Vortex World,
Minatogawa Stateside Town, Assembly of Nihilo, Urd's Well
Kagatsuchi 3/8 Waning
Tenchi surfaced with a leisurely stretch, warm and comfortable for the first time in what felt like ages. He sighed, still half-asleep, and reached an arm out, groping for the warm pillow he laid nestled beside. He smiled as he found it, his arm flopping over it and dragging it closer to his body as he pressed himself into it. Warm…He thought, Smells like Ryoko. A smile spread across his face, and he felt himself pulled longingly back towards the depths of sleep, towards the dream he'd left behind, and pressed himself closer into the pillow, feeling it rise and sigh with his touch. Somewhere, he could hear a heartbeat-not his own but familiar, and without thought-such was the time of the Boundary between Worlds-he honed into it, his mind's eye crafting an image of such intrinsic detail that for a moment he thought himself awake-awake and staring into Ryoko's sleeping face, and found it good.
She looks peaceful. He thought, and sighed to himself, edging closer to her. A piece of him-the magatama, he thought-writhed in warning, whispering dangers of growing so near to a sleeping Godslayer-she is the death to God and Demon alike, they whispered, she is the Universe reborn unto Itself, rising to devour what is left of the Old. The serpent bites its tail—and found himself shooing them away. It's Ryoko. He told them. Let the gods fall and demons rise; Ryoko won't harm me.
He heard them hiss and sigh, squirming along his nervous system like an itch he couldn't quite scratch, and found himself ignoring them with the deliberate focus of a man in deep meditation, watching the image, the dream, the vision of the Demon Lord before him. He found that if he concentrated, he could feel her breath grazing his head, could feel her arms wrapping around his body as he leaned into her, and felt his own body respond to her touch with all the eagerness of youth and inexperience.
He heard himself grunt, felt his pants grow tight around his groin, and threw a leg over the vision in his mind. He watched the woman roll with him, shifting from her side to her back, and saw the easy rise and fall of her chest. Something stirred within him, and as he reached out he felt his hand fall on something round and soft.
He felt a heartbeat.
Ryoko's heart.
And sighing, he moved closer, burying his face in the crook of her neck and inhaling her scent.
She smells like spice and sake. He thought, and felt something tickle his nose. He grimaced and scrunched his nose up against it, but found the offensive item remained, tickling him with such a maddening offense that he began to rouse.
With a groan, he buried his face deeper into the body he slept next to, and only then began to realize that the sensations brought about by his mind's subconscious remained.
Cold recognition doused him, and the image in his minds eye vanished as he awoke. No. Oh no. He thought. Please no.
Yet the sensations against his face, against his nose, against his ears and skin and hands and body-what he had thought to be his mind playing with his subconscious-a dream, an image of his unconscious-became less and less a dream of his perverse mind and something wonderfully, terribly real.
Now he could feel the rise and fall of her chest beneath one hand, where one hand cupped a breast. He felt her warmth curled against him, her own limbs entangled in his as if responding to his own touch. He could feel her pulse, thrumming rhythmically in her neck and throbbing against his nose in the slow drum of sleep. He could feel her hair-what had first awoken him, now tickling his eyelashes as he grimaced once more.
He felt her curl a little more securely around him, her legs tangled in his, her body pressed into his groin, and his heart skipped a beat as Tenchi opened his eyes.
He found Ryoko asleep, her face turned towards him and with lips so close to his he could reach out and kiss them, if it so possessed him.
Frozen, Tenchi stared, wondering if perhaps this was some joke, some attempt to rile him up, some new level of teasing that was Ryoko's vengeance against him for the hell he'd dragged her through in Meibashi-and instead found himself staring into the face of a woman so deeply asleep that she seemed unaware of his own waking, sighing a breath so gentle it tickled his ear, sending a jolt of electricity down his spine and to his groin.
Oh please no. He thought. Please. This has to be a mistake. How had he come here?
The youth looked around, first with his eyes-fearful of moving lest the Demon Lord awaken-then with his head when the pirate made no movement against him. Think Masaki…you came to a bar. Urd's Bar-Urd's…Urd's Well? You met some gods and a demon. There were shots. Yours was tossed out because you don't drink. Right? Right?
He was in a bedroom of some sort, resting in a queen-sized bed piled high with a mixture of pillows, blankets, and (Ryoko's legs) sheets. The room was spartan; a hamper for clothes, a closed closet door, a small bedside table with two glasses, a glass pitcher holding what looked like water.
Ryoko. Clothed but unconscious.
Him, clothed and conscious.
Okay. Everything is okay. Tenchi told himself, and carefully began untangling himself from the space pirate, his body yearning for the warmth she provided as soon as he placed distance between them both. Through it all, not once did Ryoko awaken, though as he parted from her, she did reach out-unconsciously or not-and grab him, curling around him like a cat against a heat pad and leaving him internally screaming on two parts-one for Ryoko's actions to complicate his escape, and one for his own body's betrayal as he found he enjoyed the action.
Don't do it Masaki. He thought, his heart hammering a mile a minute as he carefully pried himself out of her grip. It's not worth it. You'll both get the wrong idea and you'll destroy your relationship. Just slip out of bed and out of the room, no harm, no foul; nothing happened, you're both dressed, and everything is fine.
Except everything was most definitely not fine. He was in bed with his best friend, thrown there by forces unknown, and had damn near had a wet dream about her while she was unconscious right next to him.
The door opened, and Tenchi froze, the color and his life draining from him as the teen found Urd slipping inside. The Norn started as she met his eyes, then looked from Tenchi to the woman sleeping beside him. Oh no. He thought, and felt himself bristle in rising panic. Don't freak out. Please don't freak out. It's not what it looks like, it's not-
Urd held a finger to his lips, then gestured him forward.
Tenchi felt his shoulder's slump in relief, then scrambled out of the bed, almost falling out of it in his haste to escape both Ryoko's embrace and Urd's judgment. He raced out of the bedroom, his heart ramming in his chest and his pulse throbbing in his ears, and looked at the goddess before him with large, panicked golden eyes.
"Take it easy." Urd murmured, and guided him down a hallway and past two other adjoining rooms-a master bedroom, where Tenchi caught a mane of golden hair, and another, closed room on the beside it. "C'mon, let's get you a drink."
"Bathroom." Tenchi bit out.
Urd pointed further down the hallway, and the youth bolted past her.
When he emerged, the teen navigated to the bar's front, finding Urd hovering above the ground in a manner that reminded him so much of Ryoko that the teen could not help but stare.
Sensing his gaze, Urd turned and smiled at him, then gestured to the bar.
The bar was empty outside of the two of them, and Tenchi navigated around it and took a seat at the nearest barstool. Urd opened a cabinet and withdrew two plastic water bottles from the top shelf, then floated towards him, settling down on the other side of the bar and passing him one of the bottles, keeping the other for herself.
Tenchi twisted it open and, after an experimental sniff, took a sip. It tasted like water at least, and sending a distrustful glance to Urd, Tenchi took several long gulps, watching from the corner of one eyes as Urd took slower sips of her own.
As Tenchi lowered the water bottle, Urd raised an eyebrow. "So," She asked, "Sleep well?"
"Nothing happened." Tenchi snapped.
Urd raised an eyebrow, holding her hands up in defense. Tenchi winced. "Ah…sorry." He mumbled, and crouched in his seat, uneasy and tense.
"Relax Tenchi." Urd replied. "I'm not accusing-or judging-you of anything."
"What happened?"
"You passed out." Urd replied. "You and Ryoko both. Loki's shots are a bit harder than the ones I make-he likes to throw in his own magic to 'spice things up', and even after Marller took your shot, the alcohol which remained was…let's just say the glass was charged."
"I don't remember anything." Tenchi whispered, and he looked pale.
"Relax." Urd assured him. "You and Ryoko are fine, though Ryoko may be out for a while longer; she took both my shot and Loki's. That's both a lot of alcohol and a lot of power to process. She'll be fine by the time she wakes up."
"How did we end up in a bed together?" Tenchi asked, and clutched his head with both hands, burying his fingers into his scalp. "I almost-we could have…" He trailed off.
"Marller dumped you there under my instructions." Urd replied, and Tenchi started, staring at the woman with large eyes. The Norn took another sip of her own water, unphased by the youth's expression. "Relax. You were fully clothed and, no offense, I wasn't going to have either of you stinking up my bed or Loki's, and I still have a bar to run. You two got the guest bedroom as a result.
"We slept together." Tenchi whispered.
"In a manner of speaking." Urd sent him a sidelong glance. "Is that so bad, though?"
