Introduction.

For those who don't like diving straight into a fic, here are some
notes which _may_ tell you a little more about what you've just got. Feel
free to ignore them.

***********************************************************************

This is basically an Ah! Megamisama Fanfic, with a number of additional
plot and crossover elements. I don't think it should be called an AMG
fic entirely, since the Belldandy, Urd & Skuld aren't quite the stars.
But then, neither are the additional characters, although it is told
from the point of view of one of them.

It's also pretty dark. As you will find out, Any cute fluffy bunnies
found here are liable to be roadkill.

One of the characters is from the 'real' world. There's a reason for
this; maybe not the one you think! Just because something is
_apparently_ the case, or a character thinks it is, doesn't mean it's so.
You have been warned, the truth is out there somewhere...!
For those who like working out what's going to happen, the clues to
everything are in the early parts of the 'fic, if you read carefully.

A note on the characterisation of the characters (in particular
Belldandy, Urd and Skuld).I have tried to keep them in context with the
manga & the anime (defaulting to the manga version where they differ a
lot). There is however, a premise which conflicts with the way the final
anime came out; i.e. Belldandy is not about the same age as Keiichi.
These are the Norns, and the way they act and appear is merely the way
they wish to appear in the human world. Granted, these 'disguises' do
mirror their personalities, but they are only part of them. When pushed,
they revert...

It also helps to read this if you know something about Norse mythology.
I have scattered clues to who the bad guy(s) are, and you can work it
out as early as part 1, if you are so inclined. If not, don't worry, I
state it later on...  :)
For those who aren't familiar with the mythos, I include an appendix
after which gives some more information.

Oh, and for the misspelling experts, I'm British, and this is not spelt
in American, OK? :-)

The copyright notice for the characters used is, unusually, at the
_end_, for reasons which I hope will become clear...

Thanks are due to Jim Nutley for pre-reading this and making some very
helpful suggestions.

This is the first fanfic I've written, and I would appreciate any
comments you have on it. Good or bad, if you _didn't_ like it I'd be
interested in knowing why.

David Row
davidrow@ryoohki.demon.co.uk

************************************************************************
************************************************************************

The Ragnarok Agenda
-------------------


Chapter 1 - To sleep, perchance to dream
----------------------------------------

It was a dark and stormy night...

Well, actually, it wasn't. Stormy, that is. It WAS dark, but then it
does have a tendency to get that way at night, and no-one but the most
seriously paranoid individuals consider this to have any special,
esoteric or mystically significant meaning.

Scene :
A bedroom. In the middle of it, a man sleeps in a double bed...

Not very well, judging by the way he keeps tossing and turning, and the
dishevelled state of the bedclothes gripped tightly in his clenched
fists. Indeed, it's probably just as well he is alone, his partner would
have been on the floor long ago.
The only sounds are the muffled humming of a clock and the
occasional low moan coming from the body in the bed. It is dark, and the
only illumination comes from the twisting shadows thrown onto the
curtains by the streetlight outside, a faint orange flickering...

Inside the man's head, however, things aren't quite as mundane...

************************************************************************

Hmmm, odd sort of dream... why isn't it in colour, I ALWAYS dream in
colour... cheap low-budget dreams, probably got an Art grant or
something... all flashy effects and no decent FX...

He looks around at the landscape, a true blasted heath, nothing but dry
grass and a few stunted trees, twisted into shapes it were perhaps
better not to look at too closely. His dream-body feels like it should
be shivering in the thin arctic wind, as spatters of slushy snow whip
past him, but they don't seem to impact upon him.

Looks pretty desolate, too. All this grass, no signs of life. No
animals. Or people. Just me. And its bloody cold... and that odd
music... Good job its only a dream, I don't think I'd like to be out in
this if this were real.

He shrugs, ignoring the inconsistencies, tuning them out of his
consciousness, wandering forward, not really aiming to go anywhere,
after all this is just a dream, right? Feeling the cold brittle grass
under his feet slowly die away, as the landscape changes (in that fuzzy, 
not-really-noticed-till-it-does-it way it tends to in dreams), until he
is staring at a vista rather less benign.

A city. Well, an area that probably was once a city, before something
happened to it...

Clouds roil turgid and black above a landscape that consists mainly of
destroyed buildings, their skeletal remains poking up above the general
devastation like random rotting teeth in steel and concrete,  lit badly
by the flickering glows of a few fires.
Nothing moves, and the air has a dead feel to it. The only sound the
thin whistle of a bitingly cold wind.
Underfoot, the ground occasionally trembles, as if it would do more but
is afraid to draw too much attention to itself...

Hey, haven't seen so much rubble since we went to see Independence Day
... looks rather like it, too, looks like someone nuked the place... no,
only a few small fires, so I wonder how they caused all this
destruction... nice effects... don't try this one at home, kids, we're
trained mad scientists!
Pity its so bloody cold... It looks odd, though, I don't think I ever
saw colour effects quite like this - it isn't monochrome, there are
sort of some colours, but the look all washed out...faded...how weird...
oh well, its a dream, right? My dreams never make sense, so why worry
about it...?

He wanders forward, never really noticing how he moves, or how fast, the
scene shifting and flicking without really changing, until he comes to a
more open space. Now, at last, he can hear something other that the low,
desolate howling of the wind. Or maybe its just that he notices, now.

Before him is was what once a fairly large building, judging by the
amount of space the rubble of it now occupies. Not a tall building, it
cant have been more that a few stories high. The faint sounds of
people moaning seem to come from somewhere - maybe the building, he
can't tell - and finally he can see signs of life.

Spread, no scattered, around the ground are a number of bodies - well,
all the pieces should add up to a fair number. And quite a lot of blood.
More than a few of the bodies aren't human, by any stretch of the
imagination. Large, brutal, and ugly is the best way to describe them,
as well as armed to the teeth - well, fangs, but lets not be too picky
here...

There is one - person - however, who seems to be fine. Standing
arrogant atop a mound of rubble, his stance one of dominant possession,
monarch of this domain of devastation.

Oh my... I wonder what happened here? And what IS that man doing? Don't
I get to see all the fight first? How boring. I wonder what those
creatures are supposed to be? I wish that wind would stop that bloody
howling, it sounds like a wolf with a toothache...

And some of those bodies look - familiar? I...can't place them...Who
do I know who's a dark-skinned girl with long silver hair...And GREEN
blood from those monsters? How predictable... I'm going to have to have
some serious words with my subconscious about the programming of this
dream...

Shrugging mentally a little, he allows the vagueness of the dreamstate
to allow him to ignore the unease that he doesn't seem to be able to put
a name against some of the motionless bodies, even though he's quite
sure he recognises some of them.

He watches, feeling a growing sense of...not panic, exactly...maybe
concern? It feels odd, he can't quite place his finger on it...it's as
if this scene concerns him a lot, but somehow he cant get involved, or
affect it...and that itself is starting to worry him more and more.
Although he reminds himself yet again that this is only a dream, that it
can't hurt him, that mantra itself is wearing very thin; indeed, the
amount of usage it's had so far is beginning to cause it's own worry.

Shivering, he starts to examine the standing figure, who isn't looking
in his direction as he stares balefully and arrogantly over the scene
as if it were his personal property. Certainly he gives the impression
that he is responsible for all this. Somehow the watcher feels he
doesn't want to attract more of his attention to himself, even if this
IS only a dream!

The figure is a man...well, male. Mind, he doesn't know many men who are
the best part of 7 foot tall. That wouldn't be so bad, but the feeling
of menace that the figure seems almost to exude is frightening. No, lets
be honest here, terrifying. Worse than that, though, is the almost
palpable feeling that the man is stark raving mad. Something about the
way he stands, or maybe the barely-suppressed bubbling laughter. Its not
really something you can put into words, but somehow the way he stands,
the pose, reminds him of those old newsreels of Hitler at the peak of
his crowd-mesmerising peak... a horrifying blend of power, evil and
barely-in-check insanity.

One of the female bodies lying amidst the devastation moans, pushing up
with one bloody hand as she tries to rise to her knees, her long hair
tossing in the bitter wind, as she tries to face the man. He looks at
her, a smile of pleasure crossing his face, as he raises his left hand
to her, then clenches his fist, in a slow, almost sensual manner. With a
crackling roar, wildfire bursts up from the ruined pavement upon which
the girl stands, enveloping her now-writhing figure in a tossing,
crackling tower of flame, her outline barely visible within it as she
screams, a high, shrieking wail ripped raw and bleeding from her throat
until the flames die to reveal little more than some scraps of
carbonised bone among greasy ashes...

Tossing back his head, the man laughs...almost cheerfully, as if he's
just witnessed something greatly amusing - that in itself being even
more chilling to the watcher than the scene he has just observed.

This isn't getting to be fun anymore... Just what IS that guy up to?
He definitely seems to be a few bricks short of a full load, upstairs...
Maybe I should leave before he notices me...?

He attempts to move backward, to get away from the terrifying figure
in front of him, but his feet can't move...in fact, he doesn't seem to
be able to move, or speak, or anything. He stands there, straining,
trying to move, to do something, anything - to no avail.

Slowly, with the solid, inescapable certainty of a glacier, the man
turns, until he is staring him straight in the face. If it wasn't for
those eyes, he might even be able to see what he looks like. But those
glaring, hate-filled, eyes dominate everything, staring at him,
seeming to drive an icepick into his brain. He tries again to move,
desperate now, only wanting to get away, but he seems immersed in
jelly...

The man starts to smile. Not a pleasant smile, more like a starving
shark that's just seen a helpless swimmer appear on his lunch menu.
The terrible, staring eyes start to glow with a baleful wildfire, as if
small flames were flickering in the depths of them, growing stronger,
fiercer, devouring. Making one final, frantic effort, he tries to hurl
himself backwards, just as the figure starts to laugh again, a manic,
shivering wolf-howl of anticipation and terror...

************************************************************************

With a sudden gasp, he sits up in his bed, heart hammering, cold sweat
running down him, as he pants...

"Oh god... it was only a dream. Ugh, more like only a nightmare! I
haven't had one so bad in a long time..."
He shivers, and starts to draw the blankets about himself, then reaches
out, slamming the lightswitch on to banish the dark shapes that part of
his mind still see moving in the shadows, finally relaxing a bit as the
familiar shape of his bedroom re-establishes itself about him.

"Whew... that's better. Damn, that was scary...and so odd...it still
all seems so clear. Coffee, I need coffee..."

Crawling out of bed, he staggers over, grabbing his robe, and cursing
the cold as he stumbles downstairs, blearily finding the kitchen, and
putting on the kettle as he spoons three large measures of coffee into a
cup, the mundane actions serving to reassure him that everything is
normal, and that all that was in fact just a nightmare.

He makes his drink, and finally relaxes as he starts to sip the bitter,
caffeine-loaded brew...

"Aaah, that's better. This should help me sleep again. Better get back
to bed, its bloody cold for November. Haven't had it this cold so early
for.. I can't remember when..."

Grimacing, he hurriedly returns to his bedroom, slipping back under the
blankets as he cradles his coffee, sipping it as he starts to relax
properly at last. After all, while scary, this WAS only a dream. And
dreams can't hurt you, can they...

************************************************************************

Chapter 2 - Portents
--------------------

Scene :
The Tarikihonganji temple, a crisp late October morning. The sky is
clear, and pale sunshine falls across the temple's roof, shimmering
rainbows glinting amongst the crystalline patina of frost on the ancient
tiles, as a gentle breeze rustles and stirs the fallen leaves scattered
across the courtyard.
The scene pans slowly left-to-right, then zooms inwards, showing us the
interior of a room, the sliding door on one side open to partially
reveal a kitchen. This is currently occupied by four people; two women,
a girl, and a man.

The younger of the two women is humming happily, a pleasant lift-muzac
sort of tune as she continues to prepare and serve a sumptuous breakfast
for the others. Her feet hardly seem to touch the floor as she glides
about, deftly preparing and setting out food, a small happy smile on her
face. Belldandy is obviously a morning person (er, goddess).

Urd, on the other hand, most certainly isn't. Hands cupping a steaming
mug of black coffee, she looks blearily at the breakfast TV/News
programs, occasionally taking a sip and huddling a bit more back into
her robe; despite the warmth coming from the kitchen, there is still an
occasional waft of cold air drifting through the room.

Skuld and Keiichi are busy devouring the food in front of them, Keiichi
with the somewhat preoccupied air of someone who is torn between taking
his time to enjoy the food, and being late for classes, with the added
bonus of being able to take a few moments out to worry about what his
Auto-club friends are liable to have gotten him into today. Skuld is
just eating, neatly and efficiently, while next to her a small mecha
holds and steadily turns the pages of the current Scientific American
for her to read, occasional small giggles from her breaking the soft
sound of munching as she sees a conjecture she finds particularly naive
or amusing.

This scene of quiet domesticity is broken suddenly by a sharp clattering
crash of breaking china.
Keiichi looks up, alarmed, to see a broken cup at Belldandy's feet,
while she is holding her palm against her forehead, her eyes closed.

"Belldandy! Are you OK?"

Urd and Skuld look over, their own concerns forgotten as they look
curiously at their sister, each feeling a slight sense of anticipatory
unease.

Belldandy opened her eyes and smiled, a trifle shakily, but reassuringly
at Keiichi.
"I'm sorry, Keiichi-san, the cup was slippery with soap and I dropped
it. I wasn't paying attention and it startled me."

Keiichi still looked a little worried, but wasn't about to argue with
her when she sounded so certain. He nodded, and got up.

"Well, as long as you are OK. I have to be getting off..."

In his preoccupation, he didn't see the covert looks that Belldandy and
her sisters exchanged, ones of 'What's REALLY the matter, you don't
really expect us to believe that lame explanation' , and 'Shush, I'll
explain it all once Keiichi is out of the way'.

Oblivious (as usual) to all the sisterly non-verbal communication going
on over his head, Keiichi smiled, and stretched upward slightly to kiss
Belldandy gently on the cheek.
"The Auto club doesn't have anything planned tonight, so I'll be home
the usual time, OK, Belldandy?"

Behind his back, Skuld made a small grimace, but nothing more; this
wasn't the time to start teasing the two of them about their
relationship, not with the shadow she could clearly see behind
oneesama's reassuring smile.

Belldandy smiled at him, pleased at the unusual show of affection, and
squeezed his hand gently.
"Of course, I'll have dinner waiting for you, Keiichi-san. Go on now,
you don't want to be late.."

He nodded, and grabbed his jacket from the door, pulling it on as he
walked out into the hallway. The sisters exchanged another round of
glances, but Belldandy shook her head slightly.
Finally, they heard the stuttering cough of Keiichi's motorcycle starting
up, followed by the sound of it leaving. Belldandy finally sighed deeply,
and sat down, looking a little upset.

Urd walked over, sitting down next to her, a worried frown on her face
as she looked at her younger sister, slipping her arm about her waist in
reassurance.
"What was it, Bell-chan? You felt something, what?"

Skuld nodded in agreement, one hand idly playing with the handle of the
long bug-smashing hammer on her back.

Belldandy looked up at her sisters' worried faces, the strain in her
voice reflecting her worry.
"I.. I don't really know. I never felt anything like it before. It was
as if something very evil appeared, just for a moment, and then vanished
again - I can't think of any other way to describe it. It was so awful,
it made me feel sick, that's when I dropped the cup. And now... I can't
feel it, but I still have this _feeling_ that something is going to
happen. Not evil, not like the other, but... something. Closeby. That's
why I wanted to make sure Keiichi was gone, if it feels close to here
he'll be safer at Nekomi Tech, and I'll feel much happier if he isn't
involved."

Urd hmmd thoughtfully to herself, brow furrowed in thought.
"Something happening, nearby... could it be caused by that evil, even
if it doesn't feel evil?"

Belldandy shrugged helplessly.
"I just don't know, I can't feel that awful thing at all any more.

Urd looked down at Skuld, and nodded slowly, raising one eyebrow in
question.
"Bugs?"

Skuld bit her lip thoughtfully, and a small mech trundled into the room,
bearing a miscellaneous selection of her favourite items. She started
ploughing through them, yanking her PA out of her pocket with her free
hand, muttering technicalities under her breath.
Finally finding what she wanted, she hurriedly plugged items together,
putting on a complex headpiece, fingers flying across the PA's keyboard.

Her sisters looked at her in anticipation, Urd squeezing Belldandy's hand
gently in reassurance. For a short while, it was quiet but for a faint
electrical hum, and the quiet ticking of the idling mecha, that and the
muffled staccato clicking of Skuld's typing.
Finally, she stopped, her eyes peering around the room behind the
enveloping goggles she is wearing.

"No bugs"

Both Urd and Belldandy looked surprised.
"None? But..."

Skuld shook her head.
"I'm sorry, oneesama, none. In fact, there is the lowest level of bug
activity I've ever seen, I don't think I've ever heard of them being so
peaceful. Whatever upset you, it can't have been a bug infestation."

Urd muttered something. Both her sisters looked at her, Belldandy with a
small puzzled frown furrowing her brow, Skuld with a frown that rather
more resembled a scowl.

"Well, since your tech can't find anything, why don't I try a spell or
two...?"

"Ah, Urd, thank you, but I'm sure it's nothing"
Belldandy hoped her sister wouldn't see the sweat drop on the back of
her head. Somehow, the thought of ones of Urds' rather-more-than-
slightly unreliable spells interfering right now was something that
worried her somewhat more than usual.

Skuld just scowled deeper, muttering something under her breath about
incompetent, bulls and china-shops, fortunately too softly for Urd to
hear.

Belldandy patted her elder sister gently on the arm.
"Well, Urd, whatever I foresensed, it doesn't seem hostile. And if it
happens soon - we'll know what it is, neh? So lets just wait and
see..."

Urd scowled a little herself, but gave in with fairly good grace. Then
she looked upward, lost in thought, fingers absently rubbing her
wrist...
"Well, if we haven't been alerted from Heaven, I guess it can't be
anything that important..."

************************************************************************

Chapter 3 - Departures
----------------------

I woke to the muffled thump of someone hammering on the front door.
Peering mole-like out from under the blankets, I tried to keep myself
awake, and (barely) succeeded, the subconscious note that knocking on
doors was important, and probably meant some (hopefully interesting)
mail just about stopping me from collapsing back into a comatose state
resembling hibernation more than sleep.

Groaning, I slid out of bed, my eyes feeling hot and gritty, grabbing
for a robe as I staggered upright, heading for the front door. Sure
enough, there was a small pile of mail inside the doorstep.
I shivered; even with the heating on, it was still freezing. I couldn't
believe it was late October, it felt more like mid-January, and a cold
January at that. Maybe the Gulf Stream's on vacation, I thought muzzily.

Bracing myself, I unlocked the front door, slipped it open, and grabbed
the thick envelope on the mat before slamming it shut before more that a
little of the sub-arctic air outside could get to me. Even so, and
despite my tiredness, it was easily enough to wake me up completely.

Grabbing the rest of the letters, I moved on to more important, nay,
vital matters, like morning coffee. Heading for the kitchen, I quickly
sorted the letters...Bill, bill, junk, junk.. Ordinary letters into the
basket, junk into the bin, bills into the 'pending - too difficult'
tray.

Left was the packet I'd picked up on the doorstep. As I waited for the
coffee to brew, I examined it curiously. A padded envelope, about a foot
square, addressed to me. No details, no return address, indecipherable
postmark. I couldn't recognise the stamps, either, they seemed to be
Scandinavian, but I couldn't see any customs sticker, and the packet had
obviously not been opened. Strange.

Shrugging, I put it aside for a bit while I put on shirt and jeans, and
got my coffee. Finally wandering back into the lounge, I found to my
surprise that I was holding the envelope in my hand again, slowly
turning it over and looking at it.

That was odd, I couldn't remember picking it up.

Shrugging mentally, I finally got around to opening it. Carefully
peeling back the wrapping, I discovered the packet contained a disk of
some sort. More curious now, I opened the inner box, and slid a polished
disk about 8" across into my hand.

I looked at the disk with some puzzlement.

While it looked like a fairly standard LD, faint rainbow hues from the
light reflecting off its silvered surface, I couldn't make any sense out
of the writing on the label. Frankly, inscription would be more accurate
than writing, it reminded me of script, but I couldn't quite place it.
It wasn't Greek... it was angular? Maybe runes, or one of those old
middle eastern languages? It didn't look like Hebrew, but I knew there
were a lot of others I wasn't familiar with at all.
I couldn't think of anyone who'd send me an LD from there. Very odd.
Rubbing my eyes, which were watering a little as I tried to make some
sense out of the inscription, I considered aspirin. Must be lack of
sleep, I thought.

Well, the simplest thing would be to play it, see what was on it. I
carefully looked at it - no cracks, not warped. OK, it can't do any harm
to the player. At the time, I never gave any thought to what harm it
might do to _me_!
I gave the packaging and disk envelope a final close check. Nothing. And
the postmark was completely illegible, as usual...

I shrugged, and replenished my coffee, then set the cup down and popped
open the LD player, carefully placed the LD in the centre holder, then
did my usual game of find-where-you-left-the-right-remote-control-unit-
THIS-time. As usual, I could find all of them but the one I wanted,
which finally turned up tucked into the side of the couch, no doubt
where it had crawled to keep warm at night, its avoidance of me of
course purely coincidental.

Giving the remote a dirty look, I settled down and pressed the play
button.
Looking back, I now realise that this wasn't the best thing I could have
done, but at the time it seemed like a good idea...
With a faint whirring noise, the player speeded up, and after a few
seconds an image appeared on the screen. Some sort of video company
logo, I assumed, I certainly didn't recognise it. All the accompanying
text was in the same strange script I had been unable to recognise
earlier.
As the introduction faded, the picture changed into what seemed to be
some sort of very weird special effects, audio-visual images that changed
colour & appearance with bewildering speed and subtlety, the soundtrack
odd, seeming to almost appear and then fade out when you weren't paying
attention. The visuals were really odd, strange flickering colours that
seemed to remind me somehow of flickering flames. I shivered suddenly,
involuntarily, as something about those flames seemed - scary. Silly, I
know, but...

I frowned peering closer as I tried to make sense out of this, beginning
to get a bit concerned. The effects were starting to make me feel a bit
queasy, and the colour effects were getting more vibrant, an effect that
seemed to be generating the equivalent of an unscratchable itch behind my
eyeballs. I gulped, and tried to look away - and found I couldn't!

Now getting worried, I shut my eyes - or tried to. It felt like my
eyelids were nailed up, even by squeezing hard I just couldn't shut
them, despite the slowly increasing pain of my drying eyeballs. This was
definitely NOT funny anymore.
The colour and sound shimmered, getting more and more obtrusive, and if
I couldn't have sworn it wasn't possible on a TV set, pushed outward
into a 3-D effect of swirling polychromatic turbulence as they pressed
almost physically against me.

I half moaned in frustration, and to be honest more than a little fear,
and my hand scrabbled against the table as I tried to reach for the remote
control. If I couldn't stop looking, maybe I could turn it off.
The images expanded wider and wider, filling my field of vision, the
sounds loud, insistent, making it difficult to think, as I started to
feel as if I were, impossibly, falling forward and upward into the
turbulence, even though I wasn't moving an inch.

My hand finally touched the remote, and with a gasp of relief, I gripped
it hard - only to find my fingers move past, not through, the unit! I
think it was about then I started to panic seriously, but not for long,
as the colours filled my vision, spiralling and swirling as I felt
myself both sitting still and being pulled up into the pattern with
increasing speed, as I tasted the red-orange flicker of the flames, and
felt the scratching touch of the soundtrack against my skin, the images
slowly turning to small pinpoints of coruscating brilliance, as I lost
consciousness...

I have no idea how long I remained unconscious. I suppose if I'd been
expecting something like this, I'd have checked my watch first - but
who'd have expected something like THAT! That sort of thing doesn't
happen in real life...so I'd thought.

I found myself looking up. The colours edging my field of vision died
away, as my sight cleared with a burst of polychromatic static.
Above me, I could see a pale blue expanse. I didn't do anything, I just
looked at it. I guess I was still shocked by what had happened to me, a
not-unsurprising reaction. The surface I was lying on seemed hard and
cold, but it was nice just to lie there and look up, doing nothing,
feeling almost entranced by the clear blue translucence of the sky.

My reverie was interrupted by a dark blur moving across my vision. I
frowned slightly, and after a few seconds tried to focus on it. Finally,
I mustered the energy to manage what seemed an unconscionably difficult
feat of optical control.

Then I blinked. Hard. It didn't make any difference, so I blinked again,
just to make sure. Nope, still no change.

I was staring up at a girls - no, a woman's face.

I recognised her.

Dark tanned skin.
Check.
Long, platinum blonde hair.
Check.
Incredibly beautiful, not to mention sexy.
Check.
Small markings on cheeks and forehead.
Check
It's Urd.
Oh shit...

At this point, I decided to do the only sensible thing under the
circumstances.
I fainted.

Fortunately (?) I didn't remain unconscious for long.
I opened my eyes to the sound of a rather heated argument.
Urd was shouting and gesturing wildly at another girl, this one young,
dressed in red and white with long ebony hair and similar facial
markings.
Skuld too? I thought to myself.
This was crazy. Or I was crazy. Whatever.
In my current state, I hardly worried about whether they were real or
not. I suppose I was still in shock.

The argument seemed to be getting more than a little heated, with the
two girls almost standing on top of me as they yelled insults at each
other in Japanese. For once, I was rather glad I didn't understand much
Japanese... Interesting view from down here, though. Urd is definitely
the sole supporter of two dependants...uhh, better not follow THAT
thought through.

Still ignoring me, the argument got louder and more violent. Urd's hands
started to move in some strange gestures, and Skuld  (from where, I
couldn't see) had acquired one of those hi-tech grenade-bombs of hers. I
decided I didn't really want to be this close to the approaching
conclusion, I somehow suspected they'd both fire first, and worry about
innocent bystanders (like me) later.

I essayed a soft interjection.
"Ano...?"

Nothing.

"Sumimasen..."

Still nothing.

This time I yelled. Loudly.
"HEY!!!"

This subtle approach seemed to work. Now they were both looking down at
me. That was the good news.
The bad news was that they were still both looking extremely annoyed,
and now this seemed to be aimed at me.

I smiled weakly in what I hoped would be taken as a friendly, innocent
and harmless fashion.

Looking between the two goddesses, I decided that now was the time to
essay some statements to demonstrate my wit, intelligence, and
requirement to be assisted.

"Uhh...where am I??"

************************************************************************

Chapter 4 - Arrivals
--------------------

A little while later, I was sitting in the temple with three goddesses,
sipping tea.

Damn, that seems such a mundane way of stating what would have freaked
me out completely a little while ago. In fact, I still wasn't at all
sure I wasn't dreaming all this, which was probably about the only thing
keeping me from freaking out right now!
However, it didn't seem like a dream, it seemed far too real, too
_focussed_ to be a dream. Besides, I didn't think my dreams allowed me
to have girls as sexy as Urd in them... 

Anyway, I really only had three options on how to deal with this.

(1) This was a dream, in which case I may as well act as if its real,
and enjoy it, it won't matter.

(2) I'm tucked up somewhere in a nice padded room, with a note telling
them not to allow me any sharp objects. In which case, I may as well
believe its real and enjoy it until they give me my next injection.

(3) This IS real, in which case I damn well better act as if it is,
because something VERY odd is happening to me, and I have an awful
suspicion I'm at ground zero of whatever it is.

So the sensible option was to take all this as if it were real, no
matter how much difficulty I had persuading myself of that.

I sighed. At least I now had a plan (hah!) of action, lets see what the
three Norns had to say.
I looked around at them, trying not to stare too much.

