A/N: I'll just plunk this here and then return to my hidey-hole until next time…no, really…it's freezing here in Michigan right now…according to the weather service, we've just reached the 30 degree mark, but the wind-chill is 0...well I guess that means it's time to shiver through another winter.

Chapter 35

It was entirely unconventional, not to mention insane on some level. A goddess of Lind's make wouldn't be caught dead fraternizing with a demon of any sort, much less the ruler of them. If it were any other demon, she wouldn't have even considered it. However, Keiichi was noteworthy. She owed a person such as himself consideration, immortal or not, demon or not. He was the mated to Belldandy, and that detail alone meant she had to consider him.

She'd decided that in light of the events before them, she would put aside her blade and their differences as long as it was only to him, and, to the family he sired.

She was not sure her suggestions would be something he would take under advisement. She highly doubted he thought in matters that went far beyond his years. Whether or not they wanted to admit it, Keiichi was a slave to his own blindness. Insight would only come with age, and he required much of it. Still, she gave her report in a definitive way, hoping that in doing so, she might carry his favor, and his trust.

When she had explained the situation of the heavens, he seemed bothered by it, but not so troubled as to heed her words. Instead, he posed a question. "Do you feel as if I'm an entity unable to make my position known?"

"I doubt there is anyone left who doesn't know of you." Lind coughed. "Your children are half yours. That does carry a bit of weight, not to mention undue discrimination."

"They're halfblooded immortal children." Keiichi murmured. "This poses a problem?"

"When doesn't it?" Lind asked him, and Keiichi sighed, nodding to her.

"I was once told that it was woven into truths of creation itself." Keiichi murmured. "People are bigoted, immortals are also the same."

"There is that." Lind agreed, taking a breath. "A threat that looms over them, just as it has always loomed over your family." She considered that with a hint of trepidation. "It has been Urd's plight since birth, if anyone would understand, it would be her."

"I'm not entirely demon." Keiichi said quietly, pointing to his head. "I retain my mortal memories, and I lack some respect because of my birth as a normal mortal man. It's true I have Hild's blessing, her respect, and her blood and bone infused into me." He shrugged then, with a lopsided grin. "I wonder if that is enough."

Lind nodded, tankful he shared some of the same concerns. With a breath, she began to state her case. "With the unrest as it is, you can understand my position." All the events that troubled her within the heavens were things that she hoped he would want to address through proper channels. "We also have no idea when the creation will give rise to humans, but, once they do, they will be a savage race once more."

"Savage, huh?" Keiichi laughed. "When weren't they savage? Even when I was just a normal guy, people did things to make me question them."

"You should consider the protection of that which is yours." Lind said quietly. "A god would consider the same."

"I decline the use of more forces." Keiichi said, he was overlooking his men building his home as he and Lind spoke at length. She was trying to convince him of using more heavenly forces, he knew, but he would have none of it. "I permit Skuld because she has always had a home under my roof, and I don't intend to change that."

"In the case of assassination, Skuld would not be enough." Lind was unrelenting, and unwavering. "You are still a young demon, you have no idea the history murmured about among the old war dogs of my unit."

"Hikari is a trainee, is she not?" He wondered, looking this deadly goddess up and down. "She will be strong. My family is well protected, because I will be here."

"She's a little girl." Lind snapped. "She's yet to swallow her egg. Yes, she's powerful as expected…but she's not a little warrior. You can't pretend these girls understand anything of real battle. Megumi's devil is merely a hatchling at best…even your own devil has eons to grow stronger."

"This is not the past." Keiichi told her. "This is my future, with my family." He respected Lind a great deal, but, he would not agree to this. "I want to live it as peacefully and as happily as possible."

"That land is made for the mortals!" Lind shouted at him.

"And just what the hell was I?" He fired back, his teeth gritting. His devil even emerged from his back, sharp and deadly fangs pulling back into a vicious snarl. "I think I understand the situation here…I don't need you to worry about that."

"It is my right to worry, you stubborn son of a bitch!" Without thinking, she reached out and slapped him, the action causing both of them to stop in shock. Lind pulled away as Keiichi blinked.

He could hear his devil growling, fighting fruitlessly against his chains, and Keiichi sighed, putting a hand to his now swelling cheek. "You slapped me." He voiced quietly, awed that someone would even think to do that.