"Yes!" Tenchi sputtered out a reply. 'We-we aren't a couple-we shouldn't be sharing a bed!" He exclaimed. "What if Ryoko-If I hadn't-" He fell into a brooding silence, his face a brilliant scarlet.
Urd observed him in silence, then downed her bottle, hopped onto the bar, swung over to the other side, and moved to sit beside Tenchi on the barstool beside him.
Tenchi flinched, leaning away from the woman.
"Okay." Urd started, resting a hand on her chin as she leaned against the table and looked at him. "Talk to me, Tenchi."
Tenchi stared at her in silence, unsure of what to say.
Urd watched him with calm violet eyes, then sighed. "We can spend the rest of the day right here or until one of the drunken fiends in the other rooms rolls in." She said. "Speak to me. What's got you so worked up about waking up to Ryoko sharing a bed with you when nothing happened?"
Tenchi stared at her, baffled, then looked down, bowing his head with a grimace.
Next to him, Urd sighed. "Listen Tenchi…I'm going to be honest with you." She said, "From what I've observed, the relationship you have with Ryoko is a special one. One of you claims to be a demon, the other is a demon-or at least half of one-and both of you seem to be working your way towards becoming something more, unless I'm mistaken?" She paused, giving him room to speak.
Tenchi held his silence.
The woman shrugged but continued. "You two have each other, and moreover are comfortable around one another, which is a rare thing to have in a world like his." The teen sent a side-long glance towards the woman, who was no longer looking directly at Tenchi, but instead down at the bar. One finger was rubbing the indented scratches left behind by Ryoko's initial introduction to Urd, and as her fingers grazed over the blemishes, the scratches vanished, as if healed by her touch. "Intimacy is important in any culture—even the ones who claim to hold it in such disregard, claiming it's for women." Urd sighed, and looked at him. ""You're allowed to be intimate with another person, Tenchi-it's easier for girls since there's no expectation from us, but guys like you have generally been taught from an early age that it's a weakness; that its a stigma, one to be shunned because of how feminine it is." The woman shook her head in scorn. "It's not. It's a strength. Probably the biggest one you have right now in terms of your own resilience."
Tenchi flushed. "Its wrong. I mean...we aren't together-we aren't a couple."
Urd looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Are you saying you have someone else?"
"Well, no...but..."
"Than what's the problem?" The Norn asked, "Tenchi…this place—this Vortex World—is an emotional, mental, and physical nightmare. There's nothing wrong with wanting a hug." She laughed, and with a start Tenchi looked at her. The laughter was harsh, jaded, and rough. "Hell, since coming here that's all I've wanted." She said. "And I've been fortunate to have found both kin and comrade who aren't afraid of that same intimacy." She smiled at him, and when Tenchi looked to her he found the smile kind, gentle, loving in a way that was both completely foreign and yet so intimately familiar it hurt. "Intimacy is not a language of romance, Tenchi, though it has been confused by such for ages. It is an act of knowing something through the body's senses, of speaking through the senses in order to make yourself known to the one near you. It is a language of love, yes, but not necessarily romantic or sexual interest-it can be used to communicate those messages, but at its core, it is a language-to make the Other become One, the They become We, the You to become Me."
"I don't thing I understand." Tenchi said, and Urd laughed. It was a rich sound, different from her earlier laugh; like a windchime dancing on a breeze, her voice resonating harmoniously across the bar's high beams and loft.
It was an enrapturing sound, and Urd smiled at him, her teeth bright against her dark features, and Tenchi felt his breath escape him as if he'd been punched in the stomach. In that moment, the goddess became the most beautiful creature across two worlds.
"Humor me a moment." Urd said. "And hold up your hand."
Curious, Tenchi did as asked, and Urd entwined her hand with his. " Focus on our hands. What do you see?" She asked. "What do you feel? Not just from you, but from me."
The teen frowned, perturbed, but shifted his focus to the two palms. He could feel the warmth from Urd against his palms. Could smell…lavender, jasmine, sake, and lightning, all combined with an earthy scent which brought to his mind snakes and serpents which dwelt deep underground. Their hands contrasted-his knotted, calloused hands, taut and tanned by Okinawa's sun and long days training with his grandfather. Her hands, a deeper, richer tan closer to a brown, the palms soft, the fingers long and delicate. He felt her squeeze his hand, and saw the nails, filed and shiny, dig gently in his skin and knew in that moment that she could tear his flesh with them if she chose to. He felt his own pulse throb beneath the pressure, and felt a hollow echo-Urd's pulse-coursing against his, different from his own, different from Ryoko's; a slow, even cadence that seemed too slow for any waking human.
"Focus." Urd murmured.
He gripped the hand tighter, and felt the power within the delicate looking digits, a strength of a being born far greater than its kin. He felt the kinetic energy in her hand as the muscles flexed, felt a static current of magical energy passing through…the skin, the muscle, the tendon, the blood, and felt his heart leap in his throat at the sensation.
"I—" Tenchi began.
"Hush."
He felt the veil.
The veil containing the third-dimensional form she'd clothed herself in, the mask worn to interact with him, with Ryoko, with the Vortex World as a whole, and then the hard wall around it—not so much a hard wall but a liquid he could only just perceive; one which hardened and created form with the natural kinetic energy of the body she'd crafted in her own image.
And he could go further.
Urd released his hand with a smile, and Tenchi felt his consciousness pulled from the hand, from Urd, and felt his body fall forward as his conscious made the slow crawl back to himself. The Norn caught and steadied him, and blinking Tenchi looked up at her, staring at he Norn with awe. He saw serpents and lightning and storms and fire, and then all of it vanished, and in its place was 'Urd' once more.
"That was…" He began.
"All you." Urd supplied. "Good job Kid." She undid the cap on his waterbottle and offered it to him, and the teen grabbed it, for a moment feeling-plastic, paper, water, hydrogen, oxygen, carbon-and feeling his stomach twist itself into a knot. "Take a moment. Deep breaths. Drink slowly."
The teen took a long, slow breath, and released it with a shudder. "What…was that?"
Urd's smile was coy. "Intimacy." She said.
Tenchi took a small sip of the water, and it tasted-clear, sharp, jagged frozen mountain peeks, heat and jumping molecules, charcoal and sand filters and it tasted empty, empty and dead; dead of bacteria, dead of viruses, dead of microbes, dead of spirit and filled with microplastics-he almost spit out the water.
"That's why I said drink slowly." Urd sounded amused as she leaned against the bar. "Give it a couple of minutes; it'll fade soon enough."
Tenchi tried to swallow and his throat locked up on him. He grimaced and chocked the water down anyways. "That," He rasped, "Was not intimacy."
The Norn raised a silver eyebrow. "And who are you to tell a Goddess of Love what is and is not intimacy?" Urd smirked. "As I recall, you looked quite panicked when I came to check on you."
Tenchi flushed and looked down. Urd laughed. It was a gentle sound. Because at her core that is what she is. A piece of him whispered. A gentle demon which speaks truths. A cruel goddess whom lies. A being which emulates the same Humanity you were born with, and who could walk amongst us and we would never know.
The words caught him off guard, yet for the life of him he was unable to tell if the words were his own or the magatamas' inside him.
"Intimacy is knowledge," Urd said, "through the use of the body. Something which is inherently tactile in nature. Something which is erotic through its use of the senses, but not necessarily romantic or sexual because of its tactile sensations."
"I…think I'm starting to understand." Tenchi muttered, and placed the water bottle back on the coutnertop-far away from him. "You…you let me see that, didn't you?" He asked.
"I did, though there was no seeing, Tenchi. I wanted you to know me, and I wanted to know you."
The youth looked at her with a start. "Then that means—"
Urd shrugged. "In a manner." She said. "I wanted you to know me as I would know you—two beings-both of which are more than we seem-trying to survive in a world against them. But it was to teach as well."
"To teach…"
Urd nodded. "To teach you, who are now just as much spirit as you are human. This world is one of Spirits, not Humans, and to understand it means incorporating the Radical Other-the Them, the unknown world of spirits-into the You. By doing so, you remove the veil of the Unknown, the veil of the Powerful, and see those beings around you for their most basic elements."
The teen stared down at his hands. Urd rested a hand on his shoulder, and the demi-fiend found that if he concentrated, he could feel Urd's pulse within her fingertips once more, could smell her, could sense her essence as if it were the most natural thing in the world. It should have frightened him- terrified him even-should have sent him running from the bar and the goddess which inhabited it and into the Badlands, where he could surrender to the madness which this new knowledge brought him.
Instead…Tenchi was comforted by it.
