Notes: Urd and Hild's relationship has progressed a great deal here, but that will be explained.

Broken Dreamers

An Ah! My Goddess Miniseries by

Nate Grey (xman0123-at-aol-dot-com)

Part 3: Urd, Hell's Advocate

It had taken a long time for Urd to realize it, but now she felt fairly confident in one particular fact.

Contracts were from the devil.

It was the only thing that made sense. Humans used them to cheat each other, demons used them to cheat everyone, and Heaven used them, oddly enough, to keep from being cheated. Urd thought they were a little behind the times in that regard, but it was not something she was willing to argue for, despite her new position: that of Hell's Advocate.

She had thought her mother was joking, but no. Whenever Urd was either in Heaven, or representing Heaven, she was required to wear a blood-red sash with the actual words printed upon it. As a private joke, Hild had written the words in Low Speech, where "Hell's Advocate" supposedly also translated into "Mommy's Little Girl." Urd had no real way of proving this false, though for all she knew, Hild had invented the language entirely for that purpose. Either way, she was contractually bound to wear the sash, so it couldn't be helped.

To Urd's eternal frustration, the Almighty had not opposed the idea.

"I know this is unpleasant for you, Urd, but so long as your mother asks for nothing unreasonable, you should do what she asks. Your pride as a goddess is important, but it has gotten you into trouble more than a few times. Having it diminished somewhat may not be an entirely bad thing."

All of which meant that whenever a decision in Heaven impacted Hell in any way, Urd had to speak on Hell's behalf. She was entirely against it, at first. But as more people in Heaven began to associate Urd with Hild, and beyond that, Hell itself, she actually began to get treated like a resident of Hell. And while Urd was used to a certain amount of scorn in Heaven, she began to feel insulted on Hild's behalf, too. Even her demon half was not without its pride, after all. No one else could really understand that, so when Hild innocently proposed the addendum of daily lunch meetings to their contract, Urd welcomed the chance to vent.

Hild turned out to be a surprisingly good listener. She was used to Urd being upset with her, anyway, and this was hardly any different. Except that these days, Urd was less angry with her, and more angry with everyone else.

And that was just the way that Hild had wanted it, after all.

"Urd-sama, the Daimakaicho has just arrived. Should I send her in?"

Leaning back in her chair, Urd sighed and stared at the miniature Banpei head floating in front of her. "Yes, Banpei-kun. And if you could manage to catch her off guard and slam into her head, I'd really appreciate it."

"Yes, Urd-sama." The Banpei head zoomed out of the door, and Urd groaned as she heard the telltale sound of a muted explosion. She went through no less than four of the things a week.

A moment later, Hild walked into the office, brushing some imaginary soot from her shoulders. "Urd-chan, you really should have someone from maintenance look into those little robots of yours. They never seem to work right."

Urd offered an obviously fake smile. "I know, but Skuld makes them for me. It'd hurt her feelings if I gave them back or didn't use them."

"Well, we must be considerate of poor Skuld-chan," Hild agreed. "I don't suppose she's shown any interest in replacing her damaged angel with a demon?"

Urd frowned at her. "While we're on the subject, I-"

"Urd-chan!" Hild interrupted, pouting fiercely. "You haven't greeted me properly yet! Do you really expect me to go right into business?"

Scowling, Urd rose from her chair and approached Hild, who was now positively beaming. But the smile faded once Urd delivered her usual greeting.

"Your lowly offspring offers you greetings, All-Knowing and All-Seeing Great Grand Mother of the Unknown Realm."

"You're a horrible tease, Urd-chan," Hild grumbled, but she accepted the kisses that Urd placed on each cheek without further complaint.

"You did ask for it," Urd replied with a smirk. "Now, back to what I was saying-"

"So Skuld-chan does want a demon?" Hild asked eagerly.

"No, of course not. This isn't about Skuld, it's about Kei-"

"We should do something different for lunch. Ooh, will you let me cook for you? I promise not to poison or burn anything TOO badly, and... why are you looking at me like that?"

Urd closed her eyes, counted to ten, and opened them. The confused, supposedly innocent expression was still on her mother's face.

She was good.

"You did it," Urd sighed, shaking her head. "You're behind the whole thing, aren't you?"

