Skuld looked around the tub, still trying to get used to the idea of all these people so openly loving each other - and inviting her and her sisters to be a part of their lives. The men had been left behind in the living room when they'd moved to "the big tub", as David had called it. It would have been more accurate to call it a small swimming pool. She'd never seen a tub this big outside of a public bath; yet here it was, in a part of the house she hadn't seen yet.
There was a laboratory off the hall that led to the bath; Skuld made a mental note to talk with Ami and Bill about it later. For now, she had a more serious job to deal with.
"Ack! You BRAT!" Urd shrieked as the water Skuld splashed over her head dripped through her hair. She raised her hand and began chanting, swirling water around her as she called up magical energy.
Skuld grinned and began chanting, raising water to counter Urd's. It wasn't as easy as modifying Banpei to hose her down, but there was something deeply satisfying about doing it herself. As Urd's water man Why does she always make them so anatomically correct? took form, Skuld's water pillar reached the ceiling and became coherent enough for her to manipulate easily.
Suddenly, the water in the tub drained away, leaving Urd's water man and her water pillar without any support. They both looked toward where the water had drained toward; Skuld gulped worriedly. All the water in the tub had piled up at the far end, between Ami and...Michiru, that was her name..., who were grinning in unison at her and Urd, while every other person in the room - including Belldandy - was moving away from the tub as quickly as they could.
The wave broke, crashing down on Skuld and Urd and washing them across the room until they crashed into the wall by the shower. When she recovered from the impact, Skuld found herself lying on the floor of the bath beside Urd. Belldandy and Usagi were kneeling beside them, with amusement and concern battling for supremacy in their expressions. Ami was leaning against the side of the tub, her chin propped in her hands, with a look of amusement in her eyes.
"You two may be Goddesses, but Michiru and I are mistresses of water. Just wait until we get you on the beach." It was weird, the way none of the people here seemed to care that they were Goddesses. Ami's voice wasn't full of awe, dread, or any of the other emotions Skuld was used to hearing in mortal voices. She actually sounded as if she was teasing.
The women had all departed for the bath, and Bill was looking around at the rest of us. Keiichi was the only one of us who wasn't covered with blood, and he was still staring at Bill in shock. From what I'd seen so far, he was bound to be experiencing shock after shock as long as he was with us; he was far too nice for the real world - or, at least, for THIS world.
"Keiichi, would you do me a favor?" Bill suddenly asked. "The three of us need to get cleaned up and into some clothes that aren't stained. Would you stay down here with Fluorite and Rusty and take care of the door if anyone comes?"
"Uh...ok...." Keiichi sounded as uncertain as he looked. Well, it was a start, at least. If they stayed much longer, we could hope he'd learn to accept things.
"Mamoru, you're about my size, so I can loan you some sweats. Umino, I'm afraid all I can offer you is shorts. Will that work for you guys?" Bill looked down at the pool of blood on the floor as he spoke, grimaced, and looked back up at us. I couldn't really blame him. The only way to get rid of the blood was with magic - or by tearing up the floor and putting a new one in.
"Yeah, that should work," Umino murmured absently, looking toward the back hall. I hoped that this time the two of them would finally do something about their feelings for each other.
"Mamoru?"
"Huh? Oh...yes, that will work. Sorry. I was thinking." I glanced toward Bill and noticed the half-smile he was offering. I suspected it would be a while before he got over killing Naru, but at least he was trying.
"No problem." He nodded and led the way upstairs. "Give me a minute. As soon as I'm clean, I'll dig out clothes for you guys."
While he was in the shower, we felt a crash from the back of the house. I didn't feel any danger, but it was unnerving: that was where the big bath was.
**What happened, Dumpling?**
**What do you mean, Muffin?**
Hmm...she sounds far too innocent. Something is definitely going on.
**It felt as if a truck just crashed into the back of the house.**
**Oh, that! That wasn't anything important. It was just a water fight.**
**JUST a water fight? With Ami and Michiru there?**
**Uh-huh. Urd and Skuld started it, and Ami and Michiru washed them away. The rest of us got out in plenty of time.**
**You, my love, sound as if you're having far too much fun.**
**I'd have more fun if you were here. Pleeeeeeease?**
Boy, am I glad I'm not close enough for her to cry on me.
**I'm sorry, Dumpling, but I'm not going to risk upsetting the others. We don't want to make our guests unhappy, do we?**
**Well....**
**You're an imp, Usako. Did you know that?**
**Of course I am, Mamo-chan! I'm YOUR imp!**
The image Usagi sent with that was explicit enough to remind me she's not the innocent little bunny she was when I married her - if anything, she was as enthusiastic about that part of our lives as she was about eating. I sent her a promise to take her up on that image as soon as we got home, and smiled at Umino.
"It was just a water fight, Umino. They always overdo it." I had to laugh as I said that: they DO always overdo it. The last time we were all at the beach, Ami and Michiru had almost swamped a passing cruise ship with the backwash of their play. I made a note to remind them of that when we were all in the living room again.
"Just a water fight?" Umino asked, surprised. "That felt like someone dropped a boulder on the house."
"Not a boulder. Just the entire contents of the big tub. That's...how big is it, David?" I knew the tub was around 3 meters wide and 7 meters long, maybe a meter deep, so it held a lot of water. Given a couple minutes to do the math, I could figure it out, but I was sure David had the numbers filed away somewhere.
"A little over 100 koku. That'd be...about 18 tons."
"Eighteen tons?" Umino's mouth dropped open, reminding me of that move Usagi and Rei called a face-fault when it appeared in any of the anime they watched. "But...how?"
"Ami and Michiru did it. Just like they did the last time we were at the beach. Remember?"
"How can I forget? I thought we were being hit by a tsunami. If I hadn't already mostly figured out who they all were, I'd have been a lot more worried. The way they almost sank that cruise ship was worrisome enough." Umino smiled and murmured, "The way Naru looked when I caught her was all the compensation I could ask for, though."