I know her now. He realized. She was right. Maybe not…maybe not in the same way I'd know Ryoko or Kumashiro but…I know her still. I know her nature.
"Intimacy is not a bad thing." Urd said. "Its natural, and for a being like you—for a being like Ryoko—and should be something you revel in rather than fear. Know those sensations, Tenchi. Make them part of you, and in doing so, you come to know me better. You come to know Ryoko better, you come to know yourself better, and this world in all its horrors—all its marvels, willopen up to you in turn." She smiled, and in it was an inner light-a divinity-which Tenchi had been unable to perceive a moment earlier. "In the grand words of Paracelsus, 'the more knowledge there is of a thing, the more love'."
Tenchi swallowed.
"Now," Urd leaned forward, closing the space between them. Tenchi stood stock still in silent anticipation. "…why don't you go take a bath. You fucking reek, Hitoshura." Urd leaned back, a playful smirk on her face as her eyes danced with wicked delight, and despite himself Tenchi smiled as well, a part of him daring so far as to laugh as the smile on Urd's face grew larger still.
"All right, all right." Tenchi said, "I'm going." He hopped off the barstool, "You egg me on like you're my sister or something." He departed without glancing back, and felt Urd's amused eyes on him as he departed for the bathroom.
And as the door shut behind him, he felt a warmth in his chest as a small smile spread across his lips.
Urd was a big sister, after all, and part of that involved watching out for younger siblings.
He knew that now, too.
Vortex World,
Okinawa Prefecture, Shintoshi Hill Apartment Complex
Kagatsuchi 2/8 Waning
There was a tree sprouting in the center of the inner apartment complex.
It hadn't been there before.
Kiyone sat before it, and Pascal sat beside her, curling up around her as he laid his head down atop his massive paws, his head next to her left hand in a silent plea for affection as he watched her from beneath bushy white brows. Chamrosh, tiny newborn that it was, glided down from the woman's shoulder and in front of the massive beast.
Pascal's nose twitched.
Chamrosh chirped.
"Gentle." Kiyone spoke in long habit. "No biting. Not food."
NO BITING. Pascal acknowledged, and the woman felt a tail thump gently against her back. Kiyone looked at him in suspicion, and found the hound staring back at her with earnest green eyes.
"….I'm watching you." She warned him, then made herself comfortable, leaning against him with a long sigh. There was grass beneath her; the first she'd touched since Conception, and it felt like plush velvet beneath her fingers; dense and brimming with life, the color a green so vibrant it seemed unreal. "So this place is recovering now…" She murmured. "Was this really all Belldandy's doing?"
Vines crawled up cement walls, shrubs and bushes grew around its edges, and more saplings-none so big as the Ash tree before her but growing close-craned towards Kagatsuchi's brightness. The gravel and broken brick-once gray and red and brown with Man's folly-were covered with greenery now, and Kiyone could scarcely recognize it for the Mantra's arena.
"Wait…" The woman narrowed her eyes and looked around, reorienting herself as a memory resurfaced. "This is…" The ex-cop climbed to her feet. "Wasn't this where…" She came to stand in front of the tree, then dropped to one knee, surveying the base of its trunk. Sure enough, something lay embedded within its roots, and pushing back the grass, she saw white. Frowning, and with no small reservation, the woman brushed away gravel and sand and brick, uprooting tufts of grass as she uncovered a small piece of bone.
An eye socket.
The root had grown up through the eye socket of a piece of skull.
"That's..." Kiyone looked up at the Ash. "This is where Yaksini fell, isn't it? You're growing from her corpse, aren't you?" She asked it. "Is that why you're so much bigger than the others? Because you absorbed the nutrients in her body?"
The Ash kept its secrets.
Unnerved, Kiyone stepped away from it, returning back to Pascal and Chamrosh pale and drawn. She looked around her with fresh, bright eyes, taking note of where smaller saplings-ash, birch, pine, cedar-sprouted. "Were these are where the bodies fell?" She wondered, "Are they absorbing residual blood?"
"MAGATSUHI." Pascal nuzzled her hand in a quiet request for attention, and when Kiyone lifted it, he placed his head in her lap, looking up at her with demonic eyes held in the adoring gaze of a puppy. "THEY EAT MAGATSUHI."
Law of Cause effect. Kiyone thought. What lives must die. What dies generates life. Something must die for another thing to live; life cannot sprout from nothing, even for a goddess like Belldandy.
The ex-cop shivered and rubbed her arms, suddenly on edge in the strange new garden. "Are any of the plants…carnivorous?" She asked Pascal, looking down at his third eye and watching it stare back at her-the only eye incapable of displaying emotion.
"NO." Pascal replied, "ONLY EAT OLD MAGATSUHI. NO EAT CONTAINED MAGATSUHI."
The woman relaxed, though it was marginal. "Good to know." She muttered.
The woman, the Demon Hound, and the Spirit sat in silence for a time, observing the garden in the quiet resiliency of one who had returned to Nature's Heart.
She heard and ignored Yosho's presence when he came to sit beside her, though her mood darkened at his arrival.
Pascal, always quick to pick up on her emotional state, growled a warning at the man, his upper lip peeling back to show the line of his fangs.
She grabbed him by the snout—as she had when he'd still been a mortal puppy—in a silent order to 'stop'.
Yosho, a true example of Jurain royalty, remained stoic and unperturbed.
"I'm glad I found you." Likewise, in a display of diplomacy, Yosho was the first to break the silence. "I…had not known if you'd left us."
"Belldandy still has my COMP." Kiyone reasoned.
"….And if she hadn't?"
"My bag's back in the terminal room with yours and I can't get the damn machine to work." Kiyone replied. "You want to push it?"
"No." Yosho paused, glanced at her, then bowed his head. "No—I do not. I…apologize, Makibi-san."
A tense, awkward silence fell between them.
"I…wanted to leave Jurai too." Yosho began again. "Though none would call it to my face, I had the nickname 'Bastard Prince' back home." He revealed. "My mother was an alien from a backwater planet no one had heard of, chosen over the King's first engaged wife to rule in the coveted position as 'First Queen'. Though Misaki, the 'Second Queen of Jurai' and my father's original betrothed, cared little for the title—she has always been one cared more for who she loved rather than political power—other members of her family saw it as a spit in the face."
Kiyone was silent.
"What was worse…the four Noble Houses of Jurai felt threatened by me. I was a half-blooded bastard in their eyes, and selected as Crown Prince to save my father the disgrace of admitting to the shame of my…conception. My father, a man who refused to stand idle in the face of such derision, decided to add insult to injury by engaging me to my half-sister, Ayeka-Misaki's first born and who was of full Jurain blood. There were….many politics involved behind the reasoning; to cement my own position as Crown Prince and future King of Jurai. To eliminate competitors amongst the Noble Houses who might seek to oust me or assassinate me if they could marry Ayeka. To please Seto-hime, Misaki's mother and a woman more infamous across the Imperial Jurain Empire than the space pirate Ryoko or even the space criminal Kagato; she above everyone had been most insulted by my position as crown prince, and…she knew how to make people disappear."
He paused, and a flash of great discomfort fell over his face. "I…had also found myself growing…interested in Misaki when I hit puberty. It…drove me insane. Confused me. Scared me."
Kiyone glanced at him, but held her silence.
Yosho sighed, gazing at the Ash before them both in silent contemplation. "Seto-hime learned of that too. There was not a thing that passes through Jurai that she does not know; I believe her more informed than even Tsunami, and to this day part of me wonders if she was not Tsunami's incarnation in it truest form; a woman of massive power and might, who could rock worlds and end lives at the twitch of a finger-all for the greater good of Jurai."
"When Ryoko attacked Jurai seven hundred years ago, it was a blessing in disguise." He revealed. "Though she destroyed a quarter of the planet and ended millions of lives…she also represented the answer to…all of my problems. With her attack, I found an escape. Ayeka would be absolved of her marriage to me and would inherit the title Crown Princess of Jurai. I would disappear, and the Jurain people-who were always reserved and fearful in the face of change-would have a princess of full Jurain blood to take the throne. The Noble Houses could set their sights away from my family and compete amongst themselves; they had more…sons than daughters-and I would either die a heroic death against the great Enemy of Jurai or I would defeat her and disappear forever, letting my name become one of myth and legend like those of my human—Terrain—ancestors."
"You never struck me as the martyr type." Kiyone muttered.
"Not even with all those reports you learned of between Jurai and the GXP?" Yosho's smile was wry.
Kiyone said nothing.
"When I crashed on Earth with Ryoko, I fully expected to die." He admitted. "Ryoko had destroyed entire planets. I had sparred with Jurai's instructors. One pillaged planets and wiped out the best a colony's military had to throw at her—without the use of her ship. I had gone to an academy to learn science, politics, and history."
