Chapter 12

The Black Dragon

Slowly he looked around before making his way back to the temple. But he had walked less than a block before lightning struck the transformer, blacking out everything around him. It was then the winds began, lifting and flowing as they drew in water vapor from the surrounding bay, spinning a web of fog bathing the streets as it came toward him growing to a fever pitch. "Tariki Hongan Limited?" he asked.

"You look like you need it," Morisato replied appearing with Sora out of the darkness.

"The two of you look good together, very mysterious -," he shot back, still wobbly from his recent encounter.

"We need to go. He looks worse than I imagined," said Sora.

"Smells worse too," observed Tai.

"Hey, that's because I was lying in garbage – wait that sounds even worse," he said departing with them.

On the roof of the building Mara stood patiently watching them go. "Well, what do you think?" she asked Idunn appearing beside her.

"Yes, I sense it too. It's possible."

"Then what do we do now?"

"Wait," she replied raising her spear.

"We may not have the option based on tonight's events."

"Yes, perhaps using the demon's portal system was not the best approach."

"Hey, they could have gotten us on the train too! And then I'd be fighting them all by myself! You want that?! This section of town is supposed to be clear!"

Together Takumi, Sora and Tai made it back to Tariki Hongan Temple. "You're hurt," Skuld exclaimed jumping up from the veranda waiting for him. "What happened?"

"I was attacked by something in Isezakichō."

"Isezakichō? That's area's not safe!"

"I thought you said your side was winning?"

"Only the forests on the far side of Mt. Fuji, some parts of the southern islands and a few districts in Tokyo are unsafe. The whole rest of the country is secured!"

"You said you were hiking," interjected Sora.

"I was until I ran into Mara."

"Who?" Tai and Sora asked in unison.

Takumi shot Skuld an accusatory glance. "They don't know who Mara is? And who exactly are the Fallen?!"

"Those wounds need work, so does the rest of you," replied Skuld. Sora - run a bath for him. Tai - see what we have on hand for healing. There's no time to lose."

Soon enough she had led him to the bath, easing him in.

"Is this appropriate?" he asked as she shut the door. "The old Skuld would have had a fit at the mere sight of this."

"Are you kidding me?" she said tossing him a towel. "It's 2132 and I'm a hundred and thirty-six years old! By this point in time I've seen so much . . . stuff that nothing bothers me."

"Perhaps you've seen more than is good for you," he muttered.

"And you need help."

"And you need them out of earshot."

"I told you I don't know who the Fallen are."

"And Mara?"

"What benefit is there in getting them confused?"

"Confused? So Mara was right. It is kill or be killed now - with you folks intending to do the killing."

"Why would you listen to her about anything?! Has she ever told the truth?"

"She said the Valkyries struck first, they and other people -."

"Struck first? They killed my sister! Several actually! How much longer did you want me to wait?!"

"She says there was more to it, that she was outside the city on the day their primary defenses were mysteriously breached . . ."

"Wouldn't she just! I don't care what she says! I did what I had to do to keep my family safe. With you out that should be our priority now."

"Speaking of keeping people safe, how did those two know where to find me?"

"How did they know where to find you? When you jumped through the portal system it was like firing a rifle into the air!"

"So as soon as I used it –."

"-We knew you'd changed locations suddenly. And since you don't know how to use such a system -."

"You knew I was with someone else."

"Yeah. Though I never dreamed it would be Mara!"

"Let me explain. When I was here at the temple, I could tell there was something out there, something outside the boundary. I just needed to –."

"And you didn't think it might be a good idea to tell me?! You didn't think it was a little suspicious that you could feel something out there we couldn't? Did it ever occur to you that it might be trying to lure you outside?!"

"We've lost a lot in this. A little risk taking is in order."

"I'm not even going to think about what you really mean by that."

"Well I didn't die."

"Good, I'll put that on a shirt for you. Oh - I can't even look at you right now. Go to sleep!"

He awoke the next day to find Tai and Sora gone. "Where did they go?" he asked peeking through the kitchen door.

"They've gone to set up a surprise," Skuld replied continuing her cooking.

"They've decided I'm too much trouble and are planning on returning me to the place you found me?"

