Bill Hartwell
5th January 2003, 06:22 AM
The last part went into place, and Skuld sat back with a maniacal grin.
It was her greatest invention yet: Skuld's Own Hyperdimensional Bug
Vacuum.
"I've done it! My genius amazes even myself!" Skuld shouted
triumphantly, reaching for her ice cream. "Empty?"
Skuld's room was littered with empty pint containers, electronic
components, and older devices. As Skuld left in search of more ice
cream, her computer's monitor lit up with a flashing message: Warning.
Dimensional Instability.
Skuld stuck her head in the freezer, moved the contents around, and
shrieked in surprise.
"Oneesama! Where's the ice cream? Oneesama?" Skuld wandered out of the
kitchen and started looking through the house when Belldandy didn't
respond. "Oneesama? Where are you?"
"You just missed her. She went shopping," Urd announced from her perch
in front of the TV. "Now get out of my way. I want to see this."
Skuld turned to see what Urd was so interested in on the TV. Her hammer
was in her hand before she was consciously aware, and only the
forcefield around the TV prevented her from smashing it to bits. The
perverted things the couple on the screen was doing may have been to
Urd's liking, but SHE didn't have to put up with it.
"Now you've done it, you little brat! Do you know how hard it was to get
those two together like that?"
"I should have known this was your fault! Why do I have to have such a
pervert for a sister?"
"Maybe you should try it yourself! It could only improve your
personality!"
"Aaaah!" Skuld swung her mallet at Urd, who immediately shrank to her
Mini-Urd form and teleported away. "Come back here and fight like a
Goddess, you coward! Banpei! Find her!"
As Skuld stalked out of the living room, she crushed the television with
a parting shot from her mallet. On the way past her bedroom, she noticed
a flashing light. <That doesn't make any sense. That looks like the
warning I programmed for a Bug Exhaust Port. Oh no!> She dashed into the
room and stared at the monitor, then began frantically typing, an
expression of horror growing on her face. Suddenly, Skuld's latest
invention began to glow, the light filling the room in seconds, then
spreading....
"Thank you for bringing me home, Keiichi-chan. I enjoy riding with you
so much." Belldandy exclaimed happily as she lifted her shopping bags
from the motorcycle's sidecar.
"I'm always glad to give you a lift, Bel-chan." Keiichi said, smiling
happily as he as he took off his helmet and took one bag from her arms -
all that she'd allow him to carry for her. "Can I help you with dinner?"
"You can help eat it," Belldandy laughed, reaching for the front door as
the light from Skuld's room exploded to engulf the temple grounds.
########
The alien had taken refuge on the grounds of an abandoned temple near a
college a good ways across Tokyo. The Senshi were even happier than I
was that the location made it possible to minimize the risk to civilians
while fighting it. We cornered it in one of the bedrooms of the priest's
house, and Sailor Moon blasted it to nothingness.
As we were taking our first relieved breaths, Sailor Mercury suddenly
yelled in surprise, seconds before the entire world went white. When the
light faded, Sailor Mercury and I were the only ones initially able to
see, thanks to my Gargoyles and her visor. Where the alien had been was
something that looked like a vacuum cleaner after it had been through my
laboratory, and a couple feet away was kneeling a girl who looked about
the same age as Hotaru and Chibi-Usa, with black hair as long as
Setsuna's and wearing a sort of white tunic with red cuffs and collar.
Across her back was a long hammer, like a croquet mallet with a spike on
the end of the handle. Her hands were positioned as if she was at a
keyboard, despite there being no furnishings of any kind in the room.
She turned her head and looked up at us with a horrified expression in
her brown eyes.
"Holy shit," I murmured in surprise as I saw the blue markings on her
forehead and cheeks. "But...she's fictional."
"No, she's real," Sailor Mercury said. "But she's not from this
universe."
"Oh, no," Skuld cried. "I didn't manage to stop it in time!"
"URD! What did you do THIS time?" a male voice called from the front of
the house.
"Now, Keiichi-chan, you don't know it was her. Something about this
feels more like Marller's doing." The voice sounded like Ami's sounded
when we were alone and sharing our love for each other. That meant it
could only be one person.
**I'll check it out, Angel. Make sure the others recover from the light,
ok?**
**Be careful, my love. If that really is Belldandy, then Marller may be
real, too.**
**If she is, she'll find I'm not as easygoing as they are. I love you.**
**I love you, too.**
Sailor Mercury moved toward Sailor Moon as I left the room and made my
way toward the front of the house. Just stepping up onto the floor
inside the front door were one of the shortest men I've ever seen, and a
woman with hair a lighter shade of brown than mine, beautiful
violet-blue eyes, and marks on her cheeks and forehead. I offered henu
to the couple and gestured toward the room the others were in.
"Morisato Keiichi, Belldandy, if you'd come this way, we can start to
figure out what happened. And if your sister is here as well, she should
come, too."
"Who are you, and what happened to our home?" Keiichi asked, stepping in
front of Belldandy.
"They call me Demon Hunter. And if Sailor Mercury's initial reading of
Skuld is accurate, this isn't your home. It's the equivalent of it in
our universe."
"And it's not my fault," declared a woman with platinum blond hair,
green eyes, a tan Zonker Harris would kill for, marks on her cheeks and
forehead, and enough raw sex appeal to make me very glad I'd given my
heart to Ami. "All I was doing was watching TV."
Keiichi looked at Urd with one of those unmistakable "I'm not so sure I
believe you" expressions we've all gotten at one time or another -
usually after one of Minako's "great ideas" blows up in our faces. The
look on Urd's face confirmed her claim, as far as I was concerned.
Keiichi's disbelief hurt her, and she was trying to hide it.
"OK, so you're not the one who did it. And Belldandy thinks Marller
might be involved. If she is, she might as well show herself now and
save all of us some trouble." I looked around as I spoke, trying to get
a feel for the place.
**Rei? Can you feel any demonic presences here?**
**Demonic? Not quite...there's something here...but compared to what we
think of as demonic, it's a joke.**
**That's probably her, then. Where is it?**
**Above us. Maybe 100 meters.**
**Thanks.**
"Urd, would you fetch her? She's about 100 meters straight up. We'll be
in that bedroom over there." I pointed at the room the Senshi were in.
"Skuld was saying something about not being able to stop it when I came
out here."
Urd growled and vanished in a puff of smoke. I looked to the others and
gestured toward the bedroom. It was pretty obvious Keiichi had been in
school far too long. He had just processed what I'd said, and was
looking to Belldandy for reassurance.
" YOUR universe? Sailor Mercury? But Sailor Mercury's a character in a
TV show!" Keiichi sounded remarkably like he'd just had an even bigger
surprise than meeting Belldandy.
"He's right, Keiichi-chan. This isn't our world. I have a feeling his
friends will be able to help us get home." She smiled lovingly at him,
then turned her gaze on me with a smile as warm and open as any that
Usagi could offer. "Would you introduce us to your friends, Demon
Hunter-san?"
"Just call me Bill, ok?" I smiled and tipped my hat to her, then led
them to the bedroom door. Inside, Skuld was wailing miserably. I didn't
clearly understand anything she was saying, but the overall impression
was that she believed she was here all alone and just wanted to be with
her sisters.
Belldandy swept past us all and gathered Skuld into her arms, soon
quieting her sister's cries. Keiichi moved to join them after Skuld had
settled down, and she stuck her tongue out at him, a lot like Chibi-Usa
often did to Usagi.
"I'm reading some residual extradimensional energy on that device,"
Sailor Mercury announced. "Two different kinds of energy, and they look
like they're incompatible."
"Two different kinds?" Skuld, finally calmed enough to hear us clearly,
looked shocked, then angry. "URD!"
"It wasn't Urd," Belldandy said gently. "Can't you feel it?"
Skuld whipped out a set of goggles that reminded me of stereotypical
Ether Goggles, and studied the vacuum intently. While she was studying
it, I moved to rest a hand gently on Sailor Mercury's shoulder.
**Can we duplicate the energies, Angel?**
**The hyperspatial energy will be easy. The other, I'm not so sure of.
It's unlike anything any of us have ever used.**
**It's demonic, isn't it?**
**Sort of. But more chaotic and less evil.**
**So it WAS Marller.**
**That could be, but we should be certain before saying anything.**
"It looks like demonic energy," Skuld announced. "But that doesn't make
sense, unless it was tampered with after I finished it."
"I'd say that's a good bet," Urd announced, appearing in a puff of
smoke, holding a woman who looked like she could be her evil sister by
the ear. "Tell us what you did, Marller, before I get angry."
**Uh-oh. Urd's voice is far too calm. Be ready for an explosion.**
The others shifted just a little, and Sailors Mars and Jupiter moved
closer to Sailor Moon, ready to jump in front of her in an instant.
Marller, wearing a pair of black leather jeans that looked as if they'd
been painted on and a black T-shirt that was at least two sizes too
small and made of spandex, with the logo "Evil means never having to say
you're sorry" on it, winced as Urd twisted her ear.
"OK! OK! Just let go! All I did was drop a little time bomb into
that...whatever it is!" Marller pointed at the vacuum. "It shouldn't
have done...whatever it did."
"What it did, demon, was blow all of you out of your universe and into
ours." I stalked toward her and glared into her eyes from close enough
to feel her breathing. "Be thankful you're not a demon from MY universe,
or you'd already be dead. As it is...if you want to live - much less get
home - you're going to have to work WITH us, not against us. Is that
understood?"
"You did WHAT?" Skuld shrieked, whipping out a device about the size of
a softball. "I'm gonna blast you to smithereens!"
"Bring it on, brat!" Marller brought up her hands and a ball of light
began forming between them. When I laid the blade of my sword across her
throat, she was sufficiently surprised for her energy ball to backfire,
stunning her.
"Skuld! Don't!" Belldandy cried, moving to knock the device out of
Skuld's hand. "If she was responsible for what happened, we need her to
get home."
"And she needs us," Urd added, grinning maliciously at Marller. "This is
too rich! If you want to get home, you're going to have to HELP us,
Marller!"
As Urd broke into maniacal laughter, Marller glared at me. I shrugged
and sheathed my sword, then offered her a hand.
"I don't need your help, mortal! You'll pay for your effrontery!" She
raised her hands to attack, apparently not realizing how vulnerable she
was, still half-sprawled on the floor. I dropped to one knee - ok, I
dropped to one fist, and that fist was buried in her belly. Just because
I wasn't going to kill her didn't mean I had to put up with any of her
shit. The look of shock on her face was definitely worth the effort of
leaving her alive.
"I don't think she'll be any more trouble, at least until she gets her
breath back. Is she always this...hot-headed?" I moved to join Sailor
Mercury and Skuld in examining the vacuum.
"No, sometimes she's worse," Urd laughed. "You should take some lessons
from him, Keiichi! On second thought, don't." She looked a little
worried as Keiichi's thoughtful gaze moved, from where Marller was
trying to catch her breath, to her.
"I can't believe you're really here!" Sailor Moon gushed as she took
Belldandy's hands. "I've got ALL your manga!"
"Are you sure that's not MY manga?" Sailor Mars growled softly.
"Oh! Well, maybe they are! That doesn't matter, though. Are you REALLY a
Goddess?" Hurricane Usagi was definitely winding up for some major
fan-flaking. Not that I could blame her. With the only person in
existence who could out-cute Chibi-Usa, someone who could make Michiru
and Haruka argue just by taking a deep breath, and the person I'd once
compared Ami to for sheer sweetness and perfection, all here in our
world, I'd be flaking too if I were as outgoing as she is.
"Yes, I really am a Goddess. My name is Belldandy, and this is my
husband, Morisato Keiichi. I'm very pleased to meet you, although I wish
it were under different circumstances."
"That's ok, with your sister, Sailor Mercury, and Bill working on it, we
should have your...whatever that is...working in no time! I hope."
Sailor Moon glanced over toward where the three of us were busily
discussing what we'd need to properly diagnose the damage to Skuld's
"Hyperdimensional Bug Vacuum".
"You're really Sailor Moon?" Keiichi asked. "And you're Tuxedo
Mask...and...only the Inner Senshi?"
"Oh, yeah. The others are...Wait a minute...how do you know about us
when you're not from this world?"
"My little sister...," he started, then blushed as Belldandy looked at
him with the same kind of gaze Serenity used when she suspected someone
of being less than truthful with her. "OK... I have all 200 episodes of
your anime on tape, as well as all three movies, plus the Ami-chan
Special." He blushed as if he'd just admitted to reading shoujo manga.
"Did you hear that, gang? We're anime stars! That's just too cool!"
Sailor Moon shrieked excitedly while the others rolled their eyes.
Tuxedo Kamen stood over Marller, watching in case she decided to make
trouble.
"And we appear in manga in your world?" Belldandy asked thoughtfully. "I
wonder how that can be."
"Bill has a theory about that," Sailor Mars said. "It has to do with
creative people being able to perceive other realities. You'll have to
ask him to explain."
"Whatever it is, we can talk about it better over some cake! Let's all
go to Bill and Ami's place!" Usagi's excitement steamrolled right over
any possibility of rational thought.
That got my attention. The only way that demon was going into our house
was either dead or bound. I stalked over to Marller and looked down at
her.
"OK, demon. Here's the scoop. You can either let Belldandy bind you so
you can't use your powers, or I can break both your arms and your legs,
and cut your tongue out. We can always heal you up when it's time for
you to go home." I guess even demons can get scared. She sure did. I'm
not sure if it was my threat, or the matter-of-fact way I presented it.
Whichever, it worked. Unfortunately, it also shocked the hell out of the
Goddesses.
"Would you really do that?" Urd gasped, staring at me like I was some
kind of poisonous snake.
"Since I can't be sure you could get home if I kill her, yes. I'm a
demon hunter. I kill demons. And bound or crippled is the only way I'm
going to let a live one in my home." I shrugged and looked down at
Marller. "So which will it be?"
"Belldandy? Keep that maniac away from me!" Marller screamed and
scrambled backward across the bedroom floor, trying to put as much room
as she could between us. Belldandy moved to her and knelt at her side,
trying to calm her, as I'd hoped she would.
**That was cruel, Bill.**
**Yes, Usagi, it was. And it worked exactly as I wanted it to.**
**What do you mean?**
**Look at them. Now she's willing to ask Belldandy for help, and
Belldandy's willing to give it. I've got this feeling they're going to
have to work pretty closely if they want to get home.**
**You're acting like your daughter again.**
**Well, she's not here. Somebody has to.**
I grinned at Usagi, and she stuck her tongue out at me. We laughed
together and moved to join the other Senshi in preparing to teleport
home.
########
Keiichi stared in shock at the man who'd just threatened Marller. The
way he'd made the threat was so totally cold-blooded, it made her pranks
seem almost harmless by comparison. And now he and Sailor Moon were
laughing? This was NOTHING like the anime he remembered. And he was
certain if anyone like that man had been in the anime, he'd have
remembered him.
He moved to stand behind Belldandy, to offer her his love to counter the
evil this man who called himself a demon hunter presented. He'd felt her
horror when he'd made his threat, and how it had increased when he'd
answered Urd so calmly. For the first time since meeting her, he felt
sorry for Marller.
"Bel-chan?" he started, then shut up when he noticed her marks glowing
as she chanted and held her hands over Marller.
"There. She is bound," Belldandy murmured, leaning tiredly against
Keiichi. "I hope you're satisfied."
Keiichi caught Belldandy as her eyes closed in sleep, and looked toward
the Senshi and the demon hunter. They formed a circle, with Tuxedo
Kamen, the demon hunter, Keiichi, Belldandy, and Marller in the middle.
"Urd? Skuld? Would you stand with them, too?" Sailor Moon asked gently.
"And don't forget your gadget, Skuld."
Urd and Skuld moved to flank Keiichi and Belldandy, watching the demon
hunter suspiciously. Skuld had one of her balls in her hand, obviously
ready to use it if he so much as twitched in their direction.
"Mercury!"
"Venus!"
"Mars!"
"Jupiter!"
"Moon!"
"SAILOR TELEPORT!"
<Odd. That's not how they do it in the anime.> Keiichi looked around in
surprise as Skuld's bedroom was replaced by a living room with a
shelving unit covering one wall, an entertainment center on another
wall, and the remaining walls decorated with ink-painted scrolls and
posters.
"If you'll follow me, the nearest spare room is next to my lab. I think
we have a bed in it." The demon hunter tossed his fedora at a hat tree
by the front door and moved toward a hallway as the Senshi separated.
"You missed, Bill!" Sailor Mercury laughed, as the hat missed and
bounced off the wall above the shoe shelves. "Your record is still
perfect."
"Oh, well," the demon hunter <That's right, he said his name is Bill.>
shrugged with a warm smile. "It's not a weapon. What can you expect,
Angel?"
"Oh, you!" Sailor Mercury hugged him and returned to her mundane
appearance. "David! Make sure the power is on in the spare rooms, ok?"
"No problem, Ami," a gentle voice replied from an intercom panel. <An
intercom, in a house? Weird.> "You're wrong, though, Dad. There's no bed
in that room. Just a futon."
"Oh. Well, we'll let the demon have it, then. Belldandy deserves a
proper bed."
"Upstairs, then. And what are you doing letting a live demon in the
house? Ami, are you sure that's Dad?"
"Positive, David. Just ask Edgar."
"I don't like it. But if Skuld is willing to come talk with me, I think
I could put up with it for a while."
"You'll have to ask her," Bill laughed. "They're our guests, until we
figure out how to get them home. That reminds me...how much ice cream do
we have in the kitchen?"
"Not enough. I'm sending out an order right now. What flavors do you
like best, Skuld?"
"Huh? I...I like all of them." Skuld looked around the room, gasping in
surprise as she saw one of the posters; an anime-style picture of her,
Belldandy, and Urd, with angelic wings and covered only by
strategically-placed locks of hair, a wing, or their hands.
Surprisingly, though, it wasn't in the least hentai: it gave the
impression of being almost inspired, like some Christian paintings.
"Isn't it neat?" Usagi asked, bouncing excitedly beside Skuld and
looking toward the poster. "That's from the artist who did the manga and
anime about you. See? It's even a limited edition print."
"Yeah, and Bill doesn't even follow your family," Ami chuckled with a
teasing glance at the demon hunter. "Although one of his characters is
someone named Geirahod."
"Geirahod?" Both Urd and Skuld exclaimed in stereo, looking toward Ami
with surprised expressions.
"She's crazy!" Skuld exclaimed. "She thinks that going up against a
swarm of demons single-handedly is FUN!"
"She's a Valkyrie," Urd grumbled, while Skuld stuck her tongue out at
her. "Crazy is part of the job description."
"That sounds like Bill's Geirahod," Ami laughed. "She's also a
berserker."
"Well, that's a given. ALL Valkyries are berserkers," Urd said. "And
she's a character?"
"I'm a writer," Bill said with a shrug as he walked over to pick up his
hat and hang it on the coat tree, followed by his trenchcoat.
"Geirahod's one of the heroes in my books."
"Geirahod?" Usagi asked, looking at Bill in confusion. "Who's that?"
"Elsie," Bill said, grinning. "Remember her?"
" OH! The mad scientist berserker Valkyrie. Right!" Usagi laughed as her
eyes lit up with understanding. "But we're being rude, talking about
your books when poor Keiichi's holding Belldandy patiently. How long do
you think she'll need to sleep, Keiichi-san?"
"If it was as hard to bind Marller as the last time she did it, she
won't wake up until tomorrow," Keiichi murmured, moving to keep Urd and
Skuld nearby and watching Bill suspiciously.
"It shouldn't have been as hard," Marller murmured, keeping the others
between her and that maniac who'd threatened to cripple her. "I didn't
fight her."
"Good," Bill said. "In that case, would you like some tea? If I know
Makoto, she already has the water boiling."
"Actually, I already have a pot ready," Makoto said, coming into the
living room from the hallway. "Setsuna made it before we got home."
"Thanks, Pumpkin," Bill murmured, almost too softly to hear, but clearly
enough to surprise Keiichi. He obviously wasn't talking to Makoto when
he said that, but who? Setsuna?
"I don't understand you," Marller growled at Bill, unsuccessfully trying
to hide her confusion. "First you threaten to cripple me, now you're
offering me tea?"
"That's right. I threatened to cripple you because you're not from this
universe. While I can kill demons from this universe without worrying
about the consequences, the fact that your bomb interacted with Skuld's
vacuum to throw all of you here means that not only is there the worry
of how my killing you here would throw your universe out of whack,
there's also the problem that we may need you to throw another bomb into
the works to generate the portal back to your universe." Bill shrugged.
"And since you let Belldandy bind you, you're no more a menace to my
family than a tailless kitsune is. Therefore, as long as you're here,
I'll treat you as a guest. Do you think you can handle that?"
"This is just too weird. I need a drink. And NOT tea. Something
stronger. A lot stronger." Marller shook her head slowly, as if trying
to come to grips with what was going on. Keiichi really couldn't blame
her.
"Well, if you can hang on until we get Belldandy in bed, I may be able
to help you with that. Sorry, Urd. We don't keep much sake around here.
You'll have to settle for mead, beer, or Lochanorra." Bill looked at
Keiichi. "Can you manage her on your own, or would you like some help
getting up the stairs?"
"I can manage," Keiichi said stubbornly, shifting Belldandy in his arms
so her head was resting on his shoulder. Bill shrugged and headed for
the stairs. Keiichi followed, up the stairs and into an open space, as
large as the living room, on the second floor.
"David, which spare room has the queen size bed in it?"
"First one on the left. Fluorite got the last of his stuff out of it
yesterday."
Keiichi noticed intercom panels by every door off this space. He
followed Bill to a doorway near the front of the house, which Bill
opened then stood beside so he could carry Belldandy in <. I don't know
what to think of him. I wish you were awake, Bel-chan. I really need
your wisdom right now.>
"Bathroom's the door straight ahead at the top of the stairs. If you
need anything, just ask David."
"Who's David? And why is he talking over the intercom?"
"He's my son. He's talking over the intercom because he's a computer. He
may not be as big as Yggdrasil, but he's alive. See you downstairs, eh?"
Bill headed for the stairs, leaving Keiichi to tuck Belldandy in and
wonder what kind of mess they were in now.
########
When I got back downstairs, everyone else was relaxing over some of
Makoto's cake. Skuld and Usagi were happily comparing favorite ice cream
treats, and Urd was snickering as she read a particularly perverted AMS
doujinshi. Marller saw me and froze, like a rabbit under the shadow of a
hawk.
**This isn't good, beloved. Scared people do stupid things.**
**I know, Angel. If I hadn't had to scare her to get her to turn to
Belldandy for help, it would have made things a lot easier.**
**You're going to have to do something about it.**
**I know, I know...I scared her, so I have to un-scare her, somehow.
It'd be a whole lot easier if I could just kill her and be done with
it.**
**But she's not one of OUR demons.**
**I know. That's why she's still alive.**
**You'll figure it out.**
Ami wrapped her arms around my left arm and looked up at me with so much
faith in her gaze I couldn't help blushing. With her believing in me so
strongly, I had to at least TRY to calm the demon. I shared a kiss with
her, and moved toward Marller. Marller, naturally, tried to scuttle away
from me as I approached, only to back right into Mamoru, who gripped her
arms and held her in place. When I got close enough to touch her, she
turned her head away with a soft whimper.
"Marller, just listen to me, ok?" I reached out and turned her head to
look at me. The terror in her eyes was actually kind of depressing. I
don't like to see that in anything's eyes, even if it's something I'm
killing. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Marller squeaked, and struggled to escape Mamoru's grasp. Luckily, it
was pretty apparent she'd spent so many years relying on her
supernatural powers to bail her out of stuff that her physical
capabilities were pretty sad. When she realized she couldn't escape, she
broke: she let out her terror in deep, wrenching sobs.