"I'm sure it was."
I remembered that he'd looked as if his every dream had come true when Naru had clung to him. He'd also looked as if he was scared to death. I'd thought it was kind of funny: he's the same guy who had tried to protect Naru from Zoisite with nothing more than fried shrimp, yet openly admitting his feelings to Naru had - before tonight - terrified him.
"I've got to remember to reinforce this place when I get that construction mech built," Bill commented as he walked past with a towel wrapped around his waist. He grinned and glanced toward the back of the house. "I forgot how dangerous it is to put Ami and Michiru together in a large amount of water. Almost as dangerous as leaving Usagi and Chibi-Usa unsupervised in an ice cream shop."
"You realize, of course, that I'm going to have to punish you," I laughed. He had both of them pegged, but I had to at least make a show of argument. After all, it was my wife and daughter he was talking about. The way he grinned at me in response made it clear he had expected - maybe even hoped - that I'd react that way. I'm never quite sure what to think of him - except that he's absolutely devoted to Ami and loves all of us like family. I waggled my fingers at him and growled playfully, "Lucky for you I don't have any roses handy."
"Yup." Bill grinned and waved casually as he went into his bedroom. I shook my head and waved Umino into the bathroom.
"Go on. I'm not nearly as bloody as you are."
"Thanks, Mamoru. I'll be as quick as I can. I just hope there's some way to get the blood out of these clothes." He looked down at the stains with a sour expression, then shook his head and vanished into the bathroom.
I leaned against the wall between the bathroom door and Bill and Ami's room, and thought about the day's events. With the Goddesses and Marller here, I had a feeling things were going to be unstable - and remain that way until we could get them home. I knew Ami and Bill would be working as hard as they could, but I really wished we had more for them to work with. The problem with having a memory like Swiss cheese was that I could never be sure if there was even something I should remember, let alone if I'd forgotten something important.
After a few minutes, I gave up trying to remember and tipped my head back against the wall. That's when I heard the sounds of singing coming through the bedroom door. I strained my ears to hear more clearly, and grumbled to myself when I realized he was singing in English. It's not that I don't understand it, it's just that I have to think about it to make the translation. And that makes songs harder to follow. Well, usually. I'd heard this one before, though, so it wasn't the problem it usually is. Either he had found some inspiration, or he was trying to lift his spirits. I hoped it was the first option; we needed all the inspiration we could get.
I only know what I can see
So I imagine what could be
Where the horizon cuts the air
Look for me out there
Someday I'll touch the blue blue sky
Someday I'll touch the blue blue sky
If I could kiss this Earth goodbye
And cruise the never ending sky
Where the horizon cuts the air
Wait for me down there
Someday I'll touch the blue blue sky
Someday I'll touch the blue blue sky
I had to smile, at least a little. It's good to remember to dream; it gives you the strength to do what you couldn't otherwise. We've all been reminded of that enough times over the years, but it never hurts to remember again.
Keiichi looked at the other two men in the room, trying to get a sense for them. Other than the fact that they were lovers, and that Fluorite was a mage, he didn't really know anything about them. Rusty looked as if he were relieved Fluorite had made it back unscathed from wherever he'd been.
Fluorite was a puzzle. As far as Keiichi could remember from the anime, the only people who ever had mineral names were the bad guys - yet the Senshi treated Fluorite like family, and he acted like a good guy. It was, to say the least, confusing.
"Fluorite-san, would you help me understand something?" Keiichi decided the only way to find the answer to his confusion was to go straight to the source. "How is it that you're a friend to the Senshi? In the anime, the only people with names like yours were enemies."
"Names like mine?" Fluorite asked with a smile. "Here I thought I was kind of unique."
"Umm...yeah. Let me think a minute...Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite, Kunzite...um...Cooan...Kaolinite...Beryl...Cyprine...Zirconia...." Keiichi trailed off at the pained expression on Fluorite's face. Some of those names - especially Beryl - obviously had painful associations for him.
"I don't know some of those names," Fluorite murmured, "But Endymion's generals...and Queen Beryl...I do know."
"Endymion's generals? I thought they were Beryl's generals," Keiichi blurted out, surprised. Fluorite looked as if he'd just been punched in the stomach, making Keiichi instantly sorry he'd said anything.
"Beryl made them hers...but they were Endymion's, as I was, during the Silver Millenium. Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite, and Kunzite were Endymion's generals, his friends, his confidants...and when Beryl corrupted them, she was able to strike at the heart of the Earth Kingdom. When she corrupted me, she was able to strike magically the way the generals allowed her to strike physically." Fluorite took a deep breath, clenching his fists, and leaned into Rusty's embrace. It was obvious that remembering this struck right at his heart.
"And...now?" Something had to have happened for Fluorite to survive Beryl's destruction.
"Now I'm where I belong. At the side of my Prince, supporting him and the Princess in whatever way they need me. As long as I have Rusty at my side, I have the strength to do whatever they need." The look he gave Rusty was unmistakable: Keiichi had given it to Belldandy enough to understand without question.
"This is really weird. I mean, it's weird enough to end up in the world of Sailor Moon...but you say Beryl's generals were really Endymion's? And you were his, too? What happened? What brought you back again and not them?"
I'll admit it: I cringed when I heard Keiichi's question. Fluorite beats up on himself enough without a stranger digging at the one thing that he never stops feeling unnecessarily guilty over. If everything I'd heard about Queens Beryl and Metallia was right, the only chance he'd had to resist them was to kill himself before they could capture him. And that would have required him to have at least a few seconds to act between the time he realized Beryl's forces were coming and their arrival. That was something that, as far as I could tell, he hadn't had.
When I rested my hand on his shoulder, I felt how tense he was. I moved behind him and began working on his muscles; everyone I've ever been close to has always raved about my skill at massage, and Fluorite was no exception. He definitely needed that skill. Even with my total concentration on his shoulders and neck, he still didn't relax for several minutes. When he did, he started talking, softly and detached - the way I've heard Bill sometimes talk about his ex-wife now that she's dead.
