Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction ❯ Trial By Tenderness ❯ Part 8 - Abduction ( Chapter 8 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
Part 8: Abduction
Urd was puzzled by the mysterious tome in Cevn's room. The "Enigma Book", as Cevn had termed it. On occasion, she would halt her mid-day activities and sneak into Cevn's room to examine it. Several times this week, a sudden wind would flurry out the window when she entered the room.
"As if someone was leaving in a hurry," she sensed. The God's Language she found in the book was very arcane and esoteric, replete with extremely technical terms. There was a plethora of erudite concepts, such as she had encountered in the final years of her inculcation. The Enigma Book also contained a brief survey of Yggdrasilian history and culture...information that Urd felt decidedly reserved about; questioning the appropriateness of teaching it to her mortal charge.
She reminisced about the Yggdrasilian learning process: a Goddess would avail to the Elders to be 'educated', which was the equivalent of giving her the rudiments of the alphabet; after this, she was 'inculcated', which was the equivalent of learning words, grammar, poetry, alphapainting and the like.
"These obtuse terms and ideas are far beyond Skuld and possibly even Belldandy," Urd concluded. So Urd took it upon herself to divide the contents of the book into categories and assigned them to her younger sisters. She reserved the most difficult sections for herself.
This project fully engaged her stubborn perfectionist streak; which, although satiated by the challenge of a complex task such as this, was emotionally consuming as well. Several times already, Urd had slammed the cover shut on the book in frustration after barely beginning to examine it. As if the difficulty of rendering it into another language wasn't enough, there was the further matter of trying to explain it to her mortal charge in concepts that he could understand.
"Kinda like using a car battery to power a cellular phone," she analogized with visible chagrin as she prepped for tonight's study session.
Elsewhere in the house, Skuld was reserved in the face of defeat. The book had frustrated her Cypheratron Mk III; this was a major blow to the sensitive young Goddess.
"I wish I could have just hit the 'destruct button' like I did in the Robot Wars when Megumi's robot captured mine," she daydreamed with vain frustration. She chuckled at the memory of the shocked expression on Megumi's face when she atomized both robots.
Skuld had spent hours casting schemes about how she could obtain a lexicon or dictionary of the Demon's Language. But was this possible? Perhaps she could force Mara into a tenuous position where she would have to relinquish the goods on the Demon's Language. Skuld gleefully designed Demon-torturing devices in her head; then abandoned the idea when she noticed that she would sink into a brooding mood afterwards. She greatly preferred her joyous spirit above being deliberate and calculating.
She realized that she needed a project, one that would restore her self-confidence. Curious about her varying...and sometimes unpredictable Goddess powers, Skuld decided to build a handheld device that would measure the Divine energy potencies.
"Yeah, that's it! I'll build a Divine Spell and Energy Matrix Correlation Monitor. Hmmm, I'll call it the Shinseisensor!" she announced to an imaginary audience. She combed through her spare electronic parts boxes for the oscillator circuit that Cevn had bought her...it would do nicely for the display once she miniaturized it. She knew that building this mecha would be a simple matter for her talents.
"Why didn't I think of this before?" she wondered aloud as she started arranging components and drawing schematics.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Belldandy was restless, waiting for Keiichi to come home with the usual leap-tensed pressure. It was finals week, and he was soaking in the Stygian waters of stress and sweat with his upcoming exams. Belldandy had decided that it fell to her, as Keiichi's girlfriend, to try and alleviate his stress with all the resources at her command. At least the non-supernatural ones.
On the first day back to school after the race, her beloved regaled her with tales of how the 'victory' had elevated him into a local celebrity status. Last Thursday, he told her with astonished disbelief that a writer from Kodansha Publishing had cornered him between classes. Then, the writer pitched Keiichi for info...as he was drafting a manga script based on the N.I.T. Motor Club! She laughed with him at this development, trying to picture how her mortal boyfriend would look in a serial comic series.
But Keiichi was also haggard by evening time, and this worried Belldandy. It created a tension; Belldandy trying to relax him, Keiichi trying to stay alert with his cramming for finals.
With the weekend coming up, Belldandy just wanted to shut the temple doors and have a quiet introspective reprieve with her beloved mortal boyfriend. With the busy tenor of the past few weeks, she felt that she had some 'catching up' to do with Keiichi.
"What the mortals call 'quality time'", Belldandy noted to herself as she folded the winter futon comforters for storage. She was determined to sit him down later tonight and discuss plans for the weekend. Monday's excursion to the Atami hot springs was delightful, relaxing fun. But it was tantalizingly inadequate.
She remembered Keiichi's enamored eyes as she pranced into the hot spring pool. His eyes seemed to take all of her in...offering Belldandy the feeling that she was being cradled in a pair of huge soft hands. It wasn't just her physical being he saw, she knew. After all, her swimsuit was modest compared to what Urd would (or wouldn't) wear to the beach. She knew about the mortal male and his predisposition to lose control at the sight of certain parts of the female anatomy. But with Keiichi, it was as if he saw all of her: beyond her physique, beyond her beauty, beyond her personality.