"Oh, shit," I muttered, then glanced over toward the others. I noticed
with relief that Urd was already on her feet. "Urd, would you please
help her? I know you're the closest to her, and she's too scared of me
to even hear me offer her a promise."
Urd nodded and swept in to take her out of Mamoru's grasp. As she held
the demon in her arms, her sobs slowly subsided. Marller grasped her as
if she were a life preserver, while Urd crooned softly to her and
stroked her hair. Eventually, Urd nodded to me.
"Marller, will you listen to me now? You know Urd can protect you, so
you're safe. If you understand, just nod, ok?" It was hard to think of
her as a demon when she was so frightened - especially given that her
aura of evil really was as pathetic as Rei had described. In OUR world,
she was barely as evil as a dark faerie. Even the most minor demon would
chew her up and spit her out.
Marller nodded, glanced my way, and squeaked in fear before trying to
hide herself in Urd's arms. I gave a heavy sigh; my expression must have
surprised Urd, given the look she gave me before murmuring softly to
Marller.
"Marller, I promise that I will do nothing to harm - or even hurt - you,
as long as you promise you won't try any of your demonic tricks. Now
that I can see you more clearly, I realize you're not like one of OUR
demons. I'm going to have to protect you from them, just like I would a
human. If you'll let me, I'd like to try and make you feel welcome for
as long as you're here. Will you let me do that?"
Marller looked at me with more surprise than Urd had a moment before,
and then - questioningly - back up at Urd.
"He's telling the truth, Mara. If you want me to witness the promise, I
will."
"But...what he threatened...even one of my superiors wouldn't do those
things! That's just so...."
"If your superiors are as evil as you are, I'm not surprised. In this
world, you're barely as evil as one of the dark fae. A demon from this
world is so much more evil than you, you'd look like a saint by
comparison."
"Dark fae?" Marller asked - for both of them. From their expressions, it
appeared the concept was outside of their universe.
"Yeah. Dark fae. Like banshees, tommyknockers, svartalf, trolls, things
like that."
"Those are all annoying, but I wouldn't call them dark," Urd said. "More
like a pain in the butt."
"That's in your world, apparently. In this world, they're as evil as
Marller - and real demons compare to her the way she compares to
Belldandy."
"Oh." Urd's voice was small as she considered the implications.
Marller's eyes grew as big as Skuld's, and she whimpered softly.
"So...Marller, I'd like to apologize for scaring you the way I did. My
only excuse is that I was treating you the way I'd treat one of OUR
demons if I was forced to let it live." I offered her a hand and an
encouraging smile. "I'd like to invite you to share in our hospitality;
to be a guest, not a prisoner. Who knows? You might decide you like it."
" WE'D like to invite you," Ami said as she slipped her arms around me.
"What Bill said applies to me, too. If you're willing to be our guest,
we'd like to make you welcome."
########
Belldandy opened her eyes and looked around to get her bearings. The
last thing she remembered was binding Marller, and being surprised when
she didn't resist. Even without resistance, a binding that powerful took
a lot out of her. Now she felt Keiichi's hands holding hers, and smiled
contentedly. As long as she was with him, everything would be all right.
"Bel-chan? How do you feel?" He sounded worried and confused, so she sat
up and gave him a gentle kiss.
"I'm alright, Keiichi-chan. What's wrong?" She smiled at him, feeling
her love rise within her as he relaxed to her presence.
"It's that man. Bill. He's...." He gave up, obviously unable to describe
how he felt.
"He's as hard as Tyr. You've never met him. He's one of the Aesir, and
absolutely inflexible when it comes to fighting evil. Tyr would have
killed Marller the first time she troubled us, if he'd been with us. He
wouldn't have seen how harmless she ultimately is - just that she's a
demon and therefore must be destroyed."
"That sounds like this guy, all right. How can you trust someone like
that?" Keiichi's worry bothered her; she slipped her arms around him and
rested her head against his chest.
"He's basically good, Kei-chan. We just have to find a way to teach him
that good and inflexible are not the same. Where is everyone else?"
"Downstairs. We're in his and Sailor Mercury's house. It's kind of
weird, seeing all of them in reality - and then him and Sailor Mercury
together. It's not something I'd expect of her."
"Any more than you'd expected me to say 'yes' when you asked me to marry
you?" Belldandy teased him gently, hoping it would lighten his mood a
little. She was rewarded by his blush and smile. His insecurity about
being "just a mortal" still held him, even after four years of marriage
- but at least he'd gotten far enough through it to enjoy it when she
teased him about it.
"I don't know," Keiichi murmured. "You're everything I dream of...my
heart, my light, my reason for living."
"As you are for me," she whispered happily. "As they are for each other.
I think we should join the rest, don't you?"
"If you think so," Keiichi murmured, stroking her hair soothingly - as
much to sooth himself as her, she thought.
<He's just too basically nice to face things like this. I hope I can
help him recover quickly.>
Keiichi helped her to her feet; when she twined her fingers in his, he
returned her loving smile and led her toward the door.
########
We were scattered around the room, relaxing after one of Makoto's
wonderful dinners. Bill was cuddling Ami as they talked with Marller.
Urd was loudly laughing with Minako - probably over some idol they both
thought was hot; Skuld was hunched over her vacuum with some tools she'd
borrowed from Bill's lab.
**Usagi? Would you like to bring Hotaru over to Bill's house?**
**Sure, Mom. What's up?**
**We have guests, and one of them is your age. I think she might like a
friend.**
**Really? Cool! What's her name?**
**Skuld.**
**That's a weird name. It sounds like something from one of your
manga.**
**That's because it IS something from one of my manga.**
**Say what? We're on our way.**
**Don't worry, Spore. She's not going anywhere before you get here.**
**Pbbbt!**
I laughed as I cut the connection and leaned against Mamoru. It was so
good to have her here, even though it had taken some adjusting to think
of her as old enough to fall in love. Rei glanced our way with so much
longing in her eyes I just had to reach out to invite her over. When she
leaned against me so I could wrap an arm around her, the world felt
complete.
"That leaves Makoto all alone, Dumpling," Mamoru murmured teasingly into
my ear, leaving me giggling as his lips tickled me. "Are you sure you
don't want to invite her to join us, too?"
"Pbbbt!" I twisted my head so I could give him a proper raspberry. "You
just want to lure them all into your harem."
"I do? Here I thought it was YOUR harem we were talking about." Mamoru
used his most innocent tone of voice and expression as he spoke. Rei
giggled and looked up so she could stick her tongue out at him. I
grabbed the nearest pillow and started hitting him over the head with
it.
"You are BAD ! I should punish you for that!" It was hard to make myself
understood, I was laughing so hard. He does that to me.
He laughed and caught my hand, plucked the pillow out of it, and tossed
it away as he drew me in for a kiss that made it impossible to do
anything but feel my love for him. Then a pillow hit us both in the
head, Rei let out a shriek of laughter, and the war was on. I guess
that's why Ami and Bill keep so many pillows in the living room. It
seems as if we end up in a pillow fight every time we're here.
"Pillow fight! All right!" Chibi-Usa laughed from the front door. I
guessed Setsuna had brought them here, since they were still staying in
Michiru's house, as far as I knew. She had her shoes off in an instant
and was diving for the nearest pillow with so much enthusiasm I had to
laugh.
Hotaru followed, much more sedately - at least until the first pillow
hit her. She's still the most reserved of us, even after a year of the
Spore's influence - but at least she felt loved enough to open up when
encouraged. Like now - when that pillow hit her, her face went from
shocked to calculating in an instant, and she laughed as she snatched it
up to join in the fight.
The first any of us knew Belldandy was awake was when Skuld suddenly
shrieked happily and launched herself across the room to embrace her.
"Oneesama! You're awake! You've got to try Mako-chan's cake! It's almost
as good as yours!" She kind of reminded me of what Chibi-Usa was like
when she let herself go and just had fun. Then she looked at Keiichi and
stuck her tongue out at him with an audible "Biiih!" I had to laugh at
that. That was so much like the Spore, I couldn't stop myself.
"She reminds you of someone, doesn't she?" Mamoru asked, hugging me from
behind. "She reminds me of her, too. The question is, will Chibi-Usa see
the resemblance?"
"Hey, Sprout! Look at that! Someone else who acts like you! Will the
world be able to stand it?" Bill grinned as he teased my daughter.
"Bill no baka!" she shouted back, then followed up by sticking her
tongue out at him.
"Ah! I'm cut to the heart! Wounded to the core!" he declaimed
melodramatically as he clutched his chest and fell backwards - into
Marller's arms. She looked down at him with a surprised expression, then
at Ami.
"Is your husband always like this?" Marller asked, holding Bill as if
she didn't quite know what to do with him.
"No," Ami laughed, as Bill reached up to pull her down for a kiss.
"Sometimes he's worse."
Marller looked toward Belldandy with a "what do I do NOW ?" expression
on her face. Belldandy smiled and looked lovingly into Keiichi's eyes.
"I'm glad to see the two of you have settled your differences,"
Belldandy said as she and Keiichi walked toward Marller. "We were
worried."
"Well, he's still a maniac," Marller said, smiling down at the top of
Bill's head.
"And she's still a menace," he shot back with a grin. "But I think we
can get along."
Marller stuck her tongue out and smacked him over the head with a
pillow. Ami laughed and jumped back out of the way, leaving Bill to deal
with it on his own. Belldandy laughed, a musical sound that made it easy
to believe all was right with the world.
Hotaru and Chibi-Usa descended on Skuld together, with Usagi laughing
warmly as she introduced her sweetheart. Skuld looked surprised, and
whipped out her goggles to stare at Hotaru through them. At the look on
her face, I started to go over to join them, but Mamoru held me firmly
and nuzzled my ear while whispering softly to me.
"Don't you think they'll do better if they work this out for themselves,
Dumpling? You know Chibi-Usa will never let anything happen to Hotaru,
and she'd probably be upset if you butted in."
He was right - and his nuzzling was distracting. I leaned back against
him with a sigh and let him continue distracting me. Besides, I noticed
Rei and Makoto had collapsed together when the pillow fight had run
down, and I was hoping something would come of it. I remembered when
she'd been attracted to Haruka, and still wasn't sure whether it was
romantically or just because Haruka was so much like her in some ways.
It looked like Rei wasn't sure, either. Either way, I couldn't help but
wish them the best.
########
Marller looked down at this strange human who had, just a few hours
earlier, threatened to cripple her - and who now was treating her like a
friend. None of this made any sense, but she hadn't felt this good since
she and Urd had been young. Not for the first time, she cursed the fate
that had made Urd a goddess and her a demon.
When she hit him over the head with a pillow, he just laughed and fell
to the floor, sticking his tongue out at her the way Skuld did so
frequently to Keiichi. The feelings she was experiencing were confusing;
so confusing she didn't know how to deal with them.
"You...how am I supposed to deal with you?" she growled at the laughing
human. She had to think of him as just a human, or she might actually
start to develop a fondness for him.
"Oh, I don't know...you could always try dancing with me." He rolled to
his feet like some crazy martial artist and bowed toward her as music
began playing over the house's intercom system.
########
I didn't know quite what to think. Usagi, Rei, and Bill all seemed to
know about the strangers, and he'd reacted to the one with the v-shaped
marks on her forehead as if she were a demon. Hell, he'd even called her
a demon when he'd threatened to cripple her. But now he was laughing
with her like she was one of us. Then, seeing Rei leaning against Usagi
like that had stirred feelings I haven't felt since reaching an
understanding with Haruka. I was glad when the pillow fight started.
When Skuld launched herself across the room at Belldandy, we all stopped
and stared in surprise. The shriek she'd emitted sounded an awful lot
like Chibi-Usa's shriek when she was pouncing on Usagi or Mamoru. I
decided I was going to have to get Belldandy to do some cooking with me,
so I could see just how good she really is.
When the pillow fight stopped, Rei was next to me; I sank down onto a
pillow and she followed me, flashing a warm smile.
"I think it'll all work out, Mako-chan. Look at how Belldandy and
Marller are reacting."
If she knew what being close to her like this does to me...I couldn't
take her from Usagi. I'd never forgive myself if I did that. I started
to shift away from her, and she laid a hand on mine.
"Don't, Mako-chan. Please? If you'd rather...I went away...I will. But I
don't want you to think you have to go. But I have to know."
"What about Usagi?"
"Look at her, Mako-chan. Does she look like she's unhappy with my being
here? Do you remember when you were so close to Haruka? I've
wondered...since then."
She's wondered since then? If only she knew...if only I knew. I still
don't know exactly what I felt, about Haruka or about any other woman. I
think that's why she was so careful to let me down gently. I looked into
Rei's eyes and saw the same love I've always seen there - and something
more. I raised my hand to her cheek, just as David started playing some
music.
As the music played, Rei blushed and ducked her head. It didn't make any
sense to me; the music sounded like Michiru and Haruka. When the singing
began, it suddenly made lots of sense. Somehow, David had managed to get
a recording of Rei singing with them - and her voice was as beautiful as
ever.
"I'm gonna kill him," Rei growled softly.
"Kill him? Why? It's beautiful. As beautiful as you are." I smiled and
squeezed her hand.
"That was private, that's why. I didn't know anyone was recording it.
And I'll bet they didn't know, either."
"I don't think David would play it if there wasn't a good reason. At
least, I hope he wouldn't." I smiled at her and touched her lips with a
fingertip. "Why don't you just lean back and watch the show?"
She blushed and leaned back against me, and we watched as Bill danced
across the living room with the demon. Usagi and Mamoru rose to join
them, followed quickly by Chibi-Usa and Hotaru. When Belldandy and
Keiichi joined in, Ami came over to settle beside us. Minako had
returned to chattering with Urd, so it was just the three of us.
"So what do you two think? Should I be jealous, or should we jump him
again and remind him where he belongs?" Ami laughed, watching Bill dance
with the demon.
"At least she's not quivering in terror anymore," I said. "And you know
how faithful he is."
"I know," Ami chuckled. "That's why I'm not worried. So what about you
two, huh?" She smiled at us and leaned over to kiss both of our cheeks.
"Usagi's not the only one who's happy to see the two of you together. No
matter how it turns out."
"Give us some time?" Rei asked quietly. "We'd really rather not be
Minako'ed."
"You know me better than that, Rei," Ami laughed softly. "Now if you two
will excuse me, I have to go rescue my husband."
Rei and I laughed together as Ami left us. Bill didn't LOOK like he
needed rescuing, but we knew how much she enjoyed dancing with him. I
tugged Rei to her feet and smiled down at her when she looked up. She
looked so beautiful, I couldn't resist giving her a kiss as we began to
dance.
The music continued, with Rei blushing anew as each song began and her
voice came through the speakers. Sometime during the music, Usagi cut in
and stole Rei, while Mamoru swept me away.
"Thanks, Makoto. Seeing Rei smile means a lot to me - to both of us."
He's so kind, it's easy to see how someone could fall in love with him.
I looked up and felt myself blushing.
"It means a lot to me, too. But won't Usagi be unhappy?" I knew how
close she and Rei had become in the last year, and I didn't want to
interfere with that.
"We thought you'd be worried about that," Mamoru chuckled softly.
"That's why she's with Rei right now. What Usagi wants - what both of us
want - is for Rei to know she's loved, and for you both to feel free to
decide what your feelings for each other are without anyone
interfering."
"Boy, am I glad you don't look like my old senpai," I laughed softly as
I rested my head on his chest. "Otherwise, I think I'd risk making Usagi
mad after a speech like that."
"Bad girl," he laughed, giving me a quick squeeze before steering us
back toward Usagi and Rei. As we swapped partners, Rei suddenly stood
still, staring into space above the front door. The music stopped dead,
and we all waited for her to speak.
"There's something evil...out front. Something demonic."
"David! Cameras!" Bill snapped, and the television came on, showing the
view in front of the house. The view was clear, except for one figure on
the sidewalk outside the front gate. Whoever it was, was trying to get
into the yard, but looked as if they were running into an invisible
wall. I thought that was likely, given Bill's business. This place was
probably as heavily warded as the shrine.
"That's it!" Rei exclaimed. "Whoever it is feels familiar."
"Venus, keep her from getting killed. Saturn, be ready to heal her.
Ami...." Ami barely had time to get into position to catch him before
Bill collapsed like a bag of rice. No matter how many times I see him do
that, it's still disconcerting.
Minako and Hotaru transformed and ran for the front door. I caught Rei
and steered her toward Usagi and Mamoru. The Goddesses gathered
together, a few feet away from us, while Marller hovered indecisively
between them and Ami.
On the screen, the figure screamed - a far too familiar scream - and
collapsed. As it collapsed, another figure ran into view and caught her
before she could hit the ground.
"Oh no, not again," Usagi whispered sadly. I'm sure we all felt the
same. I know I did. Why is it that every time a new enemy shows up,
she's the one to be targeted?
"There's got to be something about her that attracts them," Rei murmured
sadly. "We're going to have to find out what it is if she's ever going
to have a chance of peace."
"For now, we're going to have to figure out how to keep Umino from
blabbing," I growled, pressing Rei into Usagi's arms and heading for the
door. "I'll just have a word with him."
The door burst open before I could get to it, and Umino came in with
Naru in his arms. The look in his eyes made it clear the only thing he
wanted to talk about was her condition. Ami joined me as I took her from
his arms and laid her on some pillows that had ended up piled together.
"Please help her?" Umino begged tearfully. I took his arm and steered
him toward where Chibi-Usa had a cup of tea waiting. Once I was sure he
wasn't going to drop or spill the tea, I turned to look back toward Ami
and Naru.
Belldandy was kneeling beside them, holding her hands over Naru's heart.
A glow was coming from between her hands - a glow that looked an awful
lot like the Silver Crystal's glow. The glow sank into Naru's body and
vanished; Belldandy sank back on her heels, into Keiichi's arms.
When Naru's eyes opened, I almost wish they hadn't. It wasn't that there
was any pain in them, because there wasn't. Instead, they were empty -
completely vacant - as if she wasn't there anymore. Even with everything
I've seen as Sailor Jupiter, there's nothing more horrible than that
vacant stare. I looked up at Usagi, and saw she was feeling the same
horror.
"What happened?" Marller asked from behind me. "What's wrong with her?"
"She was possessed," Rei growled softly. "By a demon."
"A demon? But that's not supposed to happen! It never happened to anyone
I've possessed!" Marller looked as shocked as she sounded. "What kind of
monster could do that?"
"An imp," Bill groaned. He was just sitting up where Ami had lowered him
to the floor. "Just a fucking imp. Didn't take any effort at all to kill
it, but the damage was already done."
"An imp? But imps are harmless!" Marller exclaimed in disbelief. "How
could this happen?"
"Go in and see for yourself. I tried to find her, but wherever she is, I
can't go." He joined us around Naru and gently brushed her hair back.
Ever since the day he promised to kill her if Fluorite managed to
capture her again, he's been kind of like a big brother to her. It was
obvious he was grasping for any hope - any at all.
"I can't," Marller murmured. "Not as long as I'm bound. I wish I could.
This isn't right."
"It's evil. It's what demons do. At least, it's what they do in THIS
world." He hung his head, but I could see the tears on his cheeks. "And
it was just a damned imp. Not even a dangerous demon. I wish you COULD
see what it did to her."
"Belldandy? You've got to release me. I've got to see. Maybe I can find
her!" Marller grabbed Belldandy's hands and pleaded, her face an
anguished mask. Belldandy looked from her to Bill. I wasn't so sure
Belldandy could do it. She looked almost as drained as Usagi is after
using the Crystal.
"If you're not too tired," Bill murmured. "She gave her promise, and Urd
witnessed it. If she can help...."
Belldandy nodded and reached out to touch Marller's forehead. The marks
on her face glowed, and a moment later the marks on Marller's forehead
glowed.
"Be careful, Mara," she murmured. "If she wakes while you're in her, you
could be trapped."
"Better that, than this," Marller growled softly. It was kind of hard to
believe she was a demon, the way she was reacting to this. But Bill,
Rei, and Usagi all seemed to be convinced she was, and they knew more
about these people than any of the rest of us.
Marller's marks began glowing as she gazed into Naru's eyes, and she
collapsed into Bill's arms. He arranged her on the floor beside Naru and
covered them both with a blanket.
"All we can do now is wait. And pray," he murmured, settling back into
Ami's arms.
########
The landscape inside Naru's head was bleak and dismal. Everywhere
Marller looked, she saw memories of attacks on her body and soul, as far
back as her childhood. The creatures she'd been attacked by seemed to
range from a possessed friend to demons of a kind Marller had never seen
before. What amazed her, even more than the vile nature of the threats,
was how Naru kept coming back, with a bravery that rivaled Keiichi's -
and she didn't have three Goddesses to protect her. A heart this brave
did not deserve to suffer the way she had.
<You don't know me, Naru, but I'm not going to let you be destroyed by
this. I will find you, no matter what it costs.>
Marller searched, finding only darkness and sorrow everywhere she
looked. The older memories were - oddly enough - easiest to unearth; as
she came closer to the present, the memories were mingled with greater
and greater amounts of despair. The despair kept mounting with each
remembered attack, until even approaching a memory was like wading
through a pit of tar. Marller's anger rose in concert with Naru's
despair, until her marks glowed with her rage. If this was what demons
were like on this world, SHE would do her best to destroy them.
Her journey came to an abrupt halt when she encountered a wall that
stretched in all directions, farther than she could sense. Her rage was
so great by the time she reached it that she simply dove into it,
intending to blast her way through. The shock of contact blasted her
back, whimpering with the horror of what the wall contained.
<Oh, Hel...what happened in this world? How could they have gone so
wrong?>
Marller slowly uncurled as she fought down the memories Naru had created
the wall from. That a demon had ravaged her soul so brutally was
horrifying enough, but that she had survived the experience was even
more horrible. There had to be some way through the wall; she knew that
if SHE had experienced what Naru had, she'd have made the wall...could
that be the answer?
########
We were stuck. Marller was in Naru's head, and all we could do was pray
she could bring her back. If we'd been at the shrine, Grandfather and
Yuuichiro could have helped me reach her, but I couldn't do it on my
own; I'm not nearly as adept out of my body as Bill is - and I wouldn't
risk someone else's soul on my inexperience. The one thing I could do
was watch them, so if - no, I had to believe in WHEN - they came back,
we'd be ready to help them.
"Will she be all right?" Umino asked unsteadily. I had to feel for him.
He really did love Naru, and he had to be feeling as helpless as we did
right now.
"I hope so," Bill said softly. "Marller's our best chance right now. We
have to give her time to work."
"Marller? Like...the demon from Aa! Megamisama!? But...how can you trust
a demon?" Umino didn't sound nearly as incredulous as I'd expected - and
his question was a good one, given that he hadn't been there from the
beginning like we had.
"She gave us her word. I trust her. And you know what I think of
demons." I almost had to laugh at that. If Umino hadn't figured out what
Bill thinks of demons by now, he definitely was not suited for
journalism.
"Sailor Moon, do you trust her?"
<Shit. Does EVERYONE know who we are? And how long has he known?>
"Bill trusts her," Usagi said softly. "If he trusts her, with his hatred
for demons, then I trust her. All we can do is wait. And pray."
Umino nodded and moved to take Naru's hand, only to be stopped by Urd.
"Don't. If you disturb her, they could both be lost forever." Urd's
voice was gentle, understanding, and a lot less sensuous than I'd
expected. "Have faith in her. Have faith in them both."
"Trust her," Bill murmured. "Please, Umino. I don't want to have to keep
the promise I made a year ago. But if Marller can't bring her back,
it'll be the only way to free her."
I didn't want him to have to keep that promise, either. But if Marller
couldn't bring her back, killing her would be the only way to free her.
Even if Marller did succeed, we'd have to fight to keep her from killing
herself. What Fluorite had done to her had driven her to the edge, but I
was afraid this had driven her over it. No, let's be honest. I knew this
had driven her over the edge. But would we be able to bring her back? I
didn't want to think of the likely answer.