She looked up smiling. He liked how the sun played off her hair. "You asked about the Seaside Residence. I thought we'd go there today."

"Because -?"

"Because I want to talk to you about something."

"But you said you didn't want us going outside the barrier?"

"My only concern is about jumping from place to place outside the barrier. People jumping from the outside behind the barrier is fine. Which is exactly what we'll do if we run into trouble today." He watched her go into Keiichi's room, searching is closet before fetching his jacket and going outside.

"Is that what I think it is?!" he asked as she rolled out Keiichi's BMW RS45.

"It's been rebuilt several times over the years, but yes."

"You've done a great job," he said running his hands over it.

"A part of me keeps thinking I'm preparing it for him," Skuld replied. "For when he returns. That maybe someday far in the future he'll come back and finish this bike." She looked up watching the clouds draw in close to the mountains. "I know I'm not making any sense. It's just a feeling," she said standing up in Keiichi's jacket. She looked like an outlaw to him in that moment, a refugee from another time.

"You know I didn't tell you, but in his later years Keiichi became kind of deified, especially among the younger riders. The guy living in a mountain temple – holding onto a love that grew into legend as time when on."

"I suppose that's who he was," Takumi replied getting on.

"So your plan is to drive out to the residence?"

"Yeah. I'm not in a hurry."

"Because a portal to get us there might be problematic?"

She nodded starting the engine. The winds over Hachioji cleared as they made their way through metro Tokyo and across the Aqualine bridge to reach the Chiba headlands, cresting the hills above Katsuura to descend to the coast.

Takumi walked the beach until he reached the remnants of his old home, its walls resting against warm sandstone cliffs. He sat down among the tumbled down walls, remembering all that had brought him to this point. Skuld sat down to join him, resting her back against the north wall which still stood intact. "The sea's memory is so vast," he said looking out at the ocean waves. "In the eyes of the Pacific what is a hundred and twenty years? And yet for us everything has changed," he mused. "Was this visit supposed to make me feel better?" he asked.

Skuld reached down taking his hand, "I want you to think about something. About coming back to the Heavens with us. Even if it's just for a little while."

"Is that where Sora and Tai are?'

"I asked them to look into getting some land, we could set up a small place. A place where we -."

"Go back? You can forget about it for me Skuld. I have my own issues to settle here. I understand your desire to protect them. You're in the middle of a civil war, one that's been going on for more than 90 years it seems. One I have a feeling Keiichi was not in favor of. But I don't want it. Not if it means not knowing. Even if it hurts." At that moment they heard a sound above them on the beach. He watched the reflection in Skuld eyes. "Ours?" he asked.

"I don't think so," she replied.

If it had been the old days with he and Urd he would have had few concerns. But it wasn't and he'd always felt protective of Skuld. "Stay here," he said as her eyes narrowed. He swung around the seaward side of the north wall lightly as the two strangers came into view. "Are you the guys?" he asked conspiratorially, trying to appear as harmless as possible as he walked down toward them. "No? Hey, I don't judge - I mean you're just two guys walking alone down a deserted beach. . ." Even from his vantage point it was hard to miss their malevolent aura.

"Out of the way old man. We're here for the Black Dragon!"

"Yeah I've got no idea who that is, but you're not leaving here with anyone," he said his eyes growing dark. In a motion he lowered his hand forming the layered sword. They rushed him in a standard formation as he swung, one diving under the sweep of his blade as the other smashed him to the ground as he tumbled. "Watch out Skuld they're -!" he yelled before the other hit him once more sending him flying end over end through the air landing on the sand some fifty feet away.

"Oh for Pete's sake!" Skuld cried jumping out, charging them as the whole of her outer skin began to change, a fine flat pattern of serrated black diamond covering her. Around each thigh Takumi saw a holstered blade, but as she drew them he saw their shape change, sweeping to become more drawn out as though a whip. The strands seemed to work their way through the air, coursing and reversing as though responding to their master's very thoughts, striking her assailants sending them tumbling.

"The master will have your bones - the final part," one cried.