"It was during the war with Atlantis. Beryl was Queen of Atlantis, and Metallia was...well, there were a lot of stories about her, none of them good. Jadeite was the commander of Endymion's personal guard, as well as the General of the Fire Division. Nephrite, Zoisite, and Kunzite were the remainder of the personal guard, and commanded their own soldiers, as well. Nephrite commanded the Wood Division, Zoisite commanded the Wave Division, and Kunzite commanded the Metal Division. The King commanded the Earth Division, which left Endymion somewhat at loose ends.
"I was teaching the Prince a few basics of magical defense when Beryl's army brought the war to our land. It's kind of ironic, you know: Tokyo is where the Earth Kingdom's capitol was. The location had been chosen for its beauty, not its defensibility. The first King Endymion had wanted a showplace - a city that would inspire faith in those who saw it. And it worked, too - right up until Beryl went on her rampage. Now...all that's left of the Earth Kingdom are the Ainu.
"When we could see the battles from the palace, Endymion's father ordered him to retreat to the Moon. Queen Serenity was expecting him, and all he had to do was use one of the palace teleportals. But, of course, he refused to go. He thought it was his duty to fight, even though the rest of us knew it was his duty to survive, no matter what happened.
"Since the others weren't available, I had to take matters into my own hands. I put him to sleep, just long enough to send him to the Moon and destroy the teleportals so he couldn't return - and so Beryl's army couldn't use them.
"We had a powerful army, but she had creatures that weren't human - and were mostly impervious to ordinary attacks. The youma could only be effectively fought with magic, or with weapons that were more powerful than anything our soldiers had available to them. So, I barely had enough time to destroy the teleportals before the first of the youma reached the palace. They caught me when I was too weak to fight - and too slow to kill myself before they could immobilize me.
"Beryl was a sadist. She relished the idea of corrupting us, and went at it with enthusiasm. The first thing she did was arrange so we could watch - but not do anything - as she destroyed the Moon Kingdom. The one good thing to come out of that was Queen Serenity's last act - sending the Princesses and the Prince into the future, where Beryl couldn't reach them. Unfortunately, only Malachite was lucky enough to die before she spent her rage."
Fluorite stopped and leaned back against me. I gave him a good solid hug, not saying anything. Keiichi had that poleaxed look again; obviously, this world was far too harsh for him - harsh enough that I worried a little about his sanity.
"From what Naru told me, Nephrite had started to slip free of Beryl's corruption...and that's why he was killed. But that was nearly ten years ago, so I'm afraid his spirit is out of my reach. The others were still under her control when they were killed. Well, nobody's sure if Jadeite was killed; he just disappeared.
"I was sent forward in time by Beryl to capture a temporal nexus that she believed would give her more power. Instead, Bill captured and freed me of Beryl's control. I still have trouble believing how lucky I was."
"Freed you?" Keiichi asked, with an incredulous look on his face. "That cold-blooded killer?"
That wasn't good. I'd thought he'd have figured things out by now, but I guess his brain was still frozen from the shock of everything that had happened since he got here.
"Cold-blooded killer?" Fluorite asked gently, using that tone of voice that always broke down my resistance. "Well, when it comes to demons he is. He's not nearly cold-blooded enough when it comes to human enemies. He's harder than the Princess, but we're ALL harder than she is."
"But...how could he kill Naru? Hasn't she suffered enough?"
"That's exactly why he did it. She's suffered so much that she would have killed herself if he hadn't. His promise to kill her if it happened again was the only thing that kept her from killing herself when he rescued her from me." I gave Fluorite a quick squeeze; remembering what he'd done as the Demonologist always upset him - and upset him more when it touched on people he loved, like Naru. It took a few moments, but he finally relaxed against me with a soft sigh.
"She'd have killed herself...it's so hard to imagine," Keiichi murmured. "She was always so hopeful, even after Nephrite died."
"TV isn't always like reality," I said softly. "If it were, you'd know about me, Fluorite, Bill, Sarah...."
"Sarah? Who's that?" I'd forgotten he'd been asleep when we were introduced - and Sarah's real good at fading into the woodwork when other people are working.
"Sarah is Lady Pluto's consort," Fluorite said. "Rusty is right. Dramatizations, even of actual events, can never portray everything you need to know about them. There are always things - sometimes very important things - that are never mentioned. How much do you know about Naru?"
"Well, she's Usagi's friend, she's dating Umino, she gets attacked a lot, and she loved Nephrite. I really don't know anything else." Keiichi slowly shook his head. "There's a lot I don't know about her, I guess."
"That's all right. You'd have to spend time with her, if you really wanted to know her." Fluorite was smiling distantly, obviously thinking about Naru. "Let me tell you what a wonderful girl she is...."
Skuld sat back and flexed her fingers for a moment before rising to her feet and wandering into the kitchen for some ice cream. David was helping, but not as much as she'd like. The problem was that he didn't really understand hyperdimensional physics - he only understood enough to operate the MacManusite forming machines. Then again, none of them really understood the subject. Bill and Edgar knew the most, and they were making it up as they went along. She'd spent the last week teaching Ami, Bill, Rusty, and Sarah, while typing all of the math into David.
"Mmm...what's for dinner, Oneesama? I don't recognize the smell, but it smells delicious." Skuld opened the freezer door and stepped in to get a cup of chocolate ice cream. As she closed the freezer behind her, she smiled at Belldandy and waved her ice cream triumphantly. A hyperdimensional walk-in freezer was a great idea; she'd have to remember to build one like it when they got home.
"I'm trying something Western today," Belldandy said with a loving smile. "It's called Yankee Pot Roast."
"That explains why it smells almost like a Viking meal," Skuld laughed. "It's been a long time since we had so much meat in a meal, hasn't it?"