"What whole thing?"

"Keichii's demon. Skuld's angel. Even Belldandy leaving. Everything!"

"Are you asking or telling?" Hild responded with a straight face.

"Does it really matter at this point?"

"Of course it does. It's one thing if you're accusing me, and my silence leads you to an incorrect assumption. It's quite another if I myself lie to you."

Urd rolled her eyes. "What's the difference? You've lied to me before!"

"We didn't have a contract before."

"And the fact that I'm your daughter never once encouraged you to tell me the truth?"

"It's not that I never told you truth," Hild explained patiently. "It's that I withheld the entire truth. Do you really think I'd be the Daimakaicho if I always told the truth? That's impossible."

"So you haven't lied to me once since we made our contract?" Urd demanded.

"Not outright, no. Again, I just haven't told you the entire truth." Hild smiled and patted Urd on the head. "But I don't do that with anyone, so don't feel too bad, my little Urd-chan."

It took amazing strength of will for Urd not to grind her teeth. "So what do I have to do to get the truth out of you?"

"That depends. Are you asking as a goddess, a subservient demon, or my precious little Urd-chan?"

Urd started to answer, then stopped herself. "Would your answer be different for each one?"

Hild giggled. "Of course!"

"...the last one, then."

"No, no, no! You have to SAY it! It's no fun for me unless you say it!"

Grumbling all the while, Urd reluctantly hugged her mother. "Kaa-san, your Urd-chan wants-"

"AHEM!"

"...your precious little Urd-chan wants to know what you've been up to."

"Oh, I could never say no to my precious little Urd-chan when she asks so nicely!" Hild squealed loudly.

Urd winced. "Can we just get to the part where you fouled everything up, please?"

"But that's where you're wrong, Urd-chan," Hild disagreed. "In fact, I made things better, if only for Keiichi."

The very moment she'd learned of Belldandy's leaving Keiichi, Hild had dispatched an avatar to keep an eye on him. Humans in pain tended to do drastic things, especially one that had known and lost the love of a goddess. Of course, Hild never doubted that Belldandy still loved Keiichi. She'd no doubt left him for some noble reason that few other than herself would ever understand or accept. What mattered was that Keiichi felt like he had lost Belldandy's love, and the impact on him was nothing short of devastating.

To his credit, Keiichi almost never showed any outward signs of his pain, at least not in front of anyone other than Skuld. He didn't want his friends to worry, or, perhaps, try to stop him if he should ever attempt something drastic.

Rather fittingly, Hild's avatar was the only person around when Keiichi finally did do something foolish. One day, he was walking along a narrow path overlooking the ocean, stumbled a little, and nearly fell to his death on the rocks thirty feet below. Afterwards, he stared down at the rocks in stunned horror. But while the horror faded, the stunned expression remained, even as he stepped towards the edge again.

The only thing that stopped him from going over was a small, brown hand clutching the back of his shirt.

"You don't really want to do that, Kei-kun."

He turned his head and stared down at the child-sized version of Hild, noting her unusually serious expression. "How would you know?"

"You think giving up Urd was easy? That I never regretted it? Well, I did. But I didn't want her growing up as an orphan. Suppose someone told her that I never loved her. Who would be around to say anything different? In your case, Kei-kun, does Skuld-chan know that you love her? That you appreciate her staying with you, even though she has no real reason to?"

Keiichi frowned at her. "Of course she knows that. Skuld knows everything there is to know about me by now."

"But knowing you're loved, and actually hearing it, are two very different things, Kei-kun. I know that part of Urd loves me, but I would give anything to hear her say it even once. I know you still feel that way about Belldandy. Do you really think Skuld-chan is any different? Girls are pretty similar in that regard: they need to hear you say it."

"Skuld doesn't need anything from me," he muttered. "She's only still here because she feels sorry for me."

"Really," Hild murmured. "Shall we test that theory?" She loosened her grip a bit, allowing Keiichi to lean closer to the edge. "I want you to imagine how Skuld-chan would react if she found out you were dead, Kei-kun."