"You weren't the same."
"No. We weren't."
"You knew this though."
"I did."
"And still went after her."
Yosho nodded, his gaze distant and heavy. "Can you keep a secret?"
"Depends. You plan on telling the rest of Jurai I'm some kind of zombie Niphilim angel-thingie?"
The man snorted, and a slim smile fell over his face. "No."
"Hit me."
"I will assume you do not mean literally."
Kiyone scoffed. "You lay hands on me, you're breathing out a hole in your chest." She said. "It's slang."
Yosho smiled and nodded, but did not speak immediately. Instead the two sat in silence, both lost in their thoughts as they observed the garden granting them respite. A garden of life resting atop the corpses of old, granted resiliency and strength by the goddess and her mortal consort. A holy place, or perhaps, a cursed place, where those lives taken would find no peace, no rest, beneath the roots of the greenery housed there.
Yet for the two who yet lived, for the survivors, it remained a place of quiet peace.
The tension had eased between them, and something similar to serenity replaced it, the gap between them both shortening with every secret revealed, with every scar compared, with every moment spent in the company of the other.
It wasn't intimacy; not in the way a goddess had explained it to a demi-fiend. Yet it shared a similar purpose, and whether either realized it or not, the strange Otherness shared between them was fading, melding, merging, converging into the we, the me, the I. The Stranger, in its terrible alieness, faded into the ally, the comrade, the friend, and it was to such a person Yosho shared his greatest secret with.
"I almost ran away."
"What do you mean?" Kiyone glanced at him.
"From Ryoko. When we neared Earth…I almost ran away." Yosho pursed his lips, his expression dark with memory. "The Ryo-oh-ki, Ryoko's ship, was fast and agile…too agile, too small, for my treeship, the Funaho, to get a solid lock on. No matter what we fired, no matter how much we lit up space, Ryoko would not be touched; she weaved in and out of the bombardment as if she could read our moves, and we were too large, too slow, to react to her ship's own strikes. A thought had occurred to me then: 'Just run away.' We were in the outskirts of Jurai's territory. There would be no aide for me, no backup, no one to save me, and I was…I was terrified, Kiyone.
"The thought of death had not scared me when I first set off after Ryoko. I was filled with rage, with hate, with vengeance for what she'd done, and in my arrogance had thought myself a match for her. And in the heart of Juraian territory, I was. I had allied treeships, I had the GXP, I had Jurain colonies coming to my aide, lashing out at Ryoko and bombarding her where I could not. They injured the Ryo-oh-ki, and I thought to myself, 'this tiger has lost its fangs'." He shook his head. " Yet a tiger without fangs is still dangerous. She still has her other teeth, designed to rend flesh and crack bone. She has her claws, ready to shred her prey or her hunter. She has her strength, and knows how to use it, and above all, she has her instincts, honed to a deadly point as a life of a predator."
"And you'd just been given an elephant gun and had gotten lost from your group of good hunters."
Yosho nodded. "I want you to realize…when I said I almost fled, that does not mean that the thought went through my head. That means I had in the midst of calling off Funaho, my hands hovering over the control panal and my voice readying the call for retreat, to abandon Ryoko and leave her to whatever prey would be her next target—be that a return to Jurai or to unleash her rage and madness upon Earth." He scoffed. "I had not even realized the planet was of my mother's people. Yet even if I had…" He shook his head.
"What stopped you?"
"A lucky strike? Tsunami's guidance?" Yosho shrugged. "I managed a single blow on the Ryo-oh-ki; one made more of desperation than strategy-and it was enough to send her crashing into the Earth's atmosphere. And still…I almost retreated right then and there." He tried to smile and it came out a grimace. "I think…I think I was possessed in that moment, Kiyone." His words came out a whisper, and Kiyone turned to regard him with serious teal eyes.
Yosho didn't meet her questioning gaze.
"I believe Tsunami possessed me." Yosho whispered, and she saw the haunted look on his face and felt her heart tighten in empathy. "My head had felt funny, and I had felt…removed from my body. As if someone-some, some spirit-had moved into my head and kicked me from the driver's seat. I heard myself ordering Funaho to pursue the Ryo-oh-ki, and distinctly remember asking myself, 'what am I doing? What am I thinking? Just run away! Now's your chance, she can't chase you!' Yet my body continued to act against my thoughts, and Funaho chased after her, the treeship's body igniting under the combined strain of the damage sustained in battle and the Earth's atmosphere.
"We crashed, and both Ryoko and I were injured. I had a head injury, I remember that-I remember the pain, the blood, the dizzying vertigo of it all, and how…terrifying Ryoko was."
"I've only ever seen videos of her." Kiyone admitted. "Those alone were pretty nightmarish—there was a policy that any GXP members who came across her were not to engage her; merely report her coordinates to HQ." She shook her head. "Videos of the Ryo-oh-ki just…decimating entire fleetsof GXP were shown to us as new recruits, videos of Ryoko taking out entire brigades of military forces with a wave of her hand—a warning, an instruction, a caution: 'don't get too big for your birches; there's always something bigger and stronger which can and will take you out.'"
Yosho nodded. "Fighting her in person…I will be honest and say I remember little of it. I believe I repressed most of it."
"Post traumatic stress disorder."
Again Yosho nodded.
Kiyone nodded too. "I understand." She said. "I…sometimes dream of the crash to Earth. I…always feel the escape pod disintegrating around me before I wake up. There are similiar dreams, too."
"I don't remember the dreams." Yosho admitted. "Only the fear that wakes me up, which lingers in my heart."
Another nod from Kiyone. She didn't press for further details.
Yosho didn't offer.
Then Kiyone snorted. "What a fucking pair we make." She said, and leaned back against Pascal, stretching her arms high over her head as she looked up, her eyes coming to rest on the hole that had been made in Thor's dual with Belldandy and to the fading light of Kagatsuchi outside it.
"What do you mean?"
She looked at him with a bitter smile. "The Prince and the Pauper" She said. "Both of us suffering from our own traumas and meant to live on after the World's End as traveling companions."
Yosho stared at her, then looked away with a bark of laughter. "Strange times lead to stranger allies."
"Shit, who you telling?" Kiyone replied, then sighed, what felt like the first honest smile since Conception on her face. "I cried the first time I saw grass." She said, and smirked when she caught sight of Yosho's startled face. "Caosg didn't have anything. It looks…kind of like this Vortex World, now that I think about it. Just a desolate wasteland of sands, stones, gray cement cities…no trees, no green, no grass or animals. I'd only ever seen them in videos. When I joined the GXP and was finally allowed to visit another planet for a resupply…I'd been so overwhelmed with emotion that I scared my partner at the time-a Senior GXP who, now that I think of it, was Jurain." She laughed. "He'd thought he'd somehow insulted me or done me wrong. I'd never seen a grown man so panicked over tears before."
A smile, small but growing, spread across Yosho's face. "We can't help it." He said. "It's the old Jurain xenophobia. Everything is strange, alien, and terrifying, and therefore we must panic over it."
Kiyone laughed, open and honest delight on her face. "Shit…I don't think I've laughed since the world ended." She murmured.
"There's been little to laugh or smile about since the event occurred." Yosho agreed. "It is nice to have a moment's respite."
The two fell quiet, observing the garden in companionable silence.
"Where do we go from here?" Kiyone finally asked.
"In what way?" Yosho asked. "In terms of travel or regarding our relationship?"
Kiyone started and looked at Yosho with surprise. "What?"
Yosho looked uncomfortable. "In terms of where our next destination is?"
Kiyone stared at the man with one raised teal eyebrow.
Yosho did not elaborate further.
Fucking Juraians, I swear. Kiyone thought, but let it drop. "We can either try and travel by the terminal again-see if its working-or we can try venturing through the sewers with Keiichi and Belldandy towards where this…Assembly of Nihilo is." She said. "Unless…there's some place specifically you want to go?"
Yosho sighed, and to Kiyone it sounded like one of relief. She stopped herself from rolling her eyes. "I'm…not sure, to be honest." The man admitted. "Part of me feels responsible for accompanying Belldandy and Keiichi to these sewers. I…would like to see them returned to their own home safely." He looked upwards, peering up at the dimming light of approaching New Kagatsuchi with apprehension. "A larger part of me wants to return to the mountains. I…saw Funaho above us. I wish to return to her and see for myself that she is well and alive." He glanced at Kiyone. "Do you still wish to seek Stephen?"