"So I did." Lind wasn't sure if she should ready herself for a war or not. Still, she could not apologies to him, would not fall to her knees and beg for forgiveness, never to a demon, and never to the ruler of the unholy realm. "You don't understand…" She said instead. "It isn't for the gods and demons of creation, it never was, and never will be intended for that."

"I know that better than you do." Keiichi said quietly. "I was a mortal too once, wasn't I?"

"Don't cling onto that." Lind warned him. "Don't assume that will redeem you. The mortal realm is a territory that lays unclaimed, a shared space…anything goes within reason, and we no longer have the doublet."

"I know…I was chosen by the devils, but that's okay with me." Keiichi said as he crossed his arms. "Lind, we're lifelong friends…you told me so yourself." He out reached his hand, wondering if she'd take it. "I won't let harm come to my family…and, I won't destroy the only creation we'd ever have the chance to have. I promise you that."

"As the ruler of demons?" Lind asked him.

He shook his head. "As Keiichi Morisato."

"I guess that'll have to do." Lind sighed, shaking his hand, wondering why she was so trusting of him. Part of it had to have been their shared history, she was sure, but even so, she prayed for more. The livelihood of creation depended on those answers. "As a goddess, it's insulting to trust a demon of your rank." She told him honestly. "However, as a soul of creation, I take comfort in those words."

"Lind, it's been a long time. I have no desire to return to the hells right now." He told her honestly. "I just want the shrine back, and to raise my family side by side with Belldandy."

There was no deception in his words, and she nodded to him, still uneasy, but accepting of his choice all the same.

…

Lind wasn't the only one grappling with difficult truths, trying so very hard to find stability in this new situation all of creation had been thrust into. Belldandy had, to some extent, thought that life would remain relatively the same in many aspects. She hadn't counted on her sister to change sides, and she had thought that after meeting back up with Keiichi she could take comfort in him without fail.

That somehow, life would return to the blissful happiness she once recalled.

However, she knew now that was not the case. Creation had been destroyed, and it needed more time to be rebuilt…more care taken, more consideration given. She wondered if she had the power for that, and the forgiveness required to look beyond past transgressions, of which, the many immortals of creation had countless grudges with.

For now though, she was merely bothered by the idea that her sister, Urd, was unable to enter the gates of the heavens. Her seals were still that crimson color that marked a demon. "They have not changed…" Belldandy murmured quietly upon seeing her sister. "You have not changed in the slightest, Urd."

"Well, what did you expect?" Urd asked with a flick of her eyes as she floated in midair, one leg crossed over the other. "I am half demon, I was already predisposed to this side of the fence."

"Yes but Urd, you and I both know you've taken to that side of yourself better than anyone assumed you would." Belldandy said, quite ashamed to admit that outwardly.

"Go ahead." Urd sighed then. "You can say it. You thought I was going to come back a blood thirsty demon hell bent on destruction." Quite frankly, Urd thought she would have returned such a way too. "You feared I would become a much more shortsighted version of my mother."

"I feared worse!" Belldandy cried with a shake of her head. "I feared that you had taken your mother's place…that you would be the fitting ruler of the hells. That you would attempt to bed down with the man I loved…and that he would be willing enough to take you as his own." Belldandy's voice shook as she closed her eyes tightly. "Do you not recall the letter you sent?"

"I do." Urd murmured with a soft sigh. "I still uphold it. I believe that even if I am to stay this way, Keiichi can't possibly live alone." The second thing she had to admit would drive her further to the demonic side, but after all she had seen, she couldn't bring herself to care. "I believe I now understand the feud between our parents. I know what tied them together, while keeping them at odds. I can't say that I feel differently."

"Must we consider that now, of all times?" Belldandy asked her. "Is that a concern I must have as well now?"

"Keiichi is not Tyr." Urd said quietly after a moment. "In that, he is much more resolved to maintain his faithfulness, misguided as it often is. Stubborn, I guess you could say." Urd wondered how dearly it would one day cost him, as a demon who never sought and always waited, finding nothing but emptiness. "However, there may come a day when his heart has truly died, his love for you along with it. When he feels there is nothing left. That there is no other future for himself other than the monster he might become. In that, Belldandy, he will only have his offspring, and any woman who can accept a broken, ruthless demon."