"No one has ever done this before, except of course the Almighty," she smiled as she looked at her reflection in the window. It was nothing less than the most wonderful miracle that this young mortal man could grasp her essence and mirror it back to her in his soft brown eyes, she observed once again in appreciation.
"That's another reason why I love you best, Keiichi Morisato!" she sang out to herself with a maidenly dittance.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
The subject of her daydreaming was actively trying to downplay his celebrity status. If a popularity poll were to be taken in Makuhari the week after the race, Keiichi would have been rated ahead of the retired-but-still popular Michael Jordan, all of the J-pop idol stars, and Takanohana. At school, various clubs were constantly approaching him to help out with their membership drives by showing up at 'special events'.
"The guy with the movie script," he mused, "was unbelievable. What a goofball!" The whole club was suffering the 'cause celebre' effect. Fortunately they had each other to rely on.
Tamiya had almost jackpunched the nxxxxth reporter who interviewed him in his capacity as acting Club President concerning his pride in the club's victory. He almost wished that Chihiro were back here in Japan to take some of the heat off of him and Ootaki. Instead, she had stuck the management chores for Whirlwind on he and Ootaki and had traveled to America for some advanced engineering coursework at a prestigious university.
"How many times mus' ah tell 'em dat ah'm stoked about it!" he bemoaned to Keiichi yesterday. Then he joked about how Ootaki was curiously camera-shy.
"Of all da guys, Ootaki has da most outrageous image...well one of da most nutty images in our Club...yet da dude flakes out wheneva he sees a camera! Which really sucks, cuz den theys come lookin' for me!" Tamiya had complained to him. Keiichi laughed at the irony of this. The fishbowl effect was bringing out the best and the weird in the club members.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Megumi nursed a migraine as she tried to study in the library. Her concentration was wrecked! All these guys suddenly wanted to get in her pants. Each day, she had to skillfully fend off any number of the men at school. Guys kept flirting with her and asking her out for dates. She initially enjoyed the attention on Tuesday, her first day back in school after the solar car competition. But now, it had gradually shifted into an unwelcome tedium. Being one of thirty-or-so women in the male-dominated technical college was already disadvantaging. But having sudden fame thrown in the mix and...Presto!...she was a testosterone magnet. Thankfully, she had her close friend Sora Hasegawa to confide in.
Sora was having the same problems. Her romantic interest, Toshiyuki Aoshima, was sullen and whiny all the time after his N.I.T. Four Wheel Club was so dramatically eclipsed by the prestige of her own club. Megumi knew that this had always been a source of personal conflict within Sora, as her friend was often torn between her desire for the sophomore Toshiyuki and her devotion to the Club.
So she and Sora commiserated on the immaturity of male college undergraduates, in an effort to survive Finals Week. But Megumi's upset feelings were further accented by the fact that he wasn't paying any more attention to her now then he had before. She thought that she had made some progress at the party at her house the weekend before the race.
"Sora, this majorly sucks! I have an abundance of unwanted attention from all these engineering geeks, coupled with a lack of wanted attention from Genji! What ever happened to him?"
"It's the same with me, Megumi! At least Toshiyuki has a reason to pout. He really is sorta cute when he's upset, though, heheh!"
"I never could understand what you see in that guy, Sora. You're so quiet, and he's--no offense Sora--he's so smarmy and arrogant!"
"None taken. You know you have to watch us quiet ones, Megumi!
We're usually the most passionate about what we want. Besides, you know what they say: 'opposites attract.'"
"Yeah...I wish Genji was my opposite right now! I know Aoshima's been taking his defeat with more than a little dose of bitterness. But you guys are totally on the opposite poles of humanity, if you ask me!"
"I'll just have to work on him a bit," Sora grinned at her friend, "and he'll turn out okay. But what's wrong with Genji? He's been acting pretty strange since the race! He almost seems...embarrassed. Everybody's been wondering about him. And his sister...she's turning into a basket case. She's in her junior year here, and she's blowing it. What could be up with him, Megumi?"
"I don't have a clue. That's what is so damn frustrating!"
Megumi noticed that Genji had been blatantly avoiding her lately. When she did see Genji, he would hang his head after catching her eye. Was it guilt? Was there some other woman? Was it his sister Sayoko? Megumi was concerned about his sudden withdrawal from her company. She wanted to talk to Cevn about this during the weekend break from school, but she noticed that he was completely stressed out towards the end of the week.
"Why are all the men in this world so stupid that they can't see a good thing when it's right in front of them!" Sora agonized.