Urd I had seen out in the courtyard. Looking at her, I decided that the
artists certainly didn't do her justice. It wasn't just that she was
beautiful, all of them were, but she exuded an aura of sultry sexuality,
apparently without even thinking, that even in these circumstances was
getting me flustered. Her clothes didn't help; while she was wearing
something reasonable for the bitterly cold weather, I found it difficult
to understand how a girl could wear such warm, concealing clothing and
still give the impression of being half-naked. I began to wonder what
would it have been like if I'd appeared in the summer. Probably have
died of massive nasal haemorrhaging, I suppose...
She was looking me over in return, her eyes narrowed slightly, fingers
of one hand slowly tapping the back of the other, as she looked
thoughtful.

I attempted an innocent smile back. I don't think it worked.

The girl I hadn't seen earlier had to be Belldandy. Slimmer than her
elder sister, she seemed much calmer, more restrained. While Urd gave
the impression of a banked fire about to burst into flame at any moment,
Belldandy reminded me of a calm pool. At least she was dressed in
ordinary clothes, I was already beginning to be envious of Keiichi...
Unlike Urd, at least she smiled when she looked at me, but although she
wasn't nearly as obvious as her elder sister, I had the distinct feeling
that I was being subject to a far more detailed scrutiny. The phrase
'steel butterfly' came to mind in her respect.

Finally, Skuld. I guess the best way to describe her would be vibrant,
she seemed to give the impression of active, boundless energy even when
seated, wearing the red/white clothes I'd seen in the manga, a small
mech chirruping happily by her side as it respectfully held a tub of
ice-cream, and a long hammer strapped to her back.
She gazed at me in frank curiosity, her large eyes darting between me
and a small device held in her hand, on which she constantly fiddled
with some controls. Some sort of scanning device, I assumed. In between
doing this, she took another heaped spoonful from the large (and already
half-empty) ice-cream tub.

I gulped, and sipped my tea while trying to decide what to say. I HAD to
remember, these were real people, not characters in a manga. Whatever
their personalities and reactions, they were bound to be far more than
the 2-D cut-outs I'd read about, and I dared not assume they would react
the same way. Hopefully, the fact that what I'd seen so far did seem to
correspond would mean they would act similarly, but I reminded myself
again to be careful.
No clever attempts which assumes events would take place as in the
manga, or that peoples reactions would be the same. Play it safe.
I sighed mentally. At least the Ah! Megamisama universe was pretty
harmless (well, as long as you didn't join the Nekomi Tech Auto
Club...). Now if it had been something like Ranma 1/2, or Bubblegum
Crisis, I would have started worrying seriously.

Did you ever have days where 'Famous Last Thoughts' about summed
everything up?

Finally, the three looked at each other. After a moment of non-verbal
communication, Belldandy turned to face me, having presumably being
selected as their spokeswoman.

She spoke gently, her precise English overlaid with a soft Scandinavian
accent.
"So, you say your name is David Smith? And a little while ago you were at
home, and suddenly appeared in our courtyard? And you have no idea how
you got here, except that you claim we are fictional characters?"

I nodded to all her questions.

She frowned a little, looking at me keenly, her voice sharpening.

"So, you appear and drop out of a hyperdimensional portal right on top
of us, surrounded by the thickest cloud of bugs any of us have seen for
many years, with no warning or notification to us, and claim to have no
idea how, and to be an innocent victim of some sort? And your world
doesn't have the technology to do this?"

The calmness of her manner as she repeated her statements was deceptive,
masking an inner core of tension.
Despite her gentle voice, I could easily detect the layer of steel
underneath her words. Gentle or not, I didn't want to annoy her, I
didn't think I'd like the consequences...

I smiled weakly, realising how lame my explanation sounded. The trouble
was, I didn't have a better one.

"That's all I know. One moment I'm at home, starting to watch this odd
LD, and the next I'm on my back, looking up at Urd and Skuld. Everything
between those events is a blank. I know it sounds stupid, but that's
what happened!"

"And no, my world certainly doesn't have the capability to do this sort
of thing! Only in films, or in fiction... although... we do have an
awful lot of unexplained disappearances - but I'm sure they can be
explained naturally"

Belldandy looked politely frustrated.
"I'm sorry, but under the circumstances I can't just take your word on
that. We will have to find out if you are telling the truth. I'm sure
you will understand..."

I looked at her, and gestured helplessly.
"Go ahead. Umm, it won't hurt, will it?"

She smiled reassuringly.
"Oh, I don't think so. Urd is very accomplished with her spells."
Behind me, I heard someone make a noise surprisingly like a snicker
would have been like if it hadn't been muffled by the maker eating a
mouthful of ice-cream.

I looked back in disbelief, wondering if it would be safer to run now,
and have them assume me guilty of something, than submit myself to Urd's
magic. Accomplished, right! As in accomplishing disaster!

Still, it wasn't as if I had a lot of choice. I just had to trust them,
I had a nasty feeling that I wasn't going to get very far in an attempts
to get home without their help, so I might as well give in graciously.

Standing reluctantly, I turned to face Urd.
"Go on..."

She grinned, standing slowly and lazily...
"You know, this spell would be easier if you were naked..."

I blushed.
Skuld turned bright red, and yelled at her sister!
"Urd, you hentai! Can't you keep your mind off  _that_ for a moment,
even when things are serious!?"

Belldandy gave her sister a slightly disappointed look.
"Please, Urd, not just now..."

Urd smiled, and shrugged in acceptance.
"Oh, OK. You aren't any fun, though."

Turning to look at me, she raised her arms, making graceful, flowing
gestures as she swayed, chanting something in a faintly guttural
language I didn't recognise, but I assumed was something like her native
tongue. Old Norse maybe.
Her chanting built up to a climax, and I braced myself, wondering
absently what life on a lily-pad would be like if she'd gotten this
wrong.
She gestured fiercely at me, releasing the spell in my direction. I felt
_something_ wrap about me; I couldn't describe it, it sort of tickled,
but that wasn't it. It was so unlike anything I'd felt, I just didn't
have anything to properly compare it with.
As the feeling faded, I looked down at myself. Well, it could have been
worse, I still looked like me. I was even still clothed, something I
hadn't been quite sure about, given what Urd said earlier.

Belldandy and Skuld looked at Urd, the former expectantly, the latter
with barely-concealed impatience.

"Well, Urd? When's it gonna kick in?"
Skuld was obviously not going to wait any longer.

Urd was looking at me, with a very puzzled expression on her face.
"But it DID! It just - didn't have much effect!"

She peered at me, closely, then gestured her sisters to join her.
"See, it DOES show his aura! But it's so faint..."

Skuld frowned, and whispered something to her small mech. It bounded
away, drawing the curtains, making the room as dark as possible. As my
eyes adjusted to the fainter illumination, I could just see a faint
flickering glow standing out from my body, a mix of royal blue and gold.

Urd snorted, loudly, her finger poking at me.
"This is crazy! A HAMSTER has more of a magical aura than he does!!"

I wondered if I should feel insulted by this? Up till now, the presence
or absence of a magical aura (whatever that was when it was at home)
hadn't exactly worried me, but then they tend to be fairly irrelevant to
software engineers. I was rather more annoyed about the hamster remark,
though.

Belldandy moved her hand in front of my face, making my eyes cross as
they tried to focus on her fingers, not quite touching me as she looked
thoughtful, her eyes not really focussed on anything.
"Well, he's definitely not a demon, there aren't any hidden markings."

Urd snorted in derision.
"Of course he isn't a demon, I could have told you that! Demons have
better dress sense than to turn up in old jeans and a T-shirt,
especially in this weather."

I blinked, ignoring for the moment Urd's scathing comments on my
sartorial elegance.
"Excuse me? But what was all this supposed to show, and how could it
help you tell if I was telling the truth about how I got here?"

Belldandy motioned the others to sit back, while she tried to explain it
all to me.
"Well, as we said, all living beings have an aura. Urd's spell should
have made yours clearly visible, and let us see more details in it, like
whether you were a demon in disguise. And your aura changes when you
lie, we would have been able to spot that easily too. But yours is so
faint.. even enhanced, it's barely more than that of a normal persons!"

Skuld brightened visibly, almost bouncing up and down on her seat.
"Hey, oneesama! I can rig up a device to tell if he's lying! Easy! And
much more reliable than Urd's spells..."

Urd scowled, but Belldandy nodded thoughtfully,
"I think you'd better, Skuld. And then we'd better investigate just why
his aura is so strange as well. I can't believe all these things are
coincidental. While you do that, I will see what information I can get
off of the system"

I sat back, and sighed.
"So, how long will this all take?"

Skuld grinned, as she grabbed my hand, starting to drag me in the
direction of her room.
"Not long, I've been waiting for an opportunity to try some of these
things out."

Damn, I was afraid she was going to say something like that.

************************************************************************

Chapter 5 - Weird Science
-------------------------

Skuld's room wasn't exactly untidy. Well, not much more than that of a
typical tecno-junkie. Most of the bits and pieces filling the available
space were what I'd expect, computer, disks piled everywhere, electronic
parts, bits of mecha on most available surfaces, one large mecha that
resembled a set of spheres that I recognised from the series, and the
only unusual thing, a HUGE refrigerator in one corner. Somehow I had a
feeling I knew what that would be full of, and it wasn't Diet Coke.

Still dragging me, and followed by Urd, who was no doubt waiting for an
opportunity to gloat at something going wrong with her little sisters
experiment (i.e. me), I entered. Reluctantly. At the moment, my thoughts
were not so much connected with hamsters as with guinea pigs and
laboratory rats...

I carefully cleared a little free space, and sat down to wait. Urd
lounged in the doorway, seemingly relaxed and bored, but I could feel
her eyes on me occasionally, and I knew she was far from taking me for
granted at this point. I hoped that when (if) Skuld could show them I
wasn't lying about what had happened that maybe they'd all be a little
friendlier.

Finally, Skulds delving, which up till now had rather resembled a hi-
tech gopher on speed, subsided as she came up triumphantly with a 
_something_ that looked more than a little dubious to me. A soft snicker
from the doorway indicated Urd wasn't entirely impressed either.

It looked... well, sort of like an aluminium colander set with valves. I
hadn't seen anything more outlandish since the last late-night 50's SF
movie I watched. She grinned at me, and started to plug it into other
pieces of kit, her little mecha grabbing wires and connecting them in
for her. Finally she connected it into her computer, and sat back.
"There! Now, you put this on your head, and then follow the
instructions and questions on the computer monitor, OK?"

I nodded doubtfully, gingerly taking the helmet contraptions with the
delicate care more associated with handling nitro-glycerine bottles than
colanders. I looked into it, wondering just how much of my precious
cerebellum this was likely to turn into kentucky-fried-brain, sighed,
and very carefully set it on my head, jerking as I barely restraining my
immediate urge to yank it off as it started to hum softly.

Skuld patted me on the shoulder, a vague attempt at reassurance as she
beamed fondly at her equipment. I got the distinct impression that she'd
be a lot more worried if anything happened to it than to me, but I
didn't see any real alternative. Urd was still lounging in the doorway,
and I suspected she wasn't about to let me leave, especially before
she'd had the chance to see and enjoy what Skuld's little endeavours
would do to me.

Skuld's fingers blurred as she tapped on the keyboard, a rapid staccato
that filled the screen with characters, then left it holding one line of
text. She turned to me, and smiled.
"There, just follow instructions, and then we can calibrate the lie-
detector."

I looked at the screen, then at her, then at Urd, and smiled weakly.
"Uh, ladies? I can't read Japanese..."

Skuld facefaulted.

Urd could barely restrain herself from doubling up and falling over
laughing.
Giggling, she pointed a shaky finger at her sister...
"Heheheh... your wonderful device... the marvellous lie detector that
would solve the problem, after my magic failed and he can't understand
it!!"
*bwahahahahahahahahahahaha!!*

Skuld looked daggers at her elder sister. If looks could kill, they'd
have been carrying Urd away in a pine box about now, impaled with more
knives than the average porcupine has quills. Then she looked at me, and
scowled blackly.
"What do you mean, you can't read Japanese!"

"Why should I, Skuld? I'm British, we don't get a lot of demand for
Japanese over there! Uh, don't you have an English version? Or even an
American one, I can understand American..."

She looked me, glared again at her still laughing sister, and then
stared at me as if it was my personal fault. Then she muttered something
I suspected was rude, and started to burrow into her equipment pile
again.
I looked, deciding staying quiet was about the safest thing to do right
now, especially as Urd was still chortling faintly.

At last, Skuld looked up, her hands grasping some circuit boards, and
glared at me again.
"RIGHT, I'm gonna fix this little problem once and for all!"

Somehow I didn't feel reassured at this point. I was already beginning
to get an 'I know I'm going to regret this' feeling, and Urds' giggling
didn't exactly inspire me to greater confidence.
"What do I do?"

"Just keep the helmet on, while I rewire these."
There was a flurry of motion, then Skuld started to attack the keyboard
again. While I couldn't read the kanji displayed, there were certainly
some interesting graphics coming up. I was beginning to get a distinct
impression from the amount of flashing red symbols, skulls, and other
effects that she was hacking into parts of the system people weren't
supposed to get access into.
The part that worried me most, though, was that I couldn't remember if
Skuld was supposed to have a direct line to the Yggdrasil system. If
THAT was what she was hacking, I was in serious trouble.

Finally, she smiled, and looked at me again.
"Ready?"

I nodded. What else could I do? After all, I didn't suppose I'd really
miss those brain cells she was probably about to fry...

Urd peered at the monitor, then looked over at her little sister.
"You do realise you aren't supposed to access that area, don't you?"

Skuld simply glared back, obviously impressed neither by her sister's
comment or superior (not to mention smug) tone of voice.
"At least my solution will work, not like your magic!"

Urd looked innocently at the ceiling, her tone one of honeyed
nonchalance.
"At least I won't get into trouble when they find out."

Personally, I was getting less and less thrilled by this as their
interchange went on. I bit my lip, and slowly eased up my hands to take
the helmet off.

I should have moved faster. Skuld saw my slow motion, scowled blackly at
me, and slammed her hand down hard on the <enter> key on her keyboard.

I think I screamed at that point. I'm not really sure, since just then
my head was about to explode as what seemed like a Niagara of
information was jammed into it.
I do remember waking up on the floor, twitching as Skuld gently took off
a now-smoking and discoloured helmet, giving it a delicate care I felt
would have been more suitable applied to me than to a mobile torture
device like that. I thought about making that point to her, forcefully,
but decided to restrict myself to a heartfelt moan.

Urd hmmmd, kneeling down to poke me gently with one finger.
"Um, Skuld, you DID remember he's only a mortal, didn't you? I hope you
haven't broken him..."

Skuld looked back, gesturing to her pet mecha to tidy things away, no
longer much interested in the equipment now it had dome its job.
"Of course I did, and he'll be fine! Unlike SOME people, I don't break
my toys when I'm using them!!"

Urd merely sniffed, wrinkling her nose at the faint smell of charred
insulation (not to mention charred me) still hanging in the air.
"So, what did you do, anyway?"

Skuld adopted a posture of genius lecturer addressing her dull pupils.
"Simple. I stuffed Japanese into his head, AND tested his story for
truthfulness at the same time! Simple, neh? At least, for a genius like
me..."

Urd sighed...
"I don't suppose you thought about just changing the lie detector to
work in English? It would have been much simpler."

Skuld looked a trifle guilty for a moment (while I wondered about the
implications of 'simpler' = 'not as much fun'), then looked innocently
back.
"Oh no, this was much simpler!!"

Urd didn't seem convinced. Gently touching the singed and burnt areas
where Skuld's device had touched my head, neither was I. My head seemed
about to burst, and I had a splitting headache.

Skuld absently gestured me to get up, while her eyes scanned rapidly
down tables of kanji characters. I almost made sense of them, but while
my eyes kept trying to read them, I couldn't process them into English
fast enough. Personally, while it did have the advantage of speed, I
didn't think Skuld's patent language lab was going to catch on, except
maybe with the manufacturer's of aspirin...

Urd craned her head over her younger sisters shoulder, a thoughtful
expression on her face.
"So, he was telling the truth. Fine. But what about his aura? Why
didn't he have any magic, hmm? I notice your wonderful machine didn't
tell us THAT!!"

Skuld sniffed derisively.
"At least it told us more than your magic did!! My technology is far
more reliable than your old spells, especially with a careless hentai
like you casting them!!"

Noticing Skuld's smug expression, and Urd's rapidly darkening one, I
tried to interject, hoping to stave off the next fight until at least I
had a better idea about what was happening to me (and also preferably
somewhere else).

I coughed, loudly.
"Ahem. Ladies??"
"Explain to me why it's so important that I don't show up as having no
magic? I mean, I never had any in my world, so why should I have some
just by being here?"

Urd looked at me with exasperation.
"Look, dummy, EVERYTHING has some level of magic if it's a living
being. Even animals. But you don't show anything!"

I still couldn't see her point.
"Yes, but I'm not from your world, remember? So why should I be the
same?"

Skuld looked at her sister, and coughed.
"I think I'd better explain it properly..."

Urd gave her a rude look back, but subsided, I guess waiting for an
opportunity to interject again.

"OK, David, it's like this.
All living beings generate a field effect that produces the energy we
are referring to as magic. All of them, in any world. It may be that
those energies are weak, or difficult to work with, where you come from,
but you should still show them. Unless you are dead, or not alive.."

I gulped at that last, and Urd grinned, rather unpleasantly...
"Hmmm, you a Wu, David? Maybe I should see how _resilient_ you are..."

I looked seriously worried, and Skuld gave here sister a dark frown.
"Be serious for once, Urd, this is important! We haven't got time for
your games!"

Urd made a face at Skuld, but went quiet again, as I looked back at
Skuld.

"But if I'm not dead, what's happened to this magic you say I should
have."

Skuld spared me a glance as she started to fiddle with her instruments.
"There's only one explanation I can think of. Your magic is being
diverted somewhere, or blocked. So it wouldn't show up, and that would
show why you can't use it"

I looked at her blankly.
"Use it? You mean as in use magic? But how can I, I'm not a wizard or
anything like that! Hell, where I come from we only have them in
stories!"

Urd gave a chuckle.
"Oh, you could, if you wanted. Every human has the potential to cast
magic, given the training. Of course, by the same theory every human can
win a gold medal at the Olympics, so I wouldn't let the idea of it scare
you too much...!"

I gave her a dirty look in return.
"I didn't say it scared me! I just said, we don't DO that where I come
from!"

She sat there and looked superior. I sat there and fumed quietly.
I must admit that I wasn't exactly thrilled by the concept of magic
right now, all the experience I had had of it so far was being dragged
from my home and dumped here.

 Skuld ignored us both as she half-disappeared with her pet mecha and a
large tub of ice-cream into a tangle of wiring as she started to modify
her equipment again.

I waited impatiently for a few minutes, then moved around to look at the
TV. Urd, after a look at her sister that as much as said 'Oh kami-sama,
there she goes AGAIN!' had turned it on, and at least it would help me
practice the nascent Japanese Skuld's machine had inflicted me with. And
the concentration would hopefully stop me getting so distracted by Urd's
nearness, not to mention the scent of her perfume. It wasn't that she
was trying anything, her - sexiness, I guess - just seemed to be a part
of her. It was a trifle odd that I hadn't noticed a TV set earlier, but
then Urd never seemed to have any trouble laying her hands on one - or
two, or fifteen...well, after the way today was turning out, I didn't
think materialising TV sets was really something to make too much fuss
over. Quite mundane, really.

I had trouble at first, just knowing what the words meant didn't help me
understand them when they were pronounced, and I found myself only
getting phrases. Then the quiz show changed to the news, and it became
easier, as the better diction of the newscasters gradually eased me into
utilising my new, painfully-acquired knowledge.


The announces shuffled his notes slightly, then looked into the camera...
"Teams arrived today from the University of California Earthquake
research unit to help Japanese seismologists investigate the
change in tectonic behaviour following the major Earthquake disaster in
Hiroshima 3 weeks ago."

(Camera cuts to shots of a 747 landing at Narita airport in Tokyo, then
to a press conference where a number of American scientists are being
interviewed)

"Professor Challenger, would you be kind enough to explain to our
viewers the purpose of your teams visit to Japan?"

The professor gives an obviously fake, though well-rehearsed, smile to
the TV camera.
"Of course. We are here to consult and aid the team from the Nerima
Seismological Institute, combining our data and research on
Californian earthquakes, to try and ascertain why tectonic activity in
the Japan area has been effectively non-existent since the recent
terrible 'quake in Hiroshima. As I am sure you know, such quiescence is
unheard of here, and we are hoping to determine whether it is merely a
result of the magnitude of the Hiroshima event relieving stresses for an
unusually long time, or if it has some other cause..."

(camera cuts to the US team and piles of crates being loaded on Japan
Seismology Institute vehicles, then fades back to the studio announcer)

"Meanwhile, in the US, yet more information is revealed in the Seattle
cattle-mutilation scandal surrounding Bill Gates & Microsoft...."

I frowned, and looked at Urd.
"That's odd..."

She tilted her head at me in an inquiring look.
"What, the allegations that use of Win95 turns people into cattle
mutilators?"

I grinned, and shook my head.
"I don't remember that news about the earthquake being on at home. Oh
well, I guess they didn't consider it important enough."

Urd's brow furrowed slightly, as if my comment had meant something, but
just then we were both distracted by an empty ice-cream carton flying
from the tangle of equipment Skuld had embedded herself in, followed by
a muffled 'Yattah!', and the reappearance of Skuld.

She grinned at us both, taking the cloth her small mecha held out to
wipe her hands clean.
"NOW we can find out what's going on!"

************************************************************************

Chapter 6 =96 The Plot thickens
-----------------------------

Our attention broken from the TV, we both looked at Skuld.

"Will it hurt as much this time? I still have the burns from the last
thing you did to me..."

Skuld sniffed, loudly and derisively.

"Don't be silly, this won't hurt a bit! Gee, you complain nearly as much
as Keiichi does..."

Urd didn't look much more believing than I did, but started to look at
the complex diagram that was on Skulds' computer screen, occasionally
nodding and muttering to herself.
"OK, I guess that ought to do it. I suppose you expect me to power it,
don't you?"

Skuld nodded.
"Please, Urd. I'll just draw the diagram..."

I watched curiously as she unhitched her hammer, then leapt backward,
startled, shading my eyes from the brilliant glare of the light that
leapt from its end. I moved further away, just in case...

"Uhh, Skuld? Would you mind warning me before unlimbering an
industrial-strength laser in your bedroom, please?"

She just gave me a brief glance, stuck her tongue out at me quickly,
and resumed her task of inscribing a circle surrounded by embellishments
and odd-looking writing on the floor, her face twisting into an
expression of concentration. Behind her, Urd looked from the screen to
the developing diagram, checking it I suppose. Remembering what happened
the last time the two of them had done this sort of thing, I hoped the
results wouldn't be quite as drastic. Especially to me.

Finally, they were ready. Just as well, I was running out of nails to
bite.
Skuld gestured, motioning me to step into the centre of the inscribed
circle, as Urd stretched, slowly, grinning a bit as she noticed me gulp
at the sight, and winked.

"Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit..."

I scowled.
"That's what my dentist always says, and I never believe him!"

Urd tsked.
"Such little faith. Trust us, we're trained Goddesses!"

I looked at her, and then carefully walked into the circle. As I stood
there, sweating slightly, I absently wondered how Skuld was going to get
all this off her bedroom floor. Maybe her hammer came with an 'undo'
command?

I was distracted from this pointless (if somewhat harmless) musing by
the lettering inset into the floor starting to glow. Looking up, I saw
Urd chanting again, and Skuld hunched over her terminal. I resigned
myself, watching as an impressive light show rose from the edges of the
inscribed circle, surrounding me in a column of polychromatic fire. It
didn't hurt at all, which was the first nice surprise I'd had this
morning, but it felt - odd. Sort of like trying to scratch an itch you
can't reach, and are not really sure if you even have.

Finally, Urd stopped, and the column of fire slowly cascaded back into
the floor, dying away. I was almost sorry, it's display had been almost
mesmerising while I was enfolded in it.

"Well, Skuld, Urd? What's the news?"

Skuld hmmd to herself, rapidly scrolling her monitor as she made some
notes on her pad.
"I'm - not quite certain yet. I think we'd better have a word with
Oneesama, then we can tell you."

Urd looked at the screen, then thoughtfully at her youngest sister, then
nodded slowly to me.

I stretched slightly, feeling my neck straighten after standing still
for their investigation.
"Is it OK for me to get out now?"

Urd smiled.
"Sure, it's turned off now. Come back into the main room."

We edged our way out past the piled clutter, Skuld still making notes on
her PDA, occasionally nearly (but not quite) bumping into things, her
small mecha following her like a cat. At any moment I expected it to rub
itself against her ankles and purr...

Belldandy was just putting the telephone down when we walked back in.
Seeing that I wasn't tied up, she looked at Urd, a brief question behind
her eyes for a moment. Urd nodded, looking thoughtful, and Belldandy
almost frowned for a second, then beckoned me in.

"Well, I see my sisters are happy with your story, and don't think you
represent any danger to us..."

Urd coughed slightly.
"I wouldn't be so certain about that last statement"

Belldandy turned to look squarely at Urd.

"He is a danger? But... I contacted the system help desk, they can
detect nothing wrong here, no portents, nothing. Although, they were
surprised at his appearance, but they said it was nothing to worry
about, everything else is normal."

Urd frowned, absently seating herself.
"It isn't so much that HE is dangerous. It's... look at Skuld's
figures."

Skuld wordlessly held out her PDA to Belldandy, who looked at it - then
looked again, carefully. Her eyebrows rose.
"Oh my...!!!"

I coughed, loudly, to attract their attention.
"Ladies? I think I've been very patient so far, I've submitted to all
your tests, even to Skuld's experiments. Now, would you PLEASE tell me
what's the matter, instead of discussing it as if I wasn't here!"

Belldandy had the grace to look slightly discomforted at the implied
rudeness to a guest. Urd just looked at me calmly, and Skuld, when she
thought the other two couldn't see, made a face at me - that
'experiment' crack, I guess.
Even so, I had had quite enough. I could feel a deep core of sullen
anger at what had happened to me and the way I had been treated so far,
no better than an experimental animal, and I wanted some answers,
goddesses or no!

Finally Urd spoke.
"Let me."

For once she was looking serious, which started me wondering just how bad
this problem they were happily discussing over my head was. She looked at
me for almost a minute, obviously deciding how to go about telling me,
then shrugged 

The Ragnarok Agenda
-----------

Settling herself comfortably, Urd motioned to me to do likewise. I tried,
but was simply too edgy to do as she requested.

"Well, let me see... I'll simplify it a bit, try and put it into
language you can understand, if I can. This would be far easier if your
world knew about magic or psi, but as they don't..."

She shrugged, an action that had - diverting - side effects, and
continued.

"Firstly, as we told you earlier, all living beings produce a certain
amount of energy, naturally. It's this that is the driving force behind
the use of magic or psi in universes where the energy costs are low
enough to allow mortals to perceive and use the forces. The amount of
energy produced varies; intelligent beings produce more than animals,
and humans differ considerably in how much they produce."

I nodded.
"OK, that seems clear enough. But what does it have to do with my
situation?"

She frowned.
"Patience, I'm getting to that. It isn't easy, trying to phrase all this
in non-technical language"

I waved a hand slightly, in apologetic acknowledgement.
"I'm sorry, I know how hard that is. Please, Urd, go on."

She gave me a brief grin, then sobered again.

"OK... well, think of this energy as a river. All mortals have one, and
the more water that flows the more energy you have to use.
If you have enough, you tend to use it, and become a mage, or psi-
sensitive, or sometimes even both, it tends to depend on the energy
thresholds of your particular universe. Yours is pretty powerful,
although I've seen stronger; if you belonged to this universe you'd
probably have become a mage of some sort".

I looked at her, puzzled.
"But I'm not, so what use is it? What does it do? Do you mean I'm
suddenly going to get the ability to use magic, or something?"

She shook her head.
"Oh no. Using magic successfully is far more than just having the power.
You need knowledge, of what to do, and how, and lots of training in how
to use it. You just have the ability to make good use of that. Or you
should..."

I looked at her, frowning as I went through her words again.
"Hang on - SHOULD have the ability?"