"And you could?" Belldandy asked her sister, a newfound respect for eldest Norn lacing her voice.

"If I stay in this form." Urd said quietly….hesitantly. "If I watch him suffer needlessly, it will kill my angelic light. Any hope of being a goddess again will be lost. That part of me would have died too…in that, we'd be kindred."

"Urd…" Belldandy shook her head. "That's just horrible, and I would never allow that to happen…our family can't afford for that to happen."

"I know that." Urd murmured to her. "You asked me if I could love him, if you had to worry about a betrayal…I'm merely answering you." Urd licked her lips, thought of everything she had witnessed, everything she desired, but could never be given. "Belldandy, not only could I love him, I could understand him…and I could learn to trust in his darkness."

"What brought that realization on?" Belldandy wondered then, fearing the answer. "What in the world did you face down in those awful bowels?"

"How dearly he longed for you…" Urd replied. "How deeply his missed you…he told me that he could understand Hild. That for a short time, he could feel the loss of something great…over time, I began to understand too." It still pained her to remember the nights he spent, toiling over that one thought. "Without you, Belldandy, Keiichi would lose himself to his demonic side entirely."

"I should have been there beside him." Belldandy sighed deeply.

"That was not an option." Urd shot back before taking on an almost pitying glance towards her sister. "We didn't have that luxury…but yes, you should consider what your powers as a goddess rip away from you." Then her eyes fell to the heavens she could not pass into, and swallowed hard, speaking from experience. "You may find that being a demon is a bit more lucrative, at least, for a person such as yourself."

"And just what in the world is that supposed to mean?" Belldandy bit out, confused, and even a bit hurt to hear such a thing from her own, unwaveringly devout sister. Urd had clearly seen thing that could unravel the very fabric of a goddesses' most basic morals.

"Merely Belldandy, that the heavens might not have any merit for you any longer." Urd said, thinking that could just be the case. "Everything that you do needs to sit at two ends of the playing field. One side sits things you have to do, the other are the goals you want to have…you're in the middle Bell, and I can't say that I envy you of the position."

A knock came at the door, and Belldandy sighed. "Come in!" She called forcing a smile into her face, wondering who it could be this time.

The door opened slowly, and the girl behind the well-crafted blockade walked forward just enough to be noticed. "A notice from Lind…" Hikari said quietly, her eyes gentle and yet authoritative. "She says that she has agreed to the demon's requests…that she will not send more forces to…"

She stood, unmoving when her mother hugged her. It was such a rare event among the ranks to receive any form of contact. Sometimes the angels would titter about and play in their spare time, but, since Hikari had not yet swallowed her egg, she had no idea of the joy that could bring. To say she had become unused to the warmth of others was an understatement.

Even the soft tears she felt on her shoulders, and the angelic light of Holybell was not enough to pull her from the ridged state she had set herself in. "Um…this is not protocol…" Hikari said quietly after she swallowed hard. "Mom, please stop..."

"How could I?" Belldandy asked, pulling away just enough to look her daughter in the eyes. "It's been so long! You have no idea how worried I was."

Hikari averted her eyes at that…a tiny bit of pink on her cheeks. "Be that as it may, I'm a combat goddess now…it um… it would not be right to receive favor from Lind's superior, even if she is my own mother."

"Oh, can it kiddo." Urd said as she kept her distance, unsure of how the young valkyrie would take to seeing a demon so close to the heavenly entrance. "We were all worried about you, it wasn't just your mother."

Hikari lifted her eyes to her aunt, and though she had felt the demonic power from far away, she had been praying that it was merely an oversight on her behalf. When Belldandy released her likely in hopes that she would go over to Urd, instead, Hikari gave two very careful steps back. "Forgive me." Hikari bowed then. "It would be unwise to act with any kindness towards a demon here…the heavens are not the most stable place."

"I can understand that." Urd replied, though deep down she suspected that Hikari kept her distance for other reasons as well.

"Aunt Skuld is ready, soon we will deploy to earth, where a new Valkyrie base will be set up. Though it will only be used for communication, Lind intends to make regular visits in order to report to you." Hikari explained to her mother, her head slightly bowed as she clung hard to her training. "I must report back to my unit now, so if you'll excuse me, I'll see you at the launch pad when you are ready for departure."