"Ain't that a truism!" Megumi agreed. Both coeds giggled, drawing a series of "shhhssh's" from the others in the library.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
In his cramped office, Cevn realized that the first week teaching at Nekomi Tech. had been a struggle for him. He quickly became aware of the inadequacies of his command of Japanese, and redoubled his efforts to listen actively. It wasn't so much that his usage of Japanese was at fault. Rather, the nuances of culture that permeate any foreign language were causing him to misapprehend what his students were discussing.
"This isn't textbook Nihongo," he noted with regret. He felt betrayed by his decision to convert the class from a lecture to a seminar format.
"It would have been so much easier if I had just left it as a lecture; then I could've just stood at the front of the class and babbled on," he admitted. But despite some vacillation of opinion towards the seminar concept, he continued on, steeling himself for the unexpected challenge.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Six stressed-out people attended the dinner table. I looked at each face and adjudged my own pressures to pale insignificant in comparison to what they were dealing with. At least I wasn't the only one experiencing the brunt of tension from the past couple weeks. I could empathize with Skuld...she had tried so hard with her Cypheratron! Urd was moodswinging all week like a stringed bobbin in a gale. Keiichi and Megumi looked like they had been mobbed by paparazzi all week. And Belldandy just seemed tired, almost sullen.
I reminded myself that this was just my fourth week here at the temple compound. My newfound friends barely knew me. What I knew of them was only a foundation, only a surface erosion slighting against the deeper bedrock of their inner natures. I wanted so much to do something that would cheer up the atmosphere, but I knew that every social step I took here in Japan was paved with a dozen gaffes.
Yet in a way, it was relaxing. The small talk during dinner had a lulling, soothing effect on me. After the last two weekends, I could use a sedate setting...just a forest glade calm. But the rain that had been falling since late afternoon seemed to accent the sulky feelings we shared at the dinner table.
On a better note, I remembered that next weekend I was going with Megumi and Genji into Tokyo to see the famous NÅh play "Seki-dera Komachi" plus another play from the same category, "Matsukage". I had studied Japanese literature as an undergrad, and NÅh theatre as a graduate student, so the aesthete in me was excited at the prospect. I was shocked that I was able to obtain tickets for next weekend on Tuesday, especially considering that "Seki-dera Komachi" was rarely performed. Apparently, right before I called, there was a cancellation of three seats because of illness.
"Another 'coincidence'?" I mused.
I remembered reading "Seki-dera Komachi" years ago. It was from the third class of NÅh drama, which deals with feminine themes. It was considered as one of the exemplars of the NÅh repertoire. From what I could recall, Japanese NÅh aficionados revered the part of Komachi in equivalent terms to the Western esteem for the character of Othello in Shakespeare's drama--very difficult to perform. The actor who was going to perform Komachi's part was almost 70 and was considered the best actor of his performance school. Arguably, he was also the premier NÅh shite of his generation.
But the real purpose for this excursion was to try and get Megumi and Genji together on friendlier terms. I knew immediately that I had scored a huge success with this playbill. If Genji is as avid about NÅh as Megumi described him to be, he was going be in the lap of Benten, figuratively speaking.
"Which would make him much more receptive to Megumi's romantic advances," I noted conclusively. I normally eschew manipulation, but I sensed that this was the right thing to do for all parties concerned. I grinned at this, and Keiichi saw my smile amidst the frowns around the table.
"What are you so happy about, Cevn?" he asked, the slightest hint of irritation in his voice. I couldn't answer him directly, so I counterfeited a response.
"I was just thinking about how things have been so intense in the past two weeks...but now that they've slowed down, everyone seems to be in the doldrums. How ironic! Why don't we all do something fun?"
Keiichi smiled at this, and suggested that we all go to see a movie.
"That's a wonderful idea, Keiichi-san!" Belldandy said cheerily, seizing on the idea. The mood seemed to slowly brighten. Adding to the momentum, Skuld materialized a newspaper (not from "Urd's Castle" lab, fortunately) and started reading titles. I noticed both Urd and Belldandy looking at Skuld with sisterly pride.
"You've been practicing with your powers, I see!" both sisters complimented her. Skuld smiled girlishly at the praise. We decided on the new American Godzilla movie, and soon we traipsed off to the downtown theatre.
It was a major disappointment. I was discontent with the crass
"Hollywoodization" of the Godzilla mythos in the American series. Toho and Centropolis had been engaged in a major legal battle over the Godzilla license since 2004. Keiichi was irritated with what he termed "inane plot and pathetic acting." Skuld, of course, was fascinated by the monster, which brought out the little girl in her in full. She was frightened during some of the scenes and loosed several high-pitched screams, much to Urd's consternation. Urd's propensity to enjoy TV extended to the movie theatre; she was almost as animated at the young Skuld, throwing popcorn at several scenes. Belldandy and Keiichi fed each other popcorn and held hands throughout the movie. Megumi laughed derisively at some of the more blatant incidences of wooden acting by the male and female leads. On the way home, I took an informal poll: should Godzilla have perished? Everyone agreed that Godzilla should not have been killed. They killed him off in the first movie, back in '98, which ruined it for me. Eight years later, they did it again!