Urd bit her lip gently.
"Well, that's the problem. And it may also be the reason you are here.
You remember, we checked your aura and found it was very faint? Well, at
your basic power-flow level, it should have been clear and bright. But -
your power is being, well, diverted"

I looked about at the others for a moment. Belldandy was looking
serious, Skuld was looking rather unhappy about her sisters words, but I
think it was more the fidgeting of someone who was certain that they
could have explained it all FAR better if they'd been given the chance
rather than any basic disagreement.

"Diverted? You mean its going somewhere? Is someone else using it?"

Urd looked at me sympathetically.
"Relax, no-one else is using your power. It isn't going anywhere, that's
the point!"

I must have looked even more confused than before, because she took
sympathy and clarified it without even being prompted.

"Think of it like a dam. The river of power flows, but instead of being
used up steadily, as is normal, its been dammed, and the power is just
building up. And, like in a real dam, the amount of water stored up
allows more powerful magic to be used. It's a technique used by mages
when they need to build up power for some reason and they want to do it
all themselves. But in your case, there's a difference..."

"A difference? How? Because I'm not a mage?"

Urd shook her head.
"No, it's not that. It's the amount. You see, a mage will rarely collect
a huge store of power, since he always has uses for it. So the 'dam'
effect is used only for short times, and the power built up is never too
large"

I blinked again. I was still not getting her point on this.
"But... you said, my power wasn't that high. So what's the difference
between my stored power and one of your mages here?"

Urd looked at me directly.
"Because yours has been building up for, as long as we can determine, 25
years..!!"

I facefaulted.
"25 YEARS!! You mean, whoever did this to me has been planning it for
that long!?"

"They must have been. Which tends to suggest an immortal at work, normal
humans tend not to have the patience to wait for those sort of times.
And you now have more stored power than I ever heard of."

I put my face in my hands and sighed deeply.
"Wonderful, I have the biggest power reservoir in the world, without the
faintest idea of how to do anything with it, how to handle it, or even
how to get rid of the damn thing!!"

Urd reached over and patted my hand gently.

"Well, it isn't too bad yet. You've been like this for a long time, and
it hasn't caused you a problem, has it? But anyway, it isn't so much the
power build up you have that's worrying us..."

I looked at her thoughtfully.

"You mean, who did it, why, and why am I here now with it, don't you?
That's why you said I could be a danger to you?"

She nodded.
"It isn't your fault, but - you're a loaded gun, now. Or more like a
loaded cannon. And we have no idea who you are pointing at..."

I really wished I'd stayed in bed this morning.

***********************************************************************

Interlude

Across from the temple, a figure lurked in a darkened alleyway. A dirty
trenchcoat and hat made him anonymous, but something about the heavyset
size, and the soft snuffling wheeze of breath that plumed into thick fog
in the bitter air indicated both power and menace.

Leaning against the wall, the figure scratched itself, a hoarse
sandpapery sound, then turned with a quickness belying its side as it
heard a quiet voice behind it.

"Well, have you seen anything?"

The words came from a much smaller, slimmer figure. Clad in a cloak
which had certainly seen better days, judging from the condition of it,
the voice was obviously female, although she seemed to breath her words
with a strange rasp, as though she suffered from a voice impediment of
some sort.

The larger figure seemed to cringe slightly, indicating that maybe the
unprepossessing appearance of the newcomer was deceptive. His reply was
delivered in a deep voice, a hushed whisper from someone who was really
not used to such a delicacy of speech.

"Nothing, Lady. The man arrived, as predicted, and they took him inside,
since then no-one has left."

She nodded, her hood keeping her face secret.
"And Belldandy's pet?"

The man nodded.
"He left on his own, earlier."

There was a glimmer of teeth inside the concealing hood as the woman
smiled.
"Good, then the players are in place. My father will be pleased."

The man nodded, redundantly, the woman wasn't taking any notice of him,
she was speaking in the manner of one who never concerned themselves if
the people around them were listening to her. Bearing in mind who she
was, the watcher considered this fairly reasonable.

The lady chuckled to herself, a sibilant sound made sinister by the
peculiar rasp in her voice, and reached into her robe, pulling out a
small device.

"Here. If anything changes from now on, call us at once."

The lurker nodded, taking it carefully from the woman's outstretched
hand, his warty, greenish skin contrasting with the slim delicate
paleness of hers.

She turned, walking away into the alley, her figure twisting and
shimmering as she faded into insubstantiality, then invisibility, in a
manner that made the watcher's eyes ache. As she did so, the orange glow
of the streetlight opposite revealed the left side of her face for an
instant, and he shivered slightly. Even for him, the sight of long-dead,
rotting flesh on someone still walking was... uncomfortable...

Sighing, he shuffled into a warmer, more comfortable position, making
sure he couldn't be seen from the temple, as resumed watching. After
all, it wasn't as if he'd been in a position to refuse her job offer...

************************************************************************

Chapter 7 - Distractions
------------------------

Urd surprised me by touching me gently, her fingers just resting against
my hand. Looking up, I saw the sympathy in her eyes, and right now that
was a big help.

"You know, we are going to have to get to the bottom of this?"

I managed a shaky half-smile back.

"I know, I want to find out just as much as you do - if not more!! Just
be careful, won't you? I break easily..."

She grinned back, patting me in reassurance.

"Don't worry, I'll restrain my little sister. She isn't as good at
dealing with people as with technology, sometimes she forgets people are
only human, and gets rather _enthusiastic_ about her projects. Anyway,
we'll start right away, I'm sure we can get some information off the
system that will tell us more."

Our discrete discussion as to what experiments I was going to be
subjected to was interrupted suddenly by a loud gasp from Belldandy. All
of our eyes jumped in her direction, where she stood, rigid, her eyes
looking at something, one hand half raised as if to try and touch
something, but whatever that was it wasn't in the room.

"Keiichi is in danger - I must...

With that brief and enigmatic, if presumably accurate, statement, she
leapt across the room, gathering up her skirt as she almost leapt at a
large mirror.

Despite my knowledge of the series, I started, moving forward abruptly
in a hopeless attempt to stop her, my mind visualising her slamming face
forward into it. Just as well I was far too far away to get to her. When
her outstretched hand touched the mirror it...rippled, is the best way I
can describe it. As if the solid glass had been replaced with a vertical
pool of mercury, delicate coloured flows like an oil-film rippling away
from where her fingers touched the surface momentarily, before her hand,
and then the rest of her, flowed into the mirror.

It was a most disturbing sight. I stood there, looking stupid as my
attempt to stop her halted abruptly, then collected myself with an
effort.

Turning, trying to look not too embarrassed, in a rather hopeless
attempt to make it look as if I hadn't meant to try and stop her anyway,
I saw Urd grinning, and Skuld hunched up slightly as she tried not to
burst out laughing. I sighed.

"It's all right for you, YOU see her do that all the time!!"

This time, Skuld did start laughing. I merely hmmphd, and looked out of
the window till she stopped. When the hilarity at my expense had reduced
somewhat, I looked back.

"So, when do we start investigating this?"

Skuld frowned slightly, darting a quick look at her eldest sister.

"Well, we really should wait until oneesama is back. We work far better
together than separately, and this looks like being a difficult problem
to solve. Still, I'm sure she'll be back as soon as Keiichi is out of
danger."

She grimaced a little at that last. I guess she wasn't exactly happy at
the way Belldandy rushed off, leaving everything to see to Keiichi.

"Does she dash off like that a lot?"

"Far too much. She's always rushing off after him..."

Skuld stopped talking suddenly, looking a trifle embarrassed, as if she
hadn't meant to start talking about how she felt about her sister's
private life in front of a stranger. I looked at her curiously,
wondering if such outbursts were normal, or if in fact the situation was
getting to her. If it was, I had a bad feeling it was more serious that
they seemed to be indicating to me, if it could affect the judgement of a
goddess like that.

I coughed, trying to break the awkward silence.

"So, I guess it's a result of that 'Universal Force' thing in
application?

Skuld nodded vigorously, apparently eager to change the subject, and as
always happy for a chance to lecture someone, even if it was on
something I suspected she would rather prefer did not exist.

"It makes them stay together. Not all the time, obviously, but most of
the time. It's OK when Keiichi is not doing anything unusual, but if he
gets into trouble of something oneesama is forced to drop _everything_
and run after him. And he's such a CLUMSY mortal, he's always getting
into some sort of problem, and poor oneesama gets run ragged clearing up
the problems he gets into, sorting out the mess he makes of things,
never able to do what she wants...!!"

I looked a bit embarrassed, listening to her go on. And on. And on... I
wouldn't quite describe it as ranting, but she did seem to get rather,
well, overexcited about the problems Keiichi apparently caused her
sister. Behind her, I could see Urd's eyes raised to the ceiling, in a
'Oh-god-not-again' sort of look...

************************************************************************

Interlude

The woman walked slowly and carefully, as always, wending her way
between the leprous stalagmites whose sickly greenish glow lit the
subterranean chamber. Finally she reached her target, a large man
sitting on a pitted and scarred rock, his chin in his hand as he gazed
fixedly into a pool of water on the floor, the faint glow of the magic
from it lending his scarred face a fearful aspect as it illuminated
it from beneath.

"Hello, father."

He didn't turn or even acknowledge her presence in any way, his total
lack of movement making her certain he'd known of her presence all
along, but hadn't considered her worthy of disturbing whatever he was
doing.

"Well, daughter? Have you carried out my designs as I instructed?"

Inwardly she seethed, angry at the way he considered her nothing more
than a thrall for his bidding, but her voice was steady, completely free
of any emotion as she answered.

"I have. Belldandy's pet is being kept occupied, her bond forcing her to
look after him rather than looking deeper into matters we would rather
her not look at yet. And without her steadiness, her sisters are too
careless to discover anything useful."

The man bared his teeth, in what might, if you were very casual with
your use of language, be called a grin.

"Good. Serves the slut right, taking a human to be her lover. Well, I
suppose it saves on batteries..."

She smiled politely, to make him think she had appreciated his 'joke';
such matters had little moment in her kingdom and to her, but at the
moment she wanted to keep him happy, his temper since he had been
released was  - uncertain.

He looked at her, and grinned again, one finger absently rubbing the
deeply entrenched scar tissue on his face.

"Well, since she's so enamoured of him, I think I will start off my
revenge against them by using him a little more - creatively.

"Creatively? In what manner, father?"

"I think its about time I brought Tyrfang to join me. He's been working
on the roots of Yggsdrall long enough, it doesn't need any more work on
its systems. Anything those fools discover now will be too late to help
them, and I'm sure he'll want to be in at the ending. So, Keiichi's body
will make a fine demon portal, don't you think?

She smiled with the living half of her face.
"Of course, father. How suitable."
<yes, father, keep up your plans of destruction. The more souls you send
to my kingdom, the more powerful I will be...>

He laughed, kicking a pile of dead snakes to one side as he jumped down
from the rock.

"At last, Norns, I shall start my revenge against the gods with those
who presumed to set my destiny..."

************************************************************************

Well, Skuld finally ran down. I must admit, I was rather impressed with
her ability to castigate Keiichi and blame him for all the problems her
sister had without once having to swear at all. Although some of her
terminology did strain my recently-acquired Japanese, I had a feeling I
wasn't understanding all the cultural references.

"So, ladies. Will Belldandy be back soon?"

Urd looked thoughtful.
"I don't know. I'd have thought she'd be back by now, I think I'll check
and see what's holding her up."

With that, she started to gaze into nowhere, her eyes unfocussed. I
assumed she was either talking to Belldandy or seeing what she was up
to, so I waited as patiently as I could. Finally she blinked, and looked
at us again.

"I'm afraid it will take longer than we thought. It seems Keiichi is
having a number of problems, and she will have to stay with him until
she feels he'll be safe on his own."

Skuld let out a DEEP sigh.
"Typical. I don't see how that hentai managed to tie his own shoelaces
without oneesama to do it for him... Well, I guess I'll log on to the
system, and start seeing what I can find. Then we can all go through it
as soon as she returns."

For some reason, there was something about all this that was raising an
itch at the back of my mind. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I had a
feeling that something was wrong. But I didn't want to say anything yet,
I was probably just still twitchy after what had happened to me, and,
anyway, I was sure that the Goddesses were far more capable than me at
detecting trouble.

Skuld walked off into her room, her little mech following, while Urd
looked at me slowly.

"Will you be OK, I have a few things to do until Belldandy gets back as
well? "

I nodded, actually I was grateful for the opportunity of a little time
alone, after all that had happened.

"Sure, Urd, I'll be fine. Actually, I'm a bit tired..."

She smiled.
"Fine, then. If you really need one of us, or something happens, call."

I nodded, and settled myself in a chair.

"OK, I'm not going anywhere."

************************************************************************

I leant back in the chair, sighing softly as I tried to relax. Looking
out through the window, I could see the shadows lengthen slowly across
the temple courtyard as the afternoon wore on.
I shivered slightly, not from the cold, but more from the total
unreality of it all. I still couldn't quite believe it all, a part of me
kept telling me that I was dreaming all this. In a way, this seemed to
help a little, managing to stop me from teetering over into a full-
fledged case of shock that, in view of what had been done to me, I felt
I richly deserved. This was turning out to be one hell of an October
31st...

I wriggled myself a bit more comfortable, the peaceful temple scene I
was watching lulling me, as I drifted gently into sleep.

I don't know exactly when I realised when I was asleep and dreaming. I
knew at first I was dozing, my mind watching but not taking in anything,
my sense of time vague, events passing but not being remembered, then a
longer interval and I was looking at a scene, similar to one I now
remembered having dreamt of the night before...

Again, I was standing in a scene of devastation, the light unreal, the
colours odd, semi-monochrome, an icy ghost wind blowing through my
bones, the edges of my mind whimpering slightly as I looked about, not
wanting to see but too scared to close my eyes.

And again, the scene played itself out as before, the events made much
more frightening by the fact that I KNEW the people, the area. This was
the Tarikihonganji temple, now destroyed, a pitiful ruined shell, set in
the part of Tokyo I had briefly seen, and the bodies were those of the
three goddesses I had met.

This time, however, the drama played itself out further.
As before, I watched the manic figure destroy Belldandy, and then turned
to look towards him.

Slowly, with the solid, inescapable certainty of a glacier, the man
turns, until he is staring me straight in the face. If it wasn't for
those eyes, I might even be able to see what he looks like. But those
glaring, hate-filled, eyes dominate everything, staring at me,
seeming to drive an icepick into my brain. I try again to move,
desperate now, only wanting to get away, but I seems immersed in
jelly...

The man starts to smile. Not a pleasant smile, more like a starving
shark that's just seen a helpless swimmer appear on his lunch menu.
The terrible, staring eyes start to glow with a baleful wildfire, as if
small flames were flickering in the depths of them, growing stronger,
fiercer, devouring. Making one final, frantic effort, I tries to hurl
himself backwards, just as the figure starts to laugh again, a manic,
shivering wolf-howl of anticipation and terror...

This time, nothing happens. The figure does look at me, as I am unable
to tear my eyes away from those that feel like they are shredding my
brain and body, a million microscopic flaying knives that whisper as
they tear me away, leaving nothing but bare, polished bones behind.

Behind the figure, I have to watch as a huge wolf starts to form in the
air, its charnel breath puffing about me as it solidifies, the ground
quaking as it settles to the terrified earth, shoulders reaching up way
above the surrounding buildings, eyes glowing with the hellish molten
fire of a volcano that is about to erupt and destroy the villages
clustered about its base.

I open my mouth, and start to scream...

************************************************************************

With a horrible jerk, I started in my chair, the spastic motion nearly
sending me falling out of it. Shaken, I looked up to see Urd's concerned
face, her hand resting gently on my shoulder. I could feel my heart
pounding, and cold sweat on my face and neck.

"Are you OK? You cried out, and you don't look very good..?"

I shivered in reaction, then looked at her.
"Thanks, Urd. No, nothings wrong... I guess it must be some sort of
response to what's happened..."

She looked down at me, fingers absently stroking her chin, as she
frowned slightly, her eyes slightly unfocussed as she seemed to be
looking at me, but not quite at my body.

"Are you sure? Nothing else, no nightmares, anything like that?"

I tried to remember what had happened before her touch had woken me, but
I couldn't recall. Just flickering fragments of something, that slipped
away and vanished as I tried to grasp them.

"No, Urd, nothing. I guess I'm just tense."

I tried to smile reassuringly, as the last fragments of memory trickled
away, leaving me feeling hollow and cold. Something about my comment to
her about no nightmares seemed wrong, somehow, but I couldn't put my
finger on what it was...

Urd hmmmd, and gave me another long, close look, but didn't seem to see
anything special. At last she frowned slightly, and patted me gently on
the shoulder.

"OK... well, we'll be eating soon, Belldandy and Keiichi will be here in
a short while."

I nodded in thanks, and stiffly got up, stretching and rubbing the side
of my stiffened neck as it protested the odd angle at which I had fallen
asleep in the chair. As I did, I didn't see Urd look at me again, her
expression very thoughtful, and not at all reassuring...

************************************************************************

Chapter 8 - Revelations
-----------------------

As I looked around, I saw signs of preparation but no food. My stomach
grumbled slightly, a mundane reaction reminding me that it was a long
time since I'd eaten.

"What are we doing about eating, Urd?"

"Belldandy said she'd be bringing some takeaway with them, she didn't
want to waste time cooking when she got home."

I nodded, thankful that at least Belldandy hadn't asked Urd to cook.
While her culinary skills weren't quite in the major Chemical Warfare
area as Akane's, I recalled they were still nothing to try without
health insurance. And I didn't know if Skuld could cook anything but
icecream...

Hearing the sound of a motorcycle, I looked out the window. I could only
just make it out, it was pretty dark out, and rain was coming down
steadily, whipped about by a wind that was obviously freshening. A dark
and stormy night indeed. How appropriate... I didn't envy them having to
drive home in this, it looked foul and getting worse all the time.

Skuld must have heard the noise too, because as the noise of the machine
died away she wandered in from her room, hands full of printout which
she sat down with, making notes in the margins. 

I waited as the front door slid open. I hoped my presence here wouldn't
upset Keiichi, after all this was his home, and I was hardly an
invited guest. While the goddesses were being far friendlier to me now,
he might not feel the same way.

I stood up as Keiichi and Belldandy entered. Urd looked up from her seat
by the TV, half waving, while Skuld just looked up long enough to smile
at Belldandy and scowl at Keiichi before burying herself in her work
again. Keiichi just looked slightly amused at the look she gave me, I
guess he was used to it by now.

Belldandy spoke first.
"Good evening everyone. I hope you are all hungry, we have food with
us."

I smiled, and nodded assent, still looking at Keiichi. Despite the
manga, I was still surprised to see how short he was. The goddesses
weren't that tall, but the sense of _presence_ they gave out made their
physical size irrelevant; you just didn't think about it. And I'm a
couple of inches taller than the average Japanese, it made the
comparison quite noticeable.

He looked like a nice enough kid. I had difficulty believing him old
enough to be in University, but I guess that was partly his size again.
He grinned wryly as he looked up at me, almost as if to say 'gee,
another visitor who's bigger than me...!', but bowed politely to me,
then offered me his hand.

"Ah, you must be Smith-san? Belldandy told me about what happened on the
way here"

I smiled in relief; I didn't want to have to go through my story again
so soon. And his gesture of offering me his hand was thoughtful, right
now I needed all the familiar touches I could get.

"Thanks. I'm sorry to intrude in your home, but... I didn't have much
choice in the matter!"

He grinned, and looked first at Urd, then at Skuld, not saying anything,
then at me..
"Don't worry, I'm used to that! And it makes a nice change to have
another man to talk to..."

He was at least polite enough not to mention how my recently-acquired
Japanese probably sounded to him.

I grinned, ignoring the half-amused look Urd gave his statement, and the
fact that Skuld was sticking her tongue out at him where her elder
sister couldn't see her.

Belldandy coughed politely, still smiling, as she put down the bag she
was carrying.

"Please, everyone, sit down while I put out the food, then we can talk
about what has been happening while we eat".

I couldn't help noticing the side look Keiichi gave her after she'd said
that. It made me wonder if she usually insisted on quiet meals, and if I
was right it reinforced how serious things wore. The relatively quite
afternoon had lulled me a little, despite the strange surroundings. Or
maybe I was still having difficulty taking this all as real.

************************************************************************

Anyway, we eventually got things put down and started to eat, Belldandy
quietly bringing us up to date with events at the Tech.

"So, it's been one thing after another. Poor Keiichi seems to be
accident-prone this afternoon, first some scaffolding nearly fell on
him, then a car skidded and nearly hit him. If I hadn't been there...
well, in the end I just had to stay with him and come home with him, I
didn't feel I could leave him..."

Keiichi looked a bit uncomfortable as she described saving him, I
suppose he didn't really like her looking after him that closely, since
nothing had actually happened to him, but he took it in pretty good
part, especially for a Japanese male. I looked thoughtful. There was
something here that I couldn't quite put my finger on, but I had a
slowly growing suspicion about events. I didn't want to say anything
yet, though, I'd probably just make myself look foolish in front of
these people. I wish now I'd spoken up...

Urd and Skuld had been surprisingly quiet while Belldandy was talking. I
don't think it was the meal, something in their expressions said
otherwise. Urd kept looking thoughtful, her finger tapping slowly
against the edge of the table until she noticed she was doing so and
stopped. Skuld alternated between giving Keiichi dirty looks, her notes
and attending to what Belldandy was saying.

"Anyway, sisters, what progress have you made while I was away?"

Urd and Skuld both looked a bit guilty.

"Well, actually, not much. We really needed you."

Skuld nodded.
"I got a lot of information off the system, but... it's confused. Look,
it doesn't indicate ANYTHING about David's appearance here, and it should
do!! And I didn't get anything useful from the help desk, although that's
nothing unusual.

Belldandy frowned, her glance flicking for a moment at Keiichi, who was
sitting there looking interested, and then obviously deciding that she
couldn't keep hiding everything from him, especially with me sitting
there opposite him.

"That's very odd. There should be something about it! Maybe if I tried?"

Skuld nodded, and Urd just shrugged. I dragged my thoughts back from
that momentary distraction, as Belldandy walked over to the phone,
dialling what seemed to me to be a ridiculously long series of numbers.
Finally finishing, she put the receiver to her ear, the looked puzzled.

"I can't get through...??"

Her sisters looked at her, their faces equally puzzled.
Frowning, she put the phone down and tried again, with the same result.
This time she looked really upset, and her sisters didn't look any
happier. I looked at Keiichi, who looked back, shrugging slightly. He
obviously didn't understand any more than I what was giving them so much
concern.

"But... its the direct number, it CAN'T be blocked!!"

Something made me jerk abruptly. I looked around, but I couldn't see
anything. I thought it was just one of those sudden muscle spasms you get
occasionally, but then I started to hear an odd humming. It seemed to be
in my ear, like that ringing noise that doesn't appear to come from
anywhere, but it definitely wasn't that. I looked around, not really
worried, just confused, but no-one else seemed to be hearing anything.

I tapped my ear, but the ringing, whining noise continued, getting
louder as it developed a grating edge to it. I looked up, feeling
suddenly dizzy as I moved my head, the sound getting louder, and a faint
spray of coloured pinpoints of light spraying across my vision, leaving
me feeling sick and weak. Even as I opened my mouth to say something, I
was interrupted by a scream from Belldandy!

Involuntarily, I turned to look at her, as did the others - all except
Keiichi. She was pointing at him, or more accurately at his feet. He
looked down, looking completely confused, and seemed as startled at the
rest of us as a rippling black pool of light spread from under his feet,
until it was about a metre across.

He only yelled in surprised as the shadow suddenly seemed to act somewhat
like the inky pool it looked like, as he slowly slid down into it like
someone sinking into soft treacle, his passage not raising a ripple on
the surface.

Belldandy screamed again, running for him, her arm reached out to grab
his, but too late. The tips of her fingers just touched his as with a
despairing look on his face he vanished, the pool spiralling inward and
vanishing with him as soon as he had been, well, consumed by it. Skuld
and Urd seemed as surprised as Belldandy, both just staring at the floor
where Keiichi had been.
The most frightening thing about it, though, had been the way Keiichi
had looked down as his legs vanished, and the terrified expression of
horror that had crossed his face then, as if he was seeing something
through the blackness that the rest of us couldn't witness.

I started to leap to my feet, my nausea forgotten in the sheer surprise
of the event, but as I did so I felt my body start to tilt sideways, not
under my control as the humming in my head got much louder and my vision
blacked out for a moment...

************************************************************************

I started thinking again as I felt myself being helped into a chair by
Urd, her arm supporting me. I clutched it as I sat down hard, a moment
of disorientation making my head swim as I recovered my faculties.

"You fainted."

I looked up at Urd, focusing on her after a little difficulty.

"That's crazy, why on earth should I faint?"

She looked at me, frowning. Behind her, Belldandy was looking more
upset, Skuld holding her hands as she tried to comfort her.

"I don't know. Do you make a habit of it?"

I shook my head.

She bit her lip slightly, still staring at me, the gestured at me to be
still, as she started making a slow series of gestures in front of me. A
gentle glow grew in the air about us, then finally a very faint,
flickering line of fuzzy light came into view, leaving me and vanishing
downward through the floor.

Urd nodded, almost abruptly, as though satisfied but wishing she wasn't,
and folded her arms, starting at me. I began to hope I wasn't guilty of
anything, she didn't look happy and I was suddenly absolutely certain
that she wasn't playing around any more.

"There was no physical reason why you fainted."

I looked back.
"Then if it wasn't physical...?"

"Someone drained you, used your power. It was the strain of being
drained that made you faint, it overloaded your system, rather as if
you'd overexerted yourself physically. Your body reacted by fainting in
an attempt to stop you doing more damage by continuing the drain. The
problem with you is unusual, you see; normally you can't use too much
power, because your pool runs out and you collapse before you
permanently hurt yourself, but your pool is so big trying to use too
much will burn out your system."

I gulped, something making me shiver suddenly, thankful that at least
she'd put it in terms I could understand. Great, one more thing to worry
about, turning into a human candle if too much of that damned power was
used too fast...

"Then... was this why I was brought here? To have my power stolen like
this?"

She nodded.
"It seems reasonable. There are some things that can be done with a
mortals power that are difficult or inconvenient even for gods..."

I blinked at that!
"But... surely gods have far more power than we do? They're GODS, after
all!!

"Yes, of course we do. But a god's powers suffer from certain...
restrictions... and constraints. A mortal's doesn't, so... it looks like
whatever the entity behind this is, he doesn't want us to find out who
he is. By using your power, he not only gets around any restrictions on
him, but he doesn't leave a power signature we can trace and analyse. Of
course, we still don't know if it's a god or demon, or even a human. But
I think we'd better assume the worst."

I considered for a moment asking her just what WAS the worst assumption
we were supposed to make, as if what had happened so far wasn't bad
enough, but decided not to. I was feeling bad enough already, even the
fascinating insight from Urd that mortals could apparently do some
things the Gods found difficult failing to lift my depression.

"Urd, Skuld"
Belldandy's voice was as cold as ice, and when I looked at her I
shivered at the frozen calm of her face.

"I need to know where Keiichi is. And why whatever took him did so with
no warning, so that I can't tell where he's been taken to. I intend to
find out now. Please follow me"

She headed out to Skulds room. Such was her tone that I followed along,
her voice had given no alternative to doing so, even if I hadn't been
curious; the brief, staccato phrases, so different from her normal
speech pattern making me feel she was taking this far worse than her calm
exterior suggested.

She stopped in from of Skulds terminal, flicking it on. Without looking
around, she rapidly typed in something, then spoke. Although I was
standing only a few feet away, and she didn't seem to be whispering, I
couldn't hear a word. But the screen cleared with something about
'Access level requires confirmation'. I guess no-one was foolish enough
not to put security on a machine linked into Yggdrasil... And it seemed
that whatever was blocking their telephone line either hadn't thought of
this one, or couldn't block it as well.

