Hild felt the power of the summon spell and cursed silently. Keiichi was mine! I had him! Yet the thought was hollow. The energy she put into his seduction had been immense. Even carrying a small portion of Keiichi's original spirit was enough to create resistance unlike any she had ever faced before. Breaking him was as difficult as… No! I will not dwell on this.
Nifelheim vanished from view as she felt herself called forth. The journey was short, but in her mind, eons passed, her thoughts roiling and spiteful. This is all his fault. All of it. If he had just accepted us, we could have been together. We would have been a family.
Earth phased into view, and she rose from the pavement, the divine language glowing in great sigils around her. A reflection barrier field encased her. But they must know that will not hold me for long.
The goddesses were there, of course. Belldandy at the center, but Urd, Skuld, Lind, and Peorth behind her. The 'good' side of Keiichi was there, of course, and Mara…
"Ma-chan!" She said graciously. "I leave Earth for a few minutes and you do this!" She fluttered around the former demon, hovering in the air. "And so cute! Look at these little robes, you make such a pretty goddess, don't you, and…" The former demon was strangely silent, her face a mask of confusion.
Suddenly Hild noticed that Skuld was turning scarlet, the 'good' Keiichi had turned his back, his cheeks turning an especially deep shade of red, and even the implacable Lind stared wide-eyed, incredulous. Urd was grinning.
"Really… don't you think you ought to put on some clothes?" Her daughter said, grinning.
Hild laughed. "Well, if you summon me while I'm busy, I don't have time to properly prepare, now do I?" Nonetheless she snapped her fingers and her usual robes appeared around her.
She floated over to Peorth, her face almost touching the goddess's. "There we go. All better, right? I arrived with only a touch less modesty than your normal preference, right?" She traced a finger down Peorth's chest, snapping the fabric back briefly. Peorth glared at her in turn.
"Tell us what you want for him," Urd said, her voice serious, bereft of its usual quasi-demonic amusement.
"Why, who do you mean?" Hild asked with mock innocence.
"Keiichi." Belldandy said. "Hild, please return what you stole from him. Please put him back together." The goddess's politeness had a strange edge to it. It was the eyes, Hild thought, they were almost vacant, and beneath Belldandy's polite exterior was a fury to rival any demon she had ever known. The goddess contained it well, indeed, it was possible she wasn't consciously aware of it. But Hild felt that power.
"But your husband is right there," Hild replied, pointing to the human. "And my, if he isn't looking more like one of you every day! Why, I heard that his angel can cast lower level spells now! Splitting him off that way really pruned away some of the more… primal parts of him, didn't it?"
Urd frowned, and Hild could feel her daughter's anger threaten to boil up to the surface. She knew those feelings well enough. As much as her little Urd desired and fought to be a goddess, her personality tilted toward the demonic. Like mother, like daughter. That was expected. What was more surprising was that Belldandy's anger far surpassed Urd's. My, my, our little goddess has a temper, doesn't she?
"Don't play with us. You know what we want. The question is, what must we pay to have all of Keiichi returned to us?" Urd said.
Hild tested the edges of the barrier spell. With several goddesses reinforcing it, it was quite strong. But she felt the flaws in its design, tiny though they were. Part of her awareness was already working on exploiting those flaws. Minutes, perhaps even seconds, were all that was needed. Then the return portal could breach this barrier.
"I am happy to return what I took," she said, "and in exchange, I merely want my daughter to return with me to Nifelheim. That's all I've ever wanted. Just my daughter, my little Urd." She smiled genially. And it's true. If you come with my now, my daughter, I will let it all go. All of it. Mama loves you…
"No," Belldandy said before Urd could speak. "We will not sacrifice her to the demons." The fury within was leaking out, now. Hild could see cascading electrical surges in the air around the goddess.
"You know I would never agree to that," Urd said. "There must be something else you want."
Hild shook her head. "I want to be a family again," she said pleasantly. "And I'm afraid if you don't want to come with me, I might just have to start over…"
Goddess power was crackling around Belldandy, and a mighty storm grew overhead.
"…with my Keiichi. You never asked why I was naked, did you? You know, he is so cute and…" Hild rubber her hands together gleefully while her mind continued constructing the portal.