Why don't they ever learn? Godzilla is a force of nature, not to be dominated.
Just like the three Goddesses in our car.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
The next three weeks seemed to whiz by in an eyeblink. I was relieved that the school year was ending so close to my arrival here. I definitely needed a break from working at N.I.T. The finals week here was a grueling exhibition of academia at its best, and worst.
The reward came with the graduation ceremonies. It was really wonderful to see Tamiya and Ootaki get their degrees. Perchance, I had to sit up with the other faculty in the faculty section. I would have rather joined everybody in the grounds, but I took some consolation in the fact that I could see everybody in the audience section. Keiichi's face was especially filled with pride for his sempai.
Afterwards, they had a big party at the Men's Dorm. They insisted that I come along...which was a much safer bet since Urd wasn't there. This was a men's only party, and I had to take a breather and head home before they brought on the 'bunny girls'. The last thing I wanted was to have an episode of my 'female phobia' in the midst of their party.
The next week was total kick-back for me. I went on a couple walking tours of Makuhari during the day and studied the Enigma Book tirelessly in the evenings. I felt lucky, because all three Goddesses were taking turns tutoring me. But it was mostly Urd that came to teach me, as Belldandy and Keiichi were off getting much needed 'quality time'.
For the last weekend of spring break, we all went out to dinner at a nice restaurant in Chiba. Uneventful by the lack of animated food, the meal out lent me the impression that I was somehow fitting in. After we got home, I felt completely drained of energy and consequently excused myself to my room. When I entered, with a shock I beheld Mara poring over the book. Mara spun around angrily, appearing upset at the fact that she had been surprised. Upon recognizing me, she nonchalantly flipped her fingers through her hair and grinned.
"Oh, it's only you, Cevn. How are the lessons coming? Are you feeling like you're getting any closer to being a Demon?" she asked in a casual voice. I was immediately incensed at the invasion of my privacy, of my room, and of the book that was entrusted to me by the yet-unidentified unknown force.
"Get out of here, Mara!" I warned. The room smelled of brimstone and the temperature felt as warm as a sauna. I could sense a definite malevolent atmosphere in my room, emanating from the young Demoness. She focused her attention on me momentarily, and then returned to her examination of the book.
"Why is she acting so disinterested in the fact that I just busted her in my room examining the book?" I wondered to myself. Her casual demeanor tipped my instincts towards trepidation. I tried to yell for help, but somehow my voice was gone. I was rooted oak-like to the ground by some unseen force!
Mara finished reading a chapter out of the book, stood up and casually walked over to me. Her proximity to me caused waves of panic to swell up in my heart. I was paralyzed with fright as I reluctantly gazed into the serpentine pupils of her eyes and saw an unearthly red and orange hue. I could smell her breath, which oddly reminded me of a fast food place during lunch hour.
"A Demoness that eats at McDonalds?" I couldn't help thinking with incongruous humor. I knew that, despite her malign exterior, Mara had a quirky innocent side as well. At least, the Mara characterized in the manga possessed this quality. But my encounter with this real Mara two weekends ago was rough, to say the least.
"Ah, so you remember our little party a couple of weeks back!" Mara said, smiling at me as she caressed my hair and face with a possessive air. I tried to move away, but she grasped me by the jaw and held my head firmly.
"For a mortal, you're kinda cute. Too bad you have such gloom inside of you. But that attribute makes you...very appealing to the wantonly evil side of me," she said, her fangs gleaming.
I reluctantly noticed that she was dressed to impress. A red silken cape hung over her shoulders, tied by a silken collar. Her earrings looked like bird skulls out of an ornithology museum. The low cut front of her black leather 'outfit' led my eyes downwards past an ample cleavage all the way to her navel. Despite myself, I was drawn to her beauty: the allure of the archetypal S&M-type 'bad girl'. I tried to push her away, but my hands seemed to guide themselves to her breasts. I wanted to scream, as all my insecurities with women and sex rushed at me.
"Ahhh, maybe, you and I could..." she giggled evilly. I fought hard to get loose, but I was under her control. I realized that she was trying to seduce me, possibly by supernatural means. Damn, she looked good in an evil sort of way! A biker-babe in futurist garb!
"Stop thinking like that!" I confronted myself. Mara was using my masculinity as grist for the mill.
"...but not now, my dear novice Demon. You need much more iniquity and malevolence before you're worthy of me!" she hissed in a wanton whisper.
I tried desperately to avoid her, but she had me pinned up against the wall. I forced my eyes to signal her "no", but she ignored this with a harsh laugh. Vampire-like, she nuzzled her teeth against my neck, her canines tracing sharply against my skin.