"Yes, it has. I hope it doesn't make anyone ill." Belldandy always worried about things like that; it was one of the things that made her such a wonderful sister.
"Well, if it does, we'll just have to give them some ginger tea, won't we?" Skuld suggested. "Say, why don't you just serve ginger tea with the meal? That'll take care of it before it happens, right?"
"Besides, you like ginger," Belldandy teased lovingly, moving toward the spice cabinet. "It's a lovely idea. I'll just start that right now."
Skuld smiled happily and wandered out toward the living room, where Urd and Mara were playing a Sailor V video game. It was still kind of strange, seeing Mara trying so desperately to fit in. The resemblance between her and Urd was incredible. If Urd's hair weren't platinum blonde while Mara's was honey blonde, they'd look like twins. Skuld gasped, dropping her ice cream and covering her mouth in shock as the implications flowed through her mind.
"Bug? What's wrong?" Urd was suddenly beside her, gathering her in with the gentleness she never showed except when Skuld was truly unhappy or in trouble.
"Skuld? Can we help?" Mara asked, hovering just out of reach; she looked as if she wanted to join Urd in comforting her, but was afraid.
"Kami-sama...how could you?" Skuld whispered, extending a hand to Mara. "It's ok...I just...would you two mind if I asked Ami to study you? I just thought of something, and I HAVE to know if I'm right."
Mara looked over Skuld's head at Urd questioningly for a moment, then smiled and took Skuld's hand as she moved in to join the embrace.
"That depends on how you want her to study us," Urd said, using that tone of voice that always made Skuld feel funny inside. She knew what Urd meant, and was annoyed that she couldn't figure out if her big sister was teasing or not.
"With her visor!" Skuld yelled, then looked up and gave Urd a big "Biiih!"
"Is she always like this?" Mara asked; Skuld thought she caught a wink as Mara looked at Urd, but she wasn't sure.
"Oh yeah," Urd said. "We've definitely got to get her laid. She's far too uptight."
"You...you...you...pervert!" Skuld sputtered; when Urd and Mara laughed in unison, she stared at them in surprise.
"Gotcha, Bug!" Urd laughed. "You gonna eat your ice cream now, or you gonna let it melt into the floor?"
"Zing!" Mara added, laughing along with Urd. "Do you know how worrisome it is when you're so wrapped up in your work you don't even take the time to argue with your sister?" She paused for a moment, then raised her hands wardingly. "Hey, don't get any ideas, kid. I'm just doing this because you're my ticket home."
Skuld gave Mara a nice healthy "Biiih!", too. She knew better than to believe that. Especially if what she suspected was true.
Keiichi just wasn't entering into the spirit of this trip. We'd gotten together to take him to see Haruka race, and he just kept looking around as if he expected something terrible to happen any moment. If the others were as frustrated as I was, it was definitely a failure all the way around. I guess I was showing it more than I thought; Hotaru suddenly squirmed in my arms and looked up at me with a worried expression.
"What is it, Cupcake?" I whispered to her, finding a smile growing on my lips as I drank in her beauty. The only one who'd ever stolen my heart as she had was Elios, and...well, I'd promised myself I wouldn't dwell on anything sad today. No matter how much you love someone, you can't live forever in dreams.
"I'm worried," Hotaru murmured softly. "Keiichi seems so...shadowed. Isn't there anything we can do for him?"
"I'd hoped this would help, but it doesn't seem to be working." I glanced toward Keiichi and noticed several of the others were doing the same. "I'm afraid only Belldandy can help him. I just hope we can find a way to get them home."
"Hey, Keiichi!" Rusty called; he'd kind of adopted Keiichi, and had been running interference between Keiichi and Bill since the first day. "What do you think of Haruka's bike?"
"It's a strange design," Keiichi murmured, turning his attention to the racecourse. "It seems to work for her, but I'd love to see the blueprints and design notes."
That was good. According to David, Keiichi is an engineer, and if we could get him wrapped up in his work, it should help him cope with our world. This was one of those times I wished I had Mom's ability to make people feel good - it bothered me to see someone hurting the way he was. I could see she was bothered by it, too.
"No problem," Rusty answered with a grin. "I happen to know that David has them all filed safely away. We'll give you printouts or a disk to keep. How's that?"
"That sounds good. I'm sure Skuld will want to see them, too." That was hopeful. If Keiichi was thinking about Skuld, that meant he was thinking less about himself - not that he'd done all that much thinking this week. He'd been too busy feeling...uncertain, lost, apprehensive, vulnerable...it wasn't good.
**Usagi? Do you have any ideas?**
**Sorry, Chibi-Usa. The only idea I have is that we need to get him home. The longer he's here, the worse it gets. At least Rusty's keeping him from losing it completely.**
**I've been reading Rei's manga. If that's what their world is like, it's no wonder he's having trouble.**
**I know. It would be wonderful if our world were like that, but I'll bet it's not even that innocent in the future, is it?**
**Not even when I was little. I don't know what I'd do if life were that....**
**Boring? Monotonous? Utterly lacking in thrills, excitement, and adventure?**
**Pbbbt! I was thinking PEACEFUL.**
Usagi grinned at me and leaned against Mamoru. I laughed and hugged Hotaru, to be rewarded with a look of confusion. I bent down and gave her a quick kiss, then whispered softly into her ear.
"Just Usagi being silly again, Cupcake." I wondered in passing how long it would be before she demanded again that if I thought she was a cupcake, I should eat her. The last time had been a delightful day....
"Like mother, like daughter, huh?" Hotaru teased, pulling me back down for another kiss.
With her snuggled against me, I leaned back and watched as Haruka won in her usual take-no-prisoners style. She'd long since moved into the unlimited class races - a good thing, since the bike she was driving was a MacManus Nagamaki. Eos said it was a test platform for the motorcycle configuration of the Javelin frame. The problem with the Nagamaki was that nobody knew how powerful it was. The only time they'd tried to test it, it had overloaded the testing machine.