Two things happened in the same moment. Hild cracked the barrier open and completed the summon portal that would take her home… and Belldandy completely snapped. The storm became a furious typhoon. Glass blew out around them. Wind howled down the streets. Lightning crashed from the sky, and the goddess rose, her eyes empty, yet aflame with light, her face expressionless. Tornados reached down from the heavens and danced around her.
Even Hild felt a momentary spike of fear. Somehow, in this state, Belldandy could access far more of her power than she ought to with her seals…
She snapped her fingers and finished the portal spell, diving into the pavement before a tornado dropped a kei car on it. That was too close.
The last thing she heard before the portal closed was Keiichi crying out to his wife.
"Belldandy!"
"Well," Urd said. "It was worth a try. Though I can't say I expected any different."
Belldandy was in tears in front of the temple, Skuld at her side trying to comfort her. The young goddess had driven Keiichi away more than once with an ample supply of bombs.
Even their Keiichi was in a funk, sitting next to Urd, dejected. "I wish I could comfort her, Urd. But I'm not even me. Not really. I'm something less than her husband, only part of the man she loves. How can I even begin to help her?"
Urd smiled despite herself. Even now, Keiichi was an insufferable romantic. The second-class goddess could see his spirit healing itself, scars forming over the wounds torn by the Pot of Heresy. Though the human was right, there was a piece missing, that little bit of mischievous spirit, that single-minded determination that was a defining characteristic of the stubborn man, was gone. But his love and dedication to her sister was as bright as it always had been. It figures that Hild would take the part most susceptible to demonic manipulation, and leave behind the lovey-dovey parts, she reflected.
"Keiichi… we're family. Officially, now. But we've always been family, since I first came here. So, understand something right now. Even if that part of you never comes back, you are still the man she loves. Always. She is sad for you, not for herself. She knows you feel that part of you that was ripped away. But her love for you is not diminished even the slightest. If anything, it makes her wish for you even more. She will always be at your side, and you at hers."
Keiichi nodded. Urd felt the thin smile fade away again. Watching them grow together had been one of the defining moments of her own life. In heaven, things had always been awkward. Oh, she had Skuld and Belldandy. And her father, though distant, had been there for her when she had needed him.
But she always felt like the outsider no matter where she went. Even next to Belldandy, she felt inadequate somehow, standing next to Belldandy's innocent and pure spirit. Since coming to Earth, that had all changed. She had become closer to her sisters than she had ever been and found the brother she never knew she had been missing.
Family.
She knew why Hild tormented them so. She was alone, and the only two people she loved were far away. One she could never see again, and the other…
No. I will not feel sorry for her. She made her choices. I won't become her. I will do better, not for heaven, but for family.
"But what now, Urd? What do we do?" Keiichi said.
Urd shook her head. "I'm not sure yet. I'll talk it over with Lind. We'll think of something. But if Hild won't make a reasonable contract with us willingly, it sounds like we'll just have to force her to do it."
Keiichi nodded, his tiny little angel hovering over his shoulder. To make a human ageless. That hasn't been done since... But Urd's thoughts grew darker, suddenly. Wait, father must have known this was going to happen. That's why he gave him the angel so quickly. A regular mortal would probably have died when Hild used that device, but the angel let him survive it. That's why Hild was trying to take it. Her half of Keiichi will have to be boosted similarly to survive.
"Keiichi, this is going to sound weird, but... did you see any visions when Hild did this to you?" Urd asked.
"Yes. It was weird. Like a nightmare. I saw places in history, like the sunken wreck of the Yamato, and these strange places from long ago..."
Urd interrupted. "Yeah, I get it now."
"Get what?"
"Keiichi, that thing was never meant to be used on a mortal. A regular mortal would be torn apart - it would lose its anchor in time. The soul would not survive the trauma. My father, he saved you. The angel anchored you enough to survive while this all happened. For his daughter's sake." Urd said. "For all of us. You had just passed the Judgement Gate, and he did not want your love to be cut so short, for Belldandy to be hurt so quickly."
Keiichi was incredulous. "If he knew, why didn't he prevent it?"
"Free will. He sometimes meddles just a little bit for us. For his family. Even though he knows he shouldn't. But always as little as possible. He gave us a chance to get through this on our own." Urd replied. "Oh what am I saying. He probably just wants you to have kids with Belldandy."
"Kiiiids... WHAT?" Keiichi's face grew red.