She knew it was not something Keiichi had ever stopped to consider before, and from the look on his face, immediately understood why he hadn't. It was simply too horrible for him to imagine, the thought of causing Skuld such pain with his selfishness. She had stayed with him, turning down the chance to go home, return to the work she was born to do, and be with her sisters. Taking his own life was no way to repay such devotion.

"Well?" Hild asked after a moment. "Do you want some help, or should I let go?"

"I... I'd like some help, please, Hild-san."

Hild frowned as she pulled him away from the ledge. Technically, as a mere human, he should've been addressing her with far more respect, especially since she'd saved his life. On the other hand, only demons tended to use proper titles when she was in this form, as other beings might not have recognized her, and Keiichi was a special case. And he didn't really mean anything by it, so she could overlook it, for now.

"Why did you save me?" he asked suddenly. "You didn't have to."

"I didn't want you to die," Hild replied simply, grasping his hand. "Now, come on. It's getting late, and poor Skuld-chan must be worried sick about you."

Keiichi opened his mouth, most likely to say that Skuld would never admit to being worried about him, but thought better of it and allowed Hild to drag him back to the temple.

Actually, she left him at the steps leading into the temple, having tangled with Banpei enough times to know that despite how easy it was for Skuld to rebuild the robot, she always took someone destroying it personally.

Had he known what awaited him, Keiichi might've asked Hild to stay and protect him.

He got one foot beyond the stairs when a loud alarm when off, and several hidden spotlights popped out of the ground and trained their beams on him. Keiichi was still glancing around in shock when a Skuld Bomb hit the ground between his feet, exploding on impact. The force sent him flying ten feet straight up in the air, and while he was flapping his arms wildly and wondering if he really was meant to die that day, Keiichi saw a horrible sight.

The back wall of the garage was blown apart as something massive and oddly familiar rolled out. In the few extra hours that Keiichi had been gone, Banpei had been converted into a tank. And sitting on top of it, glaring death at him, was Skuld.

Although she at least had the decency to wait until he landed, the next few hours were filled with nothing but running and pain for Keiichi. Skuld used up her entire supply of bombs (not that he had ever known her to run out before), and by the time she was done, the flower patches that Belldandy had once carefully tended were little more than smoking craters.

Keiichi ended up facedown on the ground, most of his clothing burned away. He heard Skuld marching towards him, but was far too tired to run anymore. Anyway, at that point, he seriously doubted she could hurt him much worse than she already had.

But Skuld was no longer interested in hurting him. Instead, she yanked him up by what remained of his collar and stared into his face.

He had been expecting the same devilish look that he'd seen for hours, but what he saw now was completely different.

"Keiichi, you jerk!" Skuld shouted, thick tears rolling down her face. "Do you know how late you were?! I thought something terrible had happened to you! Don't you ever make me worry like that again!"

He could only stare at her in wonder. Keiichi had just assumed that, being a goddess, she'd known what he attempted and was angry at him. He'd never imagined that Skuld was simply being Skuld: overreacting to something as simple as his being late. But beyond that, something she'd said finally sunk in. She'd been worried about him. She actually cared enough to worry about him. It seemed Hild had been right all along.

"Skuld, I'm sorry," he whispered in her ear, wrapping his arms around her.

"Shut up! I didn't give you permission to hug me!" Skuld bawled, despite the fact that she was hugging him back just as tightly. "I even made us dinner, and it's cold now!"

Keiichi couldn't help smiling into her hair. Skuld was a decent cook, but for some reason, she had only ever learned to cook for people under the age of twelve. It was a little odd, but one of the many things he adored about her. "Is it fish sticks and macaroni again? I really like those."

"No! It's cold ravioli, and you'll eat it that way and like it!"

"I'm sure I will," he agreed, wincing as she burst into tears again. "Uh, what did I say?"

"Nothing! Just shut up and wash up for dinner!" she ordered, pushing him inside.

Hild smirked from her seat atop the Banpei tank, now that it was completely out of ammo. "Hmm. Maybe I won't have to do anything else at all."

"...what about Belldandy?" Urd asked after Hild was done. She hadn't known the direction Keiichi's thoughts had taken, or at least, she had hoped she was wrong about them. But Hild's story had left her middle sister out entirely, which was rather suspicious.