**David, give me a telephone connection, please.**
**Sure, Rei. Where to?**
**The shrine.**
I shivered and leaned against Makoto. She wrapped her arms around me and
nuzzled my temple. Feeling her breath stir my hair helped - it
distracted me from worrying about Naru, at least a little.
"Thanks, Mako-chan," I whispered, covering her hands with my own.
**Hikawa Shrine. How may I help you?**
**Yuuichiro! Is Grandfather there?**
**Rei? What's wrong? You sound upset.**
**I need your help. And Grandfather's. Please get him for me?**
**All right. I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere.**
"It'll be ok," Makoto whispered, squeezing me gently. "Won't it?"
"I hope so. I'm trying to get Grandfather right now."
**Rei? What is it? Yuuichiro said you sound upset.**
**It's Naru, Grandfather. She's been possessed. We got rid of the demon,
but now she won't come back.**
**You may need someone to lead her back. Can you do that?**
**I can't, but someone who can is already trying. Isn't there anything
more we can do?**
**Pray. We'll do all we can from here. Stay with her, Rei. It'll make it
easier for us.**
**Thank you, Grandfather. I hate fighting an enemy I can't touch.**
**There are some battles even Sailor Mars can't fight. This sounds like
one of them. Just remember that love and friendship are powerful weapons
- and sometimes the only ones that will work.**
**I'll try. I'm scared, Grandfather. Even if we bring her back, she's
been hurt so many times, and you know what Bill had to promise to keep
her from killing herself the last time.**
**Love and friendship, Rei. Keep your focus on that, and you'll be able
to help her through. In the end, she has to choose to live - but you can
give her reasons to make that choice. I'd better go and feed the fire. I
have a feeling this is going to be a long night.**
**Thank you, Grandfather. I'll tell the others.**
**Good girl. I have faith in you.**
"Rei?" Makoto murmured gently, nuzzling my ear and squeezing my hands.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, Mako-chan. Grandfather and Yuuichiro are going to give us all the
help they can from the shrine." I let her hold me, glad that my hopes
hadn't turned out false. I needed someone right now...Usagi would have
been my first choice, but Makoto was so warm...so strong...so real - and
willing to accept me as I am.
Minako looked wistfully at the rest of us; she was the only one here who
didn't have someone to lean on. Even though she makes me almost as crazy
as Usagi, I couldn't just leave her looking sad like that. I offered her
a hand; a moment later, I saw Makoto's hand extended with mine. Minako
looked surprised, then smiled radiantly and moved to join us.
"Are you sure I'm not intruding?" she asked as she knelt beside us. We
answered by taking her hands and pulling her close.
"Now is not the time to be alone, Mina-chan. Grandfather just reminded
me that love and friendship are the most powerful weapons we have - and
I'm sure we're going to need them before the night is out."
"We may not be idols, but we're your friends, Mina-chan. We love you."
Makoto claims she's not good at expressing her feelings. That sounded
like a pretty good expression to me. It must have to Minako, too. Her
smile grew until it was almost as wonderful as Usagi's, and she leaned
into our arms with a happy sigh.
Belldandy was sleeping in Keiichi's arms. I guess she wasn't as
recovered as we'd thought when she came downstairs. Still, as long as we
didn't have any more unwelcome surprises tonight, she could recover in
peace. Urd and Skuld were watching Naru and Marller intently - Urd with
a worried expression, and Skuld through her goggles. I wondered what she
was seeing, or if she was seeing anything at all.
Chibi-Usa was trying to comfort Hotaru; she looked as if she was
remembering when Mistress 9 had possessed her. I wished I could do
something to ease her mind, but had to settle for praying that Chibi-Usa
could do it with her love. As I prayed, I felt echoes of the Sacred
Flame around me. I knew that Grandfather and Yuuichiro were doing their
best to help, and hoped it would be enough.
########
<I hope she finds Naru soon. I've never seen anyone gone this long
before.>
Skuld watched intently, hoping she'd made her goggles sensitive enough
to give her warning of Marller and Naru's return in time to warn
everyone else. She didn't know what this promise was that nobody wanted
to keep, but if they didn't return, the only way to free them would
be...she looked up in shock and stared at Bill. He'd promised to kill
her? What could be so horrible that she would demand a promise like
that?
Bill was leaning against Ami the way Belldandy so often leaned against
Keiichi. Skuld still didn't like it - her sister with a mortal, no
matter how nice he was - but Belldandy so obviously loved him that she'd
given up fighting it. Besides, Keiichi had done everything short of
adopting her in his attempts to convince her that he liked her, too. It
was kind of nice to have a big brother, even if he was just a mortal.
**What's wrong, Skuld? You looked as if someone just punched you in the
gut.**
**You promised her...wait a minute! How are you doing this?**
**It's not easy. It'd be a lot easier if I were out of my body. And it's
a whole lot easier with Ami - but telepathy is a kind of magic
associated with Mercury.**
**You're sure full of surprises. Did you actually promise her you'd kill
her?**
**You figured it out, eh? Yeah. It was the only way to keep her from
killing herself the last time something like this happened.**
**The last time? Does this happen a lot?**
**She attracts monsters the way a magnet attracts iron. Ever since she
was a kid, every time a monster shows up, there's at least a one in four
chance she'll be one of its victims.**
**Wow. I thought the show exaggerated it. It's really that bad?**
**Yeah. That's why I'm praying for Marller to succeed. Naru's kind of
like a little sister to me.**
**Why didn't you go in after her?**
**I don't know how. And even if I did, I'm not sure I could. Just
because I can leave my body doesn't mean I can go into someone else's.
And going into someone else's mind is right out. I might as well wish to
be a god as try something like that.**
**I wonder if that's a real limitation, or a self-imposed one.**
**Either way, it doesn't help Naru. Or Marller.**
**You sound as worried for Marller as for Naru. Are you sure it's safe
to worry about a demon?**
**She's not like the demons in this world. I don't know - I feel like I
want to protect her from what she's certain to discover here.**
**You're weird, do you know that?**
**Yup. That's me: a whirling vortex of weirdness.**
He grinned at her; without thinking, she stuck her tongue out at him. He
chuckled and sank against Ami, looking a lot more tired than he had
before he'd contacted her. What was it about these mortals that made
them so likable? Even the really scary one - Hotaru - was likable.
Definitely not what she'd expected from an avatar of the God of Ruin.
Four hours had passed since Marller had gone into Naru, and there was
still no sign of them. Skuld looked over at Urd, who shook her head
quietly, looking just as worried as she felt. The longer this went on,
the more it bothered her - and no matter how much she tried to think of
a better alternative, the more time passed, the more worried she felt.
########
I could feel when Bill reached out to Skuld, and when he collapsed
against me, I wrapped my arms around him and held him close. He's not as
good with telepathy as I am, and it takes a lot of energy for him to do
it. At least he'd managed to make Skuld smile, though. I felt him reach
up stroke my hair and sighed happily. He could be so loving; I covered
his hand with my own and bent my head to return his kiss.
"Maybe you can help her, Angel," he murmured softly. I couldn't resist
him when he called me that - even if I did tease him a lot about putting
me on a pedestal. "Your visor is programmed to analyze a lot of stuff
like this, right? Maybe you can see something she can't."
"You have a point, love." He did, too. As far as we could tell, they'd
never had to deal with anything like this, so Skuld wasn't likely to
have programmed her goggles for it.
**I'm going to use my visor, everyone.**
"Mercury Crystal Power, MAKE UP!"
As soon as I'd transformed, I activated my visor and studied Naru and
Marller. It was almost like looking at Bill's body when he's out of it -
except that their energy levels were so low I almost couldn't measure
them. If they didn't come back soon, I was afraid they wouldn't come
back at all. We had to come up with something soon, or they would both
be dead.
**Hermes, David, link with my computer.**
**Understood.**
**You got it, Ami.**
I retrieved my computer and started work. With Hermes and David linked
in, the analysis went a lot faster than it would have if I'd been
working alone. The answer we came up with wasn't reassuring at all. At
the rate their energy was fading, if they didn't come back within the
next fifteen minutes, the only chance they had of ever coming back was
if we killed them. I couldn't accept that solution; we started work
again, looking for ANY alternative that would let us rescue them.
**Ami, what if we gave them an energy infusion?**
**Have you done a projection?**
**This is what it looks like.**
Hermes' data assumed far less than the amount of energy Serenity could
draw from the Silver Crystal, so it was possible we could do it. With
two goddesses and Usagi here, I was certain we could come up with the
necessary energy. If it worked, we could extend their survival time as
long as necessary.
"Urd, do you have any of your restorative incense with you? Or any other
restorative that doesn't need to be swallowed?" Some of her incense
would be the best choice, if she had it. They could take it in by
breathing, and it would continue to support them as long as it was
burning.
"Uh...let me look." Urd sounded distracted, as if my question had
brought her back from a long way away. I suppose I should have expected
that. Of the three, she was the closest to Marller, despite their
ongoing rivalry. She searched through her outfit, accessing several
hyperspatial pockets before finally retrieving a bundle of incense
coils. After sorting through the bundle, she finally held up one coil.
"This one."
While I sighed in relief, Setsuna appeared with a length of string and a
thumbtack. While she was hanging the incense over them, I searched
through the otaku cabinet for some matches I remembered Bill had dropped
there a couple weeks before. By the time I found them and returned, Rei
had already lit the incense. She smiled and shrugged before returning to
wait with Makoto and Minako.
**Hey, I'd be a pretty sad priestess if I couldn't even light a fire,
don't you think?**
**Thanks, Rei. Now we just need to pray it works.**
**What is it?**
**Hopefully, enough energy to keep them from dying before they find
their way back to us.**
I studied Naru and Marller and let out a sigh of relief. The incense was
already working; the energy readings after just a few moments were high
enough that even if they didn't get any more, they'd be able to survive
for another two hours.
"How long will it burn, Urd?" My expression of relief must have
heartened her some; she smiled as she answered.
"It's supposed to burn for twelve hours. And it'll restore everyone who
breathes it, not just those two."
"Everyone?" I glanced at Belldandy as I asked. If her incense could
restore a Goddess, it was a lot more powerful than I thought.
"Yes, even her," Urd confirmed, with a gentle smile in Belldandy's
direction. It was kind of strange, but it made sense in a way, too. She
really did love her little sister, even if she picked weird ways to show
it.
Bill slipped his arms around me from behind and nuzzled the top of my
head. I leaned back against him with a relieved sigh. The incense had
already restored his energy, and he was letting me know I had one less
thing to worry about.
"Oneesan! It's working!" Skuld squealed excitedly as she watched our
patients. "How did you make it so strong?"
"I'll tell you, if you promise you won't tell Kami-sama," Urd said with
a proud smile. Skuld's eyes grew wide and she stared at Urd in surprise
before speaking.
"You did something you'll get in trouble for again, didn't you?" She
looked down at Naru and Marller for a moment before speaking again.
"Well, whatever it was, it's working. All right, I promise. I won't tell
Kami-sama."
"You know how the recipe calls for a mug of beer, right?" When Skuld
nodded, Urd grinned triumphantly. "In this batch, I used a mug of the
Dark."
Skuld's gasp was echoed by Bill's. I turned my head to look up at him,
and saw the first awed expression I'd seen on his face since the day of
our wedding, when the kitsune came to greet Serenity and Endymion.
"In your universe...it's real?" he asked incredulously.
"Not only is it real," Skuld murmured, looking worriedly at Urd, "it's
Kami-sama's personal stock. If he ever finds out...."
"That's why I needed you to promise you wouldn't tell him," Urd said
softly. "If anyone's going to tell him, it's got to be me. He expects ME
to get into trouble."
**OK, what's the Dark?** Trust Usagi to ask the question we're all
wondering about.
**It's beer. Very special beer. Imagine what would happen if you brewed
beer on the grave of the first hero, and let it age there for a few
centuries, until it had absorbed the essence of what made him a hero.
That's the Dark.**
**That sounds like a magic potion.**
**It's that, too. I first read about it in a novel called "The Drawing
of the Dark". It figures it would be Kami-sama's personal stock. It's
too potent for humans to drink safely.**
"Oneesan," Belldandy whispered, looking up at Urd through half-opened
eyes. "Do you know why Kami-sama keeps it for himself?"
"No," Urd said with a shrug. "I never asked."
"It's because it's too dangerous," Belldandy murmured. "It restores more
than your energy and health. It restores the most important memories of
your past lives, too - the ones that had the most profound effect on who
you are in this life. You don't just remember them - you re-live them."
**Oh, shit. David, lock down the house. Everyone get together with Usagi
and Mamoru. Chibi-Usa, Hotaru, that means you, too. Setsuna-chan?**
**I'm here, Father. Don't worry. I'll watch over all of you.**
Setsuna was guiding Chibi-Usa and Hotaru toward Usagi and Mamoru, while
Bill was pulling me in that direction, too. Rei, Makoto, and Minako were
already close enough that neither of them seemed to be worried about
moving them.
Urd's eyes widened as she watched us, her worried expression coming back
to her. Then she glanced down at Keiichi, holding Belldandy tight in his
arms, and whimpered softly. I saw Umino looking around at all of us with
a confused expression, and was just raising my hand to beckon him over,
when the bottom fell out of the world.
########
<Kami-sama, what have I done?>
Urd frantically dug through her pockets. There had to be something that
would counteract the incense, or at the very least something that would
make them all sleep until the crisis was past. Keiichi's eyes were
already glazing over, and the reporter had collapsed on the floor beside
Naru, mumbling something that sounded vaguely like German.
"It's not libel if it's true," the reporter mumbled. "Governor Cosby HAS
ignored the law. He rigged last year's elections. He's been trying to
destroy the courts, so he can rule without hindrance. He's trying to use
his position to make himself King of New York. Doesn't anybody care?"
Keiichi suddenly screamed in agony, his whole body stiffening in an
unnatural position before he tried to wrench himself to his feet.
Belldandy held him firmly, so he couldn't hurt himself.
"Can't stop now," Keiichi gasped as he tried to pull away from
Belldandy. "There's still patients in there. We have to get them to the
river before the firestorm hits the hospital." He collapsed suddenly,
groaning weakly, "Can't...quit...now. Got to...get them out."
Keiichi stiffened with a harsh gasp, his eyes flying open and staring
into infinity. Belldandy cried out in fear and held his head between her
hands, calling his name as she lowered him to the floor. As soon as he
was on the floor, she laid her hand over his heart and began softly
pleading with him to stay with her.
Urd finally pulled out a bottle and held it up with a sigh of relief.
"I have it. Skuld, help me. This won't counter the incense, but it'll
put them to sleep for a few hours. Hopefully long enough to get past the
crisis."
For once, Skuld didn't argue with her, or even make a snide remark about
her lack of foresight. That was almost as worrisome as what was
happening to the mortals. Anything that would upset Skuld enough to not
get in a dig was even more serious than she was already imagining.
The only mortal still standing was one who hadn't been there when they'd
arrived. She stalked over and looked at the bottle, then into Urd's
eyes. Her gaze was so much like Mimir's, Urd felt herself fall back a
step.
"Who are you...and why aren't you affected by the incense?" Urd asked
uncertainly. Whoever she was, she had a presence that was so unsettling,
it was hard to concentrate in her gaze.
"I am called Setsuna," she said. "What unpleasant side effects do those
pills have?"
"They...uh...the sleeping IS the side effect. I made them as
restoratives." Somehow, she couldn't come up with a snappy comeback to
THIS woman.
"The ONLY side effect?"
"As far as I know. Why aren't you reacting to the incense?" There had to
be a reason - something she could use to prevent this happening again.
"The effect of your incense is no more than I already experience every
day. We shouldn't waste any more time." With that, Setsuna took the
bottle from Urd and returned to the others. Starting with Usagi and
Mamoru, she pressed a pill into each one's hands, staying with each just
long enough to murmur quietly until they swallowed the pill. After
feeding a pill to the reporter, Setsuna handed the bottle back to Urd.
"There. I recommend you be more careful in the future. You won't always
have a way to cover for your mistakes." The most unsettling thing about
the way Setsuna spoke was that there was no anger, no hint of
recrimination, no rebuke - just a recommendation from someone Urd was
sure had seen it all and then some.
########
I could not believe Urd had done something so incredibly lacking in
foresight. Surely if Kami-sama had restricted something from anyone
else's use, she'd have realized there was a good reason for it. Then I
thought about it and realized I should have expected something like
that. Urd could legitimately be called the Goddess of Hindsight - and
she'd definitely proven that tonight.
Once I'd made sure all the others had taken one of her pills, I sat
where I could reach any of them in an instant if something went wrong.
As they fell asleep, I relaxed a little. The memories they'd be reliving
would be better relived as dreams than waking. I had a pretty good idea
of what each one would be experiencing; if I was right, their first
experiences had been more than enough. Well, except for Father, but
compared to his memories from this lifetime, nothing that had happened
to him in the past was worth worrying about.
The hours passed slowly, with Belldandy holding Keiichi and Skuld
studying Naru and Marller through her goggles. Urd was surprisingly
subdued, and kept looking at me as if she didn't believe what she was
seeing. It was this kind of reaction that had kept me away from the
Inners until it was time to arrange for Father and Mother to meet. I'll
use their uncertainty when I have to, but I don't like being around it.
"Urd, give me one of those pills." I moved to kneel beside Naru and held
out my hand. When I felt a pill in my hand, I closed it and nodded. "Now
be ready to hold Marller. She's going to need you."
"Move, oneesan," Skuld said suddenly. "Something's happening to them."
Urd moved to kneel beside Marller and looked at me worriedly. I smiled
at her. Father always teases that my smiles are entirely too secretive;
I don't know that I'm so secretive. There's just a lot of things I can't
tell, either because the consequences would be disastrous, or because
people tend to take what I say as absolute truth despite the inherent
uncertainties of time. They take it easier if I smile when I don't say
anything. Like now: I knew they were about to wake up, but I couldn't
tell which alternative path time would take when they woke. All I could
do was smile and hope it was reassuring enough to help her face the
uncertainty.
Marller began to stir, then curled up on herself with an anguished
scream. Urd gathered her into her arms and rocked her gently. Good.
Marller's reaction meant she'd taken the path that should let us save
both of them. The only question now was whether Naru would respond to
what Marller had done.
I knew if she didn't respond shortly, she wouldn't; I prayed, for
Father's sake, that she would. If she didn't return to us, he'd feel
obligated to keep his promise to her - and that would, while necessary,
affect him as much as any of his memories.
When she moved, I almost missed it. It was my own fault; I was so busy
musing over the possibility of killing her myself so Father wouldn't
have to that it wasn't until she groaned that I realized she was back. I
scooped her up into my arms and murmured softly to her.
"It's ok, Naru. You're safe with us. Do you understand?"
"Setsuna? Why are you here? Where's Umino?" Naru was understandably
confused. She looked around the room blearily. "Wait...isn't this Ami
and Bill's house?"
"That's right. What's the last thing you remember?" If Marller did what
I suspected, it should be something mostly innocuous.
"Umino and I were editing a video he shot for school, and the phone
rang. I don't remember anything after...." She looked up at me with a
horrified expression as she whispered sadly, "Oh no...it happened again,
didn't it? Why didn't Bill kill me? He promised."
"He can't, Naru," I murmured as gently as I could. "He can't do much of
anything right now. He's experiencing something you're about to
experience, so I need you to make a choice for me."
"He can't? Why? What do you want me to choose? I don't want this to
happen anymore. Please?" As much as I sympathized with her pain, I
couldn't do what she wanted. If she still wanted it after reliving her
past, Father and I would give it to her, but I hoped she'd change her
mind.
"You're going to begin to remember some things that I hope will explain
why this keeps happening to you. I have a sleeping pill that will allow
you to experience it as a dream, if you want. Or I can sit with you
while you experience it consciously." I held up the hand with the pill
in it so she could take it if she wanted.
"What do you mean? Something that will explain?" Despite everything
that's happened to her, Naru's still basically an ordinary woman. She's
only had to cope with strangeness when she's been attacked by one of our
enemies. "I don't want to remember anything! I just want it all to end.
Why can't I have peace? Is that too much to ask for?"
"Naru, listen to me. Father cannot kill you right now. He's caught up in
the same thing that's about to happen to you, and until it's over, he
can't do anything. I gave him one of these, so he could experience it as
a dream. I didn't give him a choice. You have that choice." I hoped
she'd choose to take the pill - and soon. I was surprised she hadn't
succumbed already.
"Why? Kami-sama, why do I have to go through this again and again? I
just want to die! I just...." Her voice trailed off as her eyes focused
somewhere in the distance. It was finally happening to her; I had one
last chance to get her to take the pill.
"Here, Naru," I murmured as I pressed the pill into her hand. "This will
help - it'll make it all go away."
"It will?" Her voice was so hopeful, I regretted having lied to her like
that. She swallowed it without hesitation, and I held her against my
breast until she fell asleep.
"So...horrible...," Marller whispered sadly as I lowered Naru to the
pillows. "I understand...why she has so much despair. I...couldn't take
it all. Just the last time. I'm not strong enough...to take more than
that."
"It was enough to bring her back," I murmured, reaching out to squeeze
her hand. "That was enough. Don't short yourself. You did the only thing
that would have worked."
"How can she want to die?" Skuld asked softly. When I looked to her, she
was gazing at Naru, on the verge of tears. "Is her life really that
horrible?"
"It's worse," Marller answered. "Bill wasn't exaggerating. Compared to
the demons in this world, I'm almost as good as Belldandy. I thought
only humans were capable of that much evil. I think, if I'd experienced
what she has, I might have killed myself."
"You?" Skuld squeaked. "It was bad enough to make YOU kill yourself?"
She reached out to touch Naru's forehead, crying quietly. I wished I
could do something to protect her from this - she should remain innocent
and pure, like the future she represents. Unfortunately, I was afraid
this experience would affect that.
"Mara," Urd murmured, "how do you think you're handling it?"
"Not good," Marller answered softly. "It's all so obscene...so
malicious...so vile. Demons aren't supposed to be like that. We're
supposed to spread chaos and destruction - to tempt humans to follow
their baser urges; to thwart Kami-sama's plans. It's HUMANS who are
supposed to be that evil. What went wrong in this world to make the
demons like that?"
"Nobody knows," I murmured. "The origins of supernatural evil are older
than I am; they didn't understand it when I was a child, and nobody's
gained any better understanding since."
"I'm a little confused," Urd said, looking at me. "You call Bill
'Father', yet you're obviously not a mortal. I'm not sure what you are,
but whatever you are, you're far older than any of us."
"I call him 'Father' because he is. And Ami is my mother. What I am is
the Guardian of Time. I have been what I am for over twenty thousand
years, and will continue to be for at least another thousand."
All three of them looked at me with a marked increase in their level of
respect. Skuld was the first to break the silence.
"You're the Guardian? But Kami-sama said we'd never meet you...."
"'In this world'," Belldandy murmured. "Meaning our own. He never said
we wouldn't meet the Guardian of another world."
"But if they're your parents... in another life?" Urd was still focused
on that question. I suspected she wouldn't move on to any other until
I'd satisfied her curiosity.
"No, in this one. I was born a little less than a year ago, and grew up
20,000 years ago. It was necessary." I looked into her eyes, willing her
to be satisfied with that answer. I didn't want to have to tell her that
was all she was getting, but at the same time I wasn't going to tell any
more.
"I see." She opened her mouth as if to say more, then shook her head and
looked down at Marller. "How about you, Mara? Feeling any better?"
"No." Marller's response was flat and final. "I don't think I'll ever
feel better. All I want to do right now is go home."
"We'll get you home. Between the three of you and our three scientists,
we should be able to find a path back to your world." I hoped. They
didn't belong here, and sooner or later the Norns of our world would be
certain to notice them.