We gathered back at Ami and Bill's house, where Belldandy had prepared a victory dinner. By the time we were finished eating, Keiichi was the only one who felt like moving. Then again, he hadn't really eaten - just picked at his food. Usagi took Belldandy into the kitchen, hopefully to learn if there was anything we could do to help. Rusty brought printouts from the lab to show Keiichi. Naturally, Skuld couldn't resist, and before long the two of them were arguing over the pages. Rusty stayed with them until Keiichi was fully involved in the argument, then slipped away to talk with Urd.
Seeing the way the evening was going, I relaxed and cuddled Hotaru. She purred happily and flashed a thought at me that made me decide it was time for us to go home.
The more time they spent in this world, the more Belldandy worried about Keiichi. He was becoming more depressed as time passed: morose by day and withdrawn by night. The only thing that seemed to bring him out of himself was her love - and even then, it only drew him out enough to cling to her as if he were drowning.
The most worrisome part of the situation was that Keiichi was not by nature an easily depressed person - the shock of their first day here seemed to have done enough damage that he couldn't see the beauty in this world. It was becoming bad enough she was considering going into his mind to try reaching him.
"Oneesama? I'm worried. Keiichi...," Skuld trailed off, looking tearfully up at her. "He doesn't even react when I try to argue with him anymore. And when Urd said something perverted to him, he just looked at her, like he didn't care."
Belldandy set down her spoon and gathered Skuld into her arms. It had been bad enough when she was the only one to worry about Keiichi; it had now gone beyond what she could allow to continue. As Skuld sobbed against her, she gently stroked her hair. Whatever she did, she couldn't stand back and let things continue to get worse.
"Where's Urd? I think it's time the three of us put our heads together." Belldandy asked as Skuld's sobs faded. Between the three of them, they HAD to be able to find a solution to the problem - didn't they?
"She went off with Rusty," Skuld said softly. "They were talking about seeing his laboratory."
"That's right, he's a chemist. I'd forgotten," Belldandy murmured. "We'll have to...oh dear. He IS a chemist, isn't he? I hope he's more responsible than she is."
Skuld looked up with an expression of growing worry that, Belldandy felt, probably matched the one on her own face. As if Keiichi's problem wasn't bad enough, anyone encouraging Urd in her alchemical hobby was like encouraging a salamander to swim in a pool of gasoline.
"David? Can you contact Rusty where he is?" Skuld asked, surprising Belldandy. The idea of computers with souls was strange; but Skuld had taken to them right away, and had made friends with all of them - whether they were fixed, like David, or on someone's wrist, like all the others.
"No problem, Skuld. He and Urd are with Albertus. He's somewhat less than amused, so I'm sure the interruption will be appreciated - by Albertus, at least." David sounded, as always, as if he found amusement in the antics of his human associates.
"Who's Albertus?" Skuld asked; Belldandy remembered an Albertus, but that one had been in Europe, several centuries earlier. As far as she knew, he hadn't found the elixir of immortality he'd been searching for, so it couldn't be him.
"He's Rusty and Fluorite's babysitter," David laughed. "He Awakened just a couple months ago."
"Why did he pick the name Albertus?" Skuld asked. "It's not common in this century."
"Neither are mages or alchemists," David said. "Rusty's profession may be chemistry, but his hobby is alchemy. With the two of them as influences, Albertus picked a name that reflected both arts."
"I see. Would you ask Urd to come back here, please?" Belldandy asked, then added as she remembered the other person who should be a part of the discussion. "Do you know where Mara is, and how to reach her?"
"She and Naru went shopping. Naru insisted that as long as you're here, Mara needed to have a more appropriate wardrobe." David answered. "I have to know...is it a psychological thing, the way your clothes appear when you create your own? No matter what Mara did, every outfit she created before Naru dragged her off looked like a cross between Body Glove, Frederick's, and Stormy Leather."
"Yes, the way our clothes appear does have a lot to do with the way we think," Belldandy said thoughtfully. "No matter how much better she is than the demons of this world, she's still a demon, and that will affect the way she presents herself."
"Half," Skuld said. "She's a half-demon."
"Are you sure?" Belldandy asked, fearing the possibility Skuld was right. She'd suspected it, ever since learning that Urd was half demon, but the consequences of learning it was true had kept her from pursuing her suspicions.
"As sure as I can be without Kami-Sama confirming it," Skuld said softly. "I asked Ami to keep it a secret until I could figure out how to tell them, but...they're not just sisters, they're twins."
"Uh...Belldandy? Skuld?" David sounded unnerved as he cut in. "I...have a phone call for you."
"It's all right, David," Belldandy said. "We'll take it here."
"It is I." The voice was unmistakable; Belldandy and Skuld both automatically stood straighter. "I have scheduled an audience for all four of you in ten minutes. You will find Mara in Naru's apartment."
"Yes, sir," Belldandy said, echoed an instant later by Skuld.
"He's...gone," David said softly. "Was that who I think it was?"
"Yes, it was," Skuld said. "You'd better call Urd before she can leave Rusty's place."
"No need," David said, his voice still shaking. "She's in the lab. Having her travel through my monitor is almost as unsettling as that phone call."
"I'm sure it is," Belldandy said. "Skuld, will you explain to Urd while I get Mara?"
"I will. You'd better hurry, Oneesama." Skuld looked up with a weak smile and pushed Belldandy toward the kitchen mirror. "We don't want to be late."
"I'll meet you there," Belldandy said, reaching out to touch the mirror. "David, please tell Keiichi I'll be back as soon as possible."
When I got to Ami and Bill's place, David opened the door before I had a chance to ring the bell. That's happened before, so I didn't think much of it - until I realized I'd gotten all the way inside without a word from him.