Kiyone pursed her lips. "Part of me does." She said. "I…want to speak with him again. Ask him if he…if he somehow knew about-about me. About what…Belldandy said." She sighed and leaned forward. "Part of me would rather remain in the dark. I don't…I really don't like what I've learned so far."
Yosho nodded. "I understand…." He murmured. "A…question for you, if you will."
"The answer is 'no'." Kiyone said sarcastically.
Yosho nodded sagely. "I understand. So you don't want a Desert Eagle."
"Oy, fuck you!" Kiyone exclaimed, and punched his arm lightly.
Chamrosh trilled as if insulted. Kiyone glanced at him. "Oh relax you, no one is going to replace you as my favorite weapon. I didn't carry you off a derelict spaceship and through the end of the world just to toss you aside now."
"You understand it?" Yosho looked at Kiyone in surprise.
Kiyone shrugged, a wave of discomfort passing over her face. "Yes and no?" She said. "He doesn't speak with words. More like…vague feelings that I can interpret. Was that your question?"
Yosho shook his head. "No, apologies, I was caught by surprise." The man pursed his lips, and a look of discomfort flashed across his features. "What you said about Tsunami…about her being kin to…"
"Coronzom?"
"Yes. Did you…mean it?"
Kiyone's eyes hardening as a gradual frown fell across her features. "Why?" She asked. "Did Belldandy and Thor say anything to counter it?"
"No." Yosho met her gaze and all its might, and she saw the raw confusion within his burgundy eyes. "No, if anything…they affirmed it."
"Well, if you heard it from two literal gods, why are you asking me?"
"I don't know." Yosho admitted. "I…had never been a huge follower of Tsunami until surviving my battle with Ryoko. I thought I had survived thanks to Her blessings, and so devoted a shrine to Her that intermingled with the local Shinto religion in Her honor, which was how you came to meet me originally. Yet no Jurain script speak of…siblings. Good or bad or otherwise. To hear now that there is more to Tsunami…that there may actually be something sinister to her is…" He trailed off.
"Ah, I see." The edge faded from Kiyone's gaze. "…your faith has been called into question."
"Many things have been called into question since the world ended." Yosho replied. "This is just…the most perturbing one."
"Yeah." Kiyone nodded. "I feel that." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "My…father was an Uran Tabaam-a type of 'head priest' who was allowed to marry and have children who would follow in his footsteps. He had…intimate knowledge of the deeper and…lesser known scripts that never left the planet."
"Were you his heir?"
"That I was." Kiyone nodded. "And I hated every minute of it. As soon as I could speak, I was taught to recite scripture. As soon as I could read, holy books were all I knew. That's why I left as soon as I could sign my life away." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "He never forgave me for that."
"I see." Yosho murmured. "…thank you for your honesty. I…don't know what I'll do with this knowledge but…perhaps if I find Tsunami in this world, I will ask her about it. And why she felt the need to hide it from her own people."
Kiyone shrugged. "Maybe it wasn't Tsunami who hid it." She said. "Priesthoods are possessive when it comes to knowledge. For them knowledge equates to power. You control the script, you control the people. Surely you've seen that before."
"…To an extent, yes." Yosho admitted. "…Was that why you left?"
"Maybe." Kiyone scowled. "Maybe I am of the rare mindset that people should think for themselves and choose what to believe rather than have it shoved down their throat by a third party. Maybe I think people should discover their own spiritual truths rather than being told what to believe by people consumed by their own lust for power."
"A strong belief to have."
"I've always been strong-willed in my beliefs. Its what's always gotten me in trouble in the past and now."
"Will you try and learn more about those beliefs with what has been learned from Belldandy?"
"Maybe." Kiyone repeated. "I'll need to get my COMP back from her first."
"Do you really need it?" Yosho asked, "You seem to communicate with Pascal and the little spirit well enough without it."
"I don't know." Kiyone confessed. "I've always had an affinity for canines, so for me it seems natural that Pascal and Chamrosh would follow me. But…Shuten isn't here right now, so I honestly don't know if it's just me or if I really do need the COMP."
"Well…" Yosho glanced at her. "If you are up for it…I am in no huge rush to get back on the road again. Perhaps it would behoove us both to learn what we can from Belldandy and Thor. Me as a…Sayy- Saed-" He sighed. "Whatever I am. And you with—"
"Whatever the fuck I am." Kiyone smirked. "Yeah. Maybe your right. Let's…see what else we can learn from the gods and their residential…"
"Please do not call Morisato-san a concubine."
Kiyone looked at Yosho with incredulous eyes. "How dare you!" She snapped.
Yosho flinched.
"I was going to call him 'man-whore', for your information!"
Yosho stared at Kiyone.
Kiyone stared at Yosho.
"Oh my." Belldandy said.
"…You know what, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear either of you and come back later." Keiichi's voice rose up behind them both, and the two froze, their eyes widening to the size of saucer plates as their heads whipped back to the Mantra entrance of the garden, spying the retreating figures of both Morisatos retreating back behind the door.
Together, they scrambled to their feet, chasing after the retreating couple in despair.
"Wait!"
"We didn't mean it!"
"We were joking!"
Pascal, left to his own devices, thumped his tail thrice in amusement, a large smile on his face, then turned to Chamrosh. "FOOD?" He asked. His jaw dropped open, revealing a long line of fangs to the tiny entity.
Chamrosh trilled, its bristling as fur and feather rose in alarm.
Pascal licked his maw, three eyes illuminating with intense, undesired interest.
Chamrosh took flight.
And Pascal chased after.
Vortex World,
Minatogawa Stateside Town, Assembly of Nihilo, Urd's Well
New Kagatsuchi
The warmth was missing.
Frowning, Ryoko groped for it, still in the midst of sleep. Her hands found a pillow and wrapped around it, drawing it near, yet found it too…soft. Too cool. Too empty of life, of warmth, of essence. The woman grunted, grimaced, and still half asleep threw the pillow off the bed, still seeking out the warm presence which had rested curled up against her.
Yet all she found was a shadow-a cooling warmth and a fading, familiar scent which roused the space pirate further. Too cold. She thought, and rolled into the spot, sighing as she wrapped the blankets tight around her in a cocoon of warmth. She dosed, never dropping back under the surface of rest into the deeper blackness of sleep, but enough to allow her consciousness to wander into the gray space between the waking and resting world.
Here, she perceived things her waking consciousness could not and which her resting subconscious kept from her. In her minds eye, she watched a man sit side by side with a creature that was neither man nor demon nor god, commanding at its side four great hounds which held the responsibility of Death, with the Underworld, and all those creatures subject to it. She recognized the man with the quiet calm of a dreamer, and whispered a name aloud. "Yosho…"
The two faded as she was pulled away, her passing witnessed only by the White Cadejo which sat chained to The Creature which Yosho accompanied and a lone goddess-beautiful in her earthly nature-both which watched her with curious and calculating eyes.
She missed the word of the goddess in her departure, and had she lingered enough to hear it would not have understood it regardless. "Chousin?"
She came across children, the oldest not yet a man but which looked familiar, accompanied by demons sleeping in strange vials and a cat who cast the long shadow of a man. Though the boy and the young girl he trained with, "Jurain," did not notice her, the girl who sat away from them-a few years older than the Jurain, a few years younger than the boy, yet who housed a soul both older by far and forever younger than both of them-met her eyes.
"You're a long way from home, aren't you?" The black-haired girl asked, as she felt the eyes of the others turn to observe her. "What are you? Not a mortal, not a demon, not a god…yet your spirit exhibits all three." The girl propped an elbow on one knee and rested her chin in her hand. "Weird, not even my sister can maintain two states of being like that. You're like a human without a Reason-a Creature without an identity; not of Man's World, not of the Heavens, not of the Nine worlds or their Ten Dimensions." The girl's eyes-plain and brown but shining with an inner intellect that touched on a long-forgotten memory-caught and held hers. "What are you?" She repeated. "You don't even know yourself, do you? You'd best find out than. Your survival in this world may rely on your own identity."
She felt a chill run down her spine, unnerved by the Child who held the Future in her gaze and fled, feeling the child's eyes remain on her even as the group faded away.
She found herself in Miebashi Station once more, and stared in pity as Sakuya Kumashiro, drawn and tired, assisted her demon compatriots-not Skanda and Gilgimesh but the demons who'd come to call the station their sanctuary-in once more repairing the damages done to the station from the last Frenzy attack. The demons around her-Jack Frosts, Asparas, and Angels of all sorts, looked dazed and defeated, and she could hear their murmurs as they once more cleaned the station, their actions slow and lethargic as one by one, they succumed to the slow sleep of Kagatsuchi's darkness.
