crossing her arms over her ample bosom.

"Only because you've tainted in him both demonic blood and energy." The mere thought of Lind doing any sort of damage was laughable at best, but the true meaning of the words struck the warrior in a heartbeat, and the combat goddess lowered her weapon. Lind wasn't fond of that thought, but, then again, she would be damned to the hells anyway, if she ever listened to a demon such as Hild. "I have no reason to listen to you. Doing so would be such a great dishonor to my unit."

"Unspeakable, yes?" Hild only found amusement in that. "Even so, I would examine the situation from our perspective, if I were you."

Lind looked to the other goddesses in the room. "I beg you, don't follow this demon's whims."

"It isn't a whim, Lind." Belldandy said to her friend with a gentle bow. "It's because Skuld belongs with you."

See, even the goddesses agree." Hild replied coolly. "Surely you can understand your position in all of this."

"I will not turn my back on Tyr." Lind replied then. "Not unless the very safety of the heavens were at stake, and even then, I would be hard pressed."

"It is for the safety of heaven that we beg of you to listen." Anzasu replied slowly. "The elders have contracted the spoken word, a renewal, Lind. Creation sees fit to expend those who've stayed too long." She looked over to Belldandy, who hadn't been told yet. "If we are to keep heaven safe, then my daughters must take their rightful place among the peoples of creation. That means that Skuld will need to be at your side Lind."

"You're sick?" Belldandy murmured.

"We are, child." Hild nodded. "Those of us who've created stagnation have been afflicted."

"Tyr is set in his ways, because he thinks something can be done. Your father loves you so dearly, it blinds him." Anzasu told Belldandy. "It's why he forces you away from your daughter. Why he's so sure that there is a cure to be found, here within the offices…why he keeps you, Urd, and Skuld from your true places here in the heavens."

"There is no cure, only time." Hild explained darkly. "He only prolongs the inevitable. Creation will not do away with us, unless there is a god or goddess able to stand in our place." She examined the young goddess, seeing a very childlike fear in her eyes. "You must also understand that creation will also stop at nothing to see that its desires are met. As with your sickness, that once demanded a favorable reply, creation demands of us the selfsame burden."

Anzasu nodded. "It's why Keiichi was chosen to take Urd's place."

Hild gave Belldandy a meaningful glance. "It was either Urd, or someone else." She turned her back on Belldandy. "So, I allowed Urd to have it her way, and I chose someone else to take her place. It's why Keiichi is of my blood, of my very ilk. I chose him."

"It had to be so?" Belldandy shook her head. "I don't understand!" she felt short of breath, as her entire reality was caving in on itself. "Why would creation do this?" Feeling as if her very soul happened to be crumbling apart, she turned to Hild for an answer. "You told me that forcing him to be a demon would save me from myself...you never told me creation was dying out!"

"We are its masters, and its keepers." Anzasu told her confused and obviously addled daughter. "However, you must think of it like a pet, willing to bite the very hand that feeds it." She could only hug Belldandy as truths spilled from her lips that were not yet meant to come to light. "We have abused creation, letting it become covered in its own filth, and we have neglected to right our wrong doings." She let her fingers run through her child's fawn tresses with a sigh. "If it isn't Skuld who becomes part of the valkyries, it will be someone else." Anzasu said. "Creation will eventually find gods and goddesses suitable to fill our places, no matter how much we may protest."

"Since that is the truth of the matter, Lind, you should keep in mind that Tyr fears death." Hild told the combat goddess before her. "We can only do one of two things. Wait to die forever blinded by our own stupidity, or guide you younger goddesses and demons into the right paths. I choose to do the latter."

"This is complete blasphemy…" Belldandy murmured as her mother held her close. Try though she might, she simply couldn't wrap her head around the pure magnitude of this event.

…

The decision of power was one that always seemed to happen in the depth of sleep. When a child's true soul could be free entirely of her bindings and only her mind held her tethered to the realities her dreams made, she was free to make her own choice. Urd was hoping that this little child would one day see the error of her ways, and choose to be a goddesses, but, when she felt the surge of power, she knew.

She felt it, like a fire, tearing through her body.

When she went to check on Megumi, a red bubble of demonic power surrounded the resting youth. Megumi had chosen, and instead of praising the highest heights, or cursing the lowest bowels below, she merely swallowed down the emotion she felt. So, she wants to be a demon. Urd didn't know quite what to make of that, but a heart that had spoken wasn't to be questioned. She's chosen black feathers and a tarnished halo. She knew she couldn't hate the child in front of her, her own niece.

Even Hild afforded young souls that much of a reprieve...