"Didn't I tell you already? I had nothing to do with Bell-chan going back to Heaven."

Urd stared at her intently, but as far as she could tell, Hild wasn't lying. Of course, that was rather like a first-time boxer trying to read the heavyweight champion of the world with a glance, so Urd would've been more surprised if she had been able to gain any useful information.

But she had to be sure.

"Do you swear by the Ninth Circ-"

"Urd-chan," Hild interrupted, gently placing a hand on her daughter's cheek. "I didn't do anything to make Bell-chan go back to Heaven. I promise."

Urd lowered her gaze, angry with herself for feeling ashamed of her mistrust, and with Hild for making her feel that way. She started to pull her head away, but then Hild's free hand came up to rest against the other side of Urd's face.

"I didn't cause Bell-chan to break her contract... but did you ever consider that Someone Else may have?"

Urd's eyes widened, as she hadn't missed the emphasis. "You don't mean...?"

"I have my suspicions. And this is Bell-chan we're talking about. There aren't very many things that would make her act this way."

"Wait! But you WERE the one that gave Keiichi that demon!" Urd snapped, yanking Hild's hands off of her. "You didn't deny that!"

Hild shook her head. "What I gave Keiichi was a companion, to keep away his loneliness. I didn't really think Skuld would stay with him for very long, despite her good intentions. She's still young, and she has a bad habit of overreacting."

"What she reacted to was your damned demon trying to kill her!"

"It wouldn't have killed her."

Urd blinked. "How do you know?"

"Because that isn't in its nature. It would never kill a goddess. If that was its purpose, then Skuld-chan WOULD be dead. Obviously, she isn't."

"Then what does it do?"

"I don't know if I should say," Hild murmured, turning away. "You yelled at me."

"Mother," Urd said softly, "please. She's my little sister."

Hild sighed. "Then you should know that I would never put her in mortal danger. I couldn't even if I wanted to. We're all bound by those particular rules."

"So what, exactly, did that demon try to do to Skuld? Why hasn't Noble Scarlet recovered? And why did you really give it to Keiichi in the first place?"

For a long moment, Hild only stared at her daughter. "Kei-kun has that demon because he was the only one who could support it. But I didn't give it to him, exactly. I drew it out of the hole in his heart. Only a man loved by three goddesses, who feels such deep despair that his life holds no meaning to him, could fall low enough to produce such a creature. I'll admit that once being infected by the Ultimate Destruction Program may have helped it get a foothold, but Kei-kun's feelings of rejection kept it alive. And as I said before, it wouldn't have killed Skuld-chan or her angel. It simply would've brought them over to my side. That is a Goddess Devourer's purpose, after all: to drain a goddess's power, so that she's all the more likely to agree to becoming a demon, in order to regain that lost power."

"I don't believe you," Urd whispered, shaking her head. "Keiichi would never willingly support such a demon!"

"In most cases, no, he would not. But this demon is an exception, like Kei-kun himself. It assumes any shape that his lonely heart truly desires. Now do you understand why he doesn't think of it as a demon? It never looks like one."

Urd did understand, although she wished she didn't. Because she was starting to suspect that Belldandy's decision, if it was hers at all, had already cost them Keiichi, and nearly Skuld as well. At the very least, however, she knew that getting rid of Keiichi's demon wouldn't be a simple thing.

Because attacking Belldandy, or in this case, a demon that no doubt looked exactly like her, was only going to get very complicated, very fast.

End of Part 3.

Next Chapter: Belldandy, Goddess for Hire

Is the course of life determined by the choices one makes, or the choices someone else has made for them? Belldandy ponders this, along with her cat and her broom, as she grants wishes for some familiar faces on Earth.

Endnotes:

Wow, I don't have any this time. Odd. So I can make some up!

...in other words, Keiichi is more susceptible to demon cooties because he's been infected previously. Or something like that, only more clever-sounding.

Skuld could no doubt invent a Banpei that cooks. She'd almost have to in order to survive on her own, I think. But it's not really home cooked if a robot does it, so it'd be missing something.

I could use this space to argue how a Goddess Devourer is distinctly different from an angel-eater. The short version is that mine is MUCH more pleasant to look at. At any rate, I hope the story summary makes more sense now.