"Hey, David! What's on your mind?" It was a long-running joke between us. I'd ask him what was on his mind, and he'd answer by listing anywhere from a half-dozen to three or four dozen things, most of which made no sense to me.
"Keiichi. Something about him just isn't right, and now I'm going to have to explain to him when he wakes up that Belldandy had to go to Heaven." Well, that didn't sound good, although it sounded better than 'Belldandy is dead'.
"Uh...when did it happen? And how?"
"They just left. I'm still trying to figure out how the phone call reached me without going through ANY of the telephone networks." David sounded miffed. I was confused. Telephone call?
"Telephone call? What are you talking about? And you haven't told me how Belldandy died."
"Died? Belldandy didn't die; she just went to Heaven. So did Urd and Skuld and Mara. Kami-Sama called. On the telephone. Do you know how unsettling it is to process a telephone call from HIM?"
"Went to Heaven...oh." I'd forgotten she's a Goddess. Well, at least that meant she should be coming back soon. "Wait a minute...you got a telephone call...from Kami-Sama?"
"Well, they did, but naturally it came through me." That explained why he sounded shaken, at least. I'd be unsteady, too, after a phone call like that. "They only had ten minutes to get to Heaven, so Belldandy asked me to tell Keiichi. He's up in their bedroom...not sleeping."
"Want me to tell him? It ought to cheer him up some, right?" I know I'D be cheered up if I knew Kami-Sama was taking a personal interest in my problems.
"Would you? It'd really be better if it came from a friendly face, not just a friendly voice." David sounded hopefully relieved - so much I couldn't help smiling as I agreed.
"Keiichi-san? Are you awake?" I stood outside the bedroom door and called out, loud enough to carry all the way downstairs. "Belldandy gave me a message for you."
I heard movement, and a moment later the door slid open. Keiichi looked like hell. His eyes were red and unfocussed, his hair was all spiked up, and he stood leaning against the doorframe like a puppet with its strings cut. He didn't say anything; he just looked at me - or maybe that's through me - and waited.
"Belldandy had to go to Heaven for a while." I flashed my best smile as I spoke. "Just think! With Kami-Sama taking a personal interest, you should be...Shit! David! Call the others!"
Keiichi had reacted to my news, all right. He'd reacted by emitting an agonized scream and transforming into something that looked like a lobster crossed with a squid. This was definitely not good. I did the only thing I could, under the circumstances: I leapt back across the room, so the stairwell was between us, and transformed.
"Venus Love Me Chain!" I didn't want to hurt him, but if I could bind him until Sailor Moon got here, it would keep the house from getting trashed. As I looped the chain around him, I sent up a silent prayer that I was getting all his appendages.
Keiichi - or, rather, the creature he had become - strained at the chain, while making noises that sounded like something out of a bad monster movie. Whatever he had become, it was strong. Damned strong. I could feel the strain he was putting on the chain, and concentrated all my energy on it in hopes of keeping it from breaking before the others could arrive.
I don't know how long we were there, pulling against each other, but as the contest continued, only the fact that I was braced against the wall around the stairwell kept me from being pulled to the creature. As it was, I could feel my strength fading as the minutes stretched on, between pulling against the chain and feeding energy into it so it wouldn't break.
"Moon Twilight Flash!"
"Silence Glaive Surprise!"
As the room brightened, then filled with fog, I felt the pressure on the chain slackening. I hadn't heard Sailor Moon use that healing in years, but it had always worked before. I let the chain disperse and called out to the others.
"Sailor Chibi-Moon, Sailor Saturn, how did you get here so fast?"
"Fast? It took us nearly five minutes after you called," Sailor Chibi-Moon said. "We were-"
"Look out!" Sailor Saturn yelled, moments before the sound of movement came to us through the fog.
I jumped back and rolled, avoiding a wildly lashing tentacle by inches. Sailor Saturn dispelled her fog, and I kind of wished she hadn't. The creature had Sailor Chibi-Moon in three of its tentacles. Maybe it HAD been Keiichi once, but I couldn't hold back because of that. Whatever he had become, we had to knock him down and keep him down until Sailor Moon could get here.
Sailor Saturn brought her glaive down across a tentacle; as soon as it was severed, the separated part dissolved into a foul smell. It seemed to work, so I called up my sword and joined her in amputating tentacles. As soon as Sailor Chibi-Moon was free, she joined us; she wasn't as good with her tiara as Sailor Moon, but she was good enough to give the creature some good solid hits.
**Sailor Moon! We need you here NOW!**
**I'm on my way. We were on the other side of the city when you called. Let me see what's happening.**
**It's Keiichi. Let them all see, Aphrodite.**
The gasps were as audible as if they'd been in the same room; Aphrodite had transmitted the image of Keiichi's transformation into the creature, and now was transmitting our fight as it happened. We should have defeated him by now, but as soon as we chopped off the tentacles, new ones formed. Only the tiara seemed to have any effect, and all it did was stun him.
**I'm almost there. I'll go in through the window behind him. Be ready to hit him hard.**
**We'll be ready.**
If she wanted us to hit him hard, it was up to Sailor Chibi-Moon and me. All Sailor Saturn could do without destroying everything around us was chop at him with her glaive - and that had proven difficult in this confined space. I released my sword and cut loose with a Crescent Beam Shower. That got the creature's attention.
**Sailor Chibi-Moon! You're going to have to use something more powerful than your tiara! We have to trust Sailor Moon to heal him!**
**I know. I don't like it, but I know.**
"Shine Snow Illusion!"
That was our cue. As strong as the creature was, I knew it would break free of the ice in a matter of moments. I nodded to Sailor Chibi-Moon and we cut loose in unison.
"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!"
"Moon Gorgeous Meditation!"
The double attack, striking while the creature was unable to avoid it, blasted it backward, into Belldandy and Keiichi's room. It had barely hit the floor when we heard Sailor Mercury strike again, this time with her Aqua Mirage. She wasn't taking any chances of it getting up again.