"This can't keep happening."
"We'll destroy the Station and ourselves at this rate."
"There must be a better way."
For a moment, Sakuya paused, taking a break as she looked up into her face, and there her eyes stopped, yet no recognition surfaced on her face. "I hope Masaki-kun made it." She sounded lost, defeated even-like the spirits, like the demons, like the angels which accompanied her. "Maybe then we can leave this place and find a real sanctuary. I can't…I don't know how much longer I can keep this up."
A wave of compassion overtook the space pirate in that moment, and where once Kumashiro stood Achika took her place, looking equally as lost, confused, and vulnerable in the wake of her mother's death. The image vanished as swiftly as it came, yet the girl's expression remained the same.
She reached for the girl, and for a brief moment thought she felt the teen's shirt. "We found it." She whispered, and watched Kumashiro jump, as if hearing her words, and looking around.
"M-Masaki-kun?" She whispered, yet received no answer.
Ryoko was already gone.
A tower, Great and mighty. A woman who stood at its top, questioning the choices she'd made.
A man in its heart, observing in silence as Magatsuhi gathered into a machine she didn't understand yet which frightened her in a way she did not understand.
Before she could observe either further, Ryoko was pulled underground, emerging in a large forest, the trees so massive they seemed to touch Kagatsuchi above them. At the heart of its forest laid a massive tree, and as Ryoko gazed upon it she felt her heart clench, recognizing it for her prison guard. "Funaho…" Yet that meant Ryo-oh-ki was nearby as well. If she could find Ryo-oh-ki, make contact with her sister…
I don't have the gems, but that won't stop me now. Ryoko began to run through the forest. I have my magic-I have the ki of this planet, I have my own Magatuhi and have been made powerful by it. I can contact with her and-
The tree seemed to shudder, as if sensing her presence, and the forest around her suddenly felt ominous, dark, dangerous, and unwelcoming. She froze, and found herself lost amongst an ocean of green and brown, the forest which should have been alive with birdsong and insects instead quiet and dead. Take me back. She could smell upturned soil and the greenery of trees. Want to go back, don't want to be here! She could feel her heartbeat increase,, and around her the roots and the branches groaned like a hungry beast. No. A cold fear settled in her chest, and she felt something curl around her feet, pulling her into the soil, and though she struggled she could not free herself from the thick tree roots. NO. They expanded upwards, and she felt them pierce her flesh, felt them weave through her ribs and curl around her organs, her strength fading as she was pulled into the earth. No! No no no nononono! Don't want the dark, don't want to go back underground, wake up WAKE UP!
A sensation of falling-into the earth or into Kagatsuchi, Ryoko didn't know and didn't care, so long as she woke up-
Ryoko woke up to the sensation of falling and the painful impact of the hard wooden floor as she fell out of the bed. Tangled in the covers, for a moment her awareness was not her own-for a moment she was still back in the forest, seeking Ryo-oh-ki and being restrained once more by tree roots dragging her underground, back to the cave and stealing her life. Her body throbbed with pain remembered-a phantom pain which felt both real and imagined, and as the woman's awareness returned to her she tore herself from the blankets, drawing down the cloth of her own outfit and staring at her chest as if expecting yet to find tree roots emerging from it.
Nothing but healthy, unblemished skin met her scrutiny.
"Oh good, you're awake. Saves me from kicking the ever-loving shit out of you."
The space pirate started, not yet fully returned to herself, and turned with a snarl at Marller, who stood passively in the threshold of the bedroom, her hair so mussed with her own sleep that the two women could have been kin.
The blond raised a golden eyebrow, unimpressed and equally unthreatened. "Return to yourself." She instructed. "You don't realize what you're about to do."
"You mean aside from jump on your shit for disturbing me?" Ryoko snapped, agitated from her nightmare and Marller's presence. "What am I supposed to do, lean forward so you can box my ears again?"
The demon snorted. "You disturb yourself." She said. "And I don't feel like fighting right now. Your yowling woke me up. I thought I'd come in here seeing you riding your boy-toy so hard he'd died." Marller shrugged. "Color me surprised."
Ryoko bristled, climbing to her feet, her nightmares already fading as she moved to confront the blond. "The hell did you just say?" She whispered. Ki gathered slowly in her hands, and with it came bolts of compressed energy-plasma generated from the excited atoms around the condensing energy.
Marller straightened, her arms remaining crossed over her chest. The woman looked tired and annoyed-as is she, too was still only half-awake. "What, you want me to scream it hard enough for the kid to hear?" She rolled her eyes. "I thought Urd was loud, but the way you were screaming was like a cat in heat." The woman leaned forward and bore her teeth in something too hostile to be a smile, revealing incisors longer than Ryoko's own protruding from a jaw lined with a predator's teeth. "Turns out you were just having a real nice dream, eh?" There was a challenge in her red eyes, a glint of hardness which Ryoko recognized and knew well.
I dare you.
The space pirate lashed out, one hand compressing around the energy and forming a sword. She brought it towards the blond's head, and was awash with confusion when the demon leaned into the strike. The energy shattered against her on impact, and as growing horror rose in the pirate's stomach, Marller grabbed the collar of Ryoko's shirt and pulled it forward. Ryoko's skull collided with Marller's and the woman saw stars even as she found herself slammed against a wall.
Something dug into her throat. Something sharp, something wet, something which wrapped from one side of her neck to the other, and she heard Marller speak.
Not in her ears, but in her mind.
Like Kagato. A piece of her—The Servant, the Slave, the Victim—whispered, and grew quiet and afraid.
"Mind yourself." Marller warned, and there was an incomprehensible growl within the words. "You are a mite. A speck. A molecule adrift against an endless fire, and you stand to challenge it." She felt the pressure on her throat increase, felt the sharp needles-the fangs-dig a little deeper into her skin, and knew that if the woman so chose, Marller could rip her throat out in that instant. "You wish to be a demon, yet you do not know our rules. You do not know our structure. You stand as an outsider among us, looking inwards and seeing your own reflection in the glass window you peer through and mistaking it for you standing among us." The voice hissed and bubbled and gurgled, less like Marller's human, gravely voice and more like a volcano nearing eruption."You are an unregistered, artificial kur-goddess with no license, no name, and no representation challenging a demon First-Class, Unrestricted, serving directly under the infernal Powers That Be."
Racing footsteps, followed by a voice, loud, clear, and commanding. "Marller!" Urd snarled. "Release her now!" There was a terrible authority in the Norn's voice, and Ryoko felt the teeth against her throat vibrate as the creature-the thing which held her hostage was no longer human-growled in anger.
"Be happy you have Urd's attention, for I am hungry, and you tempt me."
And just like that Marller released her, backing away from Ryoko with a body that was humanoid, her lips peeled back in a snarl so savage and bestial that the illusion began to break.
The pirate collapsed against the wall, clutching her neck with one hand as she stared up at the demon. For a moment she saw something else-something more-the molten core of stars, the exact moment a star burnt the last of its energy prior to a supernova, the conception of a black hole—and with a grimace, her head pounding in rhythm to the pulse in her neck, closed her eyes, silently willing the vision away.
Moisture slipped down her palm, and Ryoko drew her hand away from her neck. Red coated its surface. The woman looked up back at Marller, and found the woman fully disguised behind the illusion of a blond woman once more. Urd was approaching her, the Norn's face a mask fury. "Step away Marller." The goddess warned. "I'm not playing."
"Neither am I." The demon replied. She did not break her gaze on Ryoko. "I've devoured greater men and lesser spirits than you." Marller rumbled. "You wish to be a True Demon? Behold, your first lesson: Don't challenge those greater than you."
"Marller." Urd's voice dropped to an icy pitch, and the woman grabbed the blond's shoulder. Marller wheeled on the goddess with a snarl, yet Urd remained steadfast, her gaze solemn and steadfast as she caught and held Marller's own. For a second, neither goddess nor demon spoke, yet Ryoko could feel the tension in the room rising, growing to the point of stifling. "Out." Urd pointed to the door.
Marller twitched.
Urd narrowed her eyes, and the tension grew palpable.
It was Marller who looked away first, and with a growl the woman stormed out of the room, leaving Ryoko and Urd in her wake.
They heard a voice arise from one of the other rooms. "Oh! And a glorious morning to you too Love!" Loki's cheerful voice echoed back into the bedroom.
So too came Marller's angry snarl.
"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed!" Loki sang out. "Did you sleep poorly? You were making an awful lot of racket with Urd last-"
A bellow, a yelp, and the walls shook, followed by stomping.