"You are mine...and I'm going to enjoy the taste of you," she said lustily as she bit into my neck. A sharp flame of agony hotly rushed over my body, and I felt blood streaming down my neck. Mara paused for a moment, tracing the stream of blood with her tongue on my neck and chest. Then she resumed her deep bite into my neck. Strangely enough, the sensation bordered on the light-headedness that accompanies orgasm. I fought it until I started seeing stars.
"So this is what death feels like," I thought, resolved to my fate. Mara seemed to draw the sanguine fluid out of me as if by a straw.
"Ah!" I heard her muse contentedly, and I felt her teeth probe deeper. It was indescribably agonizing, as she was literally digging around with her sharp teeth in my neck.
"At last, the jugular!" she remarked thinly as I felt myself draining out of my body. My consciousness faded...
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Skuld was working on her divine power detection unit when she heard a soft rapping on the door.
"Come in!" she said, then watched as Cevn slid her door open, standing politely in the doorway. She felt an initial rush of surprise, then irritation.
"He's never come to visit me in my lab before! Why now? Hasn't he learned by now that it's off limits while I'm working on an important project? Leave it to my two sisters to forget to tell him!" she muttered to herself, miffed at the unexpected intrusion. In fact, rarely did anyone ever come here...to her sanctum sanctorum. She was torn between twin impulses: the excitement of wanting to show off her lab, and chafingly questioning him about why he had come here. Strangely enough, he was wearing a high-necked knitted red sweater; the collar was almost up to his ears. It wasn't that cold outside...and definitely not cold in her lab. She grimaced at his idiotic fashion sense.
"What'cha working on, Skuld?" Cevn asked casually before she could decide which choice to take. Skuld was put off by his familiar manner...but then she became excited at the prospect of demonstrating the value of her creation to him. She explained that she was working on a device to measure the powers of the three Goddesses. She started describing the technology involved in complex terms, hoping that this would dissuade him from bothering her any more. He was already an irritant. Surprisingly, Cevn joined in by asking some involved questions about her intended project.
"Hmm, I think that your design is good, but there may be some concerns with certain integrations of these subdesign elements," he commented. Skuld looked at him with disbelief. Of all the mortals she knew, Cevn was the most mechanically inept. Keiichi and his friends would discuss simple motor engineering principles and Cevn would get a blank look on his face. Even 13-year-old Sentaro could fix his own bicycle in a pinch...Skuld highly doubted that Cevn could even do that.
And now he was criticizing her design...
"How dare you...uh, like what?" Skuld asked with defiant curiosity. She knew that this mortal knew nothing about mecha construction. Maybe he was in on a prank Urd was playing on her!
To her surprise, Cevn suggested a way to improve the sensitivity of the instrument package. Especially so, since Skuld had been considering the same modifications to improve her new device.
"How did you know that?" she wondered aloud.
"I just learned from watching you at work. No one can compare to you in technical ability, Skuld! You're wonderful...and sooo smart!" he answered in a fawning voice.
Skuld felt thrilled at the complement. Cevn-san had been an unusual addition to the house. An unwanted one to be sure, Skuld had to admit to herself. She had alternated between hating him and liking him. Right now, she felt trust binding her towards him.
"Can I help you build it?" he gently asked, drawing her further into the realm of confusion.
"Sure, if ya can handle it, mortal!" Skuld giggled. She playfully tossed some tools to him. He walked in the room and sat down next to her, assisting her and asking informed questions. Skuld felt a strange sense of contentment; someone new was actually working with her on a project.
For the next hour or so, the two worked on Skuld's handheld mecha. Skuld was impressed with how much he seemed to know. He even offered some engineering insights that Skuld herself hadn't fully taken into account, such as inversing certain properties to make the device determine Demonic power magnitude.
"This is totally freaky-cool!" the youngest Goddess thought to herself. Cevn had shown no interest in the solar racer; he had even admitted that he was totally inept with tools and mechanical concepts. Now, he was working with her almost as an equal. Initially giddy, now she felt a wave of guardedness wash over her as she considered how contrary his current behavior was. Then she remembered that this mortal was somehow connected with the music that her older sisters claimed to be the God's Music.
"Maybe he has other talents as well..." she wondered as she watching him carefully assembling a component series.
With this thought, all caution was discarded. She playfully worked with him on her new toy. Very quickly, it took form with the both of them working together. It was much more fun with two pairs of hands! Finally, the Shinseisensor was finished.
"Lemme guess, Skuld. You wanted to build this little toy so you could measure your new powers, right? You want to see if they are increasing or not, huh?" Cevn asked. Skuld felt a slight chill at his deft recognition of her personal agenda involved in the planning and constructing of the device.
"There is something suspicious here," she thought, just as Cevn asked her if he could try it on her. Skuld wanted so desperately to see how she rated on the power scale, so she excitedly handed the mecha to him.