"All right. He's down, and we can keep him down until Sailor Moon gets here. I hope."
Uh-oh. If Sailor Mercury wasn't sure we could keep him down, we were in trouble. I led the way into the room and called up my sword again. The creature lay on the floor, encased in ice and apparently unconscious - although it was impossible to be sure, given its appearance. Sailor Mercury was studying it with her visor and computer.
"I was afraid of this," she said softly. "He's possessed. But...how did it get through the wards?"
Urd always felt nervous when summoned to His throne, and this time was no exception. If anything, she felt more nervous than usual; she was actually scared for Mara. Would she be able to survive the Divine Presence? Maybe...if she were shielded. The only hope she could hold to was that He wouldn't have required Mara's presence if He intended her to die. Urd slipped an arm around Mara and flashed her best smile; even if she wasn't comfortable with the situation, she could at least try to reassure Mara. Mara responded with a grateful smile and a visible attempt to look brave.
"Do you think it'll be all right?" Mara asked, her voice revealing the uncertainty she so obviously tried to conceal.
"You have nothing to fear, daughter."
Daughter? But if she was His daughter...Urd looked from Mara to Him in shock and anger as the connections came together. His daughter...her sister - NOT half sister.
"How could you?" The words came out in a betrayed, outraged scream. How could He condemn her sister to life as a demon? How could He separate them; how could He stand by and let them fight for so long. How could He let them believe they were enemies? There were so many questions, she couldn't even put words to them all.
"Urd!" Belldandy gasped. "She didn't mean it, Lord! Please forgive her!"
"I'm sure she did, Verthandi. I would have been disappointed if she hadn't." He looked down compassionately and paused for a moment. "Yes, I am your Father, Mara. You and Urd are twins. Your separation is now ended. In time, you will understand why it was necessary. For now, you must make a choice. Will you follow the path your mother lives, or will you return to being just another demon?"
"You...are...my Father?" Mara stammered, looking up at Him uncertainly. "But...why? Why did you leave me? Why did you tear us apart? Why did I have to grow up alone...unloved...like a demon?"
Urd caught Mara as she collapsed in wracking sobs. As she cradled Mara against her breast, she glared up at the Lord. The injustice of what had happened made her so angry she couldn't think straight. Only the feeling of Mara sobbing against her kept her from screaming out her rage; her sister needed her.
"You will understand, when you have returned to your home. For now, in the world you find yourselves in, you must remember your heritage. It is that which will give you the strength to do what you must."
"Does that mean you won't send us home?" Skuld asked. "The world we're in is so...wrong."
"The world you're in is at a crux; your presence is necessary to its future existence." He paused, then looked directly at Belldandy. "Verthandi, your husband needs you. It is time for you to return, and help that world through its crisis."
As soon as I got to the other side, I understood how the demon had gotten through my wards. It had insinuated itself into Keiichi so thoroughly that it was beyond my ability to touch, without killing him in the process. It would take an expert at exorcism - or, hopefully, Sailor Moon - to remove it. It had probably been in him for days. That would explain not only how it had been able to work its way so deeply into him, but also why his despair had only grown as he had remained here.
"This is bad. Very bad." There was no sense in soft-pedaling it. I opened my eyes and looked up at the others from where Sailor Mercury cradled my head in her lap. "The demon is so deeply rooted within him that you're the only one of us who has a chance of freeing him, Sailor Moon."
"But you're not sure, are you?" Sailor Moon asked softly. "Well, we won't know until I try."
She stepped around to the head of the creature, now firmly pinned beneath one of Rei's ofuda, and looked down for a moment as if praying.
"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!"
No matter how many times I see her in action, I'm still struck by the beauty of her power. Well, there WAS that one time she used a pizza like a Frisbee when we had a little dust-up in a shopping mall, but that was amusing enough to make up for its makeshift nature. When the light faded, Keiichi looked like himself again. Sailor Mercury studied him through her visor for a moment, then nodded.
"He's clean. You did it, Sailor Moon."
"Thank goodness!" Sailor Moon sank onto the bed and whispered, "What are we going to tell Belldandy?"
"Why not tell me what happened?" Belldandy asked softly. She stood in front of a freestanding mirror in one corner and looked at us with as much worry as I'd seen her first night here.
"Keiichi needs you," Sailor Moon said. "I've healed him, but he's going to need to be in your arms when he wakes. I don't know how much he's going to remember."
"Remember of what?" Belldandy asked, moving to take Keiichi in her arms. He whimpered softly and curled against her.
"He was possessed," Sailor Moon said. "The demon was so deep in him that it took the most powerful healing I could manage to get it out."
Belldandy looked down at Keiichi, drawing him close in a grip that left her hands white with its intensity. After a moment, she raised one hand and deliberately removed her earrings. She placed them in Keiichi's hands, then gently placed him on the bed. I was starting to worry now. If the manga were right, we were in real trouble now.
"Keiichi is my husband, and I will not allow him to be used in this way," she growled, beginning to glow. It was a surprise, hearing that from the woman we had become accustomed to as loving and gentle. Sailor Saturn and I were the first to recover; I suppose that was because we knew the most about Vikings.
When the glow faded, Belldandy was no longer wearing her formal robes. She was covered from head to foot in gleaming chain, with a conical, open-faced spangenhelm on her head. Hanging at her side was a sword, about 3' long with the blade about 2" wide. The look in her eyes was a familiar one - except maybe from her - and if it had been directed at anything other than demons, I'd have felt pity for her prey.
"Wait until he's awake, Belldandy. He needs you. After that...," I let my voice trail off and flashed her my hunting grin. There was no way she was going to go hunting alone - not as long as she was in MY world.