Still not looking around, she spoke in that same flat, icy, commanding
voice.

"Urd, Skuld. Input your authorisation passwords."

The two looked at one another, then Urd shrugged very slightly, and they
both repeated her actions. Finally the screen did some impressive
warning displays, then settled down.

"Oneesama? Would you like me to help, I think I can get at the files
fastest?"

It looked like Skuld didn't want her sister at the computer, and in view
of the way she was acting I agreed wholeheartedly, not that anyone was
asking my opinion about things right now. Belldandy clenched her fist,
her knuckles whitening, then reluctantly gave way to Skuld, who
immediately scooted into the chair and began to type. Looking at
Belldandy, I realised she really did feel about Keiichi as strongly as
my 'foreknowledge' from the manga implied.

We all clustered around Skuld, looking at what she was doing with the
computer. Bits and pieces of code and images flashed across the screen
as she typed furiously, then finally stabilised into some sort of debug
window. Skuld drew in her breath in a sharp hiss, and out of the corner
of my eye I saw Urd's knuckles whiten as she held the top of Skuld's
chair. Not good news, obviously.

"Oneesama?"

Belldandy started slightly. Even during all this activity, I guessed her
thoughts had still been with Keiichi, and what might be happening to
him.

"I... I'm sorry, Skuld.. what is it?"

Skuld pointed at a section of code, her fingernail tapping the glass,
her expression a mix of admiration and disgust.

"There! Someone's got a virus into Yggdrasil...!! That's why we haven't
been getting sensible answers, its in there deliberately to stop us
finding out what's been going on!"

Belldandy looked shocked. I'd have been more worried if I'd had time to
think through the implications, this was after all the _Universes_
operating system someone had been messing about with.

"But how...??"

Skuld scowled, looking as if she really wanted a few minutes with the
person responsible, for her and her hammer to 'discuss' the matter with
them.

"You remember that recent 'upgrade' Kami-sama authorised? The Ygg-NT 4.0
one, to improve the systems interface? The distribution media was
deliberately corrupted, so when they loaded it in it had this code
underneath it. And the upgrade problems helped hide the fact it was
there and working until too late"

Urd looked across at her sisters, clearly worried by Belldandy's unusual
disability to confront the current problem.

"Belldandy? We must find out what has been done. If nothing else, it
will help us to find what happened to Keiichi, this is bound to be
connected."

I was impressed by the quick thinking. Even if Keiichi's disappearing
had nothing to do with this, her connection of the two together probably
meant we'd have Belldandy fully committed to helping sort out the
problem.

Belldandy nodded, her lips compressed to a thin line. I didn't envy the
people who'd taken Keiichi when she caught up with them.

Urd tapped Skuld on the shoulder.
"Let Belldandy at the machine, Skuld. I think she'd be the best one to
start investigating."

Skuld looked up, by her expression she was obviously about to disagree
violently with Urd at the idea of giving up that job, even to Belldandy,
but as soon as she saw Urd's face she bit her lip, and got up without
further commentary, offering Belldandy her seat. Belldandy gave a quick,
almost rude nod of acknowledgement, and sat down, starting to work
straight away. She seemed to be transferring all her worry about Keiichi
into her attempts to make sense out of what had been done, staring at
the screen with a fierce concentration that bordered on a glare as she
typed rapidly.

I looked at Urd in question, as did Skuld. With a silent jerk of her
head she motioned us away from Belldandy, over to the corner. Skuld
still wasn't looking too happy about being dragged away from the
computer, and kept giving little glances over her shoulder at her sister
even as she joined us.

"Well, Urd?"

Urd wasn't looking at all happy. She looked over at Belldandy for a
moment, her eyes sad as she looked at the activity, then turned to us.

"I don't think she's going to find Keiichi that way. Not in time,
anyway."

"Not in time? You think something's happened to him, Urd?"

Urd nodded slowly, as if not wanting to admit what she felt.
"I'm certain of it. I think there's a link between it and David here
fainting earlier. Someone used his power, then, and I'm sure that it's
the same somebody who took Keiichi. And I AM certain that power was put
to no good use. Skuld, I know you don't like Keiichi, but I may need
your help. Belldandy isn't thinking straight right now, and with her
link to him probably all screwed up by that virus, I think it's best for
us to look for him."

Skuld screwed up her face.
"It isn't that I don't like him, Urd. It's just that he takes so much
from oneesama."

She looked back over her shoulder at Belldandy, who was still working
with an almost fanatical concentration. We were all talking in whispers,
I don't know why, since I suspected we could have hit Belldandy with
Skuld's hammer right now without disturbing her, but habits are hard to
break.

"I'd much rather oneesama left him and came back to heaven with us.
But...he's OK, for a mortal. I wouldn't want anything to happen to
him..."

Urd smiled a little, patting her youngest sister on the shoulder.

"OK, then here's my plan...
We are going to trace David's power. It must be around here somewhere,
and the nearer it was the easier it would have been for them, so we'll
search around till we find some traces, then track it. When we find who
did it, then we can call Belldandy in to help."

She turned to me.
"David, you stay here with Belldandy, OK? You should be safe here..."

I looked at her, brows furrowed..
"Uhh, Urd? Why do you need to look for where the energy went when your
spell showed a trail leading from me? Can't you follow that?"

I didn't realise what a bombshell I'd dropped till I looked at their
faces.

"You mean you can see it!! What did you see!!"
Urd grabbed my shoulders, almost shaking me as she whispered fiercely at
me.

"Hey, take it easy! When you cast that spell, I saw a faint line of
light leading away from me. Would that be the energy that was stolen?"

Urd nodded grimly.
"I don't see how it can have been anything else. Can you still see it?"

I looked at her, then tried to recall what the thing had looked like. I
couldn't SEE anything, but..

"I can't see anything, Urd...but... I can, well, feel a sort of pull?
Well, not exactly that, but its sort of like that."

She nodded. I was glad my explanation seemed to make more sense to her
that it did to me!

Skuld almost bounced with excitement.
"Hey, if he can follow it we can find them right now! Let's take
oneesama and go find Keiichi!!"

Urd grabbed her little sisters arm.
"Don't be silly, don't you realise it may be a trap? They could have
left this deliberately to lead us to them..."

Skuld's face fell. I guess it wasn't something that had occurred to her.
It had to me, and I didn't like it one bit.

"Urd, whoever is doing this, this is the first time they've left their
tracks uncovered. Either it's a trap, or they don't care any more..."

She startled me by grinned at me.

"Well, it may be a trap, but catching us and dealing with the two of us
are quite different matters!!"

I gulped, and braced myself.
"Three of us, not two, Urd."

Urd looked at me in surprise, and Skuld dug me in the ribs, hard!
"What do you mean, three! You can't come, you're only a mortal! You'd be
an encumbrance, just like Keiichi always is!"

I sighed.

"Skuld, Urd, I don't WANT to go with you. The truth is, I'm scared
stiff, I don't want to mess with anything that powerful and presumably
that nasty. But we don't have any choice, I'm the only one who can feel
where they are."

"Are you certain? It could be very dangerous"

I nodded, hoping the sick feeling in my stomach would go away.
"I HAVE to. Not only am I the only one who can trace the power, but its
all my fault anyway. If it wasn't for me this wouldn't have happened."

Urd looked at me grimly; for a moment I thought she'd stop me coming
anyway. Part of me was hoping she would, I was getting a really bad
feeling. Then she nodded, slowly, and made a gesture with her hand; a
thick coat appeared over it. She tossed it at me.

"Better put this on, its cold outside and I don't think we'll find them
in the kitchen!"

************************************************************************

A little while later, I was beginning to regret my chivalrous impulse.
We'd gone over the temple, the feeling I was 'following' not being very
accurate, and Skuld was already muttering darkly about all the
backtracking we had done. Urd wasn't saying anything, which surprised
me, and worried me. We'd left Belldandy hacking away on the terminal,
her concentration such that she'd barely acknowledged us leaving.

Eventually we found ourselves in a space underneath the main level, in
what was a basement area of some sort; I never did find out what it was
for.

I hunched into my borrowed coat. The cold was beginning to get to me, a
nasty, damp sort of coldness that seemed to burrow its way down into my
bones, making me wish to be sitting cuddled up to a hot fire.

I looked down to my side. Skuld was looking uncomfortable, her hands
clutching her hammer, sliding nervously up and down the shaft. While she
didn't seem to be suffering from the cold like I was, she didn't seem
any happier. I began to worry more; if goddesses could get seriously
worried about what was going on, what the hell was I doing here?

The oppressive silence was broken by Urd drawing in her breath sharply.
She looked at what looked to me like an ordinary blank wall, her eyes
narrowed in concentration, then made a peculiar gesture with her right
hand. The wall slowly... unfolded, I guess you'd call it... the wood
sliding and opening away to leave a dark, downward-leading passageway. I
coughed as a gust of cold, foetid air rose from it, and shivered again.

Urd looked back at the two of us.
"You don't have to come in, I can manage this on my own...

I shook my head.
"Urd, I don't WANT to go in there. But...something is down there, I can
feel it!

She looked closely at me, then nodded once, abruptly.
"Skuld?"

Skuld just looked up at her eldest sister, and nodded, hand clutching
her hammer tightly.

Sighing, Urd summoned a pale flickering flame to her hand. It hovered
gently just above her palm, the soft foxfire leaving writhing, twisting
shadows on the wall behind us. I hoped that wasn't a portent of what was
to come...

Slowly, we descended into the darkness of the passage. A faint breath of
air brushed past us as we did; if it hadn't been for the dank, foetid
smell of it I would have been glad of it's warmth. The walls of the
passage were freezing, runnels of faintly glowing greenish slime frozen
in the act of dripping downwards, their crepuscular light lighting the
passage without illuminating it. I looked about me and shivered, not
necessarily from the cold.

"Urd? I didn't know there were passages under the temple? What's it here
for, where does it lead??"

She stopped for a moment, looking back at me, eyes hooded, face lit
eerily from beneath by the light in her hand.

"There aren't any passages under the temple."

I gulped. Oh. Silly me.

We walked slowly forward deeper into the darkness, as the passageway
finally ended, Urd's light slowly revealing a closed wooden door.

Normally I don't mind the dark at all, and certainly I don't find it
scary. This time was very different, though.
The air felt greasy, somehow, as if something unclean and very, very
unpleasant had been here - the equivalent of a slug's track on the
grass. Faintly I could smell the aroma of something burnt, or burning. It
was like a combination of old ashes and burnt meat. I began to dread what
we were going to find past this doorway.

We all stopped, none of us wanting to be the first one to open that
portal, and exchanged glances.

Urd spoke first.
"Skuld, I don't think you should go in..."

Skuld scowled, her annoyance for the moment overpowering her queasiness.
"If you and he can go in, so can I! He's only a mortal, I can go
anywhere he can!"

Urd sighed slowly, and looked much older. This time she didn't seem keen
on fighting her younger sister.

It was as if she already had an idea what was beyond the door. She was
the eldest of the Norns, maybe she had.
Looking at us both, she nodded slowly, and then touched the handle.
Instead of twisting it as I had expected, she drew her breath in
sharply, making a small disgusted noise.

We both looked at her, curious.

Saying nothing, she held up her hand to us. Sticky crimson liquid
glisten on the dark skin of her palm.
"Blood. Not too fresh."

I licked my suddenly dry lips.
"Open it, Urd, we have to know what's in there..."

She nodded to me quietly, for once completely sober and focused, then
reached out and slowly turned the handle, pushing the door open.
At first, we couldn't see anything but a small puddle of light thrown
through the doorway by Skuld's torch, which huddled there almost as if
afraid to venture further inwards and illuminate what was inside. A
terrible charnel smell wafted to us from the open door. I gagged, and
nearly lost my last meal. A faint sound, part moan, part chant, part
faint buzz as of a horde of flies, reached us. It was made more horrible
by the fact that if you tried to you could almost make out
understandable words in it.

Urd stepped forward into the room. I was scared of following her, but
even more afraid of staying where I was, alone. I guess Skuld felt the
same, because I could feel her body pressing against my back as she
pressed in close behind me.

I looked into the now-illuminated room, and immediately wished I hadn't.
Beside me I heard the faint hiss as Urd drew her breath in sharply, her
face grim and cold as she nodded slowly. Behind, from the noises, Skuld
was trying not to be sick. Despite her closeness, I didn't even worry
about that, the sight in front of me was far too horrifically
compelling.

Stretched out, crucified on a rack, limbs outstretched and tied against
the top and bottom rails, was a naked body. Blood still ran down slowly,
making small plopping noises as it fell into the wet pool of ichor
underneath the rack, but worse was the sight of the open space where the
abdomen had once been, a void gouged into the eviscerated flesh, a
gaping hole filled with a terrible burning green phosphorescence, from
whence came the whispering 'tekeli-li' noises we had heard.

The head moved, suddenly, unexpectedly! I jerked, and nearly had a heart
attack right there. Impossibly the body was still alive. The anguished,
tortured features turned to face us, the torn, broken lips contorting as
they tried to frame words past the blood bubbling through them.

We had found Keiichi.

************************************************************************

Chapter 9 - Attacks
-------------------

I took a step backwards. I didn't want to, but the sight in front of me
was so appalling I just couldn't stand there and look at it. I think I
might have run, except that the step made me bump into Skuld.
She was standing, half-crouched, glaring about her with a small
spherical object gripped in one hand. That bomb looked a lot nastier in
real life than they do in the manga... Although from her stance I got
the impression she'd rather have fed it to whoever was responsible for
this instead of merely blowing him up.

Urd raised her hand, and the glow against her palm brightened, lighting
the room for a few seconds, dispelling the shadows. It helped a little,
and showed nothing but Keiichi. She nodded to herself, as if expecting
this, then motioned us back.

"We can't do anything here for him, not after what's been done. But I
can stabilise him, so we can get him away from this place."

Well, I was certainly in favour of the last part of that, even if I had
no idea what she meant by stabilise. I know its facile to say a place
reeked of evil, but this one did. I couldn't put the feeling it gave me
any better, I just wanted to be a long way away from here. From the
quick glances she gave around the room as we waited for Urd, Skuld must
have felt the same way; she was looking as if she expected something
awful to dart out of the shadows and attack us at any moment.

Urd raised her hands, chanting in that guttural language I had heard her
use before. This time it lasted longer, and the effects were a lot more
spectacular. First a pale, white glow slowly grew about her, then it
writhed and turned into a mass of curling frost-coloured fire that threw
back the shadows, Urd's figure enveloped inside its flickering core.
With a hurling gesture she threw her hand towards the pitiful figure on
the rack, as the fire left her and blazed about it, blinding me for a
moment. When the afterimage cleared from my eyes, Keiichi and the rack
were inside a cloudy crystal, the icy cold emanating from it reaching
across to me, making me colder but, oddly, feeling to be a far cleaner
cold than that we had encountered entering here.

Urd sighed, and looked at us.

"Skuld, can you carry this along with us? It will keep him stable till
we can work something out for him."

Skuld nodded, pulling something out of an inside pocket in her cloak. I
blinked, wondering for a moment how she carried something resembling a
large pile of spheres and rods in there without any apparent bulge, then
dismissed the thought as being fairly irrelevant in the current
circumstances. She put it down, pressing a button on it and standing
back as it assembled itself in seconds into a large mech, seeming much
larger than its component parts, which scuttled under the crystal,
lifting it onto its back.

"All done! Can we go, now, Urd, please!!!"

Urd nodded, and led us out, her handfire again illuminating our passage
back to the surface, the mech bringing up the rear. I was torn between
casting quick glances as it, to see if it were still there, and not
wanting to look at the frozen body encapsulated within its icy embrace.

Eventually we reached the surface. Passing out into the temple
courtyard, we emerged into the cold night. The rain that had been
falling earlier had stopped, but the ground was covered in icy pools,
the cold wind biting. Looking up, thick turbulent clouds writhed and
twisted their racing path across the sky. I shivered, not only from the
cold.

Standing before us, face unnaturally calm, was Belldandy. Looking
quickly at the crystal, I was glad that it somewhat obscured what was
within. We all stopped, looking at her. She met Urd's gaze, nodding
slowly.

"He isn't dead, I would know."

"He isn't dead, Belldandy. But he's badly hurt."

She walked forward, as Skuld and I moved aside, not wanting to get in
her way. Placing her palm against the crystal, she closed her eyes for a
moment, all expression leaving her face. After a few moments that
stretched out like an eternity, she nodded again, and turned to us.

"Whoever did this will pay dearly."

I shivered again. For someone as polite and soft-spoken as Belldandy,
those few words had spelled doom for someone. Although, having seen what
they had done, I had no doubts that they richly deserved their fate.

I didn't want to look at Belldandy's face, not when it was like that.
The mixture of grief and determination was such that I didn't want to
see it, not even though I was innocent of anything to do with what had
happened to Keiichi. Turning, something drew my gaze across the
courtyard. I don't know what it was; the scene looked perfectly
ordinary, but somehow the area across from us looked - odd. I can't
describe how, it was a feeling more than anything I could see or
describe.

I looked around for Skuld, about to tell her about it; it may have been
nothing more than my imagination, after all that had happened my nerves
weren't what they were a little while ago, but stopped as I saw her
looking intently at a small device in her hand. It was humming softly,
as she pointed it in the general direction I had been looking, and she
was looking excited.

"Oneesama, Urd, there's something..."

Her words were cut off by a peal of hideous laughter, seeming to come
from where we had both been looking. All of us spun around to look, but
there was nothing to see, just that insane noise that grated against my
nerves like a file.

"Ah, is the goddesses little toy broken? What a pity, now she'll have to
find something else to play with at night!"

The voice didn't sound much saner then the laughter. I still couldn't
see anything, but I was feeling more and more uneasy, my skin crawling
as my eyes flicked about, looking to try and see who was causing this,
certain they didn't mean any good to us.

Slowly, a leprous green light grew at the end of the courtyard. Unlike
the earlier clean glow of Urd's fire, this looked like it belonged to
something found long-rotting under a log. Then the air - twisted. It was
like looking at the heat-haze above a radiator, except this stayed in
the same place. I blinked, rapidly, unwilling at first to believe this
was happening, despite all my earlier experiences today.

The next thing I knew, the ground itself was shuddering underneath me as
the temple trembled, a harsh, grating noise coming from the distortion,
the air itself about it crackling as figures appeared inside it, running
together like a reverse-motion film of oil dispersing in water as the
walls cracked and splintered about us. The three goddesses kept their
feet; me, I hit the ground and held on, not getting up till the world
stabilised a little.

Standing facing us was a group of figures, at their head a very tall
man, clad in a millennia-old style of Viking costume. I looked at him,
and for a second my mind went blank, seeing a single scene I almost
recognised, this man standing triumphant over the bodies of the three
goddesses, a single frame frozen from my memory, then he spoke, and the
vision shattered into shards as my attention broke.

"Greetings, Norns. How nice to see you all here, safe and sound! I do
hope you won't mind my entrance, but I do so like a spot of drama, don't
you?"

Behind him, a low, guttural giggling rose from his followers. I'd never
seen anything like them before, but from their size, appearance,
medieval weaponry and general air of malignant brutality I guessed troll
was as good a description as any for the time being. The one exception
was a woman, wearing a hooded cloak, standing a little way apart from
both the man and his other followers, as if almost detached from all of
this.

Urd spat.

"Loki. I didn't expect to see you again, but this has all the hallmarks
of your meddling"

The man smiled, beaming in an air of assumed innocence that didn't even
fool me, let alone the Norns.

"Ah, Urd, you do wound me. Why, there I was, chained in my small, dark,
underground prison, and I thought how much I'd like to see some of my
old friends..."

Urd spoke again, at length. I didn't know what the words in that
language meant, but from Urd's expression and the honeyed smile upon
Loki's face, I suspected Old Norse was a very expressive language for
swearing in, it certainly sounded good even when you couldn't understand
it!

Belldandy touched her sisters arm, breaking her flow of curses. Looking
straight at Loki, she held him with the coldness of her stare, such that
his followers stepped back a bit, and even his grin faded somewhat.

"You were responsible for hurting my Keiichi"

Loki grinned again.
"Me?? Why, it wasn't MY power that opened that demon portal using his
body, Belldandy. Why don't you blame the one who's power caused the
harm? And he's been so useful in other parts of my plans, too."

I gulped, feeling sick as I suddenly got a very bad feeling about this.
It was confirmed as Belldandy looked at Loki for a moment, then turned
slowly, looking straight at me.

"But... I didn't, I mean I couldn't, I..."

My stumbling protestations of innocence were cut off by her gaze. It
seemed to look straight into me, straight past my skull and right inside
my head. I couldn't look away, or even blink as that stare burned into
me. Finally she turned away, looking back at the smirking visage of
Loki, and I gasped, able to breath again.

"Loki, your fabled cunning seems to have deserted you. Don't you think I
can tell the difference between someone whose power was stolen and the
villain responsible for the theft and the deed?"

He chuckled, not pleasantly.

"Well, since you choose to live with a mortal pet, I didn't suppose your
standard of perception was currently high, no..."

Urd reached out, her hand touching Belldandy's arm, calming her
somewhat. She didn't look that calm herself, but her anger seemed to be
under control, and aimed at Loki.

"So just how do you expect to get away with this, Loki? You were
sentenced to be chained underground until your release at Ragnarok,
where you will die. You know we have the power to return you there, what
is all this in aid of?"

Loki seemed to find this statement hilarious, at least his manic
laughter echoed around the courtyard for nearly a minute.

"Ah, Urd, as usual so beautiful and so stupid!! Do you think I would
have worked to escape and have my revenge just to let a foolish trio of
women stop me! Now that my plan has come to fruition, none of the gods
can stop me! And as for my death at Ragnarok... why, that just
propaganda. The winning side will write what happened, and mine will me
the winning side!!"

Skuld pushed half past me, glaring up at the god, a fistful of her bombs
half raised in her hand.

"And how do you intend to stop us re-chaining you?? You can't stand
against us!"

This time he merely smiled, very sweetly and innocently. Raising his
hand, he pulled a small amulet out from under his shirt. I looked at it,
then looked away quickly, my eyes burning; it had _twisted_ as I looked
at it.

He looked at us, then gestured expansively at the woman standing behind
him.

"Ah, I do so love it when a plan comes together! Thanks to my darling
little daughter here, who has the custody, as I am sure you will
remember, of Baldur, I have made certain... arrangements... to copy the
code Yggrasil made when he was made _nearly_ invulnerable, and copy it!
Now I have his immunity, and now I will destroy the nine worlds and remake
them in my image!!

I frantically tried to make sense of what he was saying. If what I
remembered about the Norse myths from my world held true here (something
about which I had serious doubts about, but then I didn't have anything
better to go on at the moment) Baldur was the god who would have to die
before Ragnarok, the doom of the gods, could happen. So they arranged
things so everything in the world agreed not to harm him. Except that
they forgot mistletoe, and he was killed by a dart made of it.

Belldandy looked at the cloaked woman, her voice full of icy rage.
"So, Hel, it seems you have seen fit to interfere with what was
prophesised..."

The woman shrugged under her cloak.
"It is of no matter to me what the living do, Norn. My concerns are...
otherwhere."

Urd growled.
"When you interfere with us and those under our protection, you make it
our concern!"

Hel justlightly, giving me a half-grin.

Settling herself comfortable
any and all of us without uttering a sound.

Loki smiled at us again, then started to walk towards us. Behind him,
his followers looked uneasy, then all of them except Hel backed away,
increasing the distance between them and their master.
I wondered why... what was the point of having minions if they weren't
there to support you? Maybe they were just some sort of Norse God
Fashion Accessory?

Behind me I heard Skuld make a muffled noise of anger and outrage at the
refusal of Loki to play by the rules. I didn't like it much either, I
was getting more and more angry as I worked out what had been done, and
why I had been dragged here by this madman!

I looked at Loki, the blood pounding in my head...
"You bastard! Not only do you drag me here, you use MY power to fuel
your mad scheme to control the Universe!"

Loki grinned, nastily.
"So, the mortal worm objects to being used by a god? Pitiful fool, what
else are mortals for!?"

I growled, and lost it. Uncaring, I swung my hand back and hit him, as
hard as I could, on the mouth. I put all my strength into it, it was
pretty impressive. I moved his head almost 2 inches. Then almost bit my
tongue at the pain, it had been like hitting a wall.

This time, Loki didn't smile. Instead he bared his teeth, but no-one in
their right mind would ever have called that expression a smile. Looking
at it, I suddenly realised maybe hitting a mad Norse God wasn't quite
the most intelligent thing I could do under these circumstances.
He reached out, moving with a demonic speed quite belying his size,
grabbing my shirt and lifting me effortlessly, until I was staring into
his contorted face.
"Scum... how DARE you strike me, Loki, Lord of the Universe!!"

In a sort of disconnected way, despite what I could sense what was about
to happen to me, I was still half amused at his arrogance... talk about
bad supervillain dialogue...!! That feeling didn't last very long,
however.
With an almost lazy gesture, he hurled me away from him. Off the ground
to start with, thanks to him, I don't think I ever touched the ground
before slamming into the remains of the temple wall. I felt a terrible
impact at my back, and a number of loud snapping noises - then things
went hazy for a moment.

Skuld winced visibly as she watched the mad god casually hurl the mortal
across the open space, until he went through the remains of the temple
wall, accompanied by loud breaking noises, and finally a small puff of
dust...
"Oh Kami-sama... !"
She ran over, scared of what she was going to see when she got closer...
"He's only human, is he even going to be alive after that? He went
THROUGH the wall!!"

************************************************************************

Chapter 10 - Summonings
-----------------------

I groaned, loudly. "Damn, that HURT!"
I could feel a horrible pain in the back of my head, as well as other
lesser (though by no means ignorable) ones in other parts of me. My
vision still seemed to be fuzzy, and I could feel the dampness against
my neck as what I suspected was my blood ran down from my scalp...
Looking above me, I could see that I'd been lucky (if you could call it
that). I had gone through some less solid parts of the wall, and seem to
have been primarily stopped by the wooden supports, mainly by going
through a number of them.

I heard running feet, and then Skuld's anxious face looked down at me.
"Oh!"

She looked almost surprised to see me, as I tried groggily to get up...
Then she looked at some of the broken supports I'd gone through, and her
eyes widened ever further.
"I can't believe it, you're not only alive, you're still conscious!"
Hopping down beside me, she put an arm behind me, helping me to my feet.
I reeled, and nearly fell over again, as a flash of pain cut through my
head like a razor, but managed to stay upright.

"Owww...." (sometimes my witty repartee amazes even me...)
"It's OK, Skuld... I don't think anything's permanently damaged.
Sometimes it pays to have a skull like concrete."

Wincing, I almost touched the back of my head to see how bad the damage
was, but just managed to stop myself. Things were still fuzzy, hardly
surprising considering the thickness of a couple of the supports I had
apparently broken with my skull, and I was having difficulty keeping
things together.

Skuld helped me get a bit out of my new hole, and then stopped. Looking
past her, I could see why...

Standing in the middle of the garden was Loki. Head thrown back,
laughing. Facing him, Urd and Belldandy stood, swords gripped in their
hands. I wondered a bit vaguely where they had got them from.

He looked at them, and laughed even louder..
"Foolish women! To take up swords against ME! Don't you realise that
nothing of this world can harm me now??"
Urd didn't seem to be awfully impressed by all this. Grabbing a broken
metal rod from the ruins beside her in her right hand, she whipped it
forward with blinding speed, releasing it and sending it arrowing
towards Loki's chest, the broken jagged end glinting in the fitful
light.

Unfortunately, Loki didn't seem terribly impressed either. He grinned,
and stood there, allowing the missile to strike. With a curious *tink*
noise, reminiscent of a sparrow impacting on a window, the improvised
spear hit him in the centre of the chest. And broke into fragments,
leaving him completely unaffected.
Urd looked like she would have facefaulted, if the situation hadn't been
so serious...

I looked at him, gulped, and then at Skuld.
"Nothing?? He isn't even scratched?!"