"Yeah, you're definitely the good side of Keiichi. We better get the other side back, or father is never getting grandchildren." Urd joked. "It'd be hopeless!"
Skuld vanished inside the house for a moment and Urd elbowed Keiichi. "Now's your chance. I'll hold Skuld off for a while. Be with your wife… tell her it's going to be okay."
"Is that a lie?" Keiichi wondered aloud.
"Maybe," Urd said. "But somehow, I don't think so. Our family always manages to clean up these messes. Maybe there's even a potion that'll do the job…" Urd wondered, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.
"Ahhh no thanks! No potions for me!" Keiichi looked worried and darted off to Belldandy. He was at her side, and Urd watched as the rain let up and the clouds dissipated just at the sight of her husband, and the feeling of his arms holding her. The natural glow in her soul returned.
Urd giggled despite the seriousness of the situation. Someday, she thought wistfully, someday I will love as they do. But until then, she had a home. She had a family.
She flew to the top of one of the trees, out of sight, but still able to watch the pair's progress.
Lind was at her side, silently gliding down from the sky, finally recovered from the day's excitement, "Belldandy is lucky, isn't she?"
Urd nodded. "That's the funny part. They both think they are the luckiest beings in the universe. At least when Hild isn't creeping around, anyway. What are the odds of that?"
"We're going to have to go in, you know that, right?" Lind said, gripping her polearm.
"Yeah." Urd answered. "If negotiation won't work, we need leverage. We either get him out ourselves and Skuld figures out a way to reintegrate or we gain enough leverage to make Hild give him up and do it. Either way, the answer is in Nifelheim."
"Should we take Peorth? She followed me out of the gate and seems to think she's ready to fight more demons." Lind wondered aloud. "Belldandy holds a Valkyrie license, and we certainly need you down there. Mara too, probably, if you think we can trust her. But Peorth?"
Urd laughed. "Well, if she can't fight them, she can seduce them, I'm sure. A well-timed wardrobe malfunction could do the trick."
The faintest hint of a grin crossed Lind's features, a rare moment for the Valkyrie. "Yeah, she probably could, at that." The hint of a smile vanished. "This is going to be very risky, Urd. Last time, you were granted entrance, you had help moving through Nifelheim. This is going to be very different. We could all end up sealed, or worse…"
"I know," Urd said. She glanced back toward the house where Keiichi planted a kiss on Belldandy's lips, and soon the two were locked in tight embrace, unaware that they had an audience. Whatever else had happened, they still loved one another wholly and completely, and there was no changing that.
She turned to Lind. "But I'd like to think that if I ever found a relationship like that, others would fight for me, too."
Lind nodded in agreement. "The hard way it is."
Moments later, Hild returned, mercifully clothed again. Somehow, whatever spell she had been weaving upon him had broken for the moment and her charms somehow felt less potent. Or maybe she's just encountered Belldandy. Some remnant of his wife's presence was around the demon, and that gave him strength again.
"Keiichi!" She said, grinning. "You know, I offered to merge you back together again, but Belldandy just didn't seem to want to do that. I'm not sure she really wants you back right now…"
The Daimakaicho floated over to him. "So, I think we'll be staying together for a while. This will be so much fun."
"Save it, Hild." Keiichi said. "I don't know why you bother with all the acting. We all know who you are under all of that. I'm sure they just didn't want to pay whatever exorbitant price you were demanding."
For a brief moment, Hild's self-control failed completely. Her eyes glowed a dark violent and energy leaked out from around her seals. It was almost like the Lovecraftian creatures were surrounding her, connected to her. But the creatures were her. Keiichi felt a shiver travel down his spine.
"You don't know me, human." Hild shot back, her expression dangerous.
"I thought you said I was becoming a demon." Keiichi corrected.
For a brief moment, he felt one those horrors surround him. He could feel the eyes staring from behind him, beside him, and in front of him. The room blurred together, and he was floating beside the great demon in emptiness, as black as outer space, but without a single star. He looked down at himself, and saw the nascent energy emanating from him, too. It snapped at Hild's projections, driving them away momentarily, before a flood of demonic energy cascaded around him. Dark Angel, come forth! Whether that power originated from him or Hild, he had to make use of it now. His energy increased, but it wasn't enough. Soon, his emanations were driven back within him, and the power of the Daimakaicho surrounded him completely.