**Lord? Is she overreacting?**
**Perhaps. If she were fighting alone, she would need the power. With you and her sisters at her side, the war will be more equal.**
**And Keiichi's possession was the first strike?**
**It was. Your enemy is both old and new; one that is already defeated, but who you have yet to meet. The others know it as the Death Phantom. We know it as Apep, and the Norns know it as Jörmungander.**
**The Death Phantom is Apep? But that would mean Sailor Moon didn't destroy it after all.**
**That is correct. When they defeated it, they destroyed its avatar and banished it once again to the Outer Darkness. But the Apep they defeated was from the future, and so was weakened by its extension through time. You face it now in its own time, but it does not have the memory of having been defeated. Thus, it will not anticipate the power you can bring to bear against it.**
**Why did it choose now to attack?**
**One can never tell with a being as chaotic as that one, but it is safe to assume that the arrival of four strange goddesses, in the place where one of its mortal enemies is, caused it to have a sense of urgency in its actions.**
**In that case, we should take advantage of its imbalance.**
**You understand. When you plan your actions, you should remember that your available warriors are not limited to the Senshi and the Norns. Trust your friends; give them the opportunity to join in the fight.**
**But the danger....**
**Is less than the danger should their absence from your plans allow the enemy to win.**
**Yes, Lord.**
My attention returned to the others, as Skuld, Urd, and Mara arrived from downstairs. Seeing Belldandy in armor, Urd and Skuld immediately shifted from their formal garb to matching armor; Mara shifted into a molded black leather breastplate that - like every other outfit she created - left less to the imagination than nudity would have, but looked solid enough to pass.
"David, call Rusty, Fluorite, and Naru. Tell them we're having a meeting in thirty minutes, and need them to attend. Umino can come along, too, if he wants."
The others looked at me with open shock in their eyes. I shrugged and turned my attention on Sailor Moon.
"We'll need their help. Even with the Goddesses, the enemy we're up against cannot be killed. All we can do is banish it - and it's going to take every bit of power we can muster to do it." I cocked an eyebrow and added, as if it were an afterthought, "The enemy we're facing is known to my people as Apep, to the Goddesses as Jörmungander, and to you as the Death Phantom."
"But we killed it!" Sailor Moon protested. "How could we be facing it again?"
"We killed the Death Phantom from MY time," Sailor Chibi-Moon said. "In this time, it shouldn't even know you exist yet. But why would it be attacking now? And why through Keiichi?"
"Jörmungander?" Skuld gasped, looking up at Urd and Belldandy for reassurance. I couldn't blame her: Thor was supposedly the only one who had a chance of killing it, and according to the tales, he would die when he did.
Luckily for me, it just didn't seem that tough. Merely impossible to keep dead once it's killed. After all, Bast kills it every morning, yet it manages to pull itself together in time to be a menace to Ra every night. And Serenity and Chibi-Usa had already managed to kill its avatar once, and banish it from the Earth of the future, so it was obvious it wasn't invulnerable - merely damned tough.
"I don't care if it's Surtur himself," Belldandy hissed. "When it laid its hand on Keiichi, it forfeited its life." She looked at the others, then at me. The look in her eyes reminded me of Diana Kinsman, from my KITA stories: very scary, very dangerous, death to anyone who threatens her family. "Thirty minutes. We will be there. Keiichi should be awake by then."
"If you think he's up to it when he wakes, I wouldn't mind his presence," I said. "My Lord told me that the situation we're in is dangerous enough that we shouldn't overlook ANYONE who might be able to help. They'll actually be in less danger fighting with us than they would be if we don't win because we didn't let them fight."
"But we defeated it before...," Sailor Moon protested uncertainly.
"At the cost of your life and Chibi-Usa's life," I said, looking her in the eye. "And that was when it was already weakened by reaching a thousand years into its past to fight you. This time, we're fighting it in its own time - and I, for one, do not intend to sacrifice our Queen and Crown Princess to banish it. This time, we need to plan, we need to combine our forces to use every advantage we can get, and we need to call on every ally we can find to augment our strength."
"He's right," Tuxedo Kamen said gently, slipping an arm around Sailor Moon's shoulders. "We're facing a much more dangerous enemy now. The only advantage in this situation that I can think of is that - assuming I understand the situation right - it doesn't yet realize what we can do, because it's never faced us before."
"And it doesn't know that we're with you," Skuld said. She spun and pointed at Urd and Mara. "Mara, if you know anything about it from things you've overheard or been taught, we're going to need to know it. Urd, we're going to need your battle experience when we're planning. Belldandy...we'll need you to tell us when the time is right to strike."
"What's this, Bug?" Urd asked with a grin as she reached out to give Skuld a quick hug. "Trying to live up to your job title now?"
"Yeah," Skuld said, blushing. "I wish we had Sif or Tyr...or even Thor...with us to do the fighting, but I'm not going to let that stop us." She grinned, an unsettling feral gleam in her eyes. "By the time we're done, that serpent's going to know Thor isn't the only one in Asgard who can hurt it."
**She looks like you do when you're planning to take on a particularly aggravating demon.**
**She does? No wonder people look nervous when I'm hunting.**
The others all returned to their normal appearances, leaving only the Goddesses and Mara in armor. Well, and me, but that's only because I wear pretty much only MacManusite clothing now. Usagi placed her hand on Belldandy's for a moment, just long enough to get a faint smile from her, before leading us all downstairs.
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon, Sailor Senshi, and all terms, names, etc. associated with the series are copyrighted by Naoko Takeuchi and Kodansha. I make no claim to them and this work of fanfiction should not be seen as making a claim.
Aa! Megamisama!, and all terms, names, etc., associated with the series, are copyrighted by Kousuke Fujishima and Kodansha. I make no claim to them and this work of fanfiction should not be seen as making a claim.
"Blue Blue Sky" is copyrighted by Ian Bairnson. Trust me - you want to hear the original. It's on the Alan Parsons album "On Air".
Those characters and concepts that are original, the Crystal Kingdom Archives, and the story "Aa! Megami-Senshi!", are copyrighted © 2000 by Bill Hartwell.
Rated: PG-13