Skuld looked concerned.
"It should have hurt him! But...if that boast he made about Baldur was
true - we're in serious trouble!"

I looked down at Skuld, and almost sighed. Trouble? And just what did
she think we'd been up till now!?

"Can you tell if it hurt him at all? Maybe he's just faking it, or it
hurt him a little?"

Skuld hmmd, and nodded. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out what I
assumed was a pair of binoculars, that is if they'd spent a few
unobserved nights mating with the VCR in the living room.
I started to nod at her response, quickly stopping as a dagger of pain
through my skull reminded me that this was not a good idea. I was fast
getting the idea that this would have been a really good day not just to
sleep in late, but not to get up at all...

Putting the device to her eyes, Skuld examined the still laughing
figure.
"Nothing. Urd's spear tore his clothing, but it didn't even scratch his
skin! I can't believe it"
She scowled, cutely (this IS Skuld, after all!) and moved some controls.
"No, nothing. Not a scratch"
Then she frowned, and adjusted it again.
"That's very odd..."

I looked down at her, my anger slowly growing. Not only did this mad god
kidnap me, destroy this place, attack us, but he couldn't even be hurt.
This was NOT fair. I felt a slow burn of rage start up inside me as I
thought about Loki. Only to be disturbed somewhat as Skuld poked me in
the side...

"Where did you hit him?"

"Huh? What do you mean, where did I hit him?"

She frowned again.
"When you hit him, before he tossed you away"

"On the mouth, as hard as I could, why?"

"Because... he has a small bruise there, and a trickle of blood. You
hurt him!"

I looked down at her, unable to think of a coherent reply. Thought raced
through my head, in a disjointed manner. How could I hurt him? I was
only human, even without Baldurs' power he could trash me without even
noticing. And Urd's spear hadn't even touched him! What was
different...?

My train of thought, such as it currently was, was derailed by action in
the courtyard. Urd and Belldandy, seemingly deciding that standing
around while Loki gloated was a less-than-desirable activity, rushed
him, swords raised.
Loki didn't even bother to dodge. He just stood there, and expression of
vast amusement on his face, as they hit him.
This time, there was some effect. The force of their blows knocked him
back, staggered. But that was all. He wasn't hurt at all, just slightly
off balance. Urd managed to retain her sword, but Belldandy had dropped
hers, and was holding her wrist, It must have been like hitting a block
of steel, only worse.

"Well, little Norns? Satisfied you can't hurt me? Why don't you get on
your knees and grovel, maybe if you do it well enough I'll let you live
after I destroy the Nine Worlds. I'll have a need for good, dutiful body
servants...

Belldandy looked shocked. Urd just looked disgusted. She rushed him, but
this time he didn't just ignore her blow. Parrying her swordblow aside
with his arm, he grabbed her, tearing her costume as he lifted her in
his hand, grinning...
"My, what a lovely sight. The so-proud, so-arrogant Urd in my hands. And
what shall I have you do, hmmm?"

He looked at the tears in her clothing, and grinned wider.
"Not bad. Two lovely sights...! Maybe you'll make a nice toy for my
troll slaves after their days work..."
Shaking her, he dropped her, letting her fall. She managed to break the
worst of it, but was still obviously shaken.

I looked, and growled. The hammering pain in my head was getting worse
and worse, and the core of hate and rage in me was getting bigger and
stronger by the second.
"You maniac! You do all this, destroy people, worlds, humiliate people I
like... and worst of all, its all MY power you use to do it!"

Skuld looked up at me, eyes large, a worried expression on her face.
"David...please... you cant do anything. He'll only kill you."

Something about that made a small connection, somewhere inside my head.
Can't do anything. He's invulnerable. The goddesses can't touch him.
But...I touched him. He said something... what was it...

"Skuld? He said something about nothing being able to harm him. Can you
remember exactly what he said??"

She grimaced. Most of her attention still on the scene before her.
"He... said 'Don't you realise that nothing of this world can harm me
now??' but what has that got to do with...?

I grinned, as something made sense, and then scowled almost as fast.
"Damn... THAT'S why I managed to touch him. Baldur was unhurtable by
everything other than mistletoe...because everything in the world swore
not to harm him! But I'M not from this world, and I never swore that
oath! So I can touch him! But how can I hurt him?? All I managed to do
was annoy him!

Skuld poked me again.
"Look! Oneesama's doing something!"

I looked at where she was pointing. Urd was half lying on the ground in
front of Loki, but Belldandy had obviously been working on something.
The air shimmered about her hands, and suddenly she was holding a wooden
arrow and a bow.
Looks like I wasn't the only one who remembered about Baldurs weakness;
and it seemed like she was going to do something about it.
Something worried  me, though. Loki could see what she was doing, and
didn't seem awfully concerned.

Looking straight at Loki, Belldandy raised her bow, pulling the arrow
far back.
"Loki! Mad God! Face the vengeance of the Norns for what you have done
to us and ours!"

She loosed the bow, the arrow speeding straight at Loki's throat.
Loki just smiled. And raised a hand, a shield of fire shimmering and
blurring the air between them.
The arrow hit it, and went through - as the flames consumed it, leaving
nothing but some white ash to flutter to Loki's feet.
Belldandy looked shocked. She wasn't the only one. I guess we had all
thought this one would work.

Loki sneered.
"Idiot female! Just the sort of stupidity I would expect from someone
who would choose to live with a pathetic mortal on Midgard! Baldur was
killed when he was taken by surprise. I am not, and mistletoe is wood.
What use is a wooden weapon against a God who controls fire?"

He has a definite point, there, I thought to myself. There's got to be
something...but what? I cant hurt him... not on my own...

I was distracted from my thoughts, which seemed to be getting a
distressing tendency to go off and ignore things despite our
predicament. My headache was getting worse, it felt like my head
was splitting. I wondered for a second if Skuld carried any hi-tech
aspirin in that bag of hers...

Loki stepped back, allowing some of his pet trolls to move forward. One
of them grabbed at Urd, grabbing her shirt and ripping it further,
leering as his act bared a significant expanse of smooth tanned skin. He
drooled, copiously, leaning down to lick slowly across her bared breast,
leaving a trail of slimy saliva behind. Loki merely laughed, loudly.
"Well, Urd? Don't you think you'll have fun living as their pet in my
new domain?"

This wasn't a very bright move for the troll, however. While Loki wasn't
affected by her sword, the troll seemed to have forgotten that she still
held it. With a scream of rage, she pulled back from the troll, exposing
still more flesh in a display I suspect that I would have felt more than
a little interest in if the circumstances had been less inappropriate.
She swung her sword back, and then it blurred as she swept it forward,
straight through the neck of the now very surprised looking troll,
sending a jet of green blood spurting skyward from its severed throat.
Then she disdainfully kicked the still-rolling head to one side, stepped
back, panting slightly, glaring alternately at Loki and the trolls,
daring the next one to step forward to molest her. Oddly enough, none of
the trolls now seemed too keen to be the first in that enterprise.

Something about the action finally made a connection in my aching head.
Sword. She used a sword. Weapon. I can hurt him, but I need a weapon.
But nothing from this world can hurt him.
Damn, It was so obvious. If nothing here could hurt him, well, I'd
simply get a weapon from another world!
(somewhere deep inside me a small voice seemed to be looking at this
statement, and going 'merely?? Yeah, right!')
But what weapon? What is powerful enough to hurt a God, that I can use?
A nuke? But it would be nice if we could all survive it as well...and in
any case, how am I going to USE it? I can't take time out to read the
instruction manual. I need something with built in AI, not a dumb
weapon...

************************************************************************

Skuld looked out at the scene in front of her. Belldandy was kneeling,
hands clenched, staring at Loki as she tried to work out something,
anything that would work to stop him, or allow her to summon help. Urd
was still glaring at the trolls, the tip of her sword circling slowly as
she dared one of them to take a step forward and become instant troll-
eunuch. She turned to the man standing unsteadily next to her - and
stopped.

Swaying slightly, one hand grasping a piece of wood in a white-knuckled
grasp to keep upright, face white through its coating of dust and grime,
except where rills of blood traced down it, David was obviously in some
sort of trouble.
He was muttering something she wasn't quite able to make sense of,
something about 'weapon', 'intelligent', and 'of course, it's so
obvious', before almost falling, his pupils closed to pinpoints as
he stared unseeing at the scene unfolding itself in front of him.

She raised a hand, uncertainly, not clear about what to do about a
mortal in this condition, but before she could do so was distracted by a
faint *beeping* from her pocket.
"What? My detector? But...??"

Yanking out a small object, she looked at it. It buzzed faintly, small
l.e.d.'s flickering in pretty abstract patterns across is facing. On
impulse, she pointed it at David, and it *beeped* louder, the two
antennae on it raising and lowering as it started to quiver in an
almost-alive excitement.
"This is impossible! He CAN'T use magic, he doesn't know how! And he
doesn't have any power available to him, I checked it already! But the
readings rising off the scale...!"

************************************************************************

I turned to look down at Skuld, my vision tunnelled down to a small area
of clear focus, barely able to see her. Talking with the careful diction
of a drunk, or someone who felt his head was about to explode in messy
detail all over the surrounding area (which described part of what I
felt like right now!) I licked my lips..

"Skuld - can you contact your sisters without Loki hearing?"

Skuld nodded.
"Uh... hai, I can. But why?"

"Tell them to keep him occupied for a short while. I'm going to try
something"

Skuld still looked very worried. Mind, if I could have seen how I looked
right then, I'D have looked worried, as well!

I grinned - well, it was more like baring my teeth, what with my general
condition and the fact that the top of my skull seemed to want to join
the Shuttle in orbit about now, but what the hell..
"I'm going to get us a weapon...."

Skuld looked at me, gulped, and muttered "Oh Kami-sama... now he's gone
and lost it"
Then she sighed.
"I guess I may as well - we haven't got much to lose, anyway"

************************************************************************

Putting her fingertips to her temples, she shut her eyes for a moment,
concentrating as she passed the message onto her sisters. From
Belldandy, she sensed the feelings of desperation, from Urd, mainly just
anger and helplessness. She opened her eyes, to tell him they would do
would they could, then opened them a LOT further, giving a small *eeep!*
as she involuntarily took a step backwards.

Next to her, David was glowing faintly, as the air about him seemed to
waver, light from his aura flickering across his body in shimmering
whorls reminiscent of those that ripple across an underwater swimmer, his
eyes closed, face rigid in concentration, obviously unaware that his hands
were clenched so tightly the blood trickled down between his fingers to
splatter in tiny crimson droplets onto the ground.

Skuld *eeepd* again, then gulped, and stepped back further, then
whispered to herself in a voice that seemed more outraged than
surprised...

"It's impossible! An aura can't DO that!!!"

************************************************************************

I concentrated again, oblivious now to what was going on. Faintly I
heard the sounds of Loki, Belldandy and Urd yelling and fighting, but
quickly tuned them out. In front of me, the air roiled in a heat-haze-
like flicker, as a man-sized sphere started to form in the air, its
surface lit by the fitful blue glow of Cherenkov radiation, fractal
ripples flickering through it in rainbow colours.

Skuld watched, her attention diverted from the scene in the courtyard.
Slowly at first, then faster, in a muffled 'popping' reminiscent of
microwaved popcorn, bugs were appearing out of nowhere, then, before
they could leap away, getting very surprised expressions on their faces
as they were dragged into an irresistible whirlpool spiral that ended in
the distortion in the air, which swallowed them without trace.
In her hand, her detector started to beep and  whistle, as its light
display got brighter..

"But what is he DOING???"

My eyes snapped open, as I glared at the turbulence in the air. At last
I had a focus for my anger and frustration. I didn't care what was going
to happen, except that I was going to make Loki pay, bigtime. For a
second, my mind cleared from its state of monofocussed fog, and I half
grinned at Skuld.

"Magic here acts like technology, affecting the physical world, doesn't
it?"

She nodded wordlessly.

"Well, Loki brought me here to use my magic. So I'm using it to modify
Plank's constant, to allow a stable wormhole without having to use
strange matter to keep it open. . ."

I concentrated again, eyes slitted as I glared at the area I'd chosen,
not seeing the wide-eyed expression on Skuld's face turn from that of
frustration at not understanding what was happening, to one of outright
fear...
"But... how can he DO that! He said he didn't know about magic...!!!"

Quietly, without any fuss, the rocks and debris surrounding the sphere
started to fall slowly upward.

************************************************************************

The sphere glimmered, turbulent darkness sprinkled with pinpoint azure
stars of flickering energy filling it as a humanoid figure started to
take shape inside of it. I could feel my strength draining away, but it
didn't matter. Nothing else mattered.

Skuld looked wide-eyed between her detector and the sphere, as the
figure inside solidified, and the sphere faded about it, leaving a
faintly glowing film of colours across the figure for a moment,
before that too evaporated into nothingness. In her hand, her detector
did the closest mechanical equivalent of having an orgasm, then went
quiet at last.

Gasping, I finally opened my eyes, and looked up at the figure standing
in front of me. I felt exhausted, too tired even to smile.
"Well, Skuld, I got what I wanted, a weapon from another Universe to use
against Loki. Now to see if the weapon destroys us first..."

I looked into the crimson-glowing eyes of the weapon I'd evoked, and
prayed I'd got this right...

************************************************************************

Chapter 11 - Negotiations with a weapon
---------------------------------------

I shivered slightly. Whatever I had just done had cleared my head at
last. It felt very odd; I could remember exactly what I'd done, but
hadn't the faintest idea on how I'd gone about doing it. It was almost
as if someone else had been controlling my actions.
My mind raced as I caught up with the last few minutes of what I'd been
doing - then abruptly shuddered to a halt as I realised just WHAT I'd
done, and my eyes widened as I looked at the slim woman standing in
front of me.

There's something _unreal_ about seeing someone you think you are
familiar with from drawings standing in front of you in the flesh. For a
start, no matter how good the anime, the real person differs
considerably in appearance - like in having a normally proportioned
body! And pictures on celluloid don't have the feeling of _presence_
that this woman did.

But it wasn't just that. As I stared at her, I couldn't drag my eyes
away from her. I was held like a rabbit in a cars headlights, unable to
look away, despite what was happening around us, my attention fixated on
her.

She stood there, tall, slender, the dark fires of concealed emotion
burning deep within the cerulean depths of her eyes. Blood-red hair fell
in a long straight waterfall down her back, stray strands shifting
slowly in the wind, two 'tails' parting it to show her delicately
pointed ears.
Clad in a tight blue bodysuit which showed a gymnast's lithe, small-
breasted figure, over which she wore a black, well, bikini I guess, some
glowing panels on the top glowing faintly as shimmering pastel colours
flickered across them.

Despite her looks, that wasn't the most arresting thing about her
appearance.

An air of controlled power, so intense as to be almost visible,
surrounded her as she stood there with the easy, powerful assurance of a
tigress. I almost felt that I should be smelling the tang of ozone in
the air, a faint crackling of energy registering on me at a subconscious
level

Not losing her concentration for a moment, she absently brushed back her
wind-tossed hair back, looking back at us, her head tilted slightly to
one side, expression almost thoughtful as she took our measure..

I was fascinated by her. Or maybe mesmerised was more accurate,
fascinated doesn't imply a strong enough feeling.
There was just something about her, the way she stood, her whole
attitude, that made the rest of what was happening simply irrelevant to
me at the moment. I kept having to fight off a completely irrational
desire to reach out and just touch her. Which was a pretty stupid idea,
if she was as powerful as I hoped she was, the last thing I should be
doing was annoying her!

She looked around, her eyes flickering across the scene in the temple
courtyard, the devastation, the people, taking it all in, her eyes
narrowing slightly. Then she looked at Skuld, and, finally, at me. I met
her gaze. Big mistake, I found I could hardly drag my eyes away from her
again.

When she finally spoke, it was in a low, husky voice. Not what I'd
expected (come to that, I don't really know what sort of voice I'd
expected a living weapon to possess), but it seemed to fit her; once I'd
heard it I couldn't imagine her sounding any different.

"So why did you bring me here?"

I licked my suddenly dry lips.

"We need help. Badly. Your help. To stop that madman in the courtyard
before he destroys this world..."
Well, maybe not the world's best speech, but at least it was concise...

She looked at me calmly, her eyes flicking across for a moment, looking
at the ending of the fight in the courtyard. It looked like Urd and
Belldandy had put up a good fight, but they were simply no match for
Loki's trolls. Both of them were being held by a pair of the monsters,
while the rest of them licked their wounds, and Loki was obviously
enjoying himself immensely in a seriously heavy attack of the gloats. I
hoped he would continue for just a little longer, I had to find a way to
persuade Iczer-2 to help us.

She looked back at me, the corner of her mouth twitching up for a second
into a small grimace.

"So, you want me to fight for you?"

For some reason, I felt that something about that statement disappointed
her deeply at the same time as it caught her interest.

I held out my hands in a pleading gesture.

"I know we haven't any right to ask you, but you're the only one I could
think of who might be able to stop him."

She looked back thoughtfully, slightly narrowed deep crimson eyes
regarded me. For a moment, I was unable to recall just where I'd seen
that particular type of examination recently, then I remembered it was
when Urd had examined me after I had fainted. Looking at me, but not
quite at my body. Then she looked across at Skuld.

"What will you pay me?"

Skuld looked back, her eyes looking upward to meet hers. She didn't look
14 any more. More like 14 going on 414, she hadn't changed but her whole
stance, her body language was that of someone much older, much more
mature, and deadly serious.

"Any price we can."

"Any price? That covers a lot..."

Skuld nodded, her eyes not leaving Iczer-2. I was startled to see tears
glistening in her eyes; looks like I'd underestimated her feelings and
commitment to Midgard despite some of her earlier protestations of
disgust for it and a certain one of its inhabitants.

"We are goddesses. And this is our world. We will pay any price in our
power to deliver to stop that madman destroying it. You have my word on
that"

I shivered on hearing her speak. This wasn't the Skuld I'd seen before.
This was Skuld the Norn, speaking ex cathedra. I didn't doubt her for a
second, I COULDN'T doubt her, the timbre of her voice left no room for
that.

Iczer-2 looked at her thoughtfully for a second, then nodded, a small
bow of acknowledgment and respect.

"Very well. Any price I care to name that you can deliver"

Then she turned, looking straight at me. This time, her eyes
deliberately met and held mine. I was like a bird facing a snake, I
couldn't move, I could hardly think. Although with a tiny part of my
mind I knew I wasn't moving, I felt myself falling into those cobalt
pools. It was the weirdest sensation. I felt her.. presence...? her
feelings...? wrap about me, and mine wrap about her, as I felt rather
than saw curling streamers of colour wrap around and entwine us both.

No, that didn't describe it at all well. But it wasn't something I could
describe, not in words. Words weren't involved. It was feelings,
emotions. I felt her pride, almost arrogance, a fierce strength... and a
deep well of sadness and longing for something she didn't have. Then the
streamers merged, and we...touched..??  Again, words are so clumsy, so
useless at trying to explain what I felt. Even after, I couldn't find
any way of describing it even to myself, it just was. Like finding a
piece of myself that I hadn't realised was missing.

A timeless moment later, my head swimming, I found myself looking at her
again. This time at least I found I could meet her eyes. For the first
time, she smiled, and when she did I wondered why I had ever thought of
her beauty as cold, that smile transformed her whole face, making her
warm and human to me for the first time. Then she looked at Skuld.

"I have my price. Him to be my partner."

Skuld looked at her, then rapidly at me, then back at her.

"Ano...but...I can't give him, we don't own him!

Her expression was anguished, knowing she couldn't pay the price
she needed to pay to save her sisters and the world. I reached out, my
fingers just touching her shoulder lightly, but she still flinched as if
struck.

"Skuld? Don't worry, please. I'm happy to be her partner..."

She looked up at me, eyes wide...

"But.....!!"

I grinned for the first time in what seemed (even if it wasn't) years.

"Really. She needs me. I...felt it...And, truly, I suspected the price
would be something like this when I brought her here, that this is what
would happen."

Skuld's eyes searched my face, and she must have found something there
that she understood, because her frown faded a bit...

"Well.... OK... But what do we do now??"

We all looked over to where Loki seemed to be finishing his diatribe
over his two captive goddesses. Both Belldandy and Urd were glaring
defiantly at him, but even from over here we could feel their sense of
impotent frustration.

Iczer-2 gave a soft chuckle.

"Well, I'd better go over and introduce myself..."

I half opened my mouth, about to warn her to be careful, then shut it
again, deciding she probably knew her business far better than I did,
and instead reached out to Skuld, taking her hand in what was, I guess,
a mutual feeling of reassurance for us both as we watched her slender
form walk out into the courtyard to approach the mad god.

Skuld looked at me very sharply for an instant.

"Did you plan it like this? Bringing someone who would accept you as a
partner as their price for helping?"

I tried to look calm and reassuring, the expression of someone who was
totally in control and had planned all this with precision from the
start.
"Of course I did, you didn't think it was an accident did you?"

She just looked at me, her expression saying it all - that she didn't
believe my smooth assurances for a moment.

That was OK, I didn't either.

************************************************************************

Iczer-2 walked slowly across the devastated courtyard towards Loki, her
booted feet making soft crunching noises as she glided across the
rubble.
Actually, walked didn't really describe it. It reminded me irresistibly
of a leopard stalking up on her prey, a blend of graceful agility and
barely restrained raw power.

Something must have made Loki notice her. He turned, facing her, a small
frown on his face as he saw her progress, ignoring the other captives in
front of him for the moment.
"Well now, I don't remember ordering you to appear, mortal!"

She stopped, and looked at him, slowly. Appearing completely unconcerned
with his arrogance and madness as she examined him. I don't know if many
people could face him like that, frankly his madness terrified me, but
she managed it without even blinking, a cool calculated assessment that
seemed to enrage him even more. I couldn't believe she was doing it
accidentally, but I did hope she knew what she was doing.

"I'm not a mortal"

He frowned.
"Are you a god?"

A small quirk twitched at the corner of her mouth for a moment.
"I'm Iczer-2"

Loki's frown deepened, as he tried to work out what this answer meant,
then he smiled, broadly, nastily, as he dismissed it as not worth his
godly consideration.
"No matter, you are quite presentable. You'll make an acceptable
addition to my harem once we get you some more _suitable_ clothes!"

Iczer-2 looked at him, tilting her head slightly to one side, an
expression of mild distaste on her features as she narrowed her eyes
slightly.
"You remind me of my mother, madman. I didn't get on with my mother"

Loki looked down, a darkening spreading across his face.
"Arrogance, in a female? Not acceptable."

He gestured to his Trolls.
"Get her. Play with her a little, show her her place!"

The Trolls grinned, widely, toothily, some of them drooling with
anticipation as they looked at the slender beauty in front of them. In a
mass, they started forward, some with weapons raised, a mass of greenish
muscle, power, sadism and old sweat. Only the Trolls holding Belldandy
and Urd didn't move to join them.

This time, Iczer-2 did bother to look at the advancing horde, an
expression of sheer pleasure spreading across her face. One hand reached
out and gestured slightly, inviting the Trolls closer.

Next to me, Skuld started to heft a bomb.
"David, we've got to help her! Those Trolls, they'll..."

I grinned, putting my arm in front of her to restrain her.
"Don't worry, Skuld. I have a feeling she's not in any danger."

That was the understatement of the day!

With a stuttering crackle of released energy, Iczer-2 summoned her
energy-sword into her hand, and leapt straight at the advancing mob, the
sword leaping out before her like a three-foot bar of caged lightning.

What followed could probably best be described as 'What happens when you
drop a package of Trolls into a blender set on fast'.
In not that many seconds, there were no trolls left alive in the
courtyard. They were still scattered about, it was just that any one
Troll wasn't exactly in any one place in it...

Even Loki looked a little impressed by this. His eyes narrowed as he
stared at the slender girl standing nonchalantly in front of him, a
faintly humming sword of blue-white energy in her hand and a small smile
on her lips. She raised her free hand, looking disdainfully at a drop of
greenish blood on it, then flicked the blood off her finger in a gesture
of dismissal, as if to indicate her boredom with the quality of her
opponents.

I grinned, humourlessly. Even though I'd expected something of the sort,
actually seeing her in action was nothing like I'd been preparing myself
for. Now I could see why her reputation as possibly the most dangerous
humanoid fighting machine in existence was fully justified. At last I
allowed myself a small shred of hope that we might actually be able to
defeat Loki's plan. Unfortunately I was also pretty sure that a few
Trolls weren't all the followers he had available, but I hoped that
Iczer-2 would be up to stopping whatever he came up with.

************************************************************************

Chapter 12  Problems only get bigger. So do enemies
----------------------------------------------------

Loki stood, one hand slowly stroking his chin as he examined her.
"Well now. It seems you are quite a capable fighter."

He grinned, in a thoroughly unpleasant manner, then waved one hand in an
almost expansive, friendly gesture. With a shimmering, twinkling glow,
uncannily reminiscent of a Star Trek transporter beam effect, a column
of light formed near to him, outlining a huge, bulky humanoid figure as
it materialised inside it.

I wondered if part of Loki's punishment had been to watch American TV
while he'd been chained underground?

As the sparkling abruptly faded, the figure took shape and distinctness.
I gulped. It was huge, he (well, I assumed it was male) was almost 12
feet tall, and built like a bear. Coarse black hair, almost as thick as
fur, with a curious reddish tinge to it, covered most of his exposed
skin, but most of him was covered in thick, ornate armour. In one hand
he easily carried a huge double-bitted axe that I doubted I could have
gotten off the ground.

Loki gestured, and the figure grinned, revealing a set of blackened,
sharp fangs that would have had the average lion drooling in envy, as it
slowly moved forward.

"And, just to make things a little more interesting..."

He made a sharp, complex movement with one hand, uttering a short burst
of deep, guttural speech, and made a tossing motion at the giant. A
reddish cloud of shimmering motes scattered across the huge figure,
outlining it for a second as they settled onto it, leaving the armour
and axe glowing a dull, sullen red.

Iczer-2 stared at the figure, eyes narrowing as her feet shifted, taking
a balanced combat stance with her sword held outstretched in one hand.
Not taking her eyes of the advancing figure, she slowly moved closer,
avoiding the rubble strewn across the ground while she waited to see what
he would do.

The giant moved onwards, advancing with deceptive speed, covering the
ground in long strides as he took his axe in both hands, suddenly
striking out with it at her, looking to cut her in two and end the fight
almost before it begun. Despite the size of his weapon, it cut a
whistling arc through the air as it blurred towards her.

To no effect whatsoever, as with a dancers easy grace she ducked under
it, moving closer and around him.

He growled, a deep snarling noise, and struck again and again, handling
his weapon with deceptive skill; I guess Loki wouldn't have used him if
he hadn't been good. It didn't help him, Iczer-2's speed and agility
meant he was hardly even coming close, as she closed to attack him.

Suddenly, surprising us all, she screamed and leapt, her sword flashing
forward, a blur I only saw by the afterimage it left, striking home
directly against the trolls armour. There was a strange grinding crash
as the energy-sword met the dull-glowing metal, leaving a small gash in
it, but not seriously upsetting the giant. Iczer-2 looked surprised for
a fraction of a second; I suppose she wasn't used to finding things that
could stand up to her sword, then I realised she knew nothing about Loki
or his magic.

That fraction of a second was enough for the giant. Although she was
inside the arc of his axe, he slammed the haft against her, his
monstrous strength sending her flying back through the air, until she
rammed into a wall, smashing it, splinters and debris flying as she hit
it with a loud *crunch*. I winced, and Skuld drew her breath in sharply.
I'd almost forgotten she was standing there in the distraction of
following the combat.

The giant grinned, and walked slowly forward to where she had
disappeared. The grin died abruptly as her figure leapt up from the
cloud of dust thrown up by her impact to land gracefully as she took up
a stance facing him again, obviously unused to opponents getting up
again after he'd done that to them. She looked a little battered, the
impact hadn't done her costume any good, her dust-covered hair tossing
in the strengthening wind as she glared at the giant, but the main
effect seemed to be to make her seriously annoyed.