Skuld ducked two of their snares but the third caught her body, wrapping around her in a tight glowing chain. She struggled fighting against its pull as it drew her to her knees. "Time to strangle this little bird -," said the one closest to Takumi.

"You must be pretty stupid trying to attack me here," she wheezed, drawing a sheen of water over herself turning it to steam, seeming to disappear into the mist.

"The Black Dragon," they cried, pulling on the chain as it twisted somewhere in the dense fog. Ominous sounds began to move here and there around them. Though she could never control the wind at the level of her sister, Takumi suspected this was well within her power. He had almost recovered enough to rejoin the fight when he saw her flails move once more, cutting the mist to catch her opponents, throwing both high into the air. But something else caught his attention. Feeling the shadow pass over him he turned, now catching sight of the truly monstrous wave approaching the point. "SKULD!" he cried as she threw her attackers forward toward the pinnacle rocks releasing them. She raised her hand as the titanic wave split, diving forward to cover Takumi as the wave passed them by, hitting and accelerating her hapless targets like toys before striking the razor-sharp tower rocks with its mass of an entire ten story building collapsing upon them; receding only to reveal bloody fragments in its wake. Takumi looked on, surveying the fomenting devastation feeling himself shake before passing out. "Takumi!"

. . .

He awoke some time later, comfortable under the covers in Urd's room at Tariki Hongan temple. He turned over rustling under the sheets, trying to judge the time of day as he sat up.

"Are you alright?" asked the voice beside him. He looked up overjoyed to see Skuld's face. "Skuld thank god," he said reaching up. "I had the most terrible nightmare. People were coming after you and you became some kind of monst-," he grew silent as his hand slipped down her neck to her shoulder, feeling the black diamond armor adorning her.

She looked back at him uncertain. "You mean this?" she asked. "I suppose you recognize it. After all it was Urd's originally."

"It was?" he said taking a closer look.

"Yes. It's a modified form of her dragon scale armor. After . . . well, after everything that happened I modified to fit my frame, integrating it with some enhancements of my own."

He saw in that moment what she was. What she had truly become. A master of mechanics whose powers were boosted still further by her own species of magic. A technologically advanced warrior, driven by vengeance. He wondered what the three of them were capable of 'accomplishing' in their last hundred years together. "Then, on the beach . . . ," he began.

She nodded. "Foolish of them to attack so close to such a body of water but then I suppose they thought they could break my concentration. As it was – I broke theirs. Given what they did to my sisters and mother I think that was a mistake, don't you? But there's no reason to worry now. We won."

Perhaps it was the finality of her words that chilled him more than anything. He wished he knew what Belldandy, Keiichi or even Urd would say in his place. "Won? Is that what winning consists of now?" he asked. "We don't even know what that was all about. When I was with Mara she seemed to indicate there was some kind of civil war going on. And the person who saved me in the alley called themselves The Fallen."

"Who cares?! When has Mara ever been on the level or told the truth to us? Or any demon! They killed my mother, they killed Big-sis, they killed Urd – at what point are you going to realize there is no living with them?!"

He paused uncertain of what to do. Then he saw the coat she'd worn, folded with care in the corner of the room. "Was that Keiichi's opinion?" he asked. "Even after Belldandy died?"

She looked away staring out into the courtyard.

"You two were together a long time after it happened. What did you say - 24 years? Even married, even with a 3 year old, even with Sora and Tai you; two must have spoken of it."

"Yes, we spoke," she nodded answering slowly. "Because I knew Keiichi. Better than any you."

"I'm sure that's true. And he wanted -."

"I told you he wanted us out of it. But his opinion was not genuine. He just wanted us to be safe."

"Are you sure? What would Bell have made out of all of this?"

"You think she would have done anything different?"
"I don't think she would have lied to her children."

"Don't act like you're here for some higher purpose! Our goals are exactly the same!"

"I'm all for punishing the guilty. I'm just not ready to commit genocide to achieve it. Which reminds me, Mara said you were in the front lines when the initial assault on the capital began."

"Oh is that what Mara says?!"

"Is it true?"