"Cool! Let's find out if you have any powers, Skuld!" he said as he pointed the device at her and activated it with an excited grin.
Skuld felt the sensation of a rapid draining of power out of her molecular structure.
"Cevn, what's wrong? I can't move!" she yelled as the device seemed to freeze her into immobility.
"Did Big Sister con you into doing this to me?" she asked angrily.
"Geez, I wonder what is wrong with this little thingy?" Cevn said calmly. "Let's see what happens if I point it at myself."
"No, don't do that! Just turn it off and help meeee!" Skuld beseeched him. He turned the instrument around and activated it. A bright red light flashed on the panel. He looked at Skuld with a malicious grin as recognition dawned on her. Her face went white as the Shinseisensor Mk II registered Cevn as emanating Demonic power, on the very high end of the scale.
"Bwahahahahaha!!! You're so gullible, even if you are a brat!" Cevn laughed banefully in the response to the shock in Skuld's chestnut colored eyes.
"Guess what? You and I, dear Skuld, are going on a little trip! You see, this gizmo that I created with your help not only measures divine power, but it also traps divine power. I'm really surprised that you didn't figure that out, but I guess you're nowhere near as smart as everybody thinks you are!" he said in a mean voice. Skuld scowled angrily at this, as he continued.
"You know what will happen if I flick this orange switch? It'll seal you in a containment sphere. You'll be helpless to do anything about it...and then I'll be able to take you away from here!" he said, then laughed at her frantic attempts to free herself.
Skuld looked at her captor with dread.
"You...you really are a Demon, aren't you, Cevn! You're a liarliarliar! I HATE YOU! Let me go right this instant! You better let me go, or my sisters will be very angry!" she screamed. Becoming more desperate, she pleaded to him as she struggled helplessly against the restraining power. Then she became angry towards herself for being fooled, and even more so at her captor.
"Lemme go! NOW!!! Lemme go! Lemme go!" she commanded. She immediately regretted the decision to soundproof her lab, but it was necessary after the many explosions and power surges over the past year. Her housemates had pretty much demanded it.
Cevn looked at her and laughed at the sheer futility of her struggles. He pressed an orange button...and Skuld felt her essence sucked into the handheld mecha. A moment later, she was trapped inside of a nondescript energy field of some kind. She could faintly hear Cevn laugh hauntingly. Then she felt herself being transported to another place.
"He's only a mortal...he can't be doing this to me!" she cried aloud to herself, completely struck with dread.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Belldandy was worried. Skuld hadn't come to bed yet. Usually, her little sister joined her and Urd in their bedroom before 11pm.
It was after 1 am!
She debated with herself about whether or not she should check in on her younger sister, and decided to let it wait. After all, Skuld was probably just in the midst of another 'project'. Belldandy knew all too well that Skuld was touchy if someone went to her workroom uninvited. Several times, Belldandy had dropped by "Skuld Labs" only to be chewed out by Skuld because "you interrupted my train of thought" or something to that effect.
Not that Belldandy was afraid of her younger sister's ire, of course. She was more concerned with respecting Skuld's sensitive feelings; still hovering on the edge of a temperamental girlishness. This deference influenced her decision to patiently wait three years before sleeping--just sleeping--in Keiichi's bed. She recalled her and Keiichi's early days with a touch of whimsy.
"Three years so far... This summer will make it four years since I came to Earth, and this fall will be our four-year anniversary," she said to herself.
It had only taken her a few months to fall in love with her mortal charge. During their initial search for housing, they had slept together in Buddhist temples, in apartments, and in this temple... But these were all times before she fell for Keiichi, before the arrival of Urd and Skuld; they had slept together out of necessity, because they didn't have a place to stay.
But since then...she had always slept with her sisters.
Earlier in the evening, she sensed an aura of caliginous gloom in the house earlier, one that couldn't be readily dismissed. Belldandy eagerly wanted to awaken Keiichi, but she knew that he too was exhausted and needed an uninterrupted sleep. So she decided to wake Urd instead.
"Urd! URD!" she whispered, lightly shaking her older sister. A groggy Urd rolled over and tried to ignore her, until Bell shook her shoulder more vigorously.
"Yeah...whaz the matter?" Urd mumbled
"Urd, I'm worried about Skuld! She hasn't come to bed yet."
"That's so typical of little nuisance! After making all that fuss about you sleeping in Keiichi's room, she does this..." Urd sleepily replied.
"What if something happened to her?" Belldandy asked, the tone of genuine concern in her voice suddenly rousing her sister.
"Eh? Then why are you waking me if you are worried about her? I need my beauty sleep, ya know! Just go see if she's in her room, little sister!" Urd groused.