Then, as suddenly as the outburst began, it vanished. But along with it, so did that last little remnant of Belldandy's energy that had come back through the portal. The room felt cold, but resolved back into something like the way it had been.
Hild sat down beside him, putting her hand in his. "That was good, Keiichi. We can't be having demons that are too nice down here. But taunting me? Daring to fight me? That was very brave. Perhaps even reckless."
"If you wanted me dead, I would be dead." He replied simply. His familiar burst out of his back in that moment.
"And smart," Hild nodded.
I see you have a name for me. The familiar said in his mind, interrupting his thoughts.
Keiichi felt confused. I did not name you.
But you did. When you used my energy to fight back against her, what did you call me? Dark Angel? The familiar put her head in her hands and smiled. Dark Angel, you said.
That's not really so much of a name as a generic description of what you are but, whatever you say. Keiichi thought.
What else is a name, but a description of who you are?
Hild seemed aware of the interplay but said nothing about it. "I am sorry, Keiichi. Perhaps I pushed you too quickly." She squeezed his hand. "Do you know why Belldandy so easily fell in love with you? Why I could, too?" That last part has to be a lie, Keiichi thought. But is it?
Keiichi shook his head. "A goddess like her, and just some regular guy like me…"
The Daimakaicho laughed. "Regular guy. You just don't get it, do you? Even Skuld had a crush on you once, didn't she? And my daughter, she respects you. Lind, Peorth… look at all the goddesses that fawn over you. If Belldandy vanished into the world-between-worlds tomorrow, it would be interesting to see who would come after you first. Lind or Peorth. My guess would be Lind. She takes what she wants. Always has her sights clear. To them, you are worthy..."
The human shrugged his shoulders. "It's not about that… it's about…"
"Wrong," Hild said. "It's definitely about that. You just don't understand what's valuable, how we higher beings see things." The demon traced her finger across his cheek and kissed it gently. "You're pretty short by human standards, aren't you? Not wealthy, or powerful, or physically strong. Human girls did not show much interest."
"Thanks for reminding me. That's a great way to seduce me, just list off all my flaws… I think even Peorth could do better than that."
"We don't care, Keiichi. Those things are meaningless to us. A human woman might want someone strong, and handsome, and wealthy. Those are, naturally, what produces strong, handsome, and wealthy offspring, right?"
Hild did not wait for an answer and continued. "We higher beings can see, and hear, and taste, and smell, and touch, just as you do. But we can also see something else. The energies of higher dimensions, where the soul dwells. And for us, a child's essence, its strength, comes from the melding of spirits more than the flesh. Ah, Keiichi, in that dimension your soul is as handsome as any god in Valhalla I've ever known. Except one. But..." She frowned for a moment and stopped.
"I thought humans didn't have a presence in higher dimensions…"
"Wrong again!" Hild said. "Your souls are similar to ours. It is merely that you can't see them, not like we can. You lack the senses to see yourself in that way, so you don't know your own value in our eyes. It's why humans can't usually practice magic. It would be like being blind in your world. A world of only blind men cannot forge mighty weapons, because they cannot see or understand what is needed to make them, to find the metals, to build the forge to harness them, and in that way you are bereft of magic, despite it being all around you, as ubiquitous as the iron in the mountains, and the oil beneath the sands. But you still exist in that world. And the one who can see can still say of you 'that being is beautiful, though he cannot see, or know this about himself.'"
"Great," Keiichi said, "so you all think I'm just some blind guy who is accidently handsome somehow. Keep going! At this rate, I'll be convinced in… the next century, maybe."
"Well, think about it yourself, Keiichi. What if Belldandy was blind. What if everything else about her was the same as it is now, but she just couldn't see. Would that make her less attractive to you? What if she were the most beautiful, attractive woman you had ever seen. Almost as cute as I am!" She smiled and suddenly her mannerisms were cute and almost innocent. The Daimakaicho could change personalities like a human changed clothes.
"No. I love her. Everything about her. Blindness wouldn't matter. Her powers don't even matter. Her spirit. Her sense of rightness. Her beauty. Her warmth…" There was emptiness in those words, though. Only a faint spark remained to him. He clung to it with all of his might, but he felt it slipping away even now. Overwhelmed by whatever 'roots' were growing here. Which, of course, is her intention.