"Here's the truth. The Demon Realm killed by mother and sisters. Did you really think I was just going stand around and let them finish off the rest of my family?! No, I refined my skills. I'm sorry if I'm a disappointment to you. I'm sorry if I'm not the little girl you remember. But the truth is at this point this is only going to end one way - when their realm is ashes under our feet! I don't know why you're against me.

I'm doing the best I can. At least I was there for Keiichi . . ." she said drawing her legs up under her small frame.

"What? I'm not against you. You've done an amazing job - and all on your own. You're the only reason any of this is still standing. You think any of us could have done any better? None of us could have done the job you did. I just . . . need to know what happened. Even if it hurts. Even if it kills me. Because we both know that I was the one who really killed her. If she hadn't left that day . . ."

"Yes, you acted terribly. But I think something else was going on. A couple of days before, I – just happened to be passing by you understand, when I heard her arguing with on the phone with Hild, saying things like: why are we meeting there? Is there a problem? Should Sora come?"

"It's funny, whenever I think about it now I can never see it clearly; I only see her eyes. And yet . . . there was something, he thought. When we came on board that day she said something like – expecting trouble? And Hild said – just doing a bit of traveling. Wait, maybe there was! The night Urd and I were at the Pools there was an explosion in town . . . could it have been going on even then?

"Why did you and Urd even go to visit Hild that day anyway?"

"We were going to find out if she played any role in setting things in motion. Or might be willing to make a deal."

"You mean what happened to Big-sis? Did she?!"

"We were attacked before we found out. But I don't think so."

"What makes you say that?"

"It's hard to explain. I – it was her smugness. If she'd been involved I think she would have acted differently."

"And yet that same day . . ."

"Yes."

"Who do you think really got to Urd?"

"For a long time while I was in confinement I thought it was Hild. I thought maybe some sort of fight broke out between them, perhaps about Sora which escalated. Maybe Hild wouldn't allow her to go to the Heavens. But it didn't make any sense. If Hild saw us as a problem she would have taken us out on the boat when she had us both. Indeed, when I saw the waves that day I thought that's exactly what she was trying to do. Yet it was her who sent us back to Tariki Hongan Temple safely. No, it was something else."

"I think so too. After things settled down in the months after Belldandy's return I had Ex show me everything. Entities like Hild moving between realms creates a huge energy signature. Yet on the day . . . well the day it happened, Hild appeared in this realm only seconds before Urd's signature collapsed."

"Meaning Hild might have been late to the party; by either accident or design. But it still doesn't explain why Urd would come after everything that happened that day. How long after that did Hild jump away?"

"That's the strangest part. According to our records - she never did."

"Never? Not even after Sora returned?"

"No," replied Skuld.

"So at a minimum that would seem to confirm that all the time Sora spent with Hild happened here on Earth. But why? She could have had anything in the Demon realm," he mused. "Skuld, from the information you saw, can you confirm that Urd was definitively - ?"

"I can only say her signal vanished completely Takumi. That is most consistent with a loss of her life force."

"But it's possible, she could still be out there."

"Careful Takumi. Thoughts like that will drive you mad."

"But it does torment me Skuld. Every moment! The thought that she might be sealed somewhere. That at this very moment she's in need!"

"I understand Takumi. But honestly based on everything we know, it doesn't seem likely."

"Are you certain?!"

"There are some things we don't know, especially about the higher orders of magic within the Demon realm; mostly because they don't always respect the same rules we do regarding the fundamental forces of nature. So it's always possible(however unlikely) they may have created some twisted form with altered properties."

"That's why I'm searching for Hild. She'd know what happened to your sister, and now you've told me she was there that day. If anyone knows anything it's her. The one thing I can't understand is, why isn't she looking for us?"

"You're supposing she's not the one who did it," replied Skuld. "Besides even if she is taking some action, do you really think she considers herself in need of our help?"

"You have a point," he replied glumly. "Tell me about Keiichi."

"Huh?"

"Was he happy? I mean in his later years. Given how it ended I'd like to know – if he thought it was all worthwhile."

"We talked a lot in those days. In the end it was just me and Peorth with him, he'd sent Megumi and the kids away. Then he asked Peorth to leave and told me to look out after them all. And to thank you when I saw you."

"Did he really say that?"