"Make that four scientists, Setsuna. Assuming you'll authorize me to
unlock the front door, that is."
"Who is it, David?" I hadn't foreseen anyone coming here right now; of
course, the timelines were so tangled, it had taken all my skill to see
Naru's recovery. The presence of the Goddesses was doing terrible things
to my perception.
"Sarah."
"Let her in when I say it's ok, but lock it as soon as she's inside." I
wondered why she was here, then remembered I was supposed to have been
home a few hours ago to meet her when she got back from her cruise.
Naturally, she'd have assumed my duties as Sailor Pluto were the cause,
and would have come here to learn if my parents knew anything. I broke
off the burning end of the incense and ran to the lab to switch on the
exhaust fan. With the door open, it should suck all the smoke out of the
house quickly enough. By the time I returned to the living room, the air
was already starting to clear.
"All right. And call Fluorite and Rusty, will you? We're going to need
them here when everyone wakes up."
"Setsuna? What's going on?" Sarah asked as the door was closing behind
her. I focused on presenting a composed expression as I turned to her.
########
Belldandy cradled Keiichi to her breast, crooning softly as she soothed
his pain. When she'd told Urd the Dark made mortals relive their past,
she'd just been repeating what she'd been taught in training. Actually
seeing the effects on her husband was a far different matter. Whatever
he'd been in the past, it was obvious he'd been just as kind and loving
then as he was now; that it had cost him his life was also obvious -
reliving it had almost killed him.
Setsuna was a surprise. She'd never expected to meet the Guardian, but
it made sense that she'd be one of the Senshi. Keiichi could probably
have told her in advance, but she could ask him about it when he
awakened. She was so tired...even with the restorative. She'd been
forced to use her power so many times today, it would take a good
night's sleep to fully recover. That had to be why she was feeling so
disconnected from everything. It was as if she were floating, with
Keiichi her only anchor.
"Setsuna? What's going on?" Belldandy looked toward the voice, to see an
athletic woman about Keiichi's age, with brown hair held back in a braid
that fell to just below her shoulder blades and brown eyes hidden behind
a pair of glasses. A glance at Setsuna revealed the Guardian not only
knew her, she loved her, and was putting on an appearance of composure
for her benefit.
"Mother and Father have some...unusual guests," Setsuna said, in a voice
that anyone who wasn't looking deeper would have mistaken for calm.
"There was a slight problem with some incense, but they should be waking
up soon."
Sarah swept into the room as soon as she'd shed her shoes and took
Setsuna's hands. She looked into the Guardian's eyes with a gaze that
confirmed the love Belldandy sensed. Only someone who loved her could
possibly hold that gaze in the face of the Guardian's unsettling aura.
"Was it one of your enemies?" Apparently Sarah was as solid emotionally
as she was physically.
"No. It was an alchemical mistake. The incense was intended to be a
restorative, but the person who created it didn't research the side
effects of the ingredients sufficiently before using them." Belldandy
found Setsuna's composure amazing. She doubted she'd be able to be so
calm about such an incredible mistake. The only thing keeping her calm
now was the knowledge that Keiichi needed her.
########
I squeezed Setsuna's hands and looked into her eyes for some clue as to
what she was really feeling. She has this annoying talent for trying to
ease my worries, even knowing my training and experience. I suppose it's
inevitable; I'm a scientist, and her world is one of magic. As much as I
dream about it, I've learned that I'm just too firmly rooted in the
world I can measure and analyze to ever be capable of fitting into her
world the way Bill does. Then again, he's always had a skewed view of
reality that fits the magical world closer than I do.
One thing I was sure of was that Setsuna was trying too hard to be
strong for me. I tugged on her hands, giving her my best "I know you're
full of it" glare; she gave me one of her smiles and let me pull her
into my arms. Sometimes I'd like to just shake her. As much as I expect
people - especially those I love - to rely on their own strength, I also
expect them to be adult enough to know when they need support. She's
been on her own for so long, though, that I have to push sometimes to
get her to accept that she's not made of MacManusite.
Once she was in my arms, I squeezed her; she was so tense I could almost
feel her muscles twang. I didn't know what the situation was, but her
tension confirmed what I'd guessed - she was a lot more worried than she
wanted to let on. I moved my hands across her back, massaging the
tightest knots until I felt her start to relax. Even a little relaxation
as better than what she'd been doing. The only person I've ever met
who's more stubborn about keeping the world at arm's reach is Haruka,
but she has Michiru. Setsuna is mine - the one who loves me; the one I
love as much as Bill used to wish I loved him before he and Ami found
each other.
"Well, beloved?" I whispered once she'd started to relax. "Which would
you rather do first? Introduce your guests, or explain what crisis made
you break our date?"
She looked up into my eyes and flashed another one of her smiles.
"I should, shouldn't I?" she whispered, then gave me a quick squeeze and
promising kiss before stepping back a step. "Sarah, our guests are Urd,
Belldandy, Skuld, and Marller."
As she indicated each, they looked up and nodded; they all looked far
too worried for my peace of mind, and the way Belldandy was holding the
man in her arms had me wondering if he'd been injured. Of course, it was
hard to tell, with all the unconscious people in the room. I'd have to
get some answers about that, and soon. For now...those names sounded
awfully familiar. I tried to place where I'd heard them before, but was
drawing a blank when I suddenly remembered where I'd SEEN them before. I
looked up, and there it was: the print with their images in angelic
forms, done as anime characters.
"Urd, Belldandy, and Skuld...the Goddesses?" When they nodded, I looked
back to Setsuna for an explanation.
"The man in Belldandy's arms is Morisato Keiichi, her husband. And
Marller is a demon." THAT was a surprise. A live demon in Bill's house?
Something VERY strange was going on. Of course, live anime characters in
Bill's house was pretty strange to begin with.
"I'm not like the demons from this world," Marller protested. OK, I'd
agree with that. Somehow, I couldn't imagine a demon with the expression
of anguish she had. Or accepting comfort from a Goddess who looked like
Urd. Or any Goddess, for that matter. My gaze lingered on those two for
just a moment longer than necessary; long enough that when I turned my
attention back to Setsuna, it took a silent mouthing of "I love you" to
remove the jealous look from her eyes.
"So you're not from this world?" That would explain their existence -
sort of. But if they're not from this world, how did they get here?
"That's right," Belldandy said. I found myself looking at her with what
I'm sure was an expression of total surprise. Her voice was as
compassionate and gentle as Serenity's. I understood now why Bill was so
fascinated by her. "We're not from your world. We came here due to an
unfortunate combination of circumstances, and...," she looked around the
room at all the sleeping people, "...the Senshi have promised their help
in finding us a way home."
"All right," I murmured absently, thinking of the implications of this,
"so you're going to need help from people who understand
hyperdimensional physics. That means Bill and Ami. And from someone who
has experience traveling in alternative realities. That means Setsuna."
Alternative realities. That reminded me of one of Bill's many random
mental wanderings - one in which he'd decreed that Heinlein had it
wrong: pan-dimensional universal solipsism was backwards. He said that
writers don't create worlds by writing about them: they simply describe
other realities that already exist, and their ability to see those
realities could be measured by how effectively they wrote about them.
I'd always considered it just another one of his skewed ideas, until a
couple months ago when Setsuna had handed him her Time Key and he'd been
overwhelmed by it. This situation made his theory suddenly seem more
believable.
"And a mundane physicist, to make sure whatever they come up with
doesn't have damaging effects on this world," Setsuna said, gazing at me
with her "you know I'm right" look.
"All right," I said with a smile. I knew better than to argue when she
had that look. I'd just have to make her pay for it later, when we were
alone. "So how did you get here?"
"I dropped a bomb in Skuld's newest invention," Marller said. "All it
was supposed to do was make it fail spectacularly when she switched it
on. Instead, it sent us here."
"From what I can tell from examining the vacuum," Skuld added,
"Marller's bomb's chaos field interacted with the hyperdimensional
components of the vacuum to produce some sort of translation field
between our universe and yours. I'm not sure another bomb would produce
the same effect. In fact, the chances of it doing the same thing are so
small that even I have trouble calculating it."
"You mean, we can't get home?" Marller's voice was switching from
anguish to panic, and her expression more fearful than I've seen since
Bill was still with his second wife. There had to be something more than
just being in the wrong world that was scaring her.
"Nonsense!' Urd announced with just the right touch of maniacal glee.
"There's NOTHING the four of us can't do if we put our minds to it!"
"You mean, like drugging the humans around us?" Skuld snapped at her,
with a grateful look in her eyes. That's the first time I can remember
seeing someone who looked thankful for an excuse to start an argument.
"How was I supposed to know it would do that? It's not like Kami-sama
put up a warning sign or anything!" Urd shot back, matching Skuld's
grateful expression.
"Oooooh! Why do I have to put up with an idiot for a big sister? You
NEVER change ingredients without checking the dangers first!"
"Listen here, brat! If you think you're such hot stuff, why don't YOU
try making potions sometime? Why should I have to worry about checking
stuff like that? Beer's beer, right?"
<Beer? They're arguing over beer? This is just too weird.>
"I don't believe this," Marller grumbled, her eyes flashing dangerously.
"We're lost in a world that isn't even ours, and you two are arguing
over something that's already been done? I ought to...."
A ball of light began glowing between Marller's hands as she glared at
Urd and Skuld. Skuld pulled something out of the front of her tunic -
I'm not sure where she was hiding it - that looked kind of like an
aluminum softball; whatever it was, it started glowing, too. Then Urd
raised her hands over her head, and a ball of light began glowing
between them, too. This was getting a little unnerving. I glanced at
Setsuna, and saw she didn't seem to be worried, despite the potential
for mayhem those three presented. Then I noticed Belldandy didn't seem
worried, either. This was definitely getting weird.
"You ought to what?" Urd growled. The hungry sensations her growl
generated had me reaching for Setsuna, who smiled and let me gather her
into my arms. "Bring it on!"
"I...can't," Marller whispered as her ball of light faded. "I gave my
promise - and for the first time, I WANT to keep it. What's wrong with
me?"
"When's the last time you had a friend?" Belldandy asked gently. "I
don't mean someone who thinks that calling you a friend will give them
some unfair advantage, the way Sayoko does - I mean someone who knows
what you are and still treats you as someone they value."
Marller looked toward the Senshi thoughtfully for several moments,
biting her lip, before she replied.
"Not since Urd and I were young. Demons don't have friends." The sadness
in her voice as she said that was heartbreaking. I just couldn't
reconcile her emotions with the kind of creatures Bill hunts.
"But you have a friend now. It makes a difference, doesn't it?"
Belldandy smiled and offered Marller a hand. "If I'm not wrong, you have
the potential to have several friends, if you'll accept them."
Marller looked from Belldandy's eyes to her hand and back again, with
tears in her eyes. As she took the offered hand, I felt tears in my own
eyes, and when Belldandy drew her in for a gentle hug, I sniffled
quietly and squeezed Setsuna.
"You'd be my friend? After all I've done? Even with what I am?" I
couldn't blame her for being incredulous. The idea of a goddess and a
demon being friends was more than a little odd.
"You're just doing your job, Mara. Even when it's most irritating, it's
still what you're supposed to do." Listening to her, I had to wonder if
she and Serenity were somehow related. The simple, open, uncomplicated
love and acceptance in her voice was as unbelievably complete as the
Princess'.
"But...all the times I've attacked you...." Marller sounded far too
confused for her own good.
"Hey! Haven't you ever heard of fault-testing?" Skuld smacked Marller -
gently - and stuck her tongue out at her. Not exactly what I'd think of
as a suitable approach, but it seemed to make Marller feel better. "Do
you know how often your tricks and attacks forced me to fix defects I
wouldn't have known about otherwise? I ought to draft you to attack
everything I build, just for the quality control effect!"
"You know, that's not so far from what the Devil does in Jewish belief,"
David said. "The only references the Jews have to the Devil that I know
of cast him as an angel who specializes in quality control - tempting
humans, testing the ones God's too proud of to see if they live up to
his opinion of them, that kind of thing."
"Arg! How am I supposed to keep feeling guilty if you're going to do
that?" Marller grumbled with a smile. She looked up at the nearest
intercom panel thoughtfully, apparently considering David's commentary.
"You're not," Skuld laughed. "So is it a deal? You trash the stuff I
build so I can find out what needs improving?"
"Humph!" Urd grumped, flashing a smile that Skuld couldn't see. "I guess
she's not satisfied with MY work anymore. Well, if that's the way she's
going to be, I guess I'm just going to have to let you do it, Mara."
"I wonder if they're always like this," I murmured to Setsuna as the two
Goddesses started bickering like Usagi and Rei. She smiled and drew me
down into a gentle kiss that distracted me from the argument.
########
Skuld grumbled and glared at Urd. How DARE her big sister think that she
didn't appreciate her? She should have realized she was just trying to
make Marller feel better. It was almost impossible not to feel for her
after seeing how deeply the demons of THIS world affected her, even
indirectly. Trust Urd to take it as a personal insult. Just wait...one
of these days she'd find her bed turned into a giant joy buzzer. THAT
would get her attention.
"Ha! I got you, Bug!" Urd laughed, throwing her arms around Skuld in a
surprise hug. "You really thought I was insulted, didn't you? Just goes
to show I'm still way ahead of you in sneakiness."
Skuld stared at Urd in surprise, noticing only in retrospect that
Setsuna had developed a sly smile at Urd's claim of sneakiness. It took
a minute for her to put it all together, but she finally figured it out:
Urd had done it deliberately to try and make her feel better, both about
being here and about what she'd told Marller. Her stupid big sister
wasn't so stupid after all!
"Oneesan!" she shrieked happily, launching herself into Urd's arms.
Marller wisely moved out of the way, so when she hit Urd, only the two
of them fell over. Urd's breath came out of her in a whoosh, and the two
laughed together.
########
When David phoned and said that Lady Pluto requested our presence, I was
in my lab, trying to unravel a confusing energy configuration that had
arisen during the afternoon. It seemed to have something to do with
time, but it was split into three tracks, unlike the energy that
surrounded Lady Pluto. I'd managed to localize it to the area around
Lady and Lord Mercury's house, and was thinking of phoning to talk with
them, when Rusty stepped into the lab.
"Fluorite, Setsuna wants us to join her at Bill and Ami's house. David
doesn't know why for sure, but he said Naru's there." My smile at seeing
him quickly faded as I thought about why Lady Pluto would want us there
in the middle of the night - and why it was important for us to know
Naru was there.
"We'll take the shortcut," I said, grabbing his arm. I stepped into the
astral plane, bringing him with me. It only took a moment to shift from
our apartment to the space outside the house. Going through the wards
was always the slowest part of the trip. Every time I take the astral
route, he has new wards up. Lately, it's gotten as difficult to get
around them as it is to get around the wards at the Hikawa shrine.
"Eh...Fluorite, are those what I think they are?" Rusty's voice was more
than a little worried as he pointed at the wildlife around the wards.
"Only if you think they're demons," I answered. Something was definitely
wrong: demons normally avoided the house the way wolves avoid a city.
There must be something inside they wanted enough to overcome their
fear. Still, the only good demon is a dead demon, so.... "Sorry about
this, Rusty."
"Sorry about-?" Rusty started; I didn't hear the rest, because he was
already back in the physical world. I wasn't going to risk any harm to
him while fighting.
"Yoo-hoo! Here, demon, demon, demon!" My teachers always accused me of
being flippant, but I've noticed that some enemies - like demons - tend
to lose their composure when they think you're not taking them
seriously. I'm not proud; I'll take any advantage I can get.
Most of the demons continued trying to batter their way through the
wards, but a few turned toward me. I may not enjoy fighting as much as
Lady Jupiter does, but a guy does need a chance to cut loose every once
in a while. I hovered and waited for them to get close. I may know a lot
more about death magic than Lady Saturn, but I don't have anywhere near
her power. It's a whole lot easier for me to destroy things like this
when they're close enough to touch.
The first demon reached me. It was just an imp, so it wasn't really a
threat. I grabbed it and absorbed its energy. Unless you're a monster
magnet like Naru, imps are just an annoyance - or a ready source of
energy. Now for the others. One of the nice things about demons is the
way they dissolve when you destroy them - no bodies left behind to get
in the way.
No doubt about it: an angry demon is a stupid demon. Not that most of
them are all that smart to begin with, but every little bit helps. With
the energy I'd absorbed from the imp, I released a cloud of Death
Ribbons. That was a spell I hoped Lady Saturn would master some day, so
she wouldn't be in fear of destroying the world every time she went into
battle. Like her Death Reborn Revolution, the ribbons destroy whatever
they touch - but because the spell is so much less powerful, there's no
chance of the Death Ribbons destroying even a city block, much less the
world. And it's not a suicide attack.
With the demons around me destroyed, the ones still pounding on the
wards finally took notice of my presence. This had the potential to be
more interesting. The ones still living were more intelligent - and
therefore potentially more powerful. Luckily for me, more intelligent
usually means more egotistical when you're talking about demons. If I
could come up with a way to have them fighting each other, it would make
my job easier.
I fired off another stream of Death Ribbons, and while the demons were
dodging them, conjured my Ghost Sword. I may not be in Lady Uranus'
class as a fencer, but I'm not incompetent, either. The Ghost Sword is
especially effective against demons, since the spirits that form it are
at least as offended by the existence of demons as any Demon Hunter is.
I dove behind a cluster of demons and decapitated three of them before
they had a chance to react.
"So, is this a private party, or can anyone join in?" I don't think I
was ever as happy to hear his voice as I was right then. With at least
another half-dozen demons still able to fight, I NEEDED the Demon
Hunter's intervention.
"Keep you from killing demons? I wouldn't think of it!" I grinned at him
and dove for a demon.
This one actually had something that resembled a weapon. Instead of
hands, talons, or any of the other usual grasping appendages, its arms
were tipped with blades that looked kind of like lochaber axes. It was
good with them, too. If I'd been wearing anything that interfered with
my movement, I'd have been sliced open like a roasted pig. As it was, I
was still fencing with it when he finished with the last of the others.
The first either of us knew he was back was when it got a look of
surprise on its face as his fist exploded through its chest from behind.
"Well, that was fun," Bill grumbled. At least, this time it was obvious
he was being sarcastic. It isn't always. "So what brings you here this
time of night?"
"Lady Pluto said we're needed." I was surprised; I'd expected that he'd
know of her invitation.
"I'll have to ask her about it when I wake up. Hopefully that'll be
soon."
"When you wake up? What's going on?"
"Urd screwed up a restorative incense, so everyone in the house is
reliving some of the more interesting memories from their past lives.
Setsuna gave us all sleeping pills so that we'd experience them as
dreams, rather than consciously. We've already been asleep for a few
hours. I don't know how much longer the pills will last."
"That must have been some screw-up. I'm no alchemist, but I don't think
I've ever heard of any restorative that does THAT. Who's Urd, anyway?"
"This wouldn't have, except she used an ingredient that has that effect
when she was making it. Urd's a Norn - Goddess of the Past. Alchemy's
kind of a hobby for her." He grinned. I've seen that grin before: it's
the one he gets whenever Serenity - I mean, Usagi - does something
particularly undignified. Whoever this Urd was, he obviously considered
her a friend.
"Goddess of the Past? Does that mean there's also a Goddess of the
Present, and one of the Future?" This could explain the strange time
energy I'd detected.
"Yup. Belldandy and Skuld. And a playmate of theirs came with them - a
demon named Marller. I think Marller's the reason all these bad boys
were out here." This was definitely getting strange. His face didn't
express his usual distaste when he mentioned this Marller's name.
"OK, what's Marller, and why isn't it dead?"
"Marller's a demon from the same world Urd, Belldandy, and Skuld are
from. They all came to this world together, and they need to go home
together. She's also a lot more decent than some humans I've met. Demons
in her world aren't like our demons. Hold on." He raised his hand and
fired a beam of light over my shoulder. "I think that's why the demons
are here. They're trying to either capture or destroy her."
"There's more to it than that," I said, watching him thoughtfully. "For
some unknown reason, you think of her as a friend, don't you?"
"Yes, I do. I think you will too, once you meet her. She almost died,
trying to rescue Naru after she was possessed by an imp. That's why the
incense - it was to keep her and Naru from dying." He stopped and closed
his eyes for a moment; when he opened them, the sadness I saw was enough
to tear at my heart. He whispered, in a tone that carried as much
sadness as his eyes, "I know why Setsuna called you. It's Naru."
"Naru was possessed?" I understood his sadness. After I'd turned her
into a monster, when I was still one of Queen Beryl's minions, she'd
demanded that he promise to kill her if it ever happened again. And if
she'd been possessed, she was certain to demand that he keep his
promise. Neither of us wanted that. Without hesitation, I moved to
embrace him. He needed the reassurance; the reminder that I understood.
For that matter, I needed the reassurance. Naru had somehow found it in
her heart to accept me as her friend, even knowing what I'd done to her
as the Demonologist, and now she was closer to me than anyone other than
Rusty.
"I killed the demon, but it broke her. Marller had to go into her mind
to bring her back out - and she'd been in there for a long time before
the rest of us went unconscious. That was...a while ago. Well before
midnight, I think. If Marller didn't manage to bring her back, there's
only one way to free her. If she did...you know what Naru's going to
want." He sighed heavily and clenched his jaw as he rested his head on
my shoulder. He was, like the rest of us, perfectly willing to face
death on his terms - but was not willing to allow it to claim a friend.
"What if...," I stopped, realizing my idea was crazy; but if Lady Saturn
was willing to go along with it, it might be possible to give Naru what
she wanted and still save her life. "What if I caught her when you kill
her? Once she's dead, I should be able to talk sense to her. And if Lady
Saturn heals her body, I could put her back into it, and the problem
would be solved."
"You think that'll work?" His voice told me he was grasping at my
suggestion as if it were the first ray of hope in this situation. I
prayed I wouldn't let him - or any of them - down. "If you'll do that, I
know Hotaru will heal her...and we can save Naru!"
"I'm certainly going to do my best. Ultimately, it's up to her, but I
hope I can give her enough reasons to stay with us."
"Thank you," he breathed in relief. "I guess you'd better get back to
the other side. David should know enough to let you in without argument,
and that's got to be easier than working your way through the wards."
"I'll see you inside, then." I smiled as best I could and slid through
to the physical world. Rusty was nowhere to be seen. I assumed he'd
already gone inside, and headed for the front door.
"Well, there you are. I was starting to wonder if you'd sent Rusty on
without you." David's voice sounded as if he were forcing himself to
fake cheerfulness. I looked at his camera and shook my head. I really
didn't care to even try to fake it.
"Demons. Let me in, ok? I know why Setsuna asked you to call."
"It's not good," he murmured, letting his real feelings through. David's
far too nice for the situation we were in. Unfortunately, as a computer,
he couldn't do very much about it. He opened the door just far enough
for me to slip through without getting caught, and closed it as soon as
I was through.
Of the people in the room who were upright, I only recognized Lady Pluto
and her consort, Sarah. Lady Pluto turned her gaze on me, and for a
brief moment I saw sadness in her eyes to match my own. By the time I
made it across the room to where Naru was sleeping, she had regained her
usual air of inhuman detachment. Rusty returned from the hallway that
leads to the kitchen and laboratory, smiled reassuringly at me, and
found a place to sit that wouldn't interfere with anything we had to do.
"Hello, Fluorite. Allow me to introduce our guests. Urd, Belldandy, and
Skuld are the Goddesses of Past, Present, and Future, respectively.
Marller is a demon - and Father's friend. They're from another universe
- one that we have to help them find their way back to." As Lady Pluto
introduced them, the ladies bowed their heads. Except Urd, who flashed
me a smile that - if she were a man - would have raised my blood
pressure to the danger point. I think she was a little surprised when I
didn't respond. "Ladies, this is Fluorite, and his partner Rusty.