The combat begun again, with fairly inconclusive results. Iczer-2 was
fast enough to evade the giants axeplay without any apparent effort, but
this time she was careful not to close with him. I knew she was tough,
but wouldn't have liked to have bet on her if he'd managed to get his
hands on her. The giant wasn't that stupid either, he carefully refused
to give her any clear shots except against his armour, and his reach
made it difficult for her to get clear openings, even with her superior
speed and skill.

After a little while of this, both opponents stopped for a moment,
glowering at each other as they took stock. Then Iczer-2 grinned, giving
a low chuckle as she tossed her blade in her hand...
"Now..."

She twisted her arm back, and surprised us all by throwing her sword at
the giant! It twisted, flickering as it swung through the air - and
then, to a collective gasp of disappointment from us, missed him,
continuing up into the air behind him.

The giant laughed...
"Now, pretty-pretty, I'm going to have fun with you..."

Iczer-2 merely looked at him, eyes narrowed, never leaving him as she
crouched lower in what I recognised as some sort of unarmed-combat
stance, her hands moving slowly in front of her. I gulped; she was
tough, but there was no way she could take this monster hand-to-hand,
surely?

He moved on her, steadily, axe raised high, as he prepared to crush the
slender girl in front of him with one blow.

I don't think he ever realised his mistake, as with a crackling whirr
Iczer-2's energy sword swung BACK from its arc behind him, twisting as
it pinwheeled and grew into a flaming circle of lightning, speeding up
and slashing straight into the giants back, cutting him in two, the
magically-protected armour hardly slowing it as it cut through it like a
buzzsaw through wood. He stood for a second, blood spurting along the
line of its cut, before toppling to the courtyard in a spray of crimson
gore, followed a second later by the two cleanly-cut halves of the axe
clattering after. The sword finished by slamming back into her hand,
where she held it, looking calmly at the remains of her opponent as she
stood in an easy, ready stance, then at Loki, raising one delicate
sanguine eyebrow in a gesture I would have sworn was deeply sarcastic.

"Is that the best opponent you can offer me?"

While I assumed she was deliberately trying to provoke Loki into doing
something stupid, I wished she'd be more careful about it; Loki's sanity
wasn't exactly the greatest before this started, and I worried what he
would do if she kept working at him.

************************************************************************

Loki snarled, his orange-red hair almost bristling as he glared at
Iczer-2. Then he looked at his captives, and over at Skuld and myself,
and his visage writhed in new anger.

"So... you continue to defy me, Loki, Master of the Universe!!!"

He smiled again, his face undergoing a crazed, mercurial transformation
as he smiled sweetly...
"Then I'd better let you meet my son, hadn't I?"

He looked at Iczer-2 again, and his smile widened, as his eyes almost
glowed with madness.
"I'm sure you'll enjoy playing with my eldest son, he's such a playful
lad..."

I shivered, and beside me Skuld *eeepd* in a high strangled voice!
"David - his son, it's..."

I nodded to her.
"I know the legends... it's Fenris, isn't it?"

She nodded, unwilling even to mention the name.
"He can't be stopped. Even Odin is fated to fall before him! How can
Iczer-2 have any chance against him?"

I wished I had the answer to her question right then. Fenris was one of
the deadliest creatures in Norse mythology, the son of Loki who would
kill Odin in the final battle. The biggest wolf ever born...
Trolls and other minions were one thing, this was quite another. Loki
was obviously playing seriously. It may have been a sort of honour that
we had managed to make him raise the stakes this high, but personally it
was one I would very much rather have done without.

Loki raised both hands high above him, throwing his head back as he
started to chant, harsh words that seemed to make the air itself shiver
with fear, grating on my ears and skin like sandpaper. Beside me, I heard
a low moan of terror from Skuld, as we watched his summoning.

Nothing seemed to happen for a few seconds. Then the air high above us
grew - misty, a curdling twisting space as something huge and ill-formed
started to take shape. As it solidified, it grew large, moving to one
side as it settled to the ground outside the temple, the earth
shuddering as it impacted, not so much at its weight but with fear of
its presence.

I looked up. And up. At a 200 foot tall wolf, its mad glowing eyes
staring down at us as its tongue lolled, grinning at us before raising
its head and howling, a terror-filled noise that blanked my thoughts as
I pressed my hands to my ears, shattering buildings and glass for miles
around.

Fenris was here.

Iczer-2 looked up at the enormous lupine face leering above her, her
eyes narrowed. Then she turned, looking straight at me. Once again, our
eyes met, and I found my feelings and thoughts almost mingling with
hers. It wasn't telepathy - at least, it wasn't what I'd always imagined
telepathy to be - I didn't hear any voices in my head, it was just that
I knew how she felt, what her emotions were so well that it was as if
she'd spoken to me. I'd forgotten how strong empaths the Iczers were..

* I need you now, partner, if we are to stop this thing *

I nodded, not needing to speak, the partial merging as my emotions and
thoughts started to swirl about hers already confirming my suspicion of
what she was going to do.

Part of the back of my mind did wonder idly if I was going to get to
keep my shorts, though...

She turned, looking away from the wolf, towards an open area. Once,
before the devastation, it had been a park. Now, it more resembled the
results of a not-so-minor war.
Raising one hand, she made a slow, beckoning gesture, which ended in her
suddenly clenching her fist, her face set in concentration.

"SIGMA !!!"

For a few, timeless moments, nothing seemed to happen.
They, down from a point in the air above the ruined park, a hairfine
beam of actinic light speared down to impale the ground.
Iczer-2 looked up at the light, a small smile spreading across her lips.
About her I could see a pale blue flickering, a sort of a cross between
blue flames and a glow. Distracted for a moment by an even brighter
light, I looked, and realised a similar, fainter effect was surrounding
me, my fingers dripping an opalescent blue fire! I suppose I should have
started panicking, the normal reaction to this effect, but so much had
happened so fast, compared to that a little blue fire from my fingertips
didn't really seem worth worrying about.

The light brightened, and started to widen, and that's when the noise
and vibration hit us. I don't know why I expected a dimensional portal
to open quietly, I suppose it was a subconscious reaction to all those
I'd seen on TV shows, but this one was anything other than subtle..

With a crackling roar, the splinter of light widened, spreading out as
it changed into a rectangular plane of energy hanging in the air, its
surface a hellish blue-white glare of shimmering energy, the air about
it lit with the flickering of twisting, writhing lightning as the air
frantically tried to discharge stray energy into the ground, destroying
still more of the area, the sound of the thunderclaps almost irrelevant
against the howling, tortured noise of space being rent asunder in such
a manner.

Then Sigma appeared, a gigantic foot stepping through the opening,
the ground heaving and shuddering as it reluctantly took the weight of
the enormous device, as the portal gave a final brilliant flash and
suddenly vanished, leaving us deafened and half-blinded.
Leaving us gaping at 500 foot of gleaming blue-black mecha. Seriously
dangerous looking mecha.

Beside me, Skuld's mouth dropped open, her face a curious mixture of
terror at our current situation, and sheer unbridled lust at the sight
of it. A tiny part of my mind grinned, and wished I had a camera to
record the expression!

Iczer-2 looked up at the towering mecha, her face for a moment with an
expression I could have sworn was fondness on her face, then she leapt
upward, her graceful jump turning into full upward flight, her glowing
form swooping upward towards the mecha's faceplate, as with a final roll
in the air she vanished through it.

I blinked. Through it!? It must be the distance, from here, it looked like
she had sort of melted through the face of the mecha, rather than it
having opened for her entry.

My thoughts were interrupted suddenly by a pale beam of light that
flickered down from Sigma's chest, illuminating me. Just as I realised
that this was making me a really good target for somebody, I was
distracted a LOT more by the sudden movement as I rose up into the air.

I made a muffled moan, my inner ear objecting to this arbitrary
violation of gravity, as I finally remembered how an Iczer's partner was
inserted into one of these robots. As I rushed towards its chest area,
the protecting metal armour moved aside, a strangely organic flowing of
thick plates, leaving a transparent membrane enclosing a medium glowing
with a soft golden light. I hoped I wouldn't get airsick before I
arrived.

My speed didn't seem to be slowing, as I moved straight at it...then
abruptly felt a warm, wet sensation all over my body as I suddenly found
myself immersed in a thick liquid medium.
For a second, I looked down, and sighed. Nope, I didn't get to keep my
shorts...

At the moment, though, I had far more important things to worry about.
Like the writhing mass of tenticular-like cables reaching for me,
attaching them to me in a rather embarrassing fashion, and the rather
more major one of how was I going to breath?

Eventually, of course, the latter solved itself. After a minute, my
vision was starting to blur. Iczer-2 couldn't have brought me here just
to drown me, right? I hoped, anyway...
With a shudder, I breathed in.  For a couple of seconds, I panicked, my
throat gagging and locking against the unfamiliar wet weight, then I HAD
to breath, and did. It felt weird...something like breathing normally
with someone sitting on your chest, but despite the fact I wasn't having
problems getting enough oxygen, I still didn't like it!!


While I had been experimenting as to exactly how long I could hold my
breath, the cables had been busy attaching themselves. It was the
strangest feeling, almost making the breathing of a liquid seem normal.
One part of me was here, slowly turning in a thick amniotic medium as my
body slowly assumed a foetal position. The rest of me was seeing with
Sigma's, or Iczer-2's, vision. I couldn't tell if there was any
difference between them, they seemed so merged. And I could... feel...
her emotions; not as though they were mine, but...as though they were
overlaid next to mine. Words are so clumsy, I can't really describe the
way it felt using them. It was just the way it was, after a moment it
seemed so normal, I couldn't understand what I'd been so worried about.

Our/her/my/Sigma... oh hell, _our_ eyes looked at the wolf. It had been
eyeing us steadily, with a frighteningly cunning intelligence, panting
slowly, its saliva smoking and burning as it dripped onto the ravaged
ground beneath it. Fenris didn't seem awfully worried, but I hoped that
was because he thought Sigma was just an ordinary robot. At least from
my new vantage he looked a lot smaller, only about as big as a two-foot-
at-the-shoulder wolf would normally have looked to me. Only. Right.

Pity we couldn't have painted a JSDF or ADPolice insignia on, just to
really make him really overconfident, I had a nasty feeling we were
going to need any advantage we could lay our hands on.

************************************************************************

Chapter 13 - Standoffs
----------------------

Skuld made her way over to her sisters, her eyes fixed on the huge mecha
and wolf towering above her. Urd and Belldandy had edged away from Loki
during the confusion, and Hel seemed to be ignoring everyone, simply
standing in shadow, an enigmatic smile on the living half of her face.

"Oneesama, Urd, are you OK??"

Urd nodded, and Belldandy tried to smile in reassurance, almost managing
it.

"For the moment. Until Fenris destroys that robot."

Skuld scowled at Urd for an instant, then sighed. For once, Urd was
probably correct, no human-constructed mecha could hope to stand up for
long against Fenris's power.

Belldandy looked up, her face filling with concern.
"They're going to fight..."

Urd chuckled ironically.
"You think they're going to dance, Belldandy? Of course they're going to
fight!"

"But... all the people! If those two fight here, how many innocent
bystanders will they kill?"

Urd frowned; as usual, she hadn't been thinking past the immediate
moment of hoping that the giant robot could at least get a few good hits
on Fenris before it was destroyed.

"Urd, Skuld, we have to try and help them!"

Urd nodded, stepping clear of her sisters as her arms slowly rose above
her head.

"I have an idea. Lets make them run, at least that way most of them will
get clear"

Her voice deepened as she spoke, as she started to chant, a soft green
radiance gathering about her hands, lighting her with an eerie glow.
Then she made a throwing gesture, releasing it, as it broke into shards
of pale green light that vanished into the air about her. The three felt
a wave of irrational fear sweep over them for a moment before they
automatically blocked the spell out, its mindless message urging them to
run, to get away, anywhere other then here.

Urd looked up at where the two giants were standing facing each other.

"I hope that will save some of them. It's all we have the time for, I
think they are about to begin..."

************************************************************************

I felt Iczer-2 'speak' to me.
* This beast - if we don't stop it, was that girl right that this world
would be destroyed? *

I nodded automatically, despite the fact that she couldn't see me. I
didn't know how she was communicating, so I simply tried to talk back.
It seemed to work, anyway.
* Yes. This world, and more. Why? *

I felt her sigh in my head, and her sadness wrapped around me for a
moment.
* Because if we fight it here, in this city, many people will die. But
we have no choice; if we don't, they will die anyway... so... *

I tried to project a feeling of comfort, not having any idea if I could,
or if it would work, but having to so something. It seemed to help, I
felt her sadness ease a little.

* I'm sorry, I shouldn't have put you in this position *
* No, it has to be done. But after - I will make the one responsible pay
for this *

I hoped she meant Loki, not me.

We looked across at the wolf. It's tail was twitching slowly, as it
crouched, muscles bunching as it prepared to spring. With part of me I
could see the cables surrounding me, small pulses of soft blue light
travelling along them in time with my heartbeat. I could feel Iczer-2's
tenseness as Sigma moved into a combat stance.

* Here it comes *

************************************************************************

With a roar, the wolf leapt straight at us. Sigma lunged out, its arms
catching him, stopping him from closing his jaws upon us and pushing him
aside, but the incredible momentum of his body shoved us back, sending
us staggering through buildings and skyscrapers as we tried to remain
upright. Fenris fell on his feet, and grinned up at us again, a lupine
grin on his face, rather giving the impression that he like to play with
his toys before eating them.

He leapt at us again, and this time Sigma's fist caught him, impacting
with a ringing crash that made the huge mech shudder, sending the cables
holding me twisting as we slammed him down again. Again, he didn't seen
too discommoded.

* He doesn't seem too vulnerable to physical force. Let's try something
else *

************************************************************************

Skuld watched as the mech slammed Fenris aside, and sighed. While the
mech was a wonderful display of massive mechanism in action, no purely
physical force could hurt Fenris, who didn't exist entirely in the
material world. She wished she could have warned them of that, now they'd
probably die trying to do the impossible; still, at least Fenris would
give them a relatively clean death compared to what Loki would do to them,
so maybe it was for the best. It was a shame, though, it was such a
beautiful mecha...

She watched as Fenris got to his feet again, the mech standing, hands
clasped in front of it, almost as if concentrating. A blue glow started
to build around its hands, brightening into a glowing sapphire sphere as
the hands parted to leave the ball of energy hanging between the,
scintillating as it grew brighter and brighter.

"Oh wow, its got energy weapons too!"

Fenris crouched, eyes slitted against the glow, then again leapt for
Sigma's throat. This time, however, he didn't make contact. As he left
the ground, the sphere of radiance shattered, sending a titanic beam of
energy directly into him, a coruscating wave of destruction a 100 feet
wide that swatted him aside and left a glowing trail of destruction
through the city for what seemed miles before it slowly faded out.

Skuld's eyes opened wide, her mouth half open in shock...
"Oh WOW!! Now THAT'S an energy weapon!"

************************************************************************

Unfortunately, Fenris was considerably less impressed. Although part of
his hide was glowing with heat from where he'd been hit, it didn't seem
to be worrying him at all, although it did look like we'd managed to get
his attention... Growling, this time he leapt straight for us without any
preparation, taking us by surprise.
Even though I knew what Fenris was supposed to be, I couldn't believe
that blast had had so little effect. That would have vaporised a
battleship; it seemed so unfair that all it had done was to annoy him!

Sigma's arm rose to bat the wolf away again, but this time too slowly.
With a howl of triumph, his huge jaws clamped down on Sigma's left
shoulder, tearing and worrying at it as the metal tore with a horrendous
thundering screech, before letting go and crouching again, grinning at
us.

I screamed as I 'felt' those jaws tear into 'my' shoulder. It only
lasted a moment, then it became more distant. I could still feel it at
second hand, however, through Iczer-2, but it was bearable.

With a groaning crash, Sigma slumped down onto one knee, its left arm
hanging limp, dark fluids running down the metal arm almost like blood.

************************************************************************

Skuld bit her knuckles as she looked at the fight above her. She HATED
being helpless. Turning to her sisters, she looked at them beseechingly.

"Can't we do ANYTHING to help them?? That poor mecha can't take much
more damage from Fenris..."

Urd shook her head quietly, one arm about Belldandy, supporting and
comforting her.

"Nothing. Not while he has that damned amulet, we can't touch him, you
know that. Anyway, you know as well as I do that physical combat isn't
one of our Attributes."

"Oneesama... can't you contact anyone in Heaven? Or any gods here on
Midgard? Anyone at all??"

Belldandy tried to smile at her younger sister, but the mask cracked,
showing her despair, her fear for her sisters, Keiichi, and everything
else she held dear.

"No-one. It was the first thing I tried, but Loki is generating so much
interference we can't get through. And it would take too long to build
something to cut through it. He seems to have covered everything we
could do to stop him in time."

Skuld groaned, her eyes drawn back again to the mech trying to stop
Fenris. There must be something she could do to help it, surely the
prohibition on attacking Loki didn't hold here. Not that she had
anything available that stood any chance of upsetting Fenris in the
slightest.

She glared across at Loki, who was currently ignoring them as he watched
the fight, an entranced expression of joy on his face as he watched the
two giant forms struggle. Then she started to dig into her pockets for
tools and parts. Starting to assemble something with frantic haste.

"I don't care, I'm going to do SOMETHING!!!"

************************************************************************

I felt Iczer-2 groan in pain. I could feel her force it back,
determination and price pushing it aside as she turned us slowly to face
the grinning, panting wolf. He was getting ready to come for us again,
and I knew that we couldn't recover fast enough, that this time he would
go for the throat and it would all be over.

I hung limp in the tank, seeing our death approaching, as Sigma tried to
recover itself to stand up and face Fenris again. Then I saw the
expression of gloating anticipation on his face change, to one of
puzzlement, as his head started to shift from side to side. I blinked,
and suddenly realised there was a SECOND Sigma, right next to us,
looking identical...

* what....????*
* I don't know!! It's none of my doing!! *

The giant wolf's head twisted, as he looked from side to side, clearly
unable to tell which was us. His nostrils widened as he sniffed, but
didn't look any less confused.
He snarled in frustration, and finally made up his mind. With a terrific
leap, his bunched muscles send him hurtling straight at Sigma's throat.
And straight THROUGH it, as his teeth snapped shut with a thundering
crash on nothing, as he hurtled through the other 'mech', to crash down
to the ground in rage and confusion!

************************************************************************

Beneath us, Skuld bounced up and down in excitement, the circumstances
forgotten for a moment as she relished the success of her holographic
projector.

"Yay! Skuld's Super Holographic Duplicator Projector with full
Sensaround!!"

I looked up to see the wolf snarling, twisting around from its abortive
jump through a fake image, buildings crumbling under its feet, as it
snarled at us, eyes glowing with the fires of hell. I could still feel
the burning pain in 'my' shoulder where he had bitten Sigma, as we
struggled to 'our' feet, standing crouching as Fenris readied himself
for another, and this time probably final, leap.

Faintly, I could hear screams and shouting; diverting my attention
downward for a moment I saw with horror that there had been people in
those buildings Fenris had crushed when he'd missed us. Bodies lay
scattered and bleeding, and I felt sick as I realised it was our fault
for not managing to stop him.

I looked up at Fenris, my pulse hammering in my head. Up to this point,
I hadn't really hated him; feared him, yes, but he had been a sort of
impersonal thing attacking us. But when I saw what he'd done, carelessly
and without even considering it, to the helpless inhabitants of those
houses, I felt the hatred growing inside of me, twisting and curdling.

With a part of me I still 'felt' Iczer-2. She was concentrating on
Fenris, her emotion determination and desperation, knowing we didn't
have the power to stop this thing but determined to try anyway. My hate
and anger grew, faster, and this time I didn't do anything to try and
restrain myself, indeed I fed the flames, feeling the heat burning
inside me. I'd had enough. So far I'd been shunted around, used and
treated as a puppet by Loki, but now I wasn't going to take it any more.
This far, but no further. Loki was going to find what a stubborn bastard
he'd gotten for his plans if it killed me to show him. There was one
form of attack that might upset the damn wolf, if we could pull it off;
and that diversion had given us one opportunity to try it.

I growled, and felt the burning angry rage spread out of me, a scarlet
glow filling the tank I was in with fire as Iczer-2's emotions wrapped
me in a startled amazement that changed, oddly, into those of
anticipation. I felt her mind closer and closer to mine, only a small
fraction of me that refused to give up my personality holding back, not
wanting to become lost in the gestalt.

************************************************************************

Skuld looked up sadly. It looked like her device had only bought the
mecha some time. It had staggered to its feet, but didn't look in any
better shape. It's left arm wasn't working, and it raised its right in a
posture of defence as the wolft shrugged again, managing to indicate s
the ruined buildings around her tremble.

Then she blinked, and her eyes widened in amazement, as glowing scarlet
snakes of energy started to rise slowly from Sigma's body, curling about
it and lighting the landscape with a flickering scarlet glow. The
outstretched hand opened and closed, as the mecha straightened, seeming
to gain fresh energy as it stood ready to meet the wolf, the energy
curling brighter about it.

Fenris leapt, jaws gaping wider and wider, as though to swallow a
planet, not just a robot. But this time Sigma was ready. With a rapid
movement seemingly impossible for such a huge creation, the mech grabbed
Fenris's upper jaw with its right hand, twisting as the foot slammed
down on the monster's lower jaw, trapping it with mouth held open!

Skuld gaped in amazement. Where had the mecha got all that energy from?
"But it can't...!!!!"

The wolf struggled, snarling, trying to free his jaws for long enough to
bite down upon Sigma and end the fight. The flickering scarlet flames
outlining Sigma grew brighter and brighter, casting carmine-edged
shadows across the ravaged ground as, slowly, Fenris's jaws were opened
wider and wider.

Now the wolf was no longer trying to attack. His howls of frustrated
rage turned to whimpers of fear, as he struggled to escape the grasp
which was implacably trying to tear him apart. Suddenly, with a howl
that spilt the sky, and a terrible cracking noise, the wolfs body
shivered, and then _faded_, slipping past, not through, the clutching
hand as Fenris made his escape.

Skuld gasped, realising she'd not been breathing, as she watched the
mech's fire fade abruptly, as it sagged slowly to its knees. It's
outline shimmered, outlined for a moment in blue fire, as it flickered
back into whatever space it had been drawn from, leaving two figures
huddled on the ground.

************************************************************************

Chapter 14 - Endings
--------------------

I raised my throbbing head, trying to focus my eyes again, still shocked
by the abrupt thrusting of my senses back into my own body as I felt the
freezing wind blow cold against me. Iczer-2 slid her right arm about me,
drawing me gently to my still-shaking legs, as I looked about, trying to
reorient myself.

"We.. we beat him?!"

She nodded, smiling tiredly.
"I didn't think you could produce power like that. I was right to claim
you."

I almost grinned, then realised with concern that her left arm was
hanging limp, blood running down from her shoulder.

"You're hurt! How..?"

"Sigma is part of me. When she was damaged..."

I blinked, trying to take that in; how could a beautiful girl be part of
a 500-foot tall battlemech? That fascinating avenue of thought was
broken by a scream of rage that nearly pierced my eardrums. It startled
me completely upright.

I stood panting, my sides heaving as if I'd just run a marathon,   Iczer-
2's arm supporting me as I shivered with reaction. Across the courtyard,
Loki was almost frothing at the mouth as he snarled incoherently at us,
his face mottled red and white. For a second I nurtured a hope that maybe
even a God could have a stroke...

Then he managed to regain his control, or at least what passed for
control in him, as he reached out a hand, snapping his fingers.

"Tyrfang. Come!"

I blinked, distracted, as something started to slither across the ground
towards him. It looked just like a mobile pool of inky-black shadow,
slithering across the debris-covered ground. Then it stopped, and the
blackness rose up, slowly forming into a vaguely humanoid shape in front
of Loki, its head turned to us.

It was horrible, a misshapen demon out of a Bloch nightmare, its twisted
limbs and body a dead black that soaked up the light without reflection,
the only colour the hell-red glow of its eyes and the bloody glistening
fangs which layered its mouth.

Loki smiled at it, in an almost fatherly manner.
"Meet Tyrfang. One of my favourite pets, a demon of such _varied_ uses!"

Behind us, I heard Belldandy gasp softly.
"Oh, now I realise how he invaded the Yggdrasil systems...!"

Iczer-2 gently took her arm from about me, stepping forward to stand in
front of me, tensed and ready as she watched the demon carefully, as her
energy sword flickered into glowing life in her right hand, ignoring her
injured left arm.

Loki smiled again.

"Oh, don't worry, he's not going to hurt you. Well, not yet...
Tyrfang! Here!"

The demon laughed, a snarling noise like metal tearing, looking at us as
though we were lunch, then turned and leapt at Loki's outstretched hand.
I didn't understand, why would he attack Loki...? Then the demon's form
twisted in mid-air, its form shifting, until the hilt of a black, evil
looking sword impacted into Loki's hand. Yes, I know swords can't look
evil, but this managed it quite easily.

Loki slowly advanced, the sword gripped in one hand, his eyes locked on
Iczer-2.

"I'm going to make you pay for hurting my son. Tyrfang will tear the
flesh from your living body, strip by strip, until I let him feed on
your still-beating heart"

Iczer-2 looked back at me for a second, an odd expression on her face,
almost one of sorrow, then she turned, moving clear of me as her sword
slipped into guard position in front of her.

I didn't know what I could do; I knew I couldn't help her in a fight,
but she was already injured, surely she was no match for Loki? But I
could only watch with a hopeless helplessness as the two closed. She
looked so fragile against Loki's bulking form, blood trickling slowly
down her left arm from her injured shoulder.

************************************************************************

The two circled each other, slowly, eyes locked on their opponents.
Iczer-2 glided gracefully across the shattered surface, avoiding the
obstacles with panther-like grace, her slitted eyes seeming to burn with
a soft crimson glow as she kept an unblinking gaze locked on Loki,
energy sword humming and crackling softly before her.

Loki simply scattered any obstacles with a foot, showing contempt for
the mundane obstructions, circling slowly, Tyrfang held poised, the tip
slowly moving as he searched for openings. The sword seemed almost to
move by itself; each time Iczer-2 made a movement as if to attack, the
sword moved up as though anticipating her. I could have sworn I heard a
low, grating metal-on-metal chuckle from it.

I could hardly bear to watch. While I was sure Iczer-2's speed and skill
could take Loki in a fair fight, despite his power and strength, I was
equally certain that the concept of a fair fight wasn't in Loki's
lexicon. I bit my lip, wanting to yell to her to warn her, but terrified
that so doing would distract her.

Time seemed to stretch out as the two of them made tentative feints and
blows at each other. It became obvious very soon that while Iczer-2's
grace and skill would normally have given her an easy target, Tyrfang
was not going to make that possible. The sword twisted and turned in
Loki's hand, always interposing itself against her probes, even when it
looked like an impossible parry to make, the two blades clashing with an
angry snarling hiss of plasma against magic.

Iczer-2 finally stopped, a little way out of Loki's sword-range. It
seemed she'd reached the conclusion that something had to be done. I
didn't know how much of the worry I was feeling she could sense now that
we were no longer inside Sigma, especially with the concentration she
was giving to the fight, but slowly the two of them stopped circling.
Then, as if by mutual agreement, they rushed at each other. Iczer-2's
sword flared, its plasma glowing fiercely as she shrieked and struck at
Loki with her full power and speed, to be answered by Loki's riposte
with Tyrfang.

The two weapons impacted against each other with a horrible tearing
screech, like a chainsaw at full power connecting with a steel girder.
There was a terrible flash, that blinded me for a second, leaving
glowing afterimages before my tearing eyes. When they cleared, both
combatants had lost their weapons. Iczer-2's sword seemed to have gone
through at least two walls, judging by the glowing holes in them, to
embed itself hilt deep in a third. Tyrfang had skittered across the
ground, lying there glowing with a fierce yellow heat. Both parties were
rubbing their hands, glaring at each other.