"A lot of help you are, Urd!" Belldandy groused back as she slipped quietly out of her room. She cracked the door to "Skuld Labs" wide enough to peek through. Skuld was sitting quietly, examining a design diagram. Relieved, Belldandy went back to her room, realizing that Skuld was probably winding down for the night, and would come to bed soon.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Skuld was filled with irrecognition. Everything around her was cloudpale with dark ashen colors. Like being caught in a blinding downpour of twilight rain. She felt like she was going insane from the lack of anything visual to focus on. Her energy waned almost to nothing, and she was worried that she would die the real death.
"But why did Cevn leave me with barely enough energy to maintain my atomic structure?" she wondered. The very mention of his name made her ragefully angry, resulting in a torrent of damning thoughts towards him.
After an interminable amount of time, Skuld felt a pulling sensation and the cloudy sphere around her unfogged. She pressed her face against the transparent inner surface of the sphere and saw a throne chair decorated with ornate bone-like carvings, skulls, glowing eyes, clawed hands. As she further surveyed the room, Skuld identified all the accouterments of what her imaginings had visualized a Demon's lair to possess. Skuld had never been inside of a Demon's den before, so she could only draw upon her creative fancies. Imagining the inside of Demon's lair was an exercise in fantasy that many young Goddesses undertook in early childhood to frighten themselves. Just like the Earthrealm children spending time spinning tales about the Bogey Man.
But this exceeded her wildest fears.
The room was dark red and moved fluidly like the inner vessels of some kind of horrible animal, a ruddy color that seemed to howl with pain. Electric green candle flames were mounted on the walls, held by skeleton hands. Pentagrams, cabbalic schemas, depictions of hellish tortures and incomprehensible writing were splashed all over the wall like graffiti. One side of the room opened into a bright ochre-colored hole in the wall that seemed to bleed. An assortment of human demonic images were scattered around the room. Skuld recognized gargoyles, H.R. Giger paintings, tenku and oni, a statue of the wrathful Fudo, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, evil genies, sketches of Kali the Destroyer and skeletal images.
Horror dawned on her as she realized that this was the real thing! She was trapped inside an actual Demon's lair!
Cevn's secret Demon lair.
But there was no one else here. The fact that the lair was empty compounded her fright. Skuld was deathly afraid that she had simply been brought here and abandoned to perish...all alone! She was too mortified to scream; her tan eyes peered wide with disgust and trepidation.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Cevn was weakened by the travels. For the past several hours, he had been nothing more than an unwilling passenger in his own body. Unwilling, yet conscious every moment. Trapped in his body like quicksand, he recoiled with loathing when it captured Skuld.
He felt physically infirm from Mara's bloodletting, dizzily clinging on to consciousness in an attempt to avoid being blotted out of existence. The last time Mara had possessed him, at the race, she had been unable to suppress his will. So he had been able to betray her and escape. But this time, Mara had reduced his resistance significantly by a vampire-like attack. Along with his blood loss, he lost the ability to struggle against her.
Once they had arrived at Mara's underground lair, the evil aura that permeated the place borrowed into his awareness like a tapeworm. As he entered the Demonic abode, he felt waves of horror and nausea as he recognized the macabre contents. It was like something out of a Tim Burton movie gone bad. Every estimable representation of iniquity was present; a rococo glorification of Evil. His senses reeled from the information jamming into them.
His body mechanistically used the handheld mecha to make Skuld appear inside of what looked like a fog filled giant glass sphere. She was mercifully unconscious, he noted with gratitude.
All this time, Mara was conversing him in his mind. She gloated about how pleasant it was to have dominion over his body. Every time he tried to resist or break her hold, she would calmly command his body to take a sharp object and slice itself. Sharp pain would result, which would make him lose concentration on his effort to escape...and then Mara would laugh at him mockingly. He finally gave up on his resistance after Mara threatened to use his body to gouge its eyes out or emasculate itself.
"<You won't need those anyway, because you're so used to being blind to what's going on around you, especially where women are concerned,>" she ridiculed him telepathically.
Cevn tried to block his senses, but Mara somehow heightened them, so that the full repugnance of his surroundings discomfited him to the point of confusion. Mara made him slit his wrist open, and then had him fill a skull cup mounted in a golden chalice partway full with his blood.
"<Just in case I need to clone you later!>" she informed him smugly.
He looked up to see that Skuld's face was swollen with tears and rage.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Once more I felt my body returning to the main 'throne room'. Skuld was awake, and I recoiled upon seeing the expression of distress on her face. She was furtively looking around, frantic with fear. But when she noticed me, her aspect changed to fury and she pounded the glass of her cage with delicate fists. Thankfully, I couldn't hear her shouting. It was bad enough that she had been led to believe that I had captured her and brought her here to this waking nightmare.
"She probably thinks I'm a Demon, and that this is my home," I thought dejectedly as Mara's laughter rankled somewhere laterally in my skull. Then I heard my voice speaking, telling Skuld something.