Urd closed her eyes, took a deep, cleansing breath, and covered her face. "There goes the wall…again." She muttered. "Thank you Loki. Always there to find a way to further instigate a bad situation." She rubbed her temples as though they pained her, then looked down at Ryoko. She frowned. "And…as we Fates dictate…Marller was not gentle with you. Again." She sighed, kneeling before the space pirate to better observe her injuries. "I'd ask what that was about, but I already have a guess. You challenged her, didn't you?" The woman sighed, then leaned close, "Hold still, let me stop the bleeding. Your nose is bleeding too, not just your neck."
"She came in here throwing insults at me." Ryoko muttered, her head pounding with such fierce intensity that she had no energy to confront the Norn.
"Marller throws insults at everyone. It's part of her personality." Urd replied. "The one time she isn't, Hell will freeze over, Niflheim will declare itself a territory of Asgard, and Nidhoggr will sprout wings and lay its eggs in Yggdrasil's canopy."
"I don't know what any of that means." Ryoko muttered, tensing as warm fingers pressed against the punctures on her neck, relaxing only when the pain faded.
"It means we should all be worried the day Marller comes to us talking of good vibes and positive energy." Urd said, her voice wry with humor. "Care to tell me the full story?"
Ryoko grunted. "Had a nightmare. Woke up, the bitch was at the door, tossed some insults at me which I took offense to."
"And then you challenged her?"
"She challenged me."
"That's…a misinterpretation." Urd replied. "Demons by Niflheimian law are not allowed to challenge others who are more than two license levels below them as a safety mechanism; otherwise, there would be no end to the murder over every perceived slight and lesser demons would have no way to defend themselves."
"Than I must fall into those two upper ranks or whatever." Ryoko muttered dourly.
Urd scoffed. "On, you most certainly do not." She said. "You aren't even registered as a goddess, let alone a demon. Marller's not allowed to challenge you because you're 'undefined'; a wild card who may be absurdly stronger than her or, likewise…" Urd paused, and Ryoko felt a hand gently push her head to the right. She heard a hiss of sympathy from the Norn. "…so irrelevantly weak, it'd be akin to her murdering a newborn, which, in her culture is…highly, HIGHLY frowned upon."
"You both act like I'm some kind of weakling." Ryoko muttered.
Urd snorted. "Not at all. You need to stop acting like you're on level with us." She replied. "It still hasn't sunk in yet, has it?"
"Has what?"
"What we are." Two hands came to rest on Ryoko's temples, and the space pirate allowed the woman to tilt her head up. "We aren't human, Ryoko. We aren't…the Lilim, or pixies or ghouls or anything else like that. Marller is a certified Niflheimian Demon of the Tenth Dimension who makes a living contracting mortals through the infernal computer system in order to increase the stock of souls Niflheim has at their expense—in layman's terms—Marller literally converts human souls and their karma into Magatsuhi which Niflheim uses to fuel its world on the tenth dimension. I am an Aesir Goddess of the Tenth Dimension who acts as an Admin for the divine computer system that runs at odds against Niflheim. I am in charge of addressing the quality of your universe and ensuring it operates according to protocol laid in place at the time of the Big Bang." The pain in her head began to subside. "You, my Dear, are a creature-even if you are an artificial goddess-of the Third Dimension. You have destroyed planets. Marller has destroyed galaxies. You are responsible for the death of a multitude of colonies. I was the one who orchestrated that destruction."
Urd released her, then moved to sit across from the space pirate. "…We're a bit different from you, in case you couldn't tell."
Ryoko frowned, not fully believing the Norn. "And Loki?"
"Loki is the random chaos of the Universe incarnate in all of its uncaring glory, meant to keep us all humble and drive us all a little insane, regardless of what plane of existence we dwell on." Urd said cheerfully. "Such is the nature of Life—to be one of chaos unbound by structured Order."
"I think you're full of hot shit." Ryoko muttered.
Urd shrugged. "I'm telling you a truth. I may not always, so consider yourself blessed." She said. "And don't hold eye contact with demons like Marller. That's the challenge-not the insults. If you maintain eye contact or attack her, she'll respond instinctively, and even I have a hard time bringing her down from that state."
Ryoko scowled. "But you did." She narrowed her eyes. "Wait. Why did you challenge her and come out of it fine? I thought she has a higher license or whatever."
Urd smiled and rolled to her feet, offering her hand the the space pirate. "The same reason you let Tenchi talk you down from any kind of fight." She replied.
Ryoko bristled, and then to her despair and Urd's utter delight, blushed. "Shut up."
"You're adorable when you blush, has Tenchi ever told you that?" Urd asked, and laughed as Ryoko's flush deepened.
"Don't start something you can't finish!" Ryoko snapped, slapping Urd's hand aside as she climbed to her feet.
Urd shrugged, still amused. "Leave Marller alone. She's not worth fighting and you don't have the strength to do much outside of throwing insults at her. Next time you might not get off so lucky; she's got a thing for turning mortals into inanimate objects for shits and giggles. That's why she's my bouncer."
Ryoko narrowed her eyes, her mind dredging up memories of punishment and threats under a master's cruel hand. "What, like stone?"
"Nah, that's too unoriginal." Urd replied. "Anyone can turn someone to stone. Marller's artistic. She once turned my brother-in-law into moped. The curse was password-protected, so my sisters and I couldn't reverse it." The woman sighed, running a hand through her silver hair in reflection, a small smile on her face. "The woman is petty and spiteful if you get on her bad side, and is a lot more powerful than you realize. She single-handedly held off my sisters and I—two goddesses with second-class, restricted licenses and one with a first-class, unrestricted license, on her boss's orders. She likes to act the fool in order for her opponents to underestimate her, and she's stubborn as a mule when she goes after something."
Ryoko grunted. "She isn't acting any fool now, unless that's destroying a wall with your cousin's body." The two moved to the threshold of the door, and Ryoko observed the large hole that had been left in the hallway.
"You're right." Urd agreed. "But that's only because she's found a treasure worth protecting." The adjoining wall separating two other bedrooms-one which smelled like Urd and suspiciously like Marller, and the other which held a sharp scent of…
Ryoko sneezed. "What does your cousin keep in here? It smells like a barn."
"He is a barn." Urd rolled her eyes. "The man has a horse, a wolf, and a snake for three of his six children. He's all-inclusive father and mother though who is careful to consider the needs of all his children and enjoys visiting our beast-kin in their native forms." She smiled in open affection. "He even visits Hel as a corpse. People can say what they want about him, but Loki is a devoted parent."
Ryoko paused and looked at Urd. "…What."
"Don't worry about it." Urd looked amused. "Come on, help me tend to this."
"…Tend to what."
"The holes." Urd said, a hand lightly touching Ryoko's back and guiding her towards the rooms. "Here, you stand on Loki's side, I'll stand on my side. We'll start with the larger hole in the actual building structure, then work on the building's interior."
"What."
"Say 'what' again."
Ryoko stared at Urd, at a complete loss of what the Norn wanted from her. "I don't repair walls. I destroy them." She said.
"It's never too late to learn." Urd replied, "You're still just a kid."
"I'm two-thousand years old."
"See? Prime of your youth. Enjoy it while it lasts. Once you hit that first trillion mark, its all down hill from there."
Ryoko narrowed her eyes at the Norn, who's expression left nothing for her to extrapolate on. Then she sighed, feeling oddly defeated and out of her element. "Fine." She grumbled. "What do you want me to do?"
Outside, Ryoko heard Loki laugh, and peered out the large hole. Loki stood standing over a downed Marller, who appeared to be on literal fire as she glowered up at the god with raging eyes. "Now am I going to have to put you in time out?" Loki jeered, "Or are you going to behave yourself, Young Lady?"
"It is only through the strong alliance between Niflhiem, Jotunheim, and Helheim that I do not brutally eviscerate you right here and now and defile your corpse for Nidhoggr's consumption." Marller growled. "Get off me!"
"Hmm…not even a 'please'." Loki rubbed his chin as if in thought, then turned to look back at Ryoko and Urd. He smiled, then winked at the space pirate before turning back to Marller. "How 'bout…'no'."
"You sassy cock!" Marller roared her rage across the known territory of the Assembly of Nihilo, and no angel or Goetia soldier was bold enough to investigate.
Ryoko turned back to Urd. "You people are insane, you realize that, right?" She said. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I've lived under the thumb of a pretty batshit-insane son-of-a-bitch, but you guys make him look like a child playing 'imagination'."
"Comes with a long life and watching literal millenias of races, cultures, and societies rise and crumble to dust, or so I'm told." Urd replied. "Now, ignore those two doofuses and focus on me."
"Okay…" Ryoko turned to face the Norn. "And…do what?"