I groaned. Loki was more powerful than Iczer-2, and while he was now
deprived of his pet demon, she'd also lost her weapon, and I didn't know
if she could produce another, or stand any chance with him in hand-to-
hand combat.

The growing grin on Loki's face answered my unspoken thought. It looked
like he thought he's come out of that a winner as well, as he raised his
hands, slowly starting to chant a spell. I mentally urged Iczer-2 on,
trying to make her aware of what he could do to her if she let him.

She stood for a moment, watching him... then either she realised what I
was trying to pass on to her, or more likely made her own conclusions,
as she rushed him, her speed allowing her to close and hit him fast,
gliding away before he could react. He growled, not seeming to take much
notice of her blow, as his response missed her.

She grinned at him, trying to annoy him into a mistake again, and
repeated herself, rushing in to plant a quick blow before escaping
before he could touch her, her motion a graceful dance of applied skill
and speed.

It was a good plan, but I still worried. She couldn't keep this up for
ever, eventually he'd get lucky and hit her, or she'd wear out before
wearing him down. And I still had no idea of what we could do to him,
even if we did take him down in combat! How do you stop a god, anyway??

It didn't come to that, however. At last, her movements left a gap in
her attacks, and Loki took advantage. Although he was starting to look a
bit harried by her constant blows, they didn't seem to have done him any
real damage. His hand dived into his clothing, emerging with that same
amulet he'd gloatingly displayed earlier, holding it high, chanting as
it started to glow with a ruddy brightness.

Iczer-2 didn't give him time to complete what he was up to, she leapt
straight at him, attempting a high flying kick at his hand. But too
late, even as she did so the glow brightened, and she was hurled
helplessly away from it, crashing to the ground to the sound of Loki's
triumphant laughter.

I snarled, moving forward in a foolish attempt to distract him, but
suddenly stopped as a wave of weakness crashed over me, blurring my
vision, the only thing registering the blurred brightening glow of the
amulet, pulsing in synch with my heartbeat. At last I understood where
Loki had got the power for it, and how he had kept it unnoticed.

************************************************************************

Iczer-2 slowly regained her footing, her eyes not leaving Loki for a
moment. Standing crouched, she snarled at him, a runnel of blood
trickling down her face, startlingly crimson against the ivory skin.
Then she started to walk forward, slowly, deliberately.

Her eyes flickered to mine for an instant.
* He's using your power, isn't he?*

I nodded, gasping or breath as my strength seemed to drain away as Loki
used it, feeling a burning pain grow along my limbs.

She stopped just out of range, crouching slightly.

He looked down at her, that manic grin of his plastered across his face
again, the amulet dangling from his hand glowing and pulsing with a hard
blood-red radiance.

Then she startled us both as she suddenly leapt, almost faster than my
eyes could follow her, her injured left arm sweeping up, the hand
clasping about the amulet. I hadn't realised she could still use that
arm; it looked like she'd fooled Loki too. For a second I hoped that the
cord would break, that she would succeed in tearing it away from him,
but no such luck. Instead, she dangled from it, body arched up, feet
barely touching the ground, as Loki's features darkened with rage as he
glared at her presumption.

Growling, he struck at her with his free hand. It must have hurt, her
body shook as he made contact, but she made no sound, keeping her hold
on the amulet as a sapphire radiance glowed about her hand, mingling
with that of the amulet.

"You stubborn bitch!! How dare you...!!!"
This time, he didn't strike her, but narrowed his eyes, the ruby glow
brightening as he concentrated, watching as curls of smoke slowly
started to rise from the girls clenched fingers.

I moaned, unsure which was worse, the pain of the power drain being
inflicted by Loki, or watching my own power being used to hurt her.
Then I heard her 'voice' again in my head.

* There's only one way to stop him. This time you must synchronise
properly with me. Its the only way... pass your power to me instead of
letting him steal it*

I shivered. I knew she must be right, but I was scared. That previous
feeling of merging with her had terrified me, as I felt my personality
slip away as it joined with her. I couldn't... but what choice did I
have? If I didn't do something, Loki would kill her, then me, then
everyone else on this planet. So... I didn't have anything to lose, did
I?

I half-growled, hating the situation I was in, and Loki for putting me
in it. Then I stopped trying to resist any more, letting myself open to
Iczer-2. At least now it was up to someone else.

Iczer-2 looked up at Loki and smiled. He looked almost startled, no
doubt this wasn't what he expected as a normal sort of reaction. Then
her hand tightened about the amulet, gripping it with a desperate,
unbreakable grip as she poured all her power into her hand, the blue
glow brightening, flickering as azure streams of light shimmered from
between her fingers.

Loki looked even more surprised, then snarled, as the bloody glow of his
magic grew also, the two colours mingling and warring as both strove for
dominance, snakes of glowing scarlet and sapphire energy wriggling
across her body, shaking her like someone gripping a high-tension cable
as they sparked and exploded each time two of them made contact, leaving
bleeding burns against her skin.

I felt a humming in my ears, my vision blurring and fading as it
tunnelled down to just the two combatants, as I sank to my knees, trying
to block Loki's drain as I willed as much power as I could towards
Iczer-2. I didn't know what I was doing, or how to do it, I just hoped
she did. I hardly noticed as my clothing started to smoke and smoulder,
hot blood running down from my nose and ears, mere side effects to all
this, having completely forgotten Urd's warnings about using too much
power. I could feel my mind run and merge with hers, like two pools of
paint running together, feeling her and her emotions as she felt mine,
but none of that mattered any more, all I could feel was a burning
desire to stop Loki, to make him pay for what he'd done.

Iczer-2 looked straight into Loki's face, glowing cobalt eyes matching
his gaze as she clenched her teeth, ignoring the pain in her burning
hand as she poured all her power into it, the sapphire glow getting
brighter and brighter. Then she screamed, not in pain but in triumph as
her hand abruptly closed, and with an absurdly delicate sound, like a
fragile crystalline sculpture shattering, the amulet imploded,
releasing an explosion of light and heat that blinded me, making me
cower and fall forward stunned, the link between Iczer-2 and myself
snapping apart like an overstretched rubber band

************************************************************************

I gulped air frantically, feeling it burn its way down my throat, my
eyes having trouble focusing as I gazed stupidly at the red droplets
dripping down in front of me, the blood still slowly trickling from my
nose and ears, the smell of my scorched, burned clothing in my nostrils.
With an effort completely out of proportion to the effect it resulted in
I raised my head again, to look at Iczer-2 and Loki.

Iczer-2 was crouched, her right hand supporting her left wrist, her left
hand curled and blackened, blood slowly dripping down from the charred
skin to pool on the ground. She faced Loki, her cheekbones standing out
harsh against the stark whiteness of her face, lips clamped against the
pain of her shattered hand. My own hand felt like it had been dipped in
acid, even though I could feel that she was blocking most of the pain
from reaching me and the link between us was weakened; I didn't want to
think about how it must feel like to her.

Loki wasn't in much better shape, but it mostly seemed to be minor
damage, he didn't look really hurt. In any case, considering how mad he
appeared, I don't suppose he'd have noticed anything less than a critical
injury right now. His clothing was burned and tattered, a charred circle
of skin on his chest showing where the amulet had been, but he recovered
much faster, his face contorted and completely inhuman in his rage and
madness as he lashed out at her.

Iczer-2 tried to evade, but after all that had happened her speed wasn't
what it was. Although she half-dodged, his cobra-quick blow smashed into
her, sending her crashing down onto the unyielding ground. Despite her
pride, she couldn't conceal a ragged gasp of pain as her ruined hand
smashed against the stones.

Loki snarled, a sound that belonged to a rabies-maddened dog, not to
anything resembling a human, as he lashed out with his foot, kicking her
prone body. I heard a crunching snap as ribs broke, and she half-curled
up, trying to protect herself from his kicks and get up to face him.

I couldn't help myself; despite my exhaustion I tried to stagger up, to
help her. I KNEW it was stupid, Loki could snap my neck with a flick of
his fingers, but I couldn't leave her there. It was futile anyway; I
managed to stagger half upright, but even that effort sent pretty
coloured lights and black shadows across my vision as I barely managed
to remain conscious.

The only thing I really accomplished was to gain Loki's attention. His
mad visage turned to me, momentarily forgetting the injured girl trying
to stagger to he feet in front of him, as he glared at me, saliva
running unnoticed down his chin as an unholy smile stretched across his
contorted face.

"So...you are still alive too! Good, I don't want you in the tender care
of my daughter yet... Not before I've had the chance to teach you what
it means to interfere with my plans, then I'll send you both down to Hel
with the blood-eagle carved on you..."

I whimpered, unable to stop myself. The way I felt right now, I don't
think I'd have minded if he'd just killed us, but I couldn't endure the
thought of being tortured by him before being sent into the tender
'mercies' of his no-doubt annoyed daughter.

My attention was distracted my a harsh, bubbling cough. I wouldn't
normally have noticed it, with Loki glaring at me, but my mind was so
desperate to escape even thinking about him and what he had planned for
me that it drew me instantly.

Iczer-2 had managed, barely, to get to her feet. She coughed again,
small droplets of blood splattering against the remains of her costume
as she stood hunched to one side, favouring her broken ribs as she glared
at Loki with a fury that almost matched his, though with considerably
greater sanity. She snarled, raising her good hand...

"Bastard... you haven't finished with me yet!!"

She growled, and a faint, flickering shadow of her energy sword pulsed
for a second in her fist, before fading and dying. She looked at me in
despair...

"No energy left..."

I shook my head, numb. I didn't have the strength for anything else.
We'd done all we could to stop him, as much, I think, as anyone could -
and it hadn't been enough. Well, at least we made him realise he'd been
in a fight before he killed us...

Loki threw back his head and laughed, a pealing insane sound that echoed
from the ruined temple surrounding us. Then he looked at her, and
suddenly, with casual brutality, swept a kick into her already broken
ribs, followed by a smash to the temple. With a low moan, she slowly
fell, to lie unmoving on the ground, a pool of blood slowly growing
under her head.

************************************************************************

He stepped forward, obviously intending to do more before finishing with
her, when a hard, brittle voice interrupted him.

"Loki!!"

We both turned to face the sound. Despite my wiped-out state, I could no
more ignore the imperative attention that voice demanded than fly
unaided.

Standing facing Loki with the glow of their power flaming in the air
about them were Urd, Belldandy and Skuld. But not the almost-human
'goddesses' I had met and liked earlier. These were the three
Norns, in full aspect of their godhood, and thoroughly mad as all hell
at Loki.

Skuld and Belldandy's faces weren't too bad. Skuld's was filled with
rage and loathing as she stared at Loki, the fingers of one hand
absently caressing the forgotten bomb she clutched there. Belldandy
gazed at him with disgust and promised vengeance; I didn't expect for a
moment she'd forgotten what he'd been responsible for doing to Keiichi.

But at least those emotions were understandable and human, even though
their intensity beat against Loki with such force that I was sure I'd
have seen them even with my eyes shut. What terrified me almost beyond
reason was Urd's face.

This wasn't the Urd I'd come so quickly to like, or even the incensed
goddess form Belldandy and Skuld had assumed. This was Urd, the first,
original Norn, whose name means Destiny. Her face was almost blank,
showing no human emotion, reflecting the cold, impersonal force of a
glacier about to crush a town helpless before it, as beautiful,
impersonal and terrifying as a star.

Slowly, she raised her hand, pointing it at Loki. Her words were cold,
without emotion, inflection or any shred of mercy as she pronounced his
doom.

"You have broken your assigned fate, Loki. That will not be tolerated.
And you no longer have Baldur's power to protect you from us."

Even through his madness, this penetrated to Loki. His hand scrabbled
against his chest, brushing the scarred charred area as if in a frantic
search for the now-destroyed amulet that had been protecting him. For
the first time, he seemed to regain a measure of sanity, as he cowered,
falling to one knee as he started to plead, a rushing torrent of half-
coherent, begging words.

Urd took no notice of him whatsoever.

"Your doom is not rescinded. You will be returned to it. There will be
no escape, and no appeal."

He shrieked, a high, terrified squeal like a rabbit caught in a trap.
Then he - dwindled. I can't describe it any better way, he faded,
growing less substantial, hazy as if becoming distant, yet I KNEW he was
there, not moving.

Urd turned and faced Belldandy, nodding slowly.

"Recover the power he stole."

Belldandy smiled, the happy, terribly innocent smile of someone taking
long desired, awaited and deserved vengeance, crooking her fingers at
Loki, as streamers of energy were torn from his eyes, twisting as they
curled through the air and shimmered into a softly-glowing ball of fire
atop her outstretched palm. His body twisted and shook as though in the
grip of a high-tension current, incoherent animal noises torn from his
throat.

"For Keiichi"

Urd nodded again at her sisters words, then pointed one finger at Loki.
With a terrible noise, and a twisting effect that despite my absorption
with the horrible scene I had to turn away from, or lose what remained
of my sanity, space ripped aside, as Loki vanished through it with a
final, despairing howl of anguish.

Turning, the three looked at Hel, the only one of Loki's followers
remaining alive.

"You have no place here, Mistress of the Dead. Leave now"

Hel looked at Urd slowly, her face impassive as she furled her tattered
cloak about herself.

"These two will soon be mine. Time enough then to make them pay for
their effrontery."

Urd half-raised one hand, in an obvious gesture of dismissal, and Hel
bowed, formally, before her body shimmered and faded, vanishing from my
sight.

Urd looked slowly at her sisters, then she sighed, her aspect slowly
leaving her as her features changed without changing, back into the more
familiar Urd, as the glow of power surrounding the three slowly faded.

I looked up blankly at the three of them standing there, then down at
the prone body of Iczer-2 lying broken in a pool of her own blood.
Well, at least the cavalry came over the hill in the last reel... pity
they left it too late.
Then I finally lost consciousness myself, the ground rushing up to meet
me in a sort of slow-motion, as everything faded to black.

************************************************************************

Chapter 15 - Truths...
----------------------

I woke up to the gentle sounds of birds singing. For a little while, I
just lay there, listening, basking in the soft warmth and unwilling to
do anything that might disturb the half-asleep daze I was enjoying.
Then I remembered what happened just before I fell asleep...

That woke me up as fast and effectively as an icecube down my back, and
just about as pleasantly.
Starting upright, I looked around, looking at the quiet, peaceful room,
the sunlight coming in through the blinds, and wondering just what the
hell was going on! Last time I saw it, the temple hadn't been in this
good a shape - in fact, it hadn't been in any sort of shape.
I was getting confused. Without thinking, I started to get up, swinging
my legs up off the futon to stand up - and nearly collapsed back, as I
suddenly felt about to faint.

I waited for my head to stop swimming, and very carefully sat up. I felt
drained, but found if I moved slowly and carefully I didn't seem liable
to collapse too soon. It didn't do anything for the pain I still felt
deep in my bones and muscles, though. Looking down, I was startled to
see my hands were trembling. With an effort, I tried to stop them, but
barely succeeded for a moment, before they started again, harder than
before.
I felt suddenly cold, despite the warmth of the room.

My attention was distracted, however, by the quiet sound of the door
sliding open. Standing there was Belldandy, looking, I must admit,
rather better than the last time I had seen her. She smiled, walking
over to me.

"Belldandy...?"

She sat down gracefully onto the floor next to me.
"It's all right. Everything's OK now"

"But... I feel so weak. What's the matter with me?"

She patted my shoulder gently, projecting reassurance.

"Well, you have to expect that, after all. It was a serious fight you
were in. People get hurt in those, remember. This is real life, not a
Disney Movie..."

I frowned. Something about her words didn't ring quite true, as if she
was hiding something from me. She was almost being _too_ cheerful, after
all that had happened.

I looked up at Belldandy sharply. She was looking at me calmly, but
definitely seemed unhappy, or maybe uneasy, about something.

"There's something you haven't told me yet. Isn't there?"

She smiled gently.
"You're very perceptive"

I wasn't falling for that one. I just kept looking at her expectantly
until she gave in.

She sighed, and nodded quietly.
"It's... well, it's about the consequences of your fight. To both you,
and to Iczer-2"

I must have looked puzzled, because she smiled fleetingly, patting my
hand gently. Then sobered again, equally fast.

"After the fight, the two of you were unconscious. We took both of you
and Keiichi inside, then phoned Heaven to explain and to get
instructions. They... weren't happy about what had happened.
Well, we got instructions, and permission, to - tidy up, I suppose you
would call it. To repair the damage to the area, and to its inhabitants,
and to heal them where possible and remove their memories of what had
happened. Now no-one but you knows what happened, they just think it was
an earthquake. Terrible enough, I know, but just a natural disaster they
can come to terms with."

I looked at her.
"What about Keiichi?"

She smiled a little more happily.
"Well, I had the power I removed from Loki which was used to hurt him in
the first place. So I was able to heal the damage that had been done to
him. He's sleeping peacefully now. But - I didn't want him remembering
what Loki did to him. I didn't want him scarred by what had been done to
him. So I... well, he didn't clearly recall what happened, it was just a
jumble of images, so I did nothing to help him recover them, I just let
them become dreamlike.

She looked down as she said that last, as if ashamed she'd tampered with
Keiichi's memory, however slightly. I smiled, and patted her hand very
gently.

"I think you did the right thing. It wouldn't help for him to remember,
hell, I wish I didn't remember it, and that was just seeing him! And you
didn't do anything except leave his memory alone, right?"

She squeezed my hand slightly, in thanks. Maybe it did help, being
reassured by another mortal. But then she looked at me, more seriously.

"There's more, though. And not as good. Concerning you and Iczer-2. Your
health, and other matters."

I blinked...
"But... we survived, didn't we? I know I still feel terrible, but surely
we will be OK? After all, if you could heal Keiichi after what was done
to him...!?"

She sighed, deeply, looking at me with what I could have sworn were
tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry. We owe you both so much... but... we can't. The damage you
both took is too great, and we are under strict limits to the amount of
power we can use to help mortals, especially those who aren't of this
world."

************************************************************************

I had a horrible sinking feeling when she said that. Did she mean she
couldn't do anything to help? I hadn't thought too much about my
trembling while we'd been talking, but now it came on again, even
harder, no matter how much I tried to keep my hands still.

I looked up from my hands as the door slid open abruptly, glad of
anything  that didn't make me watching them shiver. Urd and Skuld stood
there, looking remarkably sombre. I got a much worse feeling. This was
not going well. After all I'd been through, all we'd done to stop Loki,
it all seemed unfair. I sighed, deeply. Maybe it was unfair, but it was
what had happened, and I just had to deal with it. I looked up at
Belldandy again.

"So tell me the worst, please. I want to know."

The three of them exchanged glances for a second, then Belldandy nodded
slowly.

"Very well. First, you have some physical injuries. That isn't anything
serious, mundane medicine could handle that in fact. Secondly, you are
completely exhausted. Again, that isn't anything a few weeks rest
couldn't cope with, although it does exacerbate the first."

"However, there is a far more serious problem, caused by the power you
used during those fights. You used far more than you could handle
safely, indeed you used far more than should have been possible for you.
You also did something we all thought to be impossible; during that
final fight you were generating psionic and magical power
simultaneously."

I must have looked even more clueless than usual at that, because she
half smiled before continuing calmly.

"Normally, either you use raw power for magic, OR psi. The use of one
precludes the use of the other. In a few rare cases, there are beings
who shift things to use both, but never at the same time.
But that, together with the sheer amount of power you put out, has
seriously damaged the... well, circuits is as good a name for them as
any... which handle and control that energy. Indeed, you are lucky to be
alive, you nearly burnt out as you did it. But it means that you can't
use it again, any attempt to use more than the smallest amount would
burn out the damaged circuits and kill you."

I sighed.
"Well, that doesn't seem too bad, does it? I managed for 30 years
without knowing I HAD that power, I don't suppose I'll miss it."

She patted my hand softly.
"It isn't just that. Haven't you noticed how you keep trembling? That
overload caused major damage to your physical nervous system as well.
And mundane medicine can't do anything about that. It won't get better
on its own."

I looked away for a moment, not wanting to see them as I tried to take
that in. Somehow, you never expect something like this to happen to you,
it's always to somebody else...

"What about Iczer-2?"

Belldandy looked down at her hands, gathering her thoughts, then looked
straight at me.

"She's dying."

************************************************************************

I just stared back at her, numb. There are some things you just don't
want to take in, even when someone tells you. After what I'd been
through with Iczer-2, how she'd touched me... it all seemed so _unreal_!
Belldandy just sat there, looking at me sadly as I collected myself.
Eventually I recovered enough to talk again.

"But how? I know Loki hurt her, but she's so much tougher than me...?"

"I think you already suspect. That last effort she made to destroy
Loki's amulet, when you synchronised with her, and Loki was using his
power to try and destroy her. She couldn't take the two different sorts
of energies, not at that intensity, not when they are so different. Her
ability to handle energy is awesome, but it has limits. Her system is
damaged beyond its own capacity to repair it, and we can't do enough to
heal her, she's too badly damaged. We could heal the more ordinary
injuries she has, but that won't help her.

I had to turn away, I couldn't face Belldandy anymore.
"It's all my fault. If I hadn't summoned her she..."

Belldandy touched my shoulder, very gently. I could feel her sorrow and
sympathy, but I didn't want it helping me right now.

"If you hadn't, we'd all be dead. And everyone on this world. I think
she'd understand."

I looked up at her in anger. I knew I shouldn't, she hadn't done
anything to me, but I had to be angry at _something_, and transferring
the anger towards her made it easier for me to stand.

"Do you think that helps her? She stopped Loki for you, and all you can
do is to let her die? I thought you were better than that, Belldandy,
letting an innocent person suffer because they helped you!"

I looked at them angrily, my fists clenched so tightly it almost stopped
my trembling.

"You owe us."

Belldandy nodded gravely.
"Yes, we do. Both personally and for those in our charge"

I almost growled.
"Then pay your debts. Heal us. Or at least heal HER, she wouldn't even
be here if I hadn't dragged her into this! Why can't you _DO_
something??!"

Belldandy looked down, unwilling to meet my eyes. Skuld looked angry,
whether at my deliberately insulting words to her sister or at the
situation in general, I had no idea.

Urd just spat out one word, making it sound like something that should
be scrawled on toilet walls.
"Politics"

"Just what do politics have to do with this? I didn't realise Heaven had
politics!"

Belldandy looked somewhat upset, and Urd just growled.

"I'm afraid it does. You see, what the two of you did offended a number
of Gods."

"You mean helping stop Ragnarok isn't popular!!!?"

She shook her head, sadly.
"Of course it is. In general, anyway. But the Gods whose aspects cover
war and destruction aren't happy, nor are Hel or Fenris. Fenris in
particular is most annoyed that you humiliated him by scaring him with an
attack that mimicked the way he is foretold to die, even though as a
mortal you couldn't actually accomplish that. And there are a lot of
conservative Gods who view you interfering and, worse, attacking and
hurting a god as being, well, hubris. You aren't popular with them.
On the other had, there is a large group of Gods with whom you are, in
view of what you did. But the first group is large enough to stop us
breaking any rules in your case. If they do, they'll report it to
Kami-sama immediately"

"And Kami-sama didn't want us to help?"

Urd grunted, still looking peeved.

"Kami-sama finds it necessary to do things in his, well, 'public'
capacity he finds offensive in his 'personal' capacity. And since he is
bound, by his own will, to follow his laws, he'd have to take action
against us."

Wonderful. You just can't please some people!

************************************************************************

Skuld pushed her way forward a little. The talk of politics seemed to
have annoyed, or at least bored her; or maybe she was being more subtle,
trying to take my mind off the mess I'd gotten into. She looked at me
thoughtfully.

"Do you remember what you did when you summoned Iczer-2?"

I tried to think. I could remember some of it, but it made my head hurt
trying to remember the rest.

"Some. Somehow I did something that affected probability...?"

She nodded.
"Does your home world know how to do that?"

I looked at her, beginning to wonder where this was leading.
"No, it doesn't. Currently we are theorising about wormholes, but no-one
has any idea about how to... oh!"

Now I saw what she was getting at.
"And no, I don't, and even if I did I don't think I'd understand the
math! Its a long time since I studied physics. Weren't you helping me?"

She looked at me glumly.
"No, it wasn't me! I was too scared at the idea of a mortal trying that
trick like that - if it had gone wrong....!!

I gulped. I could think of quite a few things that might have resulted,
and I didn't like any of them!!

Urd cleared her throat, deliberately.
"So. As you can see, you were still being manipulated even during the
fight. And before you ask the obvious question, no, it wasn't Loki. I
checked, and anyway what motive did he have for letting you summon help?
He might have been insane, but he wasn't stupid!"

I looked down at my fingers.
"So. I guess I'm still a danger, even now?"

"Well, not really. But I suspect it wasn't Loki who blocked your power
all those years ago, but this other player. Also... do you remember any
dreams, now?"

I looked up, startled at that last comment. Dreams? I tried to recall,
then froze as I remembered them. One by one, they played back in front
of the screen of my memory. Finally it stopped, and I opened my eyes,
shivering slightly from reaction. Events had been so close to ending up
like those dreams.

"But why didn't I remember any of this??"

"I suppose so you would keep to his 'script', assuming that's what he
wanted. Whoever it is - or he, or she - is a long-term player, by the
looks of things. It's only a feeling, but I don't think he's finished
with you yet."

My, that WAS a comforting thought! As if I hadn't been through enough
already! And I suspected that a 'feeling' for one of the goddesses was
something you could rely on.

"Well, before you worry too much, I don't think whoever it is going to
kill you. If he had, it would have been easy for him to have stopped
your hearts just after you destroyed Loki's amulet. You'd just have been
two dead heroes who hadn't made it, and I don't think anyone would ever
have thought to check further. Of course, whatever he has planned for
you may not be safe..."

I gave Urd a bitter smile.
"Hoist with my own petard, aren't I...?
When I needed someone to help me, I pulled in a 'version' of someone who
was both powerful enough to help, and had the personality and motivation
to help me. I didn't stop to think whether they'd want to be dragged in.
Now it looks like someone did exactly the same thing to me first, and it
annoys the hell out of me."

"You did what you thought best at the time."

"So I did. And just how does _that_ make what I did any more acceptable?"

She didn't answer me.

************************************************************************

Chapter 16 - and Consequences...
--------------------------------

Belldandy coughed politely, attracting our attention.
"Sisters? We are getting away from the point, which is what we are going
to do to about our debt to these two."

Urd and Skuld both looked serious for once, settling beside their sister
as she continued speaking.

"We have a problem. We owe you and Iczer-2 a debt we cannot really
repay, and the only way we can even attempt to do so, by healing you
both, is forbidden. If we do it anyway, we violate other and older
obligations to those in our care, since we cannot fulfil those while we
are being punished for violating heaven's laws. So we need to find a
solution around this."

Urd looked very thoughtful at that, her eyes looking a little
unfocussed. I wondered what she was thinking. Then she suddenly spoke.

"Skuld? Can I have a word with you for a moment? I have an idea..."

Skuld nodded, and the two of them went over into a corner, starting a
conversation which steadily grew more agitated and heated, judging by
the gestures and the increasingly fast typing Skuld was doing on her PDA
pad. I wished they'd been speaking in a language I could understand, I
hated watching it and having no idea what was going on, but at least it
was a distraction for me that took my thoughts away from things I didn't
want to have to think about.

Finally Skuld threw up her hands, scowling at Urd who stood there with a
big grin on her face. It looked as if she'd finally admitted defeat, as
the two of them came back over.

Urd beamed at me.
"Well, we have an idea we think will work!"

I started to get worried again. Oh god, I was in the hands of
engineers...
"That you _think_ will work? Uh, just what does this entail?"

Urd smiled still wider, looking like a cat that had got into the cream
bowl.
"Its simple, really. We aren't allowed to use more than a certain amount
of power on a mortal like you. However we need more than that permitted
amount to heal Iczer-2 or yourself. So, we merge the two of you, and as
we do we do the healing, using _both_ allowances of power on one of you,
thus we aren't really breaking the rules, because they don't cover this
sort of thing anyway!"