Fluorite is our resident Deat
It was her greatest invention yet: Skuld's Own Hyperdimensional Bug
Vacuum.
"I've done it! My genius amazes even myself!" Skuld shouted
triumphantly, reaching for her ice cream. "Empty?"
Skuld's room was littered with empty pint containers, electronic
components, and older devices. As Skuld left in search of more ice
cream, her computer's monitor lit up with a flashing message: Warning.
Dimensional Instability.
Skuld stuck her head in the freezer, moved the contents around, and
shrieked in surprise.
"Oneesama! Where's the ice cream? Oneesama?" Skuld wandered out of the
kitchen and started looking through the house when Belldandy didn't
respond. "Oneesama? Where are you?"
"You just missed her. She went shopping," Urd announced from her perch
in front of the TV. "Now get out of my way. I want to see this."
Skuld turned to see what Urd was so interested in on the TV. Her hammer
was in her hand before she was consciously aware, and only the
forcefield around the TV prevented her from smashing it to bits. The
perverted things the couple on the screen was doing may have been to
Urd's liking, but SHE didn't have to put up with it.
"Now you've done it, you little brat! Do you know how hard it was to get
those two together like that?"
"I should have known this was your fault! Why do I have to have such a
pervert for a sister?"
"Maybe you should try it yourself! It could only improve your
personality!"
"Aaaah!" Skuld swung her mallet at Urd, who immediately shrank to her
Mini-Urd form and teleported away. "Come back here and fight like a
Goddess, you coward! Banpei! Find her!"
As Skuld stalked out of the living room, she crushed the television with
a parting shot from her mallet. On the way past her bedroom, she noticed
a flashing light. <That doesn't make any sense. That looks like the
warning I programmed for a Bug Exhaust Port. Oh no!> She dashed into the
room and stared at the monitor, then began frantically typing, an
expression of horror growing on her face. Suddenly, Skuld's latest
invention began to glow, the light filling the room in seconds, then
spreading....
"Thank you for bringing me home, Keiichi-chan. I enjoy riding with you
so much." Belldandy exclaimed happily as she lifted her shopping bags
from the motorcycle's sidecar.
"I'm always glad to give you a lift, Bel-chan." Keiichi said, smiling
happily as he as he took off his helmet and took one bag from her arms -
all that she'd allow him to carry for her. "Can I help you with dinner?"
"You can help eat it," Belldandy laughed, reaching for the front door as
the light from Skuld's room exploded to engulf the temple grounds.
########
The alien had taken refuge on the grounds of an abandoned temple near a
college a good ways across Tokyo. The Senshi were even happier than I
was that the location made it possible to minimize the risk to civilians
while fighting it. We cornered it in one of the bedrooms of the priest's
house, and Sailor Moon blasted it to nothingness.
As we were taking our first relieved breaths, Sailor Mercury suddenly
yelled in surprise, seconds before the entire world went white. When the
light faded, Sailor Mercury and I were the only ones initially able to
see, thanks to my Gargoyles and her visor. Where the alien had been was
something that looked like a vacuum cleaner after it had been through my
laboratory, and a couple feet away was kneeling a girl who looked about
the same age as Hotaru and Chibi-Usa, with black hair as long as
Setsuna's and wearing a sort of white tunic with red cuffs and collar.
Across her back was a long hammer, like a croquet mallet with a spike on
the end of the handle. Her hands were positioned as if she was at a
keyboard, despite there being no furnishings of any kind in the room.
She turned her head and looked up at us with a horrified expression in
her brown eyes.
"Holy shit," I murmured in surprise as I saw the blue markings on her
forehead and cheeks. "But...she's fictional."
"No, she's real," Sailor Mercury said. "But she's not from this
universe."
"Oh, no," Skuld cried. "I didn't manage to stop it in time!"
"URD! What did you do THIS time?" a male voice called from the front of
the house.
"Now, Keiichi-chan, you don't know it was her. Something about this
feels more like Marller's doing." The voice sounded like Ami's sounded
when we were alone and sharing our love for each other. That meant it
could only be one person.
**I'll check it out, Angel. Make sure the others recover from the light,
ok?**
**Be careful, my love. If that really is Belldandy, then Marller may be
real, too.**
**If she is, she'll find I'm not as easygoing as they are. I love you.**
**I love you, too.**
Sailor Mercury moved toward Sailor Moon as I left the room and made my
way toward the front of the house. Just stepping up onto the floor
inside the front door were one of the shortest men I've ever seen, and a
woman with hair a lighter shade of brown than mine, beautiful
violet-blue eyes, and marks on her cheeks and forehead. I offered henu
to the couple and gestured toward the room the others were in.
"Morisato Keiichi, Belldandy, if you'd come this way, we can start to
figure out what happened. And if your sister is here as well, she should
come, too."
"Who are you, and what happened to our home?" Keiichi asked, stepping in
front of Belldandy.
"They call me Demon Hunter. And if Sailor Mercury's initial reading of
Skuld is accurate, this isn't your home. It's the equivalent of it in
our universe."
"And it's not my fault," declared a woman with platinum blond hair,
green eyes, a tan Zonker Harris would kill for, marks on her cheeks and
forehead, and enough raw sex appeal to make me very glad I'd given my
heart to Ami. "All I was doing was watching TV."
Keiichi looked at Urd with one of those unmistakable "I'm not so sure I
believe you" expressions we've all gotten at one time or another -
usually after one of Minako's "great ideas" blows up in our faces. The
look on Urd's face confirmed her claim, as far as I was concerned.
Keiichi's disbelief hurt her, and she was trying to hide it.
"OK, so you're not the one who did it. And Belldandy thinks Marller
might be involved. If she is, she might as well show herself now and
save all of us some trouble." I looked around as I spoke, trying to get
a feel for the place.
**Rei? Can you feel any demonic presences here?**
**Demonic? Not quite...there's something here...but compared to what we
think of as demonic, it's a joke.**
**That's probably her, then. Where is it?**
**Above us. Maybe 100 meters.**
**Thanks.**
"Urd, would you fetch her? She's about 100 meters straight up. We'll be
in that bedroom over there." I pointed at the room the Senshi were in.
"Skuld was saying something about not being able to stop it when I came
out here."
Urd growled and vanished in a puff of smoke. I looked to the others and
gestured toward the bedroom. It was pretty obvious Keiichi had been in
school far too long. He had just processed what I'd said, and was
looking to Belldandy for reassurance.
" YOUR universe? Sailor Mercury? But Sailor Mercury's a character in a
TV show!" Keiichi sounded remarkably like he'd just had an even bigger
surprise than meeting Belldandy.
"He's right, Keiichi-chan. This isn't our world. I have a feeling his
friends will be able to help us get home." She smiled lovingly at him,
then turned her gaze on me with a smile as warm and open as any that
Usagi could offer. "Would you introduce us to your friends, Demon
Hunter-san?"
"Just call me Bill, ok?" I smiled and tipped my hat to her, then led
them to the bedroom door. Inside, Skuld was wailing miserably. I didn't
clearly understand anything she was saying, but the overall impression
was that she believed she was here all alone and just wanted to be with
her sisters.
Belldandy swept past us all and gathered Skuld into her arms, soon
quieting her sister's cries. Keiichi moved to join them after Skuld had
settled down, and she stuck her tongue out at him, a lot like Chibi-Usa
often did to Usagi.
"I'm reading some residual extradimensional energy on that device,"
Sailor Mercury announced. "Two different kinds of energy, and they look
like they're incompatible."
"Two different kinds?" Skuld, finally calmed enough to hear us clearly,
looked shocked, then angry. "URD!"
"It wasn't Urd," Belldandy said gently. "Can't you feel it?"
Skuld whipped out a set of goggles that reminded me of stereotypical
Ether Goggles, and studied the vacuum intently. While she was studying
it, I moved to rest a hand gently on Sailor Mercury's shoulder.
**Can we duplicate the energies, Angel?**
**The hyperspatial energy will be easy. The other, I'm not so sure of.
It's unlike anything any of us have ever used.**
**It's demonic, isn't it?**
**Sort of. But more chaotic and less evil.**
**So it WAS Marller.**
**That could be, but we should be certain before saying anything.**
"It looks like demonic energy," Skuld announced. "But that doesn't make
sense, unless it was tampered with after I finished it."
"I'd say that's a good bet," Urd announced, appearing in a puff of
smoke, holding a woman who looked like she could be her evil sister by
the ear. "Tell us what you did, Marller, before I get angry."
**Uh-oh. Urd's voice is far too calm. Be ready for an explosion.**
The others shifted just a little, and Sailors Mars and Jupiter moved
closer to Sailor Moon, ready to jump in front of her in an instant.
Marller, wearing a pair of black leather jeans that looked as if they'd
been painted on and a black T-shirt that was at least two sizes too
small and made of spandex, with the logo "Evil means never having to say
you're sorry" on it, winced as Urd twisted her ear.
"OK! OK! Just let go! All I did was drop a little time bomb into
that...whatever it is!" Marller pointed at the vacuum. "It shouldn't
have done...whatever it did."
"What it did, demon, was blow all of you out of your universe and into
ours." I stalked toward her and glared into her eyes from close enough
to feel her breathing. "Be thankful you're not a demon from MY universe,
or you'd already be dead. As it is...if you want to live - much less get
home - you're going to have to work WITH us, not against us. Is that
understood?"
"You did WHAT?" Skuld shrieked, whipping out a device about the size of
a softball. "I'm gonna blast you to smithereens!"
"Bring it on, brat!" Marller brought up her hands and a ball of light
began forming between them. When I laid the blade of my sword across her
throat, she was sufficiently surprised for her energy ball to backfire,
stunning her.
"Skuld! Don't!" Belldandy cried, moving to knock the device out of
Skuld's hand. "If she was responsible for what happened, we need her to
get home."
"And she needs us," Urd added, grinning maliciously at Marller. "This is
too rich! If you want to get home, you're going to have to HELP us,
Marller!"
As Urd broke into maniacal laughter, Marller glared at me. I shrugged
and sheathed my sword, then offered her a hand.
"I don't need your help, mortal! You'll pay for your effrontery!" She
raised her hands to attack, apparently not realizing how vulnerable she
was, still half-sprawled on the floor. I dropped to one knee - ok, I
dropped to one fist, and that fist was buried in her belly. Just because
I wasn't going to kill her didn't mean I had to put up with any of her
shit. The look of shock on her face was definitely worth the effort of
leaving her alive.
"I don't think she'll be any more trouble, at least until she gets her
breath back. Is she always this...hot-headed?" I moved to join Sailor
Mercury and Skuld in examining the vacuum.
"No, sometimes she's worse," Urd laughed. "You should take some lessons
from him, Keiichi! On second thought, don't." She looked a little
worried as Keiichi's thoughtful gaze moved, from where Marller was
trying to catch her breath, to her.
"I can't believe you're really here!" Sailor Moon gushed as she took
Belldandy's hands. "I've got ALL your manga!"
"Are you sure that's not MY manga?" Sailor Mars growled softly.
"Oh! Well, maybe they are! That doesn't matter, though. Are you REALLY a
Goddess?" Hurricane Usagi was definitely winding up for some major
fan-flaking. Not that I could blame her. With the only person in
existence who could out-cute Chibi-Usa, someone who could make Michiru
and Haruka argue just by taking a deep breath, and the person I'd once
compared Ami to for sheer sweetness and perfection, all here in our
world, I'd be flaking too if I were as outgoing as she is.
"Yes, I really am a Goddess. My name is Belldandy, and this is my
husband, Morisato Keiichi. I'm very pleased to meet you, although I wish
it were under different circumstances."
"That's ok, with your sister, Sailor Mercury, and Bill working on it, we
should have your...whatever that is...working in no time! I hope."
Sailor Moon glanced over toward where the three of us were busily
discussing what we'd need to properly diagnose the damage to Skuld's
"Hyperdimensional Bug Vacuum".
"You're really Sailor Moon?" Keiichi asked. "And you're Tuxedo
Mask...and...only the Inner Senshi?"
"Oh, yeah. The others are...Wait a minute...how do you know about us
when you're not from this world?"
"My little sister...," he started, then blushed as Belldandy looked at
him with the same kind of gaze Serenity used when she suspected someone
of being less than truthful with her. "OK... I have all 200 episodes of
your anime on tape, as well as all three movies, plus the Ami-chan
Special." He blushed as if he'd just admitted to reading shoujo manga.
"Did you hear that, gang? We're anime stars! That's just too cool!"
Sailor Moon shrieked excitedly while the others rolled their eyes.
Tuxedo Kamen stood over Marller, watching in case she decided to make
trouble.
"And we appear in manga in your world?" Belldandy asked thoughtfully. "I
wonder how that can be."
"Bill has a theory about that," Sailor Mars said. "It has to do with
creative people being able to perceive other realities. You'll have to
ask him to explain."
"Whatever it is, we can talk about it better over some cake! Let's all
go to Bill and Ami's place!" Usagi's excitement steamrolled right over
any possibility of rational thought.
That got my attention. The only way that demon was going into our house
was either dead or bound. I stalked over to Marller and looked down at
her.
"OK, demon. Here's the scoop. You can either let Belldandy bind you so
you can't use your powers, or I can break both your arms and your legs,
and cut your tongue out. We can always heal you up when it's time for
you to go home." I guess even demons can get scared. She sure did. I'm
not sure if it was my threat, or the matter-of-fact way I presented it.
Whichever, it worked. Unfortunately, it also shocked the hell out of the
Goddesses.
"Would you really do that?" Urd gasped, staring at me like I was some
kind of poisonous snake.
"Since I can't be sure you could get home if I kill her, yes. I'm a
demon hunter. I kill demons. And bound or crippled is the only way I'm
going to let a live one in my home." I shrugged and looked down at
Marller. "So which will it be?"
"Belldandy? Keep that maniac away from me!" Marller screamed and
scrambled backward across the bedroom floor, trying to put as much room
as she could between us. Belldandy moved to her and knelt at her side,
trying to calm her, as I'd hoped she would.
**That was cruel, Bill.**
**Yes, Usagi, it was. And it worked exactly as I wanted it to.**
**What do you mean?**
**Look at them. Now she's willing to ask Belldandy for help, and
Belldandy's willing to give it. I've got this feeling they're going to
have to work pretty closely if they want to get home.**
**You're acting like your daughter again.**
**Well, she's not here. Somebody has to.**
I grinned at Usagi, and she stuck her tongue out at me. We laughed
together and moved to join the other Senshi in preparing to teleport
home.
########
Keiichi stared in shock at the man who'd just threatened Marller. The
way he'd made the threat was so totally cold-blooded, it made her pranks
seem almost harmless by comparison. And now he and Sailor Moon were
laughing? This was NOTHING like the anime he remembered. And he was
certain if anyone like that man had been in the anime, he'd have
remembered him.
He moved to stand behind Belldandy, to offer her his love to counter the
evil this man who called himself a demon hunter presented. He'd felt her
horror when he'd made his threat, and how it had increased when he'd
answered Urd so calmly. For the first time since meeting her, he felt
sorry for Marller.
"Bel-chan?" he started, then shut up when he noticed her marks glowing
as she chanted and held her hands over Marller.
"There. She is bound," Belldandy murmured, leaning tiredly against
Keiichi. "I hope you're satisfied."
Keiichi caught Belldandy as her eyes closed in sleep, and looked toward
the Senshi and the demon hunter. They formed a circle, with Tuxedo
Kamen, the demon hunter, Keiichi, Belldandy, and Marller in the middle.
"Urd? Skuld? Would you stand with them, too?" Sailor Moon asked gently.
"And don't forget your gadget, Skuld."
Urd and Skuld moved to flank Keiichi and Belldandy, watching the demon
hunter suspiciously. Skuld had one of her balls in her hand, obviously
ready to use it if he so much as twitched in their direction.
"Mercury!"
"Venus!"
"Mars!"
"Jupiter!"
"Moon!"
"SAILOR TELEPORT!"
<Odd. That's not how they do it in the anime.> Keiichi looked around in
surprise as Skuld's bedroom was replaced by a living room with a
shelving unit covering one wall, an entertainment center on another
wall, and the remaining walls decorated with ink-painted scrolls and
posters.
"If you'll follow me, the nearest spare room is next to my lab. I think
we have a bed in it." The demon hunter tossed his fedora at a hat tree
by the front door and moved toward a hallway as the Senshi separated.
"You missed, Bill!" Sailor Mercury laughed, as the hat missed and
bounced off the wall above the shoe shelves. "Your record is still
perfect."
"Oh, well," the demon hunter <That's right, he said his name is Bill.>
shrugged with a warm smile. "It's not a weapon. What can you expect,
Angel?"
"Oh, you!" Sailor Mercury hugged him and returned to her mundane
appearance. "David! Make sure the power is on in the spare rooms, ok?"
"No problem, Ami," a gentle voice replied from an intercom panel. <An
intercom, in a house? Weird.> "You're wrong, though, Dad. There's no bed
in that room. Just a futon."
"Oh. Well, we'll let the demon have it, then. Belldandy deserves a
proper bed."
"Upstairs, then. And what are you doing letting a live demon in the
house? Ami, are you sure that's Dad?"
"Positive, David. Just ask Edgar."
"I don't like it. But if Skuld is willing to come talk with me, I think
I could put up with it for a while."
"You'll have to ask her," Bill laughed. "They're our guests, until we
figure out how to get them home. That reminds me...how much ice cream do
we have in the kitchen?"
"Not enough. I'm sending out an order right now. What flavors do you
like best, Skuld?"
"Huh? I...I like all of them." Skuld looked around the room, gasping in
surprise as she saw one of the posters; an anime-style picture of her,
Belldandy, and Urd, with angelic wings and covered only by
strategically-placed locks of hair, a wing, or their hands.
Surprisingly, though, it wasn't in the least hentai: it gave the
impression of being almost inspired, like some Christian paintings.
"Isn't it neat?" Usagi asked, bouncing excitedly beside Skuld and
looking toward the poster. "That's from the artist who did the manga and
anime about you. See? It's even a limited edition print."
"Yeah, and Bill doesn't even follow your family," Ami chuckled with a
teasing glance at the demon hunter. "Although one of his characters is
someone named Geirahod."
"Geirahod?" Both Urd and Skuld exclaimed in stereo, looking toward Ami
with surprised expressions.
"She's crazy!" Skuld exclaimed. "She thinks that going up against a
swarm of demons single-handedly is FUN!"
"She's a Valkyrie," Urd grumbled, while Skuld stuck her tongue out at
her. "Crazy is part of the job description."
"That sounds like Bill's Geirahod," Ami laughed. "She's also a
berserker."
"Well, that's a given. ALL Valkyries are berserkers," Urd said. "And
she's a character?"
"I'm a writer," Bill said with a shrug as he walked over to pick up his
hat and hang it on the coat tree, followed by his trenchcoat.
"Geirahod's one of the heroes in my books."
"Geirahod?" Usagi asked, looking at Bill in confusion. "Who's that?"
"Elsie," Bill said, grinning. "Remember her?"
" OH! The mad scientist berserker Valkyrie. Right!" Usagi laughed as her
eyes lit up with understanding. "But we're being rude, talking about
your books when poor Keiichi's holding Belldandy patiently. How long do
you think she'll need to sleep, Keiichi-san?"
"If it was as hard to bind Marller as the last time she did it, she
won't wake up until tomorrow," Keiichi murmured, moving to keep Urd and
Skuld nearby and watching Bill suspiciously.
"It shouldn't have been as hard," Marller murmured, keeping the others
between her and that maniac who'd threatened to cripple her. "I didn't
fight her."
"Good," Bill said. "In that case, would you like some tea? If I know
Makoto, she already has the water boiling."
"Actually, I already have a pot ready," Makoto said, coming into the
living room from the hallway. "Setsuna made it before we got home."
"Thanks, Pumpkin," Bill murmured, almost too softly to hear, but clearly
enough to surprise Keiichi. He obviously wasn't talking to Makoto when
he said that, but who? Setsuna?
"I don't understand you," Marller growled at Bill, unsuccessfully trying
to hide her confusion. "First you threaten to cripple me, now you're
offering me tea?"
"That's right. I threatened to cripple you because you're not from this
universe. While I can kill demons from this universe without worrying
about the consequences, the fact that your bomb interacted with Skuld's
vacuum to throw all of you here means that not only is there the worry
of how my killing you here would throw your universe out of whack,
there's also the problem that we may need you to throw another bomb into
the works to generate the portal back to your universe." Bill shrugged.
"And since you let Belldandy bind you, you're no more a menace to my
family than a tailless kitsune is. Therefore, as long as you're here,
I'll treat you as a guest. Do you think you can handle that?"
"This is just too weird. I need a drink. And NOT tea. Something
stronger. A lot stronger." Marller shook her head slowly, as if trying
to come to grips with what was going on. Keiichi really couldn't blame
her.
"Well, if you can hang on until we get Belldandy in bed, I may be able
to help you with that. Sorry, Urd. We don't keep much sake around here.
You'll have to settle for mead, beer, or Lochanorra." Bill looked at
Keiichi. "Can you manage her on your own, or would you like some help
getting up the stairs?"
"I can manage," Keiichi said stubbornly, shifting Belldandy in his arms
so her head was resting on his shoulder. Bill shrugged and headed for
the stairs. Keiichi followed, up the stairs and into an open space, as
large as the living room, on the second floor.
"David, which spare room has the queen size bed in it?"
"First one on the left. Fluorite got the last of his stuff out of it
yesterday."
Keiichi noticed intercom panels by every door off this space. He
followed Bill to a doorway near the front of the house, which Bill
opened then stood beside so he could carry Belldandy in <. I don't know
what to think of him. I wish you were awake, Bel-chan. I really need
your wisdom right now.>
"Bathroom's the door straight ahead at the top of the stairs. If you
need anything, just ask David."
"Who's David? And why is he talking over the intercom?"
"He's my son. He's talking over the intercom because he's a computer. He
may not be as big as Yggdrasil, but he's alive. See you downstairs, eh?"
Bill headed for the stairs, leaving Keiichi to tuck Belldandy in and
wonder what kind of mess they were in now.
########
When I got back downstairs, everyone else was relaxing over some of
Makoto's cake. Skuld and Usagi were happily comparing favorite ice cream
treats, and Urd was snickering as she read a particularly perverted AMS
doujinshi. Marller saw me and froze, like a rabbit under the shadow of a
hawk.
**This isn't good, beloved. Scared people do stupid things.**
**I know, Angel. If I hadn't had to scare her to get her to turn to
Belldandy for help, it would have made things a lot easier.**
**You're going to have to do something about it.**
**I know, I know...I scared her, so I have to un-scare her, somehow.
It'd be a whole lot easier if I could just kill her and be done with
it.**
**But she's not one of OUR demons.**
**I know. That's why she's still alive.**
**You'll figure it out.**
Ami wrapped her arms around my left arm and looked up at me with so much
faith in her gaze I couldn't help blushing. With her believing in me so
strongly, I had to at least TRY to calm the demon. I shared a kiss with
her, and moved toward Marller. Marller, naturally, tried to scuttle away
from me as I approached, only to back right into Mamoru, who gripped her
arms and held her in place. When I got close enough to touch her, she
turned her head away with a soft whimper.
"Marller, just listen to me, ok?" I reached out and turned her head to
look at me. The terror in her eyes was actually kind of depressing. I
don't like to see that in anything's eyes, even if it's something I'm
killing. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Marller squeaked, and struggled to escape Mamoru's grasp. Luckily, it
was pretty apparent she'd spent so many years relying on her
supernatural powers to bail her out of stuff that her physical
capabilities were pretty sad. When she realized she couldn't escape, she
broke: she let out her terror in deep, wrenching sobs.