"Then you understand. Lacking the higher dimensional sight changes nothing for our evaluation of your attractiveness. We see into your soul. Into who you are. We love determination, strength of character, and most of all, willpower. Your physical muscles are puny, but your willpower is truly something, your spiritual muscles are... delicious." Her expression turned to one of lust, her eyes focused on him, staring straight forward. And yet he could feel her gaze moving across him, as if she were checking him out in some fashion.
"And the other Keiichi, with his angel, and you with the demonic presence growing inside you… well, soon you will both be able to see just a bit into our world, anyway. You, in fact, have already done so. My Keiichi is further along than hers." Hild smiled and embraced him.
Keiichi did not fight it. The first attempt at fighting back had used up all of the strength he could muster, and there was no resistance left in him. Some remnant of his soul drew back in horror, but the rest of him felt drawn to Hild.
"In a way, the higher blindness is good." Hild continued. "Like the blind man developing his hearing, you have developed your lower senses. Humans cannot wield magic, normally, but they can fly. They can travel across space. They can build mighty structures and powerful weapons, some in a class similar to our own. Like Skuld, who has not yet developed her goddess powers to their fullest, you build machines. Hrungnir is like that too. She is what those on Earth might call 'near-sighted'. So, she developed her machine skills to boost her poor higher dimensional sight. When you came to help me, did you not reason your way out of problems that stumped even the mighty goddesses? They were not accustomed to thinking that way. But you are."
"Why are you telling me all this?" Keiichi replied.
"I want you to understand the contract between us. What I see in you. Why you were chosen. Though I have evaluated humans before, none were satisfactory. Not until now."
"There is no contract." The human answered.
"There will be." Hild faced him, her face soft, and her eyes baring his soul before her. "You know it, too, don't you?" The curve of her cheeks, the softness of her, the lustful thoughts that burned through his mind as he took her beauty in, they all mesmerized him. Her presence was intoxicating. If she came through that mirror that day, I would not have been able to resist. Not a chance.
Dark Angel hovered in his awareness. No, you would have fallen for her. Perhaps not right away, no… you were much too pure for that. But you would have given up, eventually. Here, becoming a demon… you are in her nest. Her domain… but it will be wonderful for you. You could be the Consort, even… the envy of every demon in Nifelheim and a fair share of gods in Heaven who would surely fall, just to be with her.
Belldandy… I'm sorry…
There was a fire in the Daimakaicho's eyes, a passion. Through the bond with his familiar, he felt her lust. She did want him. Whatever else she was lying about, that was true. Her lips were so close… He felt his arms move, almost against his will, around her back, feeling the softness of her, drawing her close. No shyness remained to him, only desire, carnal and primitive. Their lips touched…
See, this is better than Heaven…
"Mistress Hild!" A voice interrupted them, a small helmeted guardsman bursting into the room, two of his compatriots behind him in the doorway. Keiichi shook his head, his senses returning to him. It felt like waking up from a dream. Or a nightmare. He wasn't sure which, just yet.
The Daimakaicho's sudden anger flooded the room, all of her pent-up frustration, combined with denied carnal lust blew through the room in a torrent of fire. The guardsman was vaporized instantly in a column of flame, his helmet flying across the room and coming to rest near the nightstand, smoke wafting from the inside.
Two other guardsmen stood in the doorway, shaking in fear. "Um…"
"WHY HAVE YOU INTERRUPTED ME?" Hild demanded, flames kicking up around her.
"Mistress, several goddesses have breached the backup gate on Earth! They are coming!"
Keiichi breathed a sigh of relief once more. For the spark had almost gone out, now, and he could feel something else in his thoughts. Something darker, a demonic power unfolding within and threatening to crush the piece of his soul that was still his own.
He knew time was short.
But he also knew Belldandy might not make it, and that his power to resist the Daimakaicho was broken. No. He needed a backup plan.
Control returned to the Daimakaicho, though somehow Keiichi could feel that it was only skin-deep.
"This will only take a minute, dear," Hild said. "I'm sorry you had to see that. I gave them strict orders not to interrupt me when I'm with my future Consort." She kissed his forehead. "Be back soon!"
Despite her light-hearted words, the anger surrounding her was palpable.
As Hild left the room, the frightened guardsmen falling in line beside her, the first faint glimmerings of an idea came to him.