I frowned, trying to get this all together. Urd's idea of 'simple' was
obviously rather different from mine.

"Let me see if I understand all this. You can't heal both of us
sufficiently, but you can heal one of us if you used both allowances of
magic on one person. However you can't do that, it's forbidden. BUT, if
you merge us, and THEN add the two 'doses' together, you CAN heal one of
us completely, but then we'll be 'merged', whatever that is. And that
doesn't actually break any rules, because they don't cover it. Am I
right so far?"

Skuld nodded.
"That's about it! Of course, there are a few trivial technical details
to sort out, but they wont be any problem, not with me to handle them!"

Oh, that _was_ reassuring. Considering how drastic I'd found her
solutions to be so far, I wasn't sure I'd trust her to change the fuse
in my toaster, at least not without changing it 'accidentally' into a
nuclear power station. I still felt she didn't really understand human
limitations.

"So... what happens when we 'merge', as you so-delicately put it??"

Urd frowned, biting her lip as she tried to phase her explanation in
terms I could understand.

"Well... we will merge your physical and mental bodies as we do it, then
use all the magic we can to fully heal one of you. Then you'll both be
in one body at a time, but both minds will be present."

I blinked...
"Hang on - one body at a TIME????"

Urd hmmmd.
"Didn't I mention that?"

"No you bloody well DIDN'T!"

She waved one hand loosely in an 'oh dear, silly me!' gesture.
"Ah. Well, we aren't actually destroying anything, so both bodies are
still there, just that one is phased out while the other is here, and
your minds are in both. Is that clear?"

Yeah, clear as mud.
"Phased out? What does that mean?"

"Well... it will be possible for you to switch between the two bodies.
They can't both be in the real world at once, but if you can find
someone who can help you, and fix the other body, then it should be
possible to break the connection again so you are both OK. At least,
we'll try and make it so its only a temporary solution."

Yes, and I knew how permanent 'temporary' solutions tended to be. Still,
at least they were giving us a chance.

"So how do we switch? If its water, Urd, I'm going to kill someone!!!"

Skuld giggled.
"Water? What do you think this is, a Takahashi anime? No, it will be a
mental process. Though it will be different depending on which way you
switch."

"These two minds. How are we going to coexist in one body?"

Urd chuckled at my expression.

"Carefully! Sorry... well, one of you will be dominant, the other will
be along for the ride, as it were. But you should be able to
communicate. At least, I _think_ you will. Honestly, though, we can't
predict it completely; if this has been attempted before it's buried
under a LOAD of security programs. We just don't know until we try."

"Can't you tell which of us will be dominant?"

"Not really. I think it will be you, because while you are both strong
willed, even stubborn people, you have so much more experience of
living, I think you will be the dominant personality. But maybe not."

"Umm, Belldandy? Just how legal is this trick you are suggesting?"

Urd looked innocently up at the ceiling, Skuld buried her face in her
PDA, and Belldandy smiled beatifically in my direction, not meeting my
eyes. Just as I suspected, not very!!

"It isn't actually _illegal_. Though I will admit, we are edging very
close to the boundaries of some restrictions. The combination of things
we are considering may perhaps be illegal when done together, but as far
as we know no-one has ever tried this before, so while it may be
outlawed after, we should get away with the first usage.
Also, we suggest that we help you leave this universe as soon as
practicable afterwards. Once you are out of the direct jurisdiction of
the deities most annoyed by this, most of them will probably leave it at
that."

"MOST of them?"

"Well, we don't have any direct power outside of our own universe. But
some gods do have cults elsewhere. They can work through those if they
want, though it does involve a considerable expenditure of effort and
energy. And they have to work with what powers and abilities their local
servants have"

Oh, now I felt _really_ reassured. I could see the wanted posters
already. But it wasn't as if I had any choice, really, they were doing
the best they could for us.

I looked at Skuld.
"Just as long as it doesn't turn out to be as painful as my last
experience as your laboratory rat!!"

She *eeeepd* indignantly, as Urd snickered and Belldandy diplomatically
hid her smile behind a hand.

I watched their reactions for a moment, then steeled myself to ask the
question I'd been putting off by asking all the others.

"If I understand this right, the body you don't heal will be pretty much
as it is now, right?"

She nodded.

"Then... you'll have to heal Iczer-2. Otherwise, if we switch..."

Belldandy looked at me calmly.
"Are you sure? It will mean you living in someone else's body, maybe in
someone else's mind, and she isn't male, or even human?"

I sighed, not looking at anyone.
"What choice do I have? First, it's MY fault she's in this mess, no
matter what you say. I can't evade that responsibility. And logically,
she's much tougher than me physically, so it makes sense from an
impersonal point of view."

Belldandy smiled at me; despite my fears I felt reassured, as though she
was approving of my reasons.

"There is one other benefit. Iczer-2 already has some ability to phase
and to transit dimensions. With a little bit of extra knowledge we will
give, the two of you should be able to travel between worlds. That will,
hopefully, allow you to eventually find someone who can finish healing
you both.

Urd nodded.
"And her other abilities will help you survive. Dimensional travel is
dangerous, as you probably realise by now!"

Boy, did I ever.
"Is it possible to arrange this quickly? I'd... like to do it before I
lose my nerve..."

************************************************************************

I was glad when the three left me alone while they went in to see to
Iczer-2. My thoughts were a dark and chaotic place right now, and I
wanted to be alone in it.

I don't really know how long they were in there, I think that I may have
dozed off. With all the stress I was under I didn't see how, but maybe
one of the goddesses had decided to 'help' me. I woke to see Urd
standing over me.

"You can speak to her if you like."

I blinked, rubbing my eyes.
"She's awake? Have you told her...?

She nodded, her face expressionless.
"Yes, we have. She agrees with you, what we have in mind is the only
viable solution."

I sighed, part in relief that she wasn't going to die, and part in worry
about what that meant for me in terms of Urds's solution.

"Can I see her? I'd like to, before you..."

Urd smiled slightly, and knelt, sliding her arm under me to help me up.

"Go on. Let us know when you're both ready."

I nodded, and walked over to the door carefully, as she led me into the
next room. Lying on a futon, a sheet over her, was Iczer-2.
She didn't look good. Her skin was deathly white; while I remembered her
as being pale when I'd seen her before, this was not a healthy colour.
The paleness was marred by scars, and the dark blemishes of bruising
stood out in sharp relief. I stopped for a moment, waiting as she turned
her head slowly to look at me. Her eyes met mine, and I looked deep into
them, as she smiled slightly, painfully.
"Please..."

I nodded, and let Urd go, walking unsteadily over to where she lay,
to sat down carefully next to her; neither my movements or my balance
were what I was used to. Her right hand, the uninjured one, lay on the
bed, and I took it carefully in mine. Doing that gave me an excuse not
to meet her eyes for a while.

"They told you?"

"That I'm dying? Yes. And that there is a possible solution."

I squeezed her hand very gently.
"I'm so sorry. It's all my fault, I should never have summoned you
here."

She turned her head slightly to look at me squarely. Even in her current
state, I could feel the force of her personality.

"Oh, so you didn't want to be my partner? Should I release you from
that?"

That shocked me enough to meet her eyes again.
"But I.. no, I mean I want to, uh.. I mean..."

She tried to chuckle, an effort that started her coughing harshly, her
hand gripping mine tighter until the spasm stopped.
"Foolish. I'm an empath, you can't lie to me, I know how you're feeling."

I must have looked stupid.
"An empath??".

She nodded.
"Didn't you realise? I take your power via your emotions, that's why
it's much more powerful when you are angry or upset. Your emotions are
much more open, its easier to draw the power. But in order to do that, I
have to be an empath. How can I use your emotions if I can't feel them?"

"I didn't realise. There's so much I don't know about you..."

Her eyes were deep cobalt wells of sadness as they gazed deep into mine.
"I'd... hoped to have the chance for us both to find out. I've wanted a
partner for so long..."

I sighed, shutting my eyes. I couldn't meet the hurt and pain in hers.

"You have one now. For as long as you want him."

"I may not have you for long. This - solution - those three proposed, it
doesn't sound very likely to work.

I squeezed her hand again, trying to reassure her.
"Trust them, they know what they're doing. Anyway, at least their
proposal gives us a fighting chance, doesn't it?"

She gave me a twisted smile.
"Well, I can't deny that I enjoy fighting. And as everyone keeps telling
me, it's what I do best... It's just that I wish that it wasn't all
people think I'm good for."

"Then that was why you seemed upset - when I summoned you, and asked
you
to fight?"

"Yes... I understand why you did, don't worry. Loki needed stopping;
Belldandy told me what he planned. It's being able to use my skills to
an end like that that makes me glad I am so good at fighting. But... I
suppose I keep hoping that someday someone will want me for other
reasons. We all have foolish dreams, don't we?"

I smiled at her, and reached out, my finger very softly stroking down
one cheek.
"They don't have to be foolish..."

Her hand slipped out of mine, pressing my other hand against her face.
"Promise me one thing?"

"Of course..."

"Just don't leave me. I don't want to be alone again..."

I nodded, and leant forward, as I kissed her forehead very softly.

"I won't leave you."

She smiled up at me for a long moment.
"I'll hold you to that. Well, we'd better get them in and start, waiting
isn't going to help.

I got up, already stiff despite the short time we'd been together. My
thoughts and emotions were still in turmoil. I don't know what I'd
expected from her, how she'd be, only that I was pretty certain it
wasn't this... But I'd keep my promise to her, it was the least I could
do. If I had other reasons, my subconscious was keeping them firmly to
itself.

************************************************************************

I'd offered to carry Iczer-2 to the work area, even if she wasn't
conscious, I'd hoped she would feel my presence. But Urd had vetoed it;
in my current state I wasn't just subject to uncontrollable trembling,
but kept stumbling, not the best way to carry someone already suffering
from major injuries. Instead she wrapped her carefully in the sheet, and
picked her up in her arms with an easy strength, a quick motion of her
head ordering me to follow along.

I kept my attention on Iczer-2. Not only did it help me feel my presence
might reassure her, if she could still feel it, but it helped keep my
attention off the tension that was growing steadily inside me, adding a
sick, tight feeling to my already-unhappy state.

Belldandy motioned me over, away from where the other two were busy. I
looked back for a second, fascinated despite the circumstances; Skuld
was buried in a pile of components big enough to almost bury her, while
Urd had a book in one hand and was drawing some sort of magic circle,
the writing of which tried to writhe around and get behind my eyeballs
every time I looked at it.

"While they are finishing the preparations, I'd better tell you a little
about Iczer-2, since its quite possible you will be living in that body
a fair bit, at least until you can get everything fixed."

I gulped, and hoped that we _could_ get things fixed. Well, better to
hope. Anyway, this would take my mind off the preparations for what I
_hoped_ wouldn't be my funeral...
"OK, I guess I do need to know."

"Very well. Now, firstly, you should realise that while she looks human,
she isn't. Although we were surprised to find that she is basically a
modified human, an least physically."

I blinked at that revelation.
"Human? But she's a Cthulu - an alien! How can she be human??"

"Well, I did say basically. Her DNA seems to be a genetically modified
human structure. Maybe these 'Cthulu' aren't so alien after all?"

I shrugged helplessly. What did I know, I'd only seen the anime...

"Anyway, physically the main differences are strength and speed. She's
both _very_ strong and fast, and pretty tough as well. Most of the other
physical differences are fairly minor, those are the ones you'll
probably notice most. I do hope they also aren't the ones you'll need
most."

So did I!

"However, the non-physical differences are _far_ more interesting.
Basically, she's psionic. A very powerful one, too, but the most unusual
feature is her ability to act as an amplifier for someone else's power."

"Someone else? Like me??"

"Yes, like you. Her 'partner'. She links to one person, and draws on
their power, amplifies it and controls it. That's what you were doing
during the final fight with Loki. Now, as a result of what we are about
to do, that ability will be affected. We aren't sure exactly how, we'll
do another analysis after the operation."

"Even without a partner, though, she is very powerful. She's a receptive
empath, and can create and manipulate energy fields. That's how she
controls the 'sword' she used, and she can also use it for protection,
although its more effective against energy than physical force.
She can use them to allow herself to fly, and she also has some control
over dimensional manipulation. We can use that to allow you both to
leave this universe, after we teach you how."

I looked rather stunned. THIS was what I was getting involved with!?
"Ah... right. Is that it, or are there any other little gems of data
you've glossed over"
I get sarcastic when I'm upset...

"Oh, one thing I forgot. She has a certain amount of precognition, but
it seems tied to her combat skills. So don't count on it."

"Count on it?? Belldandy, if it IS me who ends up in control, how am I
going to even _use_ these abilities?? I don't suppose I'm going to get a
manual!!"

She smiled.
"Oh, I'm sure it won't be that bad! After all, even without them you
will have a lot of advantages. Just be careful, and remember that using
those abilities takes power. And may be very obvious to, well, certain
entities."

Oh, this just got better and better. So when I used those wonderful
abilities (if I ever found out how) I could point a big neon sign at
myself saying 'Look over here!!'

All this was not doing me any good at all. The 'butterflies' in my
stomach seemed to have grown to the armour-plated, B-52 size right now.

My worrying was interrupted by the touch of Urd's hand on my shoulder.
I'd been so absorbed I hadn't even realised she'd walked over to us.

"We're ready."

I took a deep breath, and nodded.
"What do I do?"

She smiled. Her air of reassurance would have worked better on me if my
mind hadn't insisted on popping up all those bits of manga where she
used magic.

"Just stand in the triangle. We stand in the other three, and Iczer-2 is
already in her circle. We'll do the rest."

I nodded, and walked over, fast, to where she had indicated. I had to do
it fast, if I'd let myself think I don't believe I could have gone
through with it.

The three of them took position in the other circles as Urd gestured,
the candles positioned around the area flaring as they started to shed a
flickering light. I had to shade my eyes for a moment against the soft
glow as their garb changed into their 'working' outfits. The glow didn't
exactly fade, but it seemed to concentrate inside them, making their
bodies almost luminescent, and somehow making them seem more real,
more
solid.

"Just shut your eyes, and let your mind go blank."

I took one last look over to where Iczer-2 lay on the floor, her body
wrapped in a sheet. She looked so frail, it was impossible to think of
her right now as the fighter who'd stopped Loki. Then I closed my eyes
in resignation, trying to blank my mind.

What happened next I flatly refuse to describe. In any case, I can't
recall it clearly, even now, although Iczer-2 says she understood it.
Anyway, the next clear memory I have is opening my eyes again, still in
the circle, and noticing that the candles had almost burnt down. I felt
odd, tired, and very stiff from standing.

"Did it...?"

Urd nodded, looking tired herself.
"It worked. Everything seemed to go fine, but we'll need to do some
tests next to see in detail."

I looked over at where Iczer-2 had been, and then blinked, rapidly
looking around for her.
"Where is she??"

Skuld looked up from her instrumentation.
"She's merged with you, just like we planned!"

Well. Now I guess we have to see what happens...

************************************************************************

I looked over at Urd, my body trembling. Whether with reaction from the
operation, or fear, I didn't really know, and right know it hardly
mattered.

"So... how do I 'switch', as you put it earlier??"

Urd frowned slightly as she bent her head next to Skuld's, watching with
her the data zip past on the VDU, then straightened up with a half-smile
that I hoped was good news.

"Well, based on what we had in mind, and what the preliminary data says,
its emotional/glandular based. Given the nature of the way the two of
you were initially bonded, it pretty much had to be."

I kept looking at her.
"And??"

She grinned.
"Just get mad! Or upset, or... _excited_, or anything else that
generates a lot of emotional strain and energy, and stimulates those
changes in your body!"

I blinked. Just get mad? It sounded easy, until you tried to do it on
demand!

Urd must have sensed what I was thinking, my expression wasn't exactly
guarded. Stepping closer, her expression changed from a grin to almost a
sneer.
"What's the matter, boy? After all, it's all your fault, isn't it? Can't
you do a little thing like change?"

I looked up, startled and hurt, as she poked me.
"Well, come on! Don't just stand there, why don't you do something!"

I growled, stepping back as I felt anger grow in me. While it was pretty
obvious what she was up to, I played along, trying not to think but to
let the irrational anger response grow and deepen. I felt warmer; odd,
it was fine in here a moment ago, now it felt uncomfortably hot.

"Shut up, Urd!! It wasn't my fault!"

Urd grinned, nastily, as this time she slapped my face, hard, making me
take another step back, looking back angrily at her contempt-filled
face.

"Oh yes it was! And now you can't even do a simple little thing like
change! You're such a wimp, no wonder Loki used you!"

This time I almost snarled, as I gave free reign to the tension burning
in me, letting it grow and flower, as another wave of heat flooded
through me. I felt incredibly tense, and my body locked, as I stood
there, limbs simply refusing to answer to my commands. The burning heat
grew, a wave of itching growing across my skin, my bones aching as I
started to shudder convulsively and blacked out for a second.

I regained my senses oddly. It wasn't just that I opened my eyes, but
the images I saw were more, well, clear than before, as if I was seeing
the world for the first time without glasses. Every sound in the room
felt much louder, as I looked over to Urd. And realised with a shock
that this time I was meeting her eyes directly, not looking down slightly
at them!

"Wha..."
I broke off with a gasp! It was a totally _weird_ feeling to know you
were speaking and to find the sound coming out in someone else's voice.
Then I looked down at myself...and grabbed for the edge of a table, as a
flash of weakness flooded through me, leaving me trembling in reaction.

"Oh my God...you did it!!!"

Belldandy was looking at me with concern, but didn't seem too worried.
Urd was too busy smirking at me to say anything.

Skuld put her tongue out at me.
"That's Oh My Goddess, not Oh my God!!"

************************************************************************

Belldandy slipped a hand around me, helping me stay upright. It wasn't
that I felt weak, but I was having difficulty balancing, everything felt
different. I held out one arm, slowly looking at it, trying to make
myself realise it was mine. The sight of the slim, pale and shapely limb
instead of the arm I _was_ used to made me shiver and close my eyes
again for a moment. Then I gave a deep sigh and opened them again. This
wasn't going to go away, and the sooner I got used to it and accepted it
the sooner we could be off and look for a solution to our problems.
A small background part of my mind registered that at least th's snar
healed Iczer-2's physical injuries, although 'my' shoulder and left hand
still ached, but right now even that hardly seemed to matter.

"I didn't really expect it to be like this. I thought Iczer-2 would be
in control"

Urd shrugged.
"I did warn you, we couldn't control it. You seemed to come to some sort
of balance between you when the merge was going on. You should be able
to feel her, though, maybe even talk to her?"

I frowned, and closed my eyes again as I tried to search for Iczer-2. I
realised after a few seconds that I could 'feel' something. I tried
mentally to 'talk', but nothing happened. It was an odd feeling; have
you ever had someone standing right behind you, not saying anything, out
of sight, but you _knew_ they were there? It was like that, only more
intense. I could somehow sense an emotion of reassurance and relief
coming from the other presence.

"She's here. I can feel her. But I can't hear her, or anything, she's
just there."

"Well, that's a start. At least it shows that you both made it OK. With
practice, you should be able to communicate better."

Skuld nodded, her head still buried in a bank of equipment.
"She's fine, I have the readings here. It may take a while for the two
of you to get used to each other, though, just practice, and don't rush
things. The rest of the transfer worked fine, too, and she's pretty much
healed! I'm _such_ a genius!!

Urd sighed deeply at that last comment, rolling her eyes at the ceiling.
"Oy, and _who_ had to be convinced it was possible...!!"

Belldandy smiled fondly at both of them.
"Now, we have to let David...ah, Iczer-2...mmm, what _do_ we call you
both?"

I 'felt' an amused feeling from deep inside me. I wondered just how much
Iczer-2 could sense of what I was seeing and hearing. And if it was that
much, how I'd adjust to the lack of privacy...

"Uh. How about just Iczer? I always thought the -2 thing was tacky, and
I certainly don't look like a 'David Smith' any more!"

"That will do. Iczer. Well, the first thing is for you to practice
walking and moving, get used to the different way that body feels. Once
you've done that, we can test that you can change into David again."

I shivered. I wondered just what the chances were that I couldn't change
back into my old body. I was getting a nasty suspicion that all this was
a _lot_ more experimental than I'd been told earlier. While I could
hardly accuse Belldandy of lying, I had a feeling she was being
seriously economical with the truth.

************************************************************************

Under Belldandy's careful eye, I practised moving about. Once I got used
to the differences, I seemed to adjust very easily, surprisingly so in
fact. I mentioned this to Belldandy, who looked interested.

"I wonder how active Iczer-2 is. Although you can't speak to her yet, I
suspect she has more input than we first thought. You are right, it
should take much longer to adjust. I would think she's helping."

I nodded, still wondering how Iczer-2 really felt about all this. This
was _her_ body I was using, after all. I don't think I'd have been very
happy about someone else using mine in such a fashion.

"Well, at least I can move around normally. But am I stuck like this??"

Belldandy looked at Urd.
"Sister, you're the expert on shapeshifting. Would you show Iczer how to
change back to her other form."

I looked at Urd hopefully. 'Her' other form. I was beginning to wonder
how I was going to refer to all this, the genders were already starting
to get confusing!

Urd hopped up off the corner of the desk she'd been lounging gracefully
against, stepping up to me and looking closely at my face.

"Right. OK, I'll lead you through it. Just relax, its easy once you know
how."

Her eyes looked into mine, and I felt my attention trapped there like a
fly in amber. I couldn't really tell, or at least explain to myself in
words, exactly what she did then. It seemed to make sense at the time,
and I followed it OK, I just can't describe it.
I felt a soft tingling slowly spread across my body, and my vision got
fuzzy, a soft throbbing noise growing louder in my ears. Then I jerked
abruptly, spasming as I felt an almost tangible *click* inside me,
instantly followed by a wave of agony as I doubled over, clutching
myself as I tried not to collapse, every muscle and nerve screaming in
agony.
I don't know how long that horrible pain lasted. It may only have been a
second or two, it just felt like hours. As it far-too-slowly faded, I
straightened up, trembling uncontrollably as sweat poured down me. It
took me some moments to realise that I had successfully regained my
original body, such was the shock, as I looked up to see Belldandy and
Urd looking at me worriedly.

"I'm sorry... was it supposed to be this painful? It didn't hurt nearly
so much going the other way."

Urd frowned.
"I don't see why. Hmm, we need to take a few more measurements...Skuld?"

Skuld nodded, starting to work at some of her instruments.

I panted, the sweat feeling achingly cold against my skin. I was still
shivering, stomach knotting with cramps as I drew the blanket closer
around me, waiting. Belldandy was still looking worried, and that did
nothing to improve my confidence.

Eventually, Skuld finished whatever she was doing, and passed her PDA to
Urd, who looked at it with interest.

"Well, Urd? What's the story?

She looked at me over it, then put it carefully down.
"It could be better, I'm afraid. It looks like the change puts a much
higher shock to the system than we thought. Iczer-2's body is quite
capable of handling that, she's very tough. But yours isn't. In fact,
there's an indication that the change actually causes a small amount of
damage. Not enough to be a problem, normally, but you aren't in the best
of shape right now."

I looked at her unhappily. I had just _known_ something like this was
going to go wrong.

She smiled in reassurance; such a pity I wasn't reassured.
"Don't look so worried! Firstly, the damage done is minuscule. Secondly,
the change does work, even if its painful. So it means that what we did
can be undone someday. But until then - well, I'd keep the amount of
changing you do to a minimum, just to be on the safe side. That way your
body will have time to recover from the damage"

I wiped my face with my hand, feeling the cold sweat wet my palm,
feeling suddenly very tired. Inside me I could still feel Iczer-2,
indeed if anything her presence was more marked in my body than in hers,
offering me what comfort she could, but all I really wanted to do right
now was rest.

Belldandy looked sympathetically at me.
"I think you'd better lie down, and get some sleep. We'll make some more
tests, but there's no reason why they should disturb you. And as we said
earlier, we need to see about getting you safely out of this Universe"

I'd almost forgotten about that. It was like a bad western, 'Get out of
town by sunset!'.

Urd wrapped an arm about me, pulling me gently away.
"Come on, you look like you're about to fall over! And if you did, Skuld
would never forgive you if you damaged her so _precious_ equipment! Lets
get you to bed, we can brief Iczer-2 while you sleep"

I yawned, and nodded, letting her guide me with no resistance. After all
that had happened, I was thankful just to follow someone else's
instructions for a bit, and not to have to make decisions for myself.

************************************************************************

So now it's all ready. Belldandy says they will help 'us' leave tomorrow
morning, as soon as I have recovered a little.

As I lie here in the dark looking up at the ceiling, I wonder if this is
all real, or am I dreaming it? Am I now sharing bodies and minds with an
alien killing construct who has the body of a beautiful girl? Or am I
just imagining that I can feel her presence within me, her soul gently
touching mine?

I could get mad and find out, of course.
But I'm afraid I might be.



***********************************************************************
***********************************************************************

Acknowledgements :

Belldandy, Urd, Skuld & Keiichi (and everything else from Ah! Megamisama)
is copyright by Fujishima.
Iczer-2 is copyright by Hirano.
I have no rights or claim on any of them...

Loki, Hel, etc are presumably copyright by various Nordic Skalds, but
since they are dead and out of copyright I don't care!! *nyaah*


Well, that's it over. For now.
Yes, there is a sequel, which I'm currently writing, in which our
happy(?) hero(s) try and find a solution to their little personal
problems, and end up - somewhere else! All I'll say now is Saga 2 isn't
set in the same Universe.


A few explanatory notes for those not so familiar with Norse mythology.
These are by no means comprehensive, and mainly deal with areas that come
up the story. If you want more, I recommend a book on Norse mythology.

(1) Loki

Loki is the Norse god usually associated with mischief and deceit; he is
originally the one who starts the actions which lead to Ragnarok, the
Twilight of the Gods where nearly all the Norse Gods will die, by his
actions in the death of Baldur (it was prophesied that Ragnarok could not
take place until after Baldur's death). In order to prevent this, Freya
took oaths from every living and unliving thing not to harm Baldur, but
forgot the mistletoe; he was killed by a dart of this, helpfully provided
by Loki. When the gods attempted to resurrect Baldur, Loki again
prevented this by refusing to weep for his death.

Later on this and his growing arrogance led to his capture and
imprisonment by the Gods, in an underground chamber, with a serpent
dripping venom onto him. This is caught by his wife, but when she has to
empty the bowl it falls on him, and his resulting struggles cause
earthquakes.

He is eventually to be freed at Ragnarok, where he will fight on the side
of the God's enemies.


(2) Hel

Goddess of the dead, her domain is the three worlds that make up the
underworld. All the dead who do not die in battle come to her, and her
realm is not noted for being pleasant. Traditionally, she is half-dead,
half-alive; the upper half of her body living, the lower dead, but I
used an alternative form where the left side is dead, it works better
visually. She is also Loki's daughter.


(3) Fenris

Fenris is one of the three children of Loki who will be fighting against
the Gods at Ragnarok (the third is the world-serpend Jormansgundir, who
doesn't appear here), having the form of a huge wolf. He is foretold to
fight Odin, and will defeat and kill him by swallowing him. However he
will then fall to one of Odins sons, Vidar, who will grab his jaws and
tear him apart.

(4) Trolls

Just generic cannon-fodder, the Trolls were low-level bad guys who, while
they weren't in the major annoyance class of the Giants, did give the
Gods problems. They are here to act as flunkies.

(5) Tyrfang

Tyrfang in the mythos is a sword, created by the Giants to destroy
Yggdrasil by gnawing on its roots. It was broken by Thor in order to
avoid this. Here, however, Loki has arranged for it to be re-forged. To
keep in with the modified mythos of AMG, Tyrfang is a demon as well as a
sword, and gnawing at the roots of Yggdrasil has been chosen to mean
attacking its programming as a software virus.