"Oh, shit," I muttered, then glanced over toward the others. I noticed
with relief that Urd was already on her feet. "Urd, would you please
help her? I know you're the closest to her, and she's too scared of me
to even hear me offer her a promise."
Urd nodded and swept in to take her out of Mamoru's grasp. As she held
the demon in her arms, her sobs slowly subsided. Marller grasped her as
if she were a life preserver, while Urd crooned softly to her and
stroked her hair. Eventually, Urd nodded to me.
"Marller, will you listen to me now? You know Urd can protect you, so
you're safe. If you understand, just nod, ok?" It was hard to think of
her as a demon when she was so frightened - especially given that her
aura of evil really was as pathetic as Rei had described. In OUR world,
she was barely as evil as a dark faerie. Even the most minor demon would
chew her up and spit her out.
Marller nodded, glanced my way, and squeaked in fear before trying to
hide herself in Urd's arms. I gave a heavy sigh; my expression must have
surprised Urd, given the look she gave me before murmuring softly to
Marller.
"Marller, I promise that I will do nothing to harm - or even hurt - you,
as long as you promise you won't try any of your demonic tricks. Now
that I can see you more clearly, I realize you're not like one of OUR
demons. I'm going to have to protect you from them, just like I would a
human. If you'll let me, I'd like to try and make you feel welcome for
as long as you're here. Will you let me do that?"
Marller looked at me with more surprise than Urd had a moment before,
and then - questioningly - back up at Urd.
"He's telling the truth, Mara. If you want me to witness the promise, I
will."
"But...what he threatened...even one of my superiors wouldn't do those
things! That's just so...."
"If your superiors are as evil as you are, I'm not surprised. In this
world, you're barely as evil as one of the dark fae. A demon from this
world is so much more evil than you, you'd look like a saint by
comparison."
"Dark fae?" Marller asked - for both of them. From their expressions, it
appeared the concept was outside of their universe.
"Yeah. Dark fae. Like banshees, tommyknockers, svartalf, trolls, things
like that."
"Those are all annoying, but I wouldn't call them dark," Urd said. "More
like a pain in the butt."
"That's in your world, apparently. In this world, they're as evil as
Marller - and real demons compare to her the way she compares to
Belldandy."
"Oh." Urd's voice was small as she considered the implications.
Marller's eyes grew as big as Skuld's, and she whimpered softly.
"So...Marller, I'd like to apologize for scaring you the way I did. My
only excuse is that I was treating you the way I'd treat one of OUR
demons if I was forced to let it live." I offered her a hand and an
encouraging smile. "I'd like to invite you to share in our hospitality;
to be a guest, not a prisoner. Who knows? You might decide you like it."
" WE'D like to invite you," Ami said as she slipped her arms around me.
"What Bill said applies to me, too. If you're willing to be our guest,
we'd like to make you welcome."
########
Belldandy opened her eyes and looked around to get her bearings. The
last thing she remembered was binding Marller, and being surprised when
she didn't resist. Even without resistance, a binding that powerful took
a lot out of her. Now she felt Keiichi's hands holding hers, and smiled
contentedly. As long as she was with him, everything would be all right.
"Bel-chan? How do you feel?" He sounded worried and confused, so she sat
up and gave him a gentle kiss.
"I'm alright, Keiichi-chan. What's wrong?" She smiled at him, feeling
her love rise within her as he relaxed to her presence.
"It's that man. Bill. He's...." He gave up, obviously unable to describe
how he felt.
"He's as hard as Tyr. You've never met him. He's one of the Aesir, and
absolutely inflexible when it comes to fighting evil. Tyr would have
killed Marller the first time she troubled us, if he'd been with us. He
wouldn't have seen how harmless she ultimately is - just that she's a
demon and therefore must be destroyed."
"That sounds like this guy, all right. How can you trust someone like
that?" Keiichi's worry bothered her; she slipped her arms around him and
rested her head against his chest.
"He's basically good, Kei-chan. We just have to find a way to teach him
that good and inflexible are not the same. Where is everyone else?"
"Downstairs. We're in his and Sailor Mercury's house. It's kind of
weird, seeing all of them in reality - and then him and Sailor Mercury
together. It's not something I'd expect of her."
"Any more than you'd expected me to say 'yes' when you asked me to marry
you?" Belldandy teased him gently, hoping it would lighten his mood a
little. She was rewarded by his blush and smile. His insecurity about
being "just a mortal" still held him, even after four years of marriage
- but at least he'd gotten far enough through it to enjoy it when she
teased him about it.
"I don't know," Keiichi murmured. "You're everything I dream of...my
heart, my light, my reason for living."
"As you are for me," she whispered happily. "As they are for each other.
I think we should join the rest, don't you?"
"If you think so," Keiichi murmured, stroking her hair soothingly - as
much to sooth himself as her, she thought.
<He's just too basically nice to face things like this. I hope I can
help him recover quickly.>
Keiichi helped her to her feet; when she twined her fingers in his, he
returned her loving smile and led her toward the door.
########
We were scattered around the room, relaxing after one of Makoto's
wonderful dinners. Bill was cuddling Ami as they talked with Marller.
Urd was loudly laughing with Minako - probably over some idol they both
thought was hot; Skuld was hunched over her vacuum with some tools she'd
borrowed from Bill's lab.
**Usagi? Would you like to bring Hotaru over to Bill's house?**
**Sure, Mom. What's up?**
**We have guests, and one of them is your age. I think she might like a
friend.**
**Really? Cool! What's her name?**
**Skuld.**
**That's a weird name. It sounds like something from one of your
manga.**
**That's because it IS something from one of my manga.**
**Say what? We're on our way.**
**Don't worry, Spore. She's not going anywhere before you get here.**
**Pbbbt!**
I laughed as I cut the connection and leaned against Mamoru. It was so
good to have her here, even though it had taken some adjusting to think
of her as old enough to fall in love. Rei glanced our way with so much
longing in her eyes I just had to reach out to invite her over. When she
leaned against me so I could wrap an arm around her, the world felt
complete.
"That leaves Makoto all alone, Dumpling," Mamoru murmured teasingly into
my ear, leaving me giggling as his lips tickled me. "Are you sure you
don't want to invite her to join us, too?"
"Pbbbt!" I twisted my head so I could give him a proper raspberry. "You
just want to lure them all into your harem."
"I do? Here I thought it was YOUR harem we were talking about." Mamoru
used his most innocent tone of voice and expression as he spoke. Rei
giggled and looked up so she could stick her tongue out at him. I
grabbed the nearest pillow and started hitting him over the head with
it.
"You are BAD ! I should punish you for that!" It was hard to make myself
understood, I was laughing so hard. He does that to me.
He laughed and caught my hand, plucked the pillow out of it, and tossed
it away as he drew me in for a kiss that made it impossible to do
anything but feel my love for him. Then a pillow hit us both in the
head, Rei let out a shriek of laughter, and the war was on. I guess
that's why Ami and Bill keep so many pillows in the living room. It
seems as if we end up in a pillow fight every time we're here.
"Pillow fight! All right!" Chibi-Usa laughed from the front door. I
guessed Setsuna had brought them here, since they were still staying in
Michiru's house, as far as I knew. She had her shoes off in an instant
and was diving for the nearest pillow with so much enthusiasm I had to
laugh.
Hotaru followed, much more sedately - at least until the first pillow
hit her. She's still the most reserved of us, even after a year of the
Spore's influence - but at least she felt loved enough to open up when
encouraged. Like now - when that pillow hit her, her face went from
shocked to calculating in an instant, and she laughed as she snatched it
up to join in the fight.
The first any of us knew Belldandy was awake was when Skuld suddenly
shrieked happily and launched herself across the room to embrace her.
"Oneesama! You're awake! You've got to try Mako-chan's cake! It's almost
as good as yours!" She kind of reminded me of what Chibi-Usa was like
when she let herself go and just had fun. Then she looked at Keiichi and
stuck her tongue out at him with an audible "Biiih!" I had to laugh at
that. That was so much like the Spore, I couldn't stop myself.
"She reminds you of someone, doesn't she?" Mamoru asked, hugging me from
behind. "She reminds me of her, too. The question is, will Chibi-Usa see
the resemblance?"
"Hey, Sprout! Look at that! Someone else who acts like you! Will the
world be able to stand it?" Bill grinned as he teased my daughter.
"Bill no baka!" she shouted back, then followed up by sticking her
tongue out at him.
"Ah! I'm cut to the heart! Wounded to the core!" he declaimed
melodramatically as he clutched his chest and fell backwards - into
Marller's arms. She looked down at him with a surprised expression, then
at Ami.
"Is your husband always like this?" Marller asked, holding Bill as if
she didn't quite know what to do with him.
"No," Ami laughed, as Bill reached up to pull her down for a kiss.
"Sometimes he's worse."
Marller looked toward Belldandy with a "what do I do NOW ?" expression
on her face. Belldandy smiled and looked lovingly into Keiichi's eyes.
"I'm glad to see the two of you have settled your differences,"
Belldandy said as she and Keiichi walked toward Marller. "We were
worried."
"Well, he's still a maniac," Marller said, smiling down at the top of
Bill's head.
"And she's still a menace," he shot back with a grin. "But I think we
can get along."
Marller stuck her tongue out and smacked him over the head with a
pillow. Ami laughed and jumped back out of the way, leaving Bill to deal
with it on his own. Belldandy laughed, a musical sound that made it easy
to believe all was right with the world.
Hotaru and Chibi-Usa descended on Skuld together, with Usagi laughing
warmly as she introduced her sweetheart. Skuld looked surprised, and
whipped out her goggles to stare at Hotaru through them. At the look on
her face, I started to go over to join them, but Mamoru held me firmly
and nuzzled my ear while whispering softly to me.
"Don't you think they'll do better if they work this out for themselves,
Dumpling? You know Chibi-Usa will never let anything happen to Hotaru,
and she'd probably be upset if you butted in."
He was right - and his nuzzling was distracting. I leaned back against
him with a sigh and let him continue distracting me. Besides, I noticed
Rei and Makoto had collapsed together when the pillow fight had run
down, and I was hoping something would come of it. I remembered when
she'd been attracted to Haruka, and still wasn't sure whether it was
romantically or just because Haruka was so much like her in some ways.
It looked like Rei wasn't sure, either. Either way, I couldn't help but
wish them the best.
########
Marller looked down at this strange human who had, just a few hours
earlier, threatened to cripple her - and who now was treating her like a
friend. None of this made any sense, but she hadn't felt this good since
she and Urd had been young. Not for the first time, she cursed the fate
that had made Urd a goddess and her a demon.
When she hit him over the head with a pillow, he just laughed and fell
to the floor, sticking his tongue out at her the way Skuld did so
frequently to Keiichi. The feelings she was experiencing were confusing;
so confusing she didn't know how to deal with them.
"You...how am I supposed to deal with you?" she growled at the laughing
human. She had to think of him as just a human, or she might actually
start to develop a fondness for him.
"Oh, I don't know...you could always try dancing with me." He rolled to
his feet like some crazy martial artist and bowed toward her as music
began playing over the house's intercom system.
########
I didn't know quite what to think. Usagi, Rei, and Bill all seemed to
know about the strangers, and he'd reacted to the one with the v-shaped
marks on her forehead as if she were a demon. Hell, he'd even called her
a demon when he'd threatened to cripple her. But now he was laughing
with her like she was one of us. Then, seeing Rei leaning against Usagi
like that had stirred feelings I haven't felt since reaching an
understanding with Haruka. I was glad when the pillow fight started.
When Skuld launched herself across the room at Belldandy, we all stopped
and stared in surprise. The shriek she'd emitted sounded an awful lot
like Chibi-Usa's shriek when she was pouncing on Usagi or Mamoru. I
decided I was going to have to get Belldandy to do some cooking with me,
so I could see just how good she really is.
When the pillow fight stopped, Rei was next to me; I sank down onto a
pillow and she followed me, flashing a warm smile.
"I think it'll all work out, Mako-chan. Look at how Belldandy and
Marller are reacting."
If she knew what being close to her like this does to me...I couldn't
take her from Usagi. I'd never forgive myself if I did that. I started
to shift away from her, and she laid a hand on mine.
"Don't, Mako-chan. Please? If you'd rather...I went away...I will. But I
don't want you to think you have to go. But I have to know."
"What about Usagi?"
"Look at her, Mako-chan. Does she look like she's unhappy with my being
here? Do you remember when you were so close to Haruka? I've
wondered...since then."
She's wondered since then? If only she knew...if only I knew. I still
don't know exactly what I felt, about Haruka or about any other woman. I
think that's why she was so careful to let me down gently. I looked into
Rei's eyes and saw the same love I've always seen there - and something
more. I raised my hand to her cheek, just as David started playing some
music.
As the music played, Rei blushed and ducked her head. It didn't make any
sense to me; the music sounded like Michiru and Haruka. When the singing
began, it suddenly made lots of sense. Somehow, David had managed to get
a recording of Rei singing with them - and her voice was as beautiful as
ever.
"I'm gonna kill him," Rei growled softly.
"Kill him? Why? It's beautiful. As beautiful as you are." I smiled and
squeezed her hand.
"That was private, that's why. I didn't know anyone was recording it.
And I'll bet they didn't know, either."
"I don't think David would play it if there wasn't a good reason. At
least, I hope he wouldn't." I smiled at her and touched her lips with a
fingertip. "Why don't you just lean back and watch the show?"
She blushed and leaned back against me, and we watched as Bill danced
across the living room with the demon. Usagi and Mamoru rose to join
them, followed quickly by Chibi-Usa and Hotaru. When Belldandy and
Keiichi joined in, Ami came over to settle beside us. Minako had
returned to chattering with Urd, so it was just the three of us.
"So what do you two think? Should I be jealous, or should we jump him
again and remind him where he belongs?" Ami laughed, watching Bill dance
with the demon.
"At least she's not quivering in terror anymore," I said. "And you know
how faithful he is."
"I know," Ami chuckled. "That's why I'm not worried. So what about you
two, huh?" She smiled at us and leaned over to kiss both of our cheeks.
"Usagi's not the only one who's happy to see the two of you together. No
matter how it turns out."
"Give us some time?" Rei asked quietly. "We'd really rather not be
Minako'ed."
"You know me better than that, Rei," Ami laughed softly. "Now if you two
will excuse me, I have to go rescue my husband."
Rei and I laughed together as Ami left us. Bill didn't LOOK like he
needed rescuing, but we knew how much she enjoyed dancing with him. I
tugged Rei to her feet and smiled down at her when she looked up. She
looked so beautiful, I couldn't resist giving her a kiss as we began to
dance.
The music continued, with Rei blushing anew as each song began and her
voice came through the speakers. Sometime during the music, Usagi cut in
and stole Rei, while Mamoru swept me away.
"Thanks, Makoto. Seeing Rei smile means a lot to me - to both of us."
He's so kind, it's easy to see how someone could fall in love with him.
I looked up and felt myself blushing.
"It means a lot to me, too. But won't Usagi be unhappy?" I knew how
close she and Rei had become in the last year, and I didn't want to
interfere with that.
"We thought you'd be worried about that," Mamoru chuckled softly.
"That's why she's with Rei right now. What Usagi wants - what both of us
want - is for Rei to know she's loved, and for you both to feel free to
decide what your feelings for each other are without anyone
interfering."
"Boy, am I glad you don't look like my old senpai," I laughed softly as
I rested my head on his chest. "Otherwise, I think I'd risk making Usagi
mad after a speech like that."
"Bad girl," he laughed, giving me a quick squeeze before steering us
back toward Usagi and Rei. As we swapped partners, Rei suddenly stood
still, staring into space above the front door. The music stopped dead,
and we all waited for her to speak.
"There's something evil...out front. Something demonic."
"David! Cameras!" Bill snapped, and the television came on, showing the
view in front of the house. The view was clear, except for one figure on
the sidewalk outside the front gate. Whoever it was, was trying to get
into the yard, but looked as if they were running into an invisible
wall. I thought that was likely, given Bill's business. This place was
probably as heavily warded as the shrine.
"That's it!" Rei exclaimed. "Whoever it is feels familiar."
"Venus, keep her from getting killed. Saturn, be ready to heal her.
Ami...." Ami barely had time to get into position to catch him before
Bill collapsed like a bag of rice. No matter how many times I see him do
that, it's still disconcerting.
Minako and Hotaru transformed and ran for the front door. I caught Rei
and steered her toward Usagi and Mamoru. The Goddesses gathered
together, a few feet away from us, while Marller hovered indecisively
between them and Ami.
On the screen, the figure screamed - a far too familiar scream - and
collapsed. As it collapsed, another figure ran into view and caught her
before she could hit the ground.
"Oh no, not again," Usagi whispered sadly. I'm sure we all felt the
same. I know I did. Why is it that every time a new enemy shows up,
she's the one to be targeted?
"There's got to be something about her that attracts them," Rei murmured
sadly. "We're going to have to find out what it is if she's ever going
to have a chance of peace."
"For now, we're going to have to figure out how to keep Umino from
blabbing," I growled, pressing Rei into Usagi's arms and heading for the
door. "I'll just have a word with him."
The door burst open before I could get to it, and Umino came in with
Naru in his arms. The look in his eyes made it clear the only thing he
wanted to talk about was her condition. Ami joined me as I took her from
his arms and laid her on some pillows that had ended up piled together.
"Please help her?" Umino begged tearfully. I took his arm and steered
him toward where Chibi-Usa had a cup of tea waiting. Once I was sure he
wasn't going to drop or spill the tea, I turned to look back toward Ami
and Naru.
Belldandy was kneeling beside them, holding her hands over Naru's heart.
A glow was coming from between her hands - a glow that looked an awful
lot like the Silver Crystal's glow. The glow sank into Naru's body and
vanished; Belldandy sank back on her heels, into Keiichi's arms.
When Naru's eyes opened, I almost wish they hadn't. It wasn't that there
was any pain in them, because there wasn't. Instead, they were empty -
completely vacant - as if she wasn't there anymore. Even with everything
I've seen as Sailor Jupiter, there's nothing more horrible than that
vacant stare. I looked up at Usagi, and saw she was feeling the same
horror.
"What happened?" Marller asked from behind me. "What's wrong with her?"
"She was possessed," Rei growled softly. "By a demon."
"A demon? But that's not supposed to happen! It never happened to anyone
I've possessed!" Marller looked as shocked as she sounded. "What kind of
monster could do that?"
"An imp," Bill groaned. He was just sitting up where Ami had lowered him
to the floor. "Just a fucking imp. Didn't take any effort at all to kill
it, but the damage was already done."
"An imp? But imps are harmless!" Marller exclaimed in disbelief. "How
could this happen?"
"Go in and see for yourself. I tried to find her, but wherever she is, I
can't go." He joined us around Naru and gently brushed her hair back.
Ever since the day he promised to kill her if Fluorite managed to
capture her again, he's been kind of like a big brother to her. It was
obvious he was grasping for any hope - any at all.
"I can't," Marller murmured. "Not as long as I'm bound. I wish I could.
This isn't right."
"It's evil. It's what demons do. At least, it's what they do in THIS
world." He hung his head, but I could see the tears on his cheeks. "And
it was just a damned imp. Not even a dangerous demon. I wish you COULD
see what it did to her."
"Belldandy? You've got to release me. I've got to see. Maybe I can find
her!" Marller grabbed Belldandy's hands and pleaded, her face an
anguished mask. Belldandy looked from her to Bill. I wasn't so sure
Belldandy could do it. She looked almost as drained as Usagi is after
using the Crystal.
"If you're not too tired," Bill murmured. "She gave her promise, and Urd
witnessed it. If she can help...."
Belldandy nodded and reached out to touch Marller's forehead. The marks
on her face glowed, and a moment later the marks on Marller's forehead
glowed.
"Be careful, Mara," she murmured. "If she wakes while you're in her, you
could be trapped."
"Better that, than this," Marller growled softly. It was kind of hard to
believe she was a demon, the way she was reacting to this. But Bill,
Rei, and Usagi all seemed to be convinced she was, and they knew more
about these people than any of the rest of us.
Marller's marks began glowing as she gazed into Naru's eyes, and she
collapsed into Bill's arms. He arranged her on the floor beside Naru and
covered them both with a blanket.
"All we can do now is wait. And pray," he murmured, settling back into
Ami's arms.
########
The landscape inside Naru's head was bleak and dismal. Everywhere
Marller looked, she saw memories of attacks on her body and soul, as far
back as her childhood. The creatures she'd been attacked by seemed to
range from a possessed friend to demons of a kind Marller had never seen
before. What amazed her, even more than the vile nature of the threats,
was how Naru kept coming back, with a bravery that rivaled Keiichi's -
and she didn't have three Goddesses to protect her. A heart this brave
did not deserve to suffer the way she had.
<You don't know me, Naru, but I'm not going to let you be destroyed by
this. I will find you, no matter what it costs.>
Marller searched, finding only darkness and sorrow everywhere she
looked. The older memories were - oddly enough - easiest to unearth; as
she came closer to the present, the memories were mingled with greater
and greater amounts of despair. The despair kept mounting with each
remembered attack, until even approaching a memory was like wading
through a pit of tar. Marller's anger rose in concert with Naru's
despair, until her marks glowed with her rage. If this was what demons
were like on this world, SHE would do her best to destroy them.
Her journey came to an abrupt halt when she encountered a wall that
stretched in all directions, farther than she could sense. Her rage was
so great by the time she reached it that she simply dove into it,
intending to blast her way through. The shock of contact blasted her
back, whimpering with the horror of what the wall contained.
<Oh, Hel...what happened in this world? How could they have gone so
wrong?>
Marller slowly uncurled as she fought down the memories Naru had created
the wall from. That a demon had ravaged her soul so brutally was
horrifying enough, but that she had survived the experience was even
more horrible. There had to be some way through the wall; she knew that
if SHE had experienced what Naru had, she'd have made the wall...could
that be the answer?
########
We were stuck. Marller was in Naru's head, and all we could do was pray
she could bring her back. If we'd been at the shrine, Grandfather and
Yuuichiro could have helped me reach her, but I couldn't do it on my
own; I'm not nearly as adept out of my body as Bill is - and I wouldn't
risk someone else's soul on my inexperience. The one thing I could do
was watch them, so if - no, I had to believe in WHEN - they came back,
we'd be ready to help them.
"Will she be all right?" Umino asked unsteadily. I had to feel for him.
He really did love Naru, and he had to be feeling as helpless as we did
right now.
"I hope so," Bill said softly. "Marller's our best chance right now. We
have to give her time to work."
"Marller? Like...the demon from Aa! Megamisama!? But...how can you trust
a demon?" Umino didn't sound nearly as incredulous as I'd expected - and
his question was a good one, given that he hadn't been there from the
beginning like we had.
"She gave us her word. I trust her. And you know what I think of
demons." I almost had to laugh at that. If Umino hadn't figured out what
Bill thinks of demons by now, he definitely was not suited for
journalism.
"Sailor Moon, do you trust her?"
<Shit. Does EVERYONE know who we are? And how long has he known?>
"Bill trusts her," Usagi said softly. "If he trusts her, with his hatred
for demons, then I trust her. All we can do is wait. And pray."
Umino nodded and moved to take Naru's hand, only to be stopped by Urd.
"Don't. If you disturb her, they could both be lost forever." Urd's
voice was gentle, understanding, and a lot less sensuous than I'd
expected. "Have faith in her. Have faith in them both."
"Trust her," Bill murmured. "Please, Umino. I don't want to have to keep
the promise I made a year ago. But if Marller can't bring her back,
it'll be the only way to free her."
I didn't want him to have to keep that promise, either. But if Marller
couldn't bring her back, killing her would be the only way to free her.
Even if Marller did succeed, we'd have to fight to keep her from killing
herself. What Fluorite had done to her had driven her to the edge, but I
was afraid this had driven her over it. No, let's be honest. I knew this
had driven her over the edge. But would we be able to bring her back? I
didn't want to think of the likely answer.