The Norn pursed her lips. "Well…what do you know about architecture?"
"Nothing."
"Thought as much." Urd nodded. "In which case, I just need you to maintain the image of a wall in your head. Can you do that or do you have aphantasia?"
"Aphan-what?"
The Norn sighed. "Kids." She muttered, took a deep breath, and spoke again. "Can you visualize with your mind?"
"Yes."
"Good, congratulations, you don't have aphantasia. Just-hold the image of a wall in your mind as much as possible where the hole is."
"What's that supposed to accomplish?"
"It'll act as a blueprint for me to more easily work my own magic."
"Can't you do it without me?"
Urd shot her a glare, "I am trying," She said, "to teach you something about your nature as a goddess, unregistered though you are."
"Okay…" Ryoko nodded slowly. "And if I…envision something else other than a wall?"
"You will grant me permission to slap the ever-living shit out of you for further ruining my house." Urd replied. "Tempt me sweetly, why don't you."
"And the entire Imperial Juraian galaxy think's I'm the outrageously violent one." Ryoko muttered. "Don't meet your gods, kids, they're all fucking psychotic."
Urd raised a silver brow.
"Fine, fine. I'll imagine your stupid wall."
"If it helps, you can sing while your doing it. Usually works to help solidify the image in your mind."
"I don't know any songs."
"Then hum a tune you know."
"I don't know any."
Urd planted her hands on her hips. "Now you're just being difficult." She said. "The whole universe is alive with sound and rhythm and discord, and you claim you're deaf to it? Fuck off. I know you know at least one melody-rainfall in a storm, wind blowing through the trees, birdsong, instruments, even the beat of your own heart. Find the beat, develop the rhythm, and you've got a tune. That simple."
Ryoko fell quiet, a pensive expression on her face. "Most…music I listened to came with bad experiences. I don't want to hum them." She folded her arms across her chest, directing her attention to the large hole in the wall.
Urd's scowl faded somewhat when she saw Ryoko's troubled expression. "Not…everything had to be a bad experience, right?"
The space pirate pursed her lips as a memory resurfaced. One of headphones and magic, of ties through frenzy and the comforting twang of instruments which moments prior had remained undiscovered to her untrained ears. "Well…" She said, her voice hesitant. "Maybe there is…maybe I have one."
"Try humming it then while you're imagining the wall." Urd's voice had taken on a gentle quality. "Trust me. Just…try it, alright?"
Frowning, Ryoko nodded and looked at the wall. Closing her eyes, she imagined the wall as she pictured it might once have been, one of well-oiled and vintage wood overlaid with a heavy layer of a waterproof varnish. She could see the lines of each individual board showing the age of the building, could see every nick and crack in the wood from its time as a tree and into its time as boards, and saw the frames and pictures which had layered the wall through its time of existence. Some familiar, some she didn't recognize. She could almost feel the wood beneath her fingertips, smooth but for the natural ridgs and bumps of the wood, and even those sanded down to smooth contours and twists.
Somewhere, she thought she heard singing-as if the song she was humming had gained a voice, a sweet melody to go along with the hum-and she could smell the wood now, that of an old inn that had taken on new life as a home, and found a strange, warm, but not unwelcome feeling rise in her chest.
I recognize this feeling. She thought. I'm sure I've never felt this but…it feels familiar. Why do I…why do I know this sensation? A nostalgia for a home she'd never known, for a life she'd never lived, and yet which remained just out of the reaches of her periphery, just beyond the grasp of a knowable memory. Her heart ached.
"As white frost covers the fields
It glares like a ritual knife
Into the wound that never heals
And consumes my soul from inside"
Urd was singing. It wasn't in Japanese, nor any other language Ryoko was aware of, yet she found that if she concentrated—concentrated on the wall, concentrated on the wood, concentrated on the song and on Urd's voice and on her own humming-that the words came unheeded to her mind.
"So change the seasons
The circle of life
Inflame again the beacons
A mountain bonfire
White frost covers the plains
Like a ceremonial cloak
Overlies the bloodstains
Around the sacred oak"
The Norn was signing along to Ryoko's own humming, crafting lyrics which seemed to rise and fall with the pitch of Ryoko's own song-a song which had no lyrics-as easily as if she had orchestrated the song herself. There was something almost sacred in the song, in the music they both created, which filled Ryoko with a strange sense of occhilism which drew into question her own limited perspective, how much had been denied to her in the same moment where she realized just how unfathomably large that same world was-open now and awaiting her own opportunity to experience it.
It was as overwhelming as it was liberating, and despite her best efforts, Ryoko lost her concentration, the image vanishing as she stumbled through her own tune. "Damn." The woman muttered, and opened her eyes, startled to find a wall akin to what she'd imagined standing before her. She blinked, and reached out to touch it, uncertain if it was real or imagined and yet knowing, without a question of a doubt, the feel of the wood, the texture of every knot, every line, every crack and crevice and break.
It felt warm.
Like home. Ryoko thought, and turned to stare at the wall in awe.
A hand patted her shoulder, and with a start, Ryoko looked up at Urd. "Nice job." She commended. "Whether you realize it or not…you've got a bit of a gift for creation, Ryoko. That's all you."
"All me?" The words came out a whisper, and Ryoko turned back to the wall, placing the flat of her palm against the planks of varnished wood. It felt familiar now. It felt like…like hers.
"All you." There was a note of gentle pride in Urd's voice-something Ryoko had never heard attributed to her before. "I used my own power to help structure and manifest what you imagined. Its form and function though? That's you, not me."
Ryoko stared, stunned into silence as she gazed at the wall. "I…created something?" She stammered. "Not-not destroyed but…actually created?"
"Everyone, man or beast, mortal or demon or god, has the capacity to both destroy and create." Urd murmured. "There is no conscious creature in existence incapable of doing both; though they may be told otherwise. Take pride in your accomplishments-you may yet actually be a goddess in flesh and blood."
Ryoko was silent, staring at the wall as a voice, a memory, rose in her mind. "What are you?" The Child which held the Future in her eyes demanded. "You'd best find out than. Your survival in this world may rely on your own identity."
"…Urd."
"Yes?"
Ryoko hesitated, running her hand along the texture of the wooden wall. "…You said you could tell me what I am. If…I really am a goddess or a demon or just some kind of bio-engineered science project, right?"
"Well, not exactly in those words, but yes. I'd need a sample from you first though, and only if you're willing."
Ryoko nodded. "I think…I think I might need to." She whispered. "I don't want to but…" She hesitated, then said, "The dream I had…it felt less of a dream and more like I was astral projecting." Like when I was back in the cave. She thought. Like when I first fell to Frenzy. "I met someone. Kind of. Someone who saw me. They…warned me about something and…I think I need to follow through with it."
"I see." Urd murmured. "Than if I have your permission…"
"You do."
Urd paused. "…would you like Tenchi to be there with you?"
"No." Ryoko's voice held a firm edge to it, and she looked at Urd with fierce golden eyes. "What you're going to do involves looking into my past, right?" At Urd's soft nod, she continued, "I…don't want Tenchi to see that. I don't even want you to see it but…"
"I'll need to if I'm to speak on what you are." Urd replied, and bit her lip. "If it helps, I can promise you two things: The first confidentiality. The second is that I will not judge you for what you've done."
Ryoko nodded, letting her hand drops. "Then I guess I'll do it." She said, and turned to face Urd.
Urd smiled and held her hands up. "Nope."
Ryoko blinked.
"Lets repair the rest of the rooms first." Urd continued. "And…I haven't heard a peep from Tenchi since I sent him off to shower. I…kind of want to make sure he didn't drown himself falling asleep in the bathtub and still need to make sure the two idiots outside haven't killed themselves or anyone else."
Ryoko's eyes winded at the mention of Tenchi. "What do you—shit!" She was off and out of the two destroyed rooms before Urd could get another word in.
And Urd watched her go, an amused smile on her face. "Enjoy the show, Ryoko." She murmured, and turned her focus back to the inner wall. "I'm sure Tenchi won't mind too much if it's you checking in on him rather than me."
A sly smirk on her face, the woman began to sing, ignoring the surprised yelps emerging from the two artificial beings who were quickly making themselves part of the normal Ego of Urd's Well-one of chaotic harmony, disproportioned violence, and innocent mischief designed to mask the care rife beneath it.
Comments of a Madwoman: Happy holidays ya filthy animals. May your days be gentle and your nights filled with peace. Lyrics Urd sings are from "Mist Pillars' by VVilderness and property of VVilder of Hungary, a man whose third eyes is wide open in every piece of music and art he produces.