"He might have added, 'Try not to let him burn it all down,' but it don't remember precisely. I think he was happy. Despite everything. Because he knew eventually he would be reunited with Bell."

Takumi started to say something but stopped, hearing footsteps outside on the veranda.

"I heard you had some trouble," Tai Morisato said sliding open the door to the room.

"Not really," replied Skuld. "The reflective armor held up. Did you get everything you needed?"

"I think I found some spots you will like," he replied.

They spoke as Takumi overheard news in the background of a giant wave spotted in Chiba prefecture that day on the TV. Hearing more voices he pushed open the outer door to see Sora outside standing with Lind, watching them as they talked until he fell asleep.

He awoke the next day to find himself quite alone, alone yet quite sure he was quite sure well-protected as he stretched, standing up walking across the courtyard barefooted only to be

interrupted by the ninjas riding frogs as they chased crickets out of the temple proper. "YAAA!" they cried leaping forward

"God this place is a weird place -," he muttered to himself as a rustle in the trees ahead put him on edge. He squeezed down between the branches. It's inside the barrier so it should be alright, he thought peering ahead.

Leaves rustled as the wind rose up, a cloud of blossoms gathering as though risen a single human breath. Takumi stood up taking his guard.

"I do not come for trouble," the voice murmured as the blossoms fell away revealing the form of Troubadour. "In truth she was a superior woman. I - am sorry for your loss. You'll never know how much it affects my heart," he said standing silently.

"I believe you," Takumi replied bowing, placing his arms peacefully over the branch.

"If you need anything -."

"Fashion advice won't help me," he replied.

"Indeed. But many things fall upon the plum blossoms which lie upon the earth, just as many notes float through their petals in the air. There are more fell things in the realm of the plum tree spirits than you might imagine."

"More indeed," he said looking to the outer forest wondering where Mara was at that moment.

"You know what I want. And if you do not possess it, then search the winds, search the mountains, search the skies, search all within your power to find what I seek!" he hissed.

"The name you seek is - Sirsemion," Troubadour replied.

"You are certain?" he asked.

Troubadour nodded. "Long have my eyes been upon him."

"Demon?"

"A very powerful one."

"One of the Fallen?" he asked.

"I do not think so," he chuckled grimly.

"Then you know who they are?" Takumi replied.

"Those who first departed with Hild to conquer the Outer Chaos. Yes. They fought until at last that place became . . ."

"-The Demon Realm!"

"Indeed."

He felt his heart race. "I met one of them. One of The Fallen. She had emerald eyes, and a spear to match."

"It sounds like Idunn. They say she was Hild's right hand in the old days. When there was still a Demon Realm to run."

"And now?"

"Sirsemion and his jackals rule. If you can call it that."

"I see. One more thing. Is Mara one of the Fallen?"

"She was only a child when she left. But her mother did go with Hild. Do you - need my assistance Takumi?" he asked.

"You've done enough," he assured him. "I'm sure finding that name you put you in far more danger than you have let on. I will manage from here. However, in the event no one comes back; please look after the temple."

Tai Morisato crossed the bamboo fence to find Takumi sitting patiently in his mother's old meadow, meditating quietly.

"Skuld said you asked about my father last night," he began.

"Did she?" he said pretending to feign disinterest. "And where is your partner in crime today?" he inquired.

"Sorano? She likes to sleep in."

"Does she?" he replied without expression.

"I mean – you can see through the crack in the door up there as easily as I can."

"I suppose." - though I suspect you to watch far more than I do, he thought.

"You know my father told me things about you," he shot back.

"Oh? What sort of things?"

"He called you the grey wolves; you and Urd both."

"And what does that mean?"

"That you were both powerful guardians at the temple, and could be helpful, but that you usually had your own agenda. So tell me - what is your agenda now?"

He's Bell and Keiichi's kid. It would be silly to underestimate him, he thought. "I am sitting here thinking - considering how best to ask that which I must ask."

"Something about my father?" Morisato asked

Takumi could no longer put it off. "About your mother actually. Can you tell me where - she is buried?"

"What son does not know where his mother is buried?"

"Then tell me . . ."