**David, give me a telephone connection, please.**
**Sure, Rei. Where to?**
**The shrine.**
I shivered and leaned against Makoto. She wrapped her arms around me and
nuzzled my temple. Feeling her breath stir my hair helped - it
distracted me from worrying about Naru, at least a little.
"Thanks, Mako-chan," I whispered, covering her hands with my own.
**Hikawa Shrine. How may I help you?**
**Yuuichiro! Is Grandfather there?**
**Rei? What's wrong? You sound upset.**
**I need your help. And Grandfather's. Please get him for me?**
**All right. I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere.**
"It'll be ok," Makoto whispered, squeezing me gently. "Won't it?"
"I hope so. I'm trying to get Grandfather right now."
**Rei? What is it? Yuuichiro said you sound upset.**
**It's Naru, Grandfather. She's been possessed. We got rid of the demon,
but now she won't come back.**
**You may need someone to lead her back. Can you do that?**
**I can't, but someone who can is already trying. Isn't there anything
more we can do?**
**Pray. We'll do all we can from here. Stay with her, Rei. It'll make it
easier for us.**
**Thank you, Grandfather. I hate fighting an enemy I can't touch.**
**There are some battles even Sailor Mars can't fight. This sounds like
one of them. Just remember that love and friendship are powerful weapons
- and sometimes the only ones that will work.**
**I'll try. I'm scared, Grandfather. Even if we bring her back, she's
been hurt so many times, and you know what Bill had to promise to keep
her from killing herself the last time.**
**Love and friendship, Rei. Keep your focus on that, and you'll be able
to help her through. In the end, she has to choose to live - but you can
give her reasons to make that choice. I'd better go and feed the fire. I
have a feeling this is going to be a long night.**
**Thank you, Grandfather. I'll tell the others.**
**Good girl. I have faith in you.**
"Rei?" Makoto murmured gently, nuzzling my ear and squeezing my hands.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, Mako-chan. Grandfather and Yuuichiro are going to give us all the
help they can from the shrine." I let her hold me, glad that my hopes
hadn't turned out false. I needed someone right now...Usagi would have
been my first choice, but Makoto was so warm...so strong...so real - and
willing to accept me as I am.
Minako looked wistfully at the rest of us; she was the only one here who
didn't have someone to lean on. Even though she makes me almost as crazy
as Usagi, I couldn't just leave her looking sad like that. I offered her
a hand; a moment later, I saw Makoto's hand extended with mine. Minako
looked surprised, then smiled radiantly and moved to join us.
"Are you sure I'm not intruding?" she asked as she knelt beside us. We
answered by taking her hands and pulling her close.
"Now is not the time to be alone, Mina-chan. Grandfather just reminded
me that love and friendship are the most powerful weapons we have - and
I'm sure we're going to need them before the night is out."
"We may not be idols, but we're your friends, Mina-chan. We love you."
Makoto claims she's not good at expressing her feelings. That sounded
like a pretty good expression to me. It must have to Minako, too. Her
smile grew until it was almost as wonderful as Usagi's, and she leaned
into our arms with a happy sigh.
Belldandy was sleeping in Keiichi's arms. I guess she wasn't as
recovered as we'd thought when she came downstairs. Still, as long as we
didn't have any more unwelcome surprises tonight, she could recover in
peace. Urd and Skuld were watching Naru and Marller intently - Urd with
a worried expression, and Skuld through her goggles. I wondered what she
was seeing, or if she was seeing anything at all.
Chibi-Usa was trying to comfort Hotaru; she looked as if she was
remembering when Mistress 9 had possessed her. I wished I could do
something to ease her mind, but had to settle for praying that Chibi-Usa
could do it with her love. As I prayed, I felt echoes of the Sacred
Flame around me. I knew that Grandfather and Yuuichiro were doing their
best to help, and hoped it would be enough.
########
<I hope she finds Naru soon. I've never seen anyone gone this long
before.>
Skuld watched intently, hoping she'd made her goggles sensitive enough
to give her warning of Marller and Naru's return in time to warn
everyone else. She didn't know what this promise was that nobody wanted
to keep, but if they didn't return, the only way to free them would
be...she looked up in shock and stared at Bill. He'd promised to kill
her? What could be so horrible that she would demand a promise like
that?
Bill was leaning against Ami the way Belldandy so often leaned against
Keiichi. Skuld still didn't like it - her sister with a mortal, no
matter how nice he was - but Belldandy so obviously loved him that she'd
given up fighting it. Besides, Keiichi had done everything short of
adopting her in his attempts to convince her that he liked her, too. It
was kind of nice to have a big brother, even if he was just a mortal.
**What's wrong, Skuld? You looked as if someone just punched you in the
gut.**
**You promised her...wait a minute! How are you doing this?**
**It's not easy. It'd be a lot easier if I were out of my body. And it's
a whole lot easier with Ami - but telepathy is a kind of magic
associated with Mercury.**
**You're sure full of surprises. Did you actually promise her you'd kill
her?**
**You figured it out, eh? Yeah. It was the only way to keep her from
killing herself the last time something like this happened.**
**The last time? Does this happen a lot?**
**She attracts monsters the way a magnet attracts iron. Ever since she
was a kid, every time a monster shows up, there's at least a one in four
chance she'll be one of its victims.**
**Wow. I thought the show exaggerated it. It's really that bad?**
**Yeah. That's why I'm praying for Marller to succeed. Naru's kind of
like a little sister to me.**
**Why didn't you go in after her?**
**I don't know how. And even if I did, I'm not sure I could. Just
because I can leave my body doesn't mean I can go into someone else's.
And going into someone else's mind is right out. I might as well wish to
be a god as try something like that.**
**I wonder if that's a real limitation, or a self-imposed one.**
**Either way, it doesn't help Naru. Or Marller.**
**You sound as worried for Marller as for Naru. Are you sure it's safe
to worry about a demon?**
**She's not like the demons in this world. I don't know - I feel like I
want to protect her from what she's certain to discover here.**
**You're weird, do you know that?**
**Yup. That's me: a whirling vortex of weirdness.**
He grinned at her; without thinking, she stuck her tongue out at him. He
chuckled and sank against Ami, looking a lot more tired than he had
before he'd contacted her. What was it about these mortals that made
them so likable? Even the really scary one - Hotaru - was likable.
Definitely not what she'd expected from an avatar of the God of Ruin.
Four hours had passed since Marller had gone into Naru, and there was
still no sign of them. Skuld looked over at Urd, who shook her head
quietly, looking just as worried as she felt. The longer this went on,
the more it bothered her - and no matter how much she tried to think of
a better alternative, the more time passed, the more worried she felt.
########
I could feel when Bill reached out to Skuld, and when he collapsed
against me, I wrapped my arms around him and held him close. He's not as
good with telepathy as I am, and it takes a lot of energy for him to do
it. At least he'd managed to make Skuld smile, though. I felt him reach
up stroke my hair and sighed happily. He could be so loving; I covered
his hand with my own and bent my head to return his kiss.
"Maybe you can help her, Angel," he murmured softly. I couldn't resist
him when he called me that - even if I did tease him a lot about putting
me on a pedestal. "Your visor is programmed to analyze a lot of stuff
like this, right? Maybe you can see something she can't."
"You have a point, love." He did, too. As far as we could tell, they'd
never had to deal with anything like this, so Skuld wasn't likely to
have programmed her goggles for it.
**I'm going to use my visor, everyone.**
"Mercury Crystal Power, MAKE UP!"
As soon as I'd transformed, I activated my visor and studied Naru and
Marller. It was almost like looking at Bill's body when he's out of it -
except that their energy levels were so low I almost couldn't measure
them. If they didn't come back soon, I was afraid they wouldn't come
back at all. We had to come up with something soon, or they would both
be dead.
**Hermes, David, link with my computer.**
**Understood.**
**You got it, Ami.**
I retrieved my computer and started work. With Hermes and David linked
in, the analysis went a lot faster than it would have if I'd been
working alone. The answer we came up with wasn't reassuring at all. At
the rate their energy was fading, if they didn't come back within the
next fifteen minutes, the only chance they had of ever coming back was
if we killed them. I couldn't accept that solution; we started work
again, looking for ANY alternative that would let us rescue them.
**Ami, what if we gave them an energy infusion?**
**Have you done a projection?**
**This is what it looks like.**
Hermes' data assumed far less than the amount of energy Serenity could
draw from the Silver Crystal, so it was possible we could do it. With
two goddesses and Usagi here, I was certain we could come up with the
necessary energy. If it worked, we could extend their survival time as
long as necessary.
"Urd, do you have any of your restorative incense with you? Or any other
restorative that doesn't need to be swallowed?" Some of her incense
would be the best choice, if she had it. They could take it in by
breathing, and it would continue to support them as long as it was
burning.
"Uh...let me look." Urd sounded distracted, as if my question had
brought her back from a long way away. I suppose I should have expected
that. Of the three, she was the closest to Marller, despite their
ongoing rivalry. She searched through her outfit, accessing several
hyperspatial pockets before finally retrieving a bundle of incense
coils. After sorting through the bundle, she finally held up one coil.
"This one."
While I sighed in relief, Setsuna appeared with a length of string and a
thumbtack. While she was hanging the incense over them, I searched
through the otaku cabinet for some matches I remembered Bill had dropped
there a couple weeks before. By the time I found them and returned, Rei
had already lit the incense. She smiled and shrugged before returning to
wait with Makoto and Minako.
**Hey, I'd be a pretty sad priestess if I couldn't even light a fire,
don't you think?**
**Thanks, Rei. Now we just need to pray it works.**
**What is it?**
**Hopefully, enough energy to keep them from dying before they find
their way back to us.**
I studied Naru and Marller and let out a sigh of relief. The incense was
already working; the energy readings after just a few moments were high
enough that even if they didn't get any more, they'd be able to survive
for another two hours.
"How long will it burn, Urd?" My expression of relief must have
heartened her some; she smiled as she answered.
"It's supposed to burn for twelve hours. And it'll restore everyone who
breathes it, not just those two."
"Everyone?" I glanced at Belldandy as I asked. If her incense could
restore a Goddess, it was a lot more powerful than I thought.
"Yes, even her," Urd confirmed, with a gentle smile in Belldandy's
direction. It was kind of strange, but it made sense in a way, too. She
really did love her little sister, even if she picked weird ways to show
it.
Bill slipped his arms around me from behind and nuzzled the top of my
head. I leaned back against him with a relieved sigh. The incense had
already restored his energy, and he was letting me know I had one less
thing to worry about.
"Oneesan! It's working!" Skuld squealed excitedly as she watched our
patients. "How did you make it so strong?"
"I'll tell you, if you promise you won't tell Kami-sama," Urd said with
a proud smile. Skuld's eyes grew wide and she stared at Urd in surprise
before speaking.
"You did something you'll get in trouble for again, didn't you?" She
looked down at Naru and Marller for a moment before speaking again.
"Well, whatever it was, it's working. All right, I promise. I won't tell
Kami-sama."
"You know how the recipe calls for a mug of beer, right?" When Skuld
nodded, Urd grinned triumphantly. "In this batch, I used a mug of the
Dark."
Skuld's gasp was echoed by Bill's. I turned my head to look up at him,
and saw the first awed expression I'd seen on his face since the day of
our wedding, when the kitsune came to greet Serenity and Endymion.
"In your universe...it's real?" he asked incredulously.
"Not only is it real," Skuld murmured, looking worriedly at Urd, "it's
Kami-sama's personal stock. If he ever finds out...."
"That's why I needed you to promise you wouldn't tell him," Urd said
softly. "If anyone's going to tell him, it's got to be me. He expects ME
to get into trouble."
**OK, what's the Dark?** Trust Usagi to ask the question we're all
wondering about.
**It's beer. Very special beer. Imagine what would happen if you brewed
beer on the grave of the first hero, and let it age there for a few
centuries, until it had absorbed the essence of what made him a hero.
That's the Dark.**
**That sounds like a magic potion.**
**It's that, too. I first read about it in a novel called "The Drawing
of the Dark". It figures it would be Kami-sama's personal stock. It's
too potent for humans to drink safely.**
"Oneesan," Belldandy whispered, looking up at Urd through half-opened
eyes. "Do you know why Kami-sama keeps it for himself?"
"No," Urd said with a shrug. "I never asked."
"It's because it's too dangerous," Belldandy murmured. "It restores more
than your energy and health. It restores the most important memories of
your past lives, too - the ones that had the most profound effect on who
you are in this life. You don't just remember them - you re-live them."
**Oh, shit. David, lock down the house. Everyone get together with Usagi
and Mamoru. Chibi-Usa, Hotaru, that means you, too. Setsuna-chan?**
**I'm here, Father. Don't worry. I'll watch over all of you.**
Setsuna was guiding Chibi-Usa and Hotaru toward Usagi and Mamoru, while
Bill was pulling me in that direction, too. Rei, Makoto, and Minako were
already close enough that neither of them seemed to be worried about
moving them.
Urd's eyes widened as she watched us, her worried expression coming back
to her. Then she glanced down at Keiichi, holding Belldandy tight in his
arms, and whimpered softly. I saw Umino looking around at all of us with
a confused expression, and was just raising my hand to beckon him over,
when the bottom fell out of the world.
########
<Kami-sama, what have I done?>
Urd frantically dug through her pockets. There had to be something that
would counteract the incense, or at the very least something that would
make them all sleep until the crisis was past. Keiichi's eyes were
already glazing over, and the reporter had collapsed on the floor beside
Naru, mumbling something that sounded vaguely like German.
"It's not libel if it's true," the reporter mumbled. "Governor Cosby HAS
ignored the law. He rigged last year's elections. He's been trying to
destroy the courts, so he can rule without hindrance. He's trying to use
his position to make himself King of New York. Doesn't anybody care?"
Keiichi suddenly screamed in agony, his whole body stiffening in an
unnatural position before he tried to wrench himself to his feet.
Belldandy held him firmly, so he couldn't hurt himself.
"Can't stop now," Keiichi gasped as he tried to pull away from
Belldandy. "There's still patients in there. We have to get them to the
river before the firestorm hits the hospital." He collapsed suddenly,
groaning weakly, "Can't...quit...now. Got to...get them out."
Keiichi stiffened with a harsh gasp, his eyes flying open and staring
into infinity. Belldandy cried out in fear and held his head between her
hands, calling his name as she lowered him to the floor. As soon as he
was on the floor, she laid her hand over his heart and began softly
pleading with him to stay with her.
Urd finally pulled out a bottle and held it up with a sigh of relief.
"I have it. Skuld, help me. This won't counter the incense, but it'll
put them to sleep for a few hours. Hopefully long enough to get past the
crisis."
For once, Skuld didn't argue with her, or even make a snide remark about
her lack of foresight. That was almost as worrisome as what was
happening to the mortals. Anything that would upset Skuld enough to not
get in a dig was even more serious than she was already imagining.
The only mortal still standing was one who hadn't been there when they'd
arrived. She stalked over and looked at the bottle, then into Urd's
eyes. Her gaze was so much like Mimir's, Urd felt herself fall back a
step.
"Who are you...and why aren't you affected by the incense?" Urd asked
uncertainly. Whoever she was, she had a presence that was so unsettling,
it was hard to concentrate in her gaze.
"I am called Setsuna," she said. "What unpleasant side effects do those
pills have?"
"They...uh...the sleeping IS the side effect. I made them as
restoratives." Somehow, she couldn't come up with a snappy comeback to
THIS woman.
"The ONLY side effect?"
"As far as I know. Why aren't you reacting to the incense?" There had to
be a reason - something she could use to prevent this happening again.
"The effect of your incense is no more than I already experience every
day. We shouldn't waste any more time." With that, Setsuna took the
bottle from Urd and returned to the others. Starting with Usagi and
Mamoru, she pressed a pill into each one's hands, staying with each just
long enough to murmur quietly until they swallowed the pill. After
feeding a pill to the reporter, Setsuna handed the bottle back to Urd.
"There. I recommend you be more careful in the future. You won't always
have a way to cover for your mistakes." The most unsettling thing about
the way Setsuna spoke was that there was no anger, no hint of
recrimination, no rebuke - just a recommendation from someone Urd was
sure had seen it all and then some.
########
I could not believe Urd had done something so incredibly lacking in
foresight. Surely if Kami-sama had restricted something from anyone
else's use, she'd have realized there was a good reason for it. Then I
thought about it and realized I should have expected something like
that. Urd could legitimately be called the Goddess of Hindsight - and
she'd definitely proven that tonight.
Once I'd made sure all the others had taken one of her pills, I sat
where I could reach any of them in an instant if something went wrong.
As they fell asleep, I relaxed a little. The memories they'd be reliving
would be better relived as dreams than waking. I had a pretty good idea
of what each one would be experiencing; if I was right, their first
experiences had been more than enough. Well, except for Father, but
compared to his memories from this lifetime, nothing that had happened
to him in the past was worth worrying about.
The hours passed slowly, with Belldandy holding Keiichi and Skuld
studying Naru and Marller through her goggles. Urd was surprisingly
subdued, and kept looking at me as if she didn't believe what she was
seeing. It was this kind of reaction that had kept me away from the
Inners until it was time to arrange for Father and Mother to meet. I'll
use their uncertainty when I have to, but I don't like being around it.
"Urd, give me one of those pills." I moved to kneel beside Naru and held
out my hand. When I felt a pill in my hand, I closed it and nodded. "Now
be ready to hold Marller. She's going to need you."
"Move, oneesan," Skuld said suddenly. "Something's happening to them."
Urd moved to kneel beside Marller and looked at me worriedly. I smiled
at her. Father always teases that my smiles are entirely too secretive;
I don't know that I'm so secretive. There's just a lot of things I can't
tell, either because the consequences would be disastrous, or because
people tend to take what I say as absolute truth despite the inherent
uncertainties of time. They take it easier if I smile when I don't say
anything. Like now: I knew they were about to wake up, but I couldn't
tell which alternative path time would take when they woke. All I could
do was smile and hope it was reassuring enough to help her face the
uncertainty.
Marller began to stir, then curled up on herself with an anguished
scream. Urd gathered her into her arms and rocked her gently. Good.
Marller's reaction meant she'd taken the path that should let us save
both of them. The only question now was whether Naru would respond to
what Marller had done.
I knew if she didn't respond shortly, she wouldn't; I prayed, for
Father's sake, that she would. If she didn't return to us, he'd feel
obligated to keep his promise to her - and that would, while necessary,
affect him as much as any of his memories.
When she moved, I almost missed it. It was my own fault; I was so busy
musing over the possibility of killing her myself so Father wouldn't
have to that it wasn't until she groaned that I realized she was back. I
scooped her up into my arms and murmured softly to her.
"It's ok, Naru. You're safe with us. Do you understand?"
"Setsuna? Why are you here? Where's Umino?" Naru was understandably
confused. She looked around the room blearily. "Wait...isn't this Ami
and Bill's house?"
"That's right. What's the last thing you remember?" If Marller did what
I suspected, it should be something mostly innocuous.
"Umino and I were editing a video he shot for school, and the phone
rang. I don't remember anything after...." She looked up at me with a
horrified expression as she whispered sadly, "Oh no...it happened again,
didn't it? Why didn't Bill kill me? He promised."
"He can't, Naru," I murmured as gently as I could. "He can't do much of
anything right now. He's experiencing something you're about to
experience, so I need you to make a choice for me."
"He can't? Why? What do you want me to choose? I don't want this to
happen anymore. Please?" As much as I sympathized with her pain, I
couldn't do what she wanted. If she still wanted it after reliving her
past, Father and I would give it to her, but I hoped she'd change her
mind.
"You're going to begin to remember some things that I hope will explain
why this keeps happening to you. I have a sleeping pill that will allow
you to experience it as a dream, if you want. Or I can sit with you
while you experience it consciously." I held up the hand with the pill
in it so she could take it if she wanted.
"What do you mean? Something that will explain?" Despite everything
that's happened to her, Naru's still basically an ordinary woman. She's
only had to cope with strangeness when she's been attacked by one of our
enemies. "I don't want to remember anything! I just want it all to end.
Why can't I have peace? Is that too much to ask for?"
"Naru, listen to me. Father cannot kill you right now. He's caught up in
the same thing that's about to happen to you, and until it's over, he
can't do anything. I gave him one of these, so he could experience it as
a dream. I didn't give him a choice. You have that choice." I hoped
she'd choose to take the pill - and soon. I was surprised she hadn't
succumbed already.
"Why? Kami-sama, why do I have to go through this again and again? I
just want to die! I just...." Her voice trailed off as her eyes focused
somewhere in the distance. It was finally happening to her; I had one
last chance to get her to take the pill.
"Here, Naru," I murmured as I pressed the pill into her hand. "This will
help - it'll make it all go away."
"It will?" Her voice was so hopeful, I regretted having lied to her like
that. She swallowed it without hesitation, and I held her against my
breast until she fell asleep.
"So...horrible...," Marller whispered sadly as I lowered Naru to the
pillows. "I understand...why she has so much despair. I...couldn't take
it all. Just the last time. I'm not strong enough...to take more than
that."
"It was enough to bring her back," I murmured, reaching out to squeeze
her hand. "That was enough. Don't short yourself. You did the only thing
that would have worked."
"How can she want to die?" Skuld asked softly. When I looked to her, she
was gazing at Naru, on the verge of tears. "Is her life really that
horrible?"
"It's worse," Marller answered. "Bill wasn't exaggerating. Compared to
the demons in this world, I'm almost as good as Belldandy. I thought
only humans were capable of that much evil. I think, if I'd experienced
what she has, I might have killed myself."
"You?" Skuld squeaked. "It was bad enough to make YOU kill yourself?"
She reached out to touch Naru's forehead, crying quietly. I wished I
could do something to protect her from this - she should remain innocent
and pure, like the future she represents. Unfortunately, I was afraid
this experience would affect that.
"Mara," Urd murmured, "how do you think you're handling it?"
"Not good," Marller answered softly. "It's all so obscene...so
malicious...so vile. Demons aren't supposed to be like that. We're
supposed to spread chaos and destruction - to tempt humans to follow
their baser urges; to thwart Kami-sama's plans. It's HUMANS who are
supposed to be that evil. What went wrong in this world to make the
demons like that?"
"Nobody knows," I murmured. "The origins of supernatural evil are older
than I am; they didn't understand it when I was a child, and nobody's
gained any better understanding since."
"I'm a little confused," Urd said, looking at me. "You call Bill
'Father', yet you're obviously not a mortal. I'm not sure what you are,
but whatever you are, you're far older than any of us."
"I call him 'Father' because he is. And Ami is my mother. What I am is
the Guardian of Time. I have been what I am for over twenty thousand
years, and will continue to be for at least another thousand."
All three of them looked at me with a marked increase in their level of
respect. Skuld was the first to break the silence.
"You're the Guardian? But Kami-sama said we'd never meet you...."
"'In this world'," Belldandy murmured. "Meaning our own. He never said
we wouldn't meet the Guardian of another world."
"But if they're your parents... in another life?" Urd was still focused
on that question. I suspected she wouldn't move on to any other until
I'd satisfied her curiosity.
"No, in this one. I was born a little less than a year ago, and grew up
20,000 years ago. It was necessary." I looked into her eyes, willing her
to be satisfied with that answer. I didn't want to have to tell her that
was all she was getting, but at the same time I wasn't going to tell any
more.
"I see." She opened her mouth as if to say more, then shook her head and
looked down at Marller. "How about you, Mara? Feeling any better?"
"No." Marller's response was flat and final. "I don't think I'll ever
feel better. All I want to do right now is go home."
"We'll get you home. Between the three of you and our three scientists,
we should be able to find a path back to your world." I hoped. They
didn't belong here, and sooner or later the Norns of our world would be
certain to notice them.
"Make that four scientists, Setsuna. Assuming you'll authorize me to
unlock the front door, that is."
"Who is it, David?" I hadn't foreseen anyone coming here right now; of
course, the timelines were so tangled, it had taken all my skill to see
Naru's recovery. The presence of the Goddesses was doing terrible things
to my perception.
"Sarah."
"Let her in when I say it's ok, but lock it as soon as she's inside." I
wondered why she was here, then remembered I was supposed to have been
home a few hours ago to meet her when she got back from her cruise.
Naturally, she'd have assumed my duties as Sailor Pluto were the cause,
and would have come here to learn if my parents knew anything. I broke
off the burning end of the incense and ran to the lab to switch on the
exhaust fan. With the door open, it should suck all the smoke out of the
house quickly enough. By the time I returned to the living room, the air
was already starting to clear.
"All right. And call Fluorite and Rusty, will you? We're going to need
them here when everyone wakes up."
"Setsuna? What's going on?" Sarah asked as the door was closing behind
her. I focused on presenting a composed expression as I turned to her.
########
Belldandy cradled Keiichi to her breast, crooning softly as she soothed
his pain. When she'd told Urd the Dark made mortals relive their past,
she'd just been repeating what she'd been taught in training. Actually
seeing the effects on her husband was a far different matter. Whatever
he'd been in the past, it was obvious he'd been just as kind and loving
then as he was now; that it had cost him his life was also obvious -
reliving it had almost killed him.
Setsuna was a surprise. She'd never expected to meet the Guardian, but
it made sense that she'd be one of the Senshi. Keiichi could probably
have told her in advance, but she could ask him about it when he
awakened. She was so tired...even with the restorative. She'd been
forced to use her power so many times today, it would take a good
night's sleep to fully recover. That had to be why she was feeling so
disconnected from everything. It was as if she were floating, with
Keiichi her only anchor.
"Setsuna? What's going on?" Belldandy looked toward the voice, to see an
athletic woman about Keiichi's age, with brown hair held back in a braid
that fell to just below her shoulder blades and brown eyes hidden behind
a pair of glasses. A glance at Setsuna revealed the Guardian not only
knew her, she loved her, and was putting on an appearance of composure
for her benefit.
"Mother and Father have some...unusual guests," Setsuna said, in a voice
that anyone who wasn't looking deeper would have mistaken for calm.
"There was a slight problem with some incense, but they should be waking
up soon."
Sarah swept into the room as soon as she'd shed her shoes and took
Setsuna's hands. She looked into the Guardian's eyes with a gaze that
confirmed the love Belldandy sensed. Only someone who loved her could
possibly hold that gaze in the face of the Guardian's unsettling aura.
"Was it one of your enemies?" Apparently Sarah was as solid emotionally
as she was physically.
"No. It was an alchemical mistake. The incense was intended to be a
restorative, but the person who created it didn't research the side
effects of the ingredients sufficiently before using them." Belldandy
found Setsuna's composure amazing. She doubted she'd be able to be so
calm about such an incredible mistake. The only thing keeping her calm
now was the knowledge that Keiichi needed her.
########
I squeezed Setsuna's hands and looked into her eyes for some clue as to
what she was really feeling. She has this annoying talent for trying to
ease my worries, even knowing my training and experience. I suppose it's
inevitable; I'm a scientist, and her world is one of magic. As much as I
dream about it, I've learned that I'm just too firmly rooted in the
world I can measure and analyze to ever be capable of fitting into her
world the way Bill does. Then again, he's always had a skewed view of
reality that fits the magical world closer than I do.
One thing I was sure of was that Setsuna was trying too hard to be
strong for me. I tugged on her hands, giving her my best "I know you're
full of it" glare; she gave me one of her smiles and let me pull her
into my arms. Sometimes I'd like to just shake her. As much as I expect
people - especially those I love - to rely on their own strength, I also
expect them to be adult enough to know when they need support. She's
been on her own for so long, though, that I have to push sometimes to
get her to accept that she's not made of MacManusite.
Once she was in my arms, I squeezed her; she was so tense I could almost
feel her muscles twang. I didn't know what the situation was, but her
tension confirmed what I'd guessed - she was a lot more worried than she
wanted to let on. I moved my hands across her back, massaging the
tightest knots until I felt her start to relax. Even a little relaxation
as better than what she'd been doing. The only person I've ever met
who's more stubborn about keeping the world at arm's reach is Haruka,
but she has Michiru. Setsuna is mine - the one who loves me; the one I
love as much as Bill used to wish I loved him before he and Ami found
each other.
"Well, beloved?" I whispered once she'd started to relax. "Which would
you rather do first? Introduce your guests, or explain what crisis made
you break our date?"
She looked up into my eyes and flashed another one of her smiles.
"I should, shouldn't I?" she whispered, then gave me a quick squeeze and
promising kiss before stepping back a step. "Sarah, our guests are Urd,
Belldandy, Skuld, and Marller."
As she indicated each, they looked up and nodded; they all looked far
too worried for my peace of mind, and the way Belldandy was holding the
man in her arms had me wondering if he'd been injured. Of course, it was
hard to tell, with all the unconscious people in the room. I'd have to
get some answers about that, and soon. For now...those names sounded
awfully familiar. I tried to place where I'd heard them before, but was
drawing a blank when I suddenly remembered where I'd SEEN them before. I
looked up, and there it was: the print with their images in angelic
forms, done as anime characters.
"Urd, Belldandy, and Skuld...the Goddesses?" When they nodded, I looked
back to Setsuna for an explanation.
"The man in Belldandy's arms is Morisato Keiichi, her husband. And
Marller is a demon." THAT was a surprise. A live demon in Bill's house?
Something VERY strange was going on. Of course, live anime characters in
Bill's house was pretty strange to begin with.
"I'm not like the demons from this world," Marller protested. OK, I'd
agree with that. Somehow, I couldn't imagine a demon with the expression
of anguish she had. Or accepting comfort from a Goddess who looked like
Urd. Or any Goddess, for that matter. My gaze lingered on those two for
just a moment longer than necessary; long enough that when I turned my
attention back to Setsuna, it took a silent mouthing of "I love you" to
remove the jealous look from her eyes.
"So you're not from this world?" That would explain their existence -
sort of. But if they're not from this world, how did they get here?
"That's right," Belldandy said. I found myself looking at her with what
I'm sure was an expression of total surprise. Her voice was as
compassionate and gentle as Serenity's. I understood now why Bill was so
fascinated by her. "We're not from your world. We came here due to an
unfortunate combination of circumstances, and...," she looked around the
room at all the sleeping people, "...the Senshi have promised their help
in finding us a way home."
"All right," I murmured absently, thinking of the implications of this,
"so you're going to need help from people who understand
hyperdimensional physics. That means Bill and Ami. And from someone who
has experience traveling in alternative realities. That means Setsuna."
Alternative realities. That reminded me of one of Bill's many random
mental wanderings - one in which he'd decreed that Heinlein had it
wrong: pan-dimensional universal solipsism was backwards. He said that
writers don't create worlds by writing about them: they simply describe
other realities that already exist, and their ability to see those
realities could be measured by how effectively they wrote about them.
I'd always considered it just another one of his skewed ideas, until a
couple months ago when Setsuna had handed him her Time Key and he'd been
overwhelmed by it. This situation made his theory suddenly seem more
believable.
"And a mundane physicist, to make sure whatever they come up with
doesn't have damaging effects on this world," Setsuna said, gazing at me
with her "you know I'm right" look.
"All right," I said with a smile. I knew better than to argue when she
had that look. I'd just have to make her pay for it later, when we were
alone. "So how did you get here?"
"I dropped a bomb in Skuld's newest invention," Marller said. "All it
was supposed to do was make it fail spectacularly when she switched it
on. Instead, it sent us here."
"From what I can tell from examining the vacuum," Skuld added,
"Marller's bomb's chaos field interacted with the hyperdimensional
components of the vacuum to produce some sort of translation field
between our universe and yours. I'm not sure another bomb would produce
the same effect. In fact, the chances of it doing the same thing are so
small that even I have trouble calculating it."
"You mean, we can't get home?" Marller's voice was switching from
anguish to panic, and her expression more fearful than I've seen since
Bill was still with his second wife. There had to be something more than
just being in the wrong world that was scaring her.
"Nonsense!' Urd announced with just the right touch of maniacal glee.
"There's NOTHING the four of us can't do if we put our minds to it!"
"You mean, like drugging the humans around us?" Skuld snapped at her,
with a grateful look in her eyes. That's the first time I can remember
seeing someone who looked thankful for an excuse to start an argument.
"How was I supposed to know it would do that? It's not like Kami-sama
put up a warning sign or anything!" Urd shot back, matching Skuld's
grateful expression.
"Oooooh! Why do I have to put up with an idiot for a big sister? You
NEVER change ingredients without checking the dangers first!"
"Listen here, brat! If you think you're such hot stuff, why don't YOU
try making potions sometime? Why should I have to worry about checking
stuff like that? Beer's beer, right?"
<Beer? They're arguing over beer? This is just too weird.>
"I don't believe this," Marller grumbled, her eyes flashing dangerously.
"We're lost in a world that isn't even ours, and you two are arguing
over something that's already been done? I ought to...."
A ball of light began glowing between Marller's hands as she glared at
Urd and Skuld. Skuld pulled something out of the front of her tunic -
I'm not sure where she was hiding it - that looked kind of like an
aluminum softball; whatever it was, it started glowing, too. Then Urd
raised her hands over her head, and a ball of light began glowing
between them, too. This was getting a little unnerving. I glanced at
Setsuna, and saw she didn't seem to be worried, despite the potential
for mayhem those three presented. Then I noticed Belldandy didn't seem
worried, either. This was definitely getting weird.
"You ought to what?" Urd growled. The hungry sensations her growl
generated had me reaching for Setsuna, who smiled and let me gather her
into my arms. "Bring it on!"
"I...can't," Marller whispered as her ball of light faded. "I gave my
promise - and for the first time, I WANT to keep it. What's wrong with
me?"
"When's the last time you had a friend?" Belldandy asked gently. "I
don't mean someone who thinks that calling you a friend will give them
some unfair advantage, the way Sayoko does - I mean someone who knows
what you are and still treats you as someone they value."
Marller looked toward the Senshi thoughtfully for several moments,
biting her lip, before she replied.
"Not since Urd and I were young. Demons don't have friends." The sadness
in her voice as she said that was heartbreaking. I just couldn't
reconcile her emotions with the kind of creatures Bill hunts.
"But you have a friend now. It makes a difference, doesn't it?"
Belldandy smiled and offered Marller a hand. "If I'm not wrong, you have
the potential to have several friends, if you'll accept them."
Marller looked from Belldandy's eyes to her hand and back again, with
tears in her eyes. As she took the offered hand, I felt tears in my own
eyes, and when Belldandy drew her in for a gentle hug, I sniffled
quietly and squeezed Setsuna.
"You'd be my friend? After all I've done? Even with what I am?" I
couldn't blame her for being incredulous. The idea of a goddess and a
demon being friends was more than a little odd.
"You're just doing your job, Mara. Even when it's most irritating, it's
still what you're supposed to do." Listening to her, I had to wonder if
she and Serenity were somehow related. The simple, open, uncomplicated
love and acceptance in her voice was as unbelievably complete as the
Princess'.
"But...all the times I've attacked you...." Marller sounded far too
confused for her own good.
"Hey! Haven't you ever heard of fault-testing?" Skuld smacked Marller -
gently - and stuck her tongue out at her. Not exactly what I'd think of
as a suitable approach, but it seemed to make Marller feel better. "Do
you know how often your tricks and attacks forced me to fix defects I
wouldn't have known about otherwise? I ought to draft you to attack
everything I build, just for the quality control effect!"
"You know, that's not so far from what the Devil does in Jewish belief,"
David said. "The only references the Jews have to the Devil that I know
of cast him as an angel who specializes in quality control - tempting
humans, testing the ones God's too proud of to see if they live up to
his opinion of them, that kind of thing."
"Arg! How am I supposed to keep feeling guilty if you're going to do
that?" Marller grumbled with a smile. She looked up at the nearest
intercom panel thoughtfully, apparently considering David's commentary.
"You're not," Skuld laughed. "So is it a deal? You trash the stuff I
build so I can find out what needs improving?"
"Humph!" Urd grumped, flashing a smile that Skuld couldn't see. "I guess
she's not satisfied with MY work anymore. Well, if that's the way she's
going to be, I guess I'm just going to have to let you do it, Mara."
"I wonder if they're always like this," I murmured to Setsuna as the two
Goddesses started bickering like Usagi and Rei. She smiled and drew me
down into a gentle kiss that distracted me from the argument.
########
Skuld grumbled and glared at Urd. How DARE her big sister think that she
didn't appreciate her? She should have realized she was just trying to
make Marller feel better. It was almost impossible not to feel for her
after seeing how deeply the demons of THIS world affected her, even
indirectly. Trust Urd to take it as a personal insult. Just wait...one
of these days she'd find her bed turned into a giant joy buzzer. THAT
would get her attention.
"Ha! I got you, Bug!" Urd laughed, throwing her arms around Skuld in a
surprise hug. "You really thought I was insulted, didn't you? Just goes
to show I'm still way ahead of you in sneakiness."
Skuld stared at Urd in surprise, noticing only in retrospect that
Setsuna had developed a sly smile at Urd's claim of sneakiness. It took
a minute for her to put it all together, but she finally figured it out:
Urd had done it deliberately to try and make her feel better, both about
being here and about what she'd told Marller. Her stupid big sister
wasn't so stupid after all!
"Oneesan!" she shrieked happily, launching herself into Urd's arms.
Marller wisely moved out of the way, so when she hit Urd, only the two
of them fell over. Urd's breath came out of her in a whoosh, and the two
laughed together.
########
When David phoned and said that Lady Pluto requested our presence, I was
in my lab, trying to unravel a confusing energy configuration that had
arisen during the afternoon. It seemed to have something to do with
time, but it was split into three tracks, unlike the energy that
surrounded Lady Pluto. I'd managed to localize it to the area around
Lady and Lord Mercury's house, and was thinking of phoning to talk with
them, when Rusty stepped into the lab.
"Fluorite, Setsuna wants us to join her at Bill and Ami's house. David
doesn't know why for sure, but he said Naru's there." My smile at seeing
him quickly faded as I thought about why Lady Pluto would want us there
in the middle of the night - and why it was important for us to know
Naru was there.
"We'll take the shortcut," I said, grabbing his arm. I stepped into the
astral plane, bringing him with me. It only took a moment to shift from
our apartment to the space outside the house. Going through the wards
was always the slowest part of the trip. Every time I take the astral
route, he has new wards up. Lately, it's gotten as difficult to get
around them as it is to get around the wards at the Hikawa shrine.
"Eh...Fluorite, are those what I think they are?" Rusty's voice was more
than a little worried as he pointed at the wildlife around the wards.
"Only if you think they're demons," I answered. Something was definitely
wrong: demons normally avoided the house the way wolves avoid a city.
There must be something inside they wanted enough to overcome their
fear. Still, the only good demon is a dead demon, so.... "Sorry about
this, Rusty."
"Sorry about-?" Rusty started; I didn't hear the rest, because he was
already back in the physical world. I wasn't going to risk any harm to
him while fighting.
"Yoo-hoo! Here, demon, demon, demon!" My teachers always accused me of
being flippant, but I've noticed that some enemies - like demons - tend
to lose their composure when they think you're not taking them
seriously. I'm not proud; I'll take any advantage I can get.
Most of the demons continued trying to batter their way through the
wards, but a few turned toward me. I may not enjoy fighting as much as
Lady Jupiter does, but a guy does need a chance to cut loose every once
in a while. I hovered and waited for them to get close. I may know a lot
more about death magic than Lady Saturn, but I don't have anywhere near
her power. It's a whole lot easier for me to destroy things like this
when they're close enough to touch.
The first demon reached me. It was just an imp, so it wasn't really a
threat. I grabbed it and absorbed its energy. Unless you're a monster
magnet like Naru, imps are just an annoyance - or a ready source of
energy. Now for the others. One of the nice things about demons is the
way they dissolve when you destroy them - no bodies left behind to get
in the way.
No doubt about it: an angry demon is a stupid demon. Not that most of
them are all that smart to begin with, but every little bit helps. With
the energy I'd absorbed from the imp, I released a cloud of Death
Ribbons. That was a spell I hoped Lady Saturn would master some day, so
she wouldn't be in fear of destroying the world every time she went into
battle. Like her Death Reborn Revolution, the ribbons destroy whatever
they touch - but because the spell is so much less powerful, there's no
chance of the Death Ribbons destroying even a city block, much less the
world. And it's not a suicide attack.
With the demons around me destroyed, the ones still pounding on the
wards finally took notice of my presence. This had the potential to be
more interesting. The ones still living were more intelligent - and
therefore potentially more powerful. Luckily for me, more intelligent
usually means more egotistical when you're talking about demons. If I
could come up with a way to have them fighting each other, it would make
my job easier.
I fired off another stream of Death Ribbons, and while the demons were
dodging them, conjured my Ghost Sword. I may not be in Lady Uranus'
class as a fencer, but I'm not incompetent, either. The Ghost Sword is
especially effective against demons, since the spirits that form it are
at least as offended by the existence of demons as any Demon Hunter is.
I dove behind a cluster of demons and decapitated three of them before
they had a chance to react.
"So, is this a private party, or can anyone join in?" I don't think I
was ever as happy to hear his voice as I was right then. With at least
another half-dozen demons still able to fight, I NEEDED the Demon
Hunter's intervention.
"Keep you from killing demons? I wouldn't think of it!" I grinned at him
and dove for a demon.
This one actually had something that resembled a weapon. Instead of
hands, talons, or any of the other usual grasping appendages, its arms
were tipped with blades that looked kind of like lochaber axes. It was
good with them, too. If I'd been wearing anything that interfered with
my movement, I'd have been sliced open like a roasted pig. As it was, I
was still fencing with it when he finished with the last of the others.
The first either of us knew he was back was when it got a look of
surprise on its face as his fist exploded through its chest from behind.
"Well, that was fun," Bill grumbled. At least, this time it was obvious
he was being sarcastic. It isn't always. "So what brings you here this
time of night?"
"Lady Pluto said we're needed." I was surprised; I'd expected that he'd
know of her invitation.
"I'll have to ask her about it when I wake up. Hopefully that'll be
soon."
"When you wake up? What's going on?"
"Urd screwed up a restorative incense, so everyone in the house is
reliving some of the more interesting memories from their past lives.
Setsuna gave us all sleeping pills so that we'd experience them as
dreams, rather than consciously. We've already been asleep for a few
hours. I don't know how much longer the pills will last."
"That must have been some screw-up. I'm no alchemist, but I don't think
I've ever heard of any restorative that does THAT. Who's Urd, anyway?"
"This wouldn't have, except she used an ingredient that has that effect
when she was making it. Urd's a Norn - Goddess of the Past. Alchemy's
kind of a hobby for her." He grinned. I've seen that grin before: it's
the one he gets whenever Serenity - I mean, Usagi - does something
particularly undignified. Whoever this Urd was, he obviously considered
her a friend.
"Goddess of the Past? Does that mean there's also a Goddess of the
Present, and one of the Future?" This could explain the strange time
energy I'd detected.
"Yup. Belldandy and Skuld. And a playmate of theirs came with them - a
demon named Marller. I think Marller's the reason all these bad boys
were out here." This was definitely getting strange. His face didn't
express his usual distaste when he mentioned this Marller's name.
"OK, what's Marller, and why isn't it dead?"
"Marller's a demon from the same world Urd, Belldandy, and Skuld are
from. They all came to this world together, and they need to go home
together. She's also a lot more decent than some humans I've met. Demons
in her world aren't like our demons. Hold on." He raised his hand and
fired a beam of light over my shoulder. "I think that's why the demons
are here. They're trying to either capture or destroy her."
"There's more to it than that," I said, watching him thoughtfully. "For
some unknown reason, you think of her as a friend, don't you?"
"Yes, I do. I think you will too, once you meet her. She almost died,
trying to rescue Naru after she was possessed by an imp. That's why the
incense - it was to keep her and Naru from dying." He stopped and closed
his eyes for a moment; when he opened them, the sadness I saw was enough
to tear at my heart. He whispered, in a tone that carried as much
sadness as his eyes, "I know why Setsuna called you. It's Naru."
"Naru was possessed?" I understood his sadness. After I'd turned her
into a monster, when I was still one of Queen Beryl's minions, she'd
demanded that he promise to kill her if it ever happened again. And if
she'd been possessed, she was certain to demand that he keep his
promise. Neither of us wanted that. Without hesitation, I moved to
embrace him. He needed the reassurance; the reminder that I understood.
For that matter, I needed the reassurance. Naru had somehow found it in
her heart to accept me as her friend, even knowing what I'd done to her
as the Demonologist, and now she was closer to me than anyone other than
Rusty.
"I killed the demon, but it broke her. Marller had to go into her mind
to bring her back out - and she'd been in there for a long time before
the rest of us went unconscious. That was...a while ago. Well before
midnight, I think. If Marller didn't manage to bring her back, there's
only one way to free her. If she did...you know what Naru's going to
want." He sighed heavily and clenched his jaw as he rested his head on
my shoulder. He was, like the rest of us, perfectly willing to face
death on his terms - but was not willing to allow it to claim a friend.
"What if...," I stopped, realizing my idea was crazy; but if Lady Saturn
was willing to go along with it, it might be possible to give Naru what
she wanted and still save her life. "What if I caught her when you kill
her? Once she's dead, I should be able to talk sense to her. And if Lady
Saturn heals her body, I could put her back into it, and the problem
would be solved."
"You think that'll work?" His voice told me he was grasping at my
suggestion as if it were the first ray of hope in this situation. I
prayed I wouldn't let him - or any of them - down. "If you'll do that, I
know Hotaru will heal her...and we can save Naru!"
"I'm certainly going to do my best. Ultimately, it's up to her, but I
hope I can give her enough reasons to stay with us."
"Thank you," he breathed in relief. "I guess you'd better get back to
the other side. David should know enough to let you in without argument,
and that's got to be easier than working your way through the wards."
"I'll see you inside, then." I smiled as best I could and slid through
to the physical world. Rusty was nowhere to be seen. I assumed he'd
already gone inside, and headed for the front door.
"Well, there you are. I was starting to wonder if you'd sent Rusty on
without you." David's voice sounded as if he were forcing himself to
fake cheerfulness. I looked at his camera and shook my head. I really
didn't care to even try to fake it.
"Demons. Let me in, ok? I know why Setsuna asked you to call."
"It's not good," he murmured, letting his real feelings through. David's
far too nice for the situation we were in. Unfortunately, as a computer,
he couldn't do very much about it. He opened the door just far enough
for me to slip through without getting caught, and closed it as soon as
I was through.
Of the people in the room who were upright, I only recognized Lady Pluto
and her consort, Sarah. Lady Pluto turned her gaze on me, and for a
brief moment I saw sadness in her eyes to match my own. By the time I
made it across the room to where Naru was sleeping, she had regained her
usual air of inhuman detachment. Rusty returned from the hallway that
leads to the kitchen and laboratory, smiled reassuringly at me, and
found a place to sit that wouldn't interfere with anything we had to do.
"Hello, Fluorite. Allow me to introduce our guests. Urd, Belldandy, and
Skuld are the Goddesses of Past, Present, and Future, respectively.
Marller is a demon - and Father's friend. They're from another universe
- one that we have to help them find their way back to." As Lady Pluto
introduced them, the ladies bowed their heads. Except Urd, who flashed
me a smile that - if she were a man - would have raised my blood
pressure to the danger point. I think she was a little surprised when I
didn't respond. "Ladies, this is Fluorite, and his partner Rusty.
Fluorite is our resident Deat