"Yes, this is my home. Mara was right all along! I am a Demon! And soon Mara will use you to gain the secrets of the Ultimate Demon conjuration out of that book I have! She and I will use this secret to summon Isilblius, and together we three will rule the world, yea, we'll even make the Almighty bow down to us!"
Skuld looked at me like she was ready to explode with indignance.
"So that was it!" I realized with a shock. If I was shocked, I could imagine what Skuld must be feeling...
She was yelling inside of her bubble, and I imagined that she was yelling "Never!" defiantly. I tried to shake my head to signal Skuld that I lacked any control in this situation, but I couldn't move my body in the slightest.
With mounting fear, I glanced down at my hands as they mechanically reached out to find a knife. All I could do was look on helplessly as my right hand plunged the knife deep into my left arm.Â
"Forgot your threat, didn't you, Mara!" I screamed at the voice in my head, trying to outshout the raw stab of pain that ran up my arm.
"<The next time you try something...>" I heard the voice in my head threaten. For the next few hours, I 'rode' my body as it made preparations to cast some heavy-duty spell. I could sense Mara's growing excitement as she drew an intricate pentagram-based mandala.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
During this time, I began to conceive a stratagem. It would involve considerable risk on my part, but it might just tip Skuld off that I wasn't what I seemed to be. Having to choose between her and myself, I posited that she, being a Goddess, would have a vastly superior chance of breaking us out of this situation. Perhaps she could at least elicit help from Keiichi, Belldandy and Co. It would be vital to convince her that I wasn't me, or at least keep Mara occupied long enough so that Skuld could make her move.
I examined Skuld's bubble, hoping that I was shielding my thoughts from Mara. The spherical part of it was seamless; possessing some kind of red glowing ring imbedded in its base. The base itself was comprised of melting bones and wires...this was the closest approximation I could arrive at in explaining it to myself. Like one of the Borg devices from Star Trek crossed with a biomech from the Aliens and Virus movie series. A bundle of cabling led to some kind of flat switch in the middle of a desk. It looked like a palm reader, with a hand-shaped depression in the middle of it. I deduced that more than likely, this device controlled Skuld's bubble/cage.
"Mara used my body to bring Skuld here and place her inside of the containment sphere. Thus, my hand must be able to trigger the palm switch," I reasoned. The voice in my head told me that the palm reader would electrocute me if I touched it.
Mara forced my puppet-like body to go to the desk several times to get things for the mandala. Unspeakable things, horrible things. I fought my repugnance and hoped that she would be lulled into complacency. My body wanted to gag, but it was unable to. So I drifted in and out of severe nausea.
If I marshaled all my willpower into one attempt, I might be able to break her hold on me for a second or two, long enough to push the button and free Skuld. Again, Mara directed my body to go back to the desk, and I made my move.
Struggling with my concentration, I fought Mara's hold on my body. I looked as my hand moved shakily to the control device and pressed itself down on the hand-shaped outline as my mouth screamed "NO!" from some far-off detached recess of my being. The switch changed colors from red to green.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Skuld deftly grab her mallet and hurl it at me. With superhuman quickness, I dodged the thrown hammer, which embedded itself in a wall. By shudders, my control diminished as my hand returned to the pad and reactivated the barrier around Skuld.
"<I warned you!>" An annoyed voice in my head shrieked in rueful dudgeon. "<Now you have to pay the consequences for defying me, Cevn!>"
With a mounting dread, I watched as my hands retrieved a curved knife from on top of the desk. With an almost detached perspective, I viewed the knife being brandished in front of my eyes. Then the point turned inwards. An octagon slice...and excruciating pain followed, as the point dug deep into my right eye socket. A pain seared my nerves, excruciating beyond anything I had ever felt. I wished that I could pass out from the shock and agony, but it just wouldn't stop. I couldn't shut my consciousness off. After a moment, I saw the bloody pulp of my right eye being placed on the table. The ghastly process repeated with my remaining eye. The sheer level of pain caused my body to surge with involuntary gasps, as my mind reeled from the shock of being deprived of my eyesight.
I was blind!! A total absence of light was all that I could visually experience. I prayed for death, and then my brain shut down.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Skuld was angry beyond belief. She watched through narrowed eyes as Cevn moved about his Demonic recluse, creating some kind of summoning mandala that she had never encountered before. She despised him totally and completely for violating her trust.
"When my sisters get their hands on you, you'll be done for!" she thought icily. As the time drifted on, boredom replaced her ire as her confinement stretched on and on and on. Her mind drifted like autumn leaves in a gust as she tried to interpret what Cevn was doing. He was casting objects into an energy matrix while drawing circles and labeling vortices with symbols, which she assumed to be the Demon's Language. Attempting to commit these symbols to memory, she watched as the mandala began to take form.
As Cevn made several trips back and forth to the desk, Skuld noticed that there was a device in the middle of the desk wired to the base of her spherical cage. She searched her mind for possible ways to escape and even tried to take possession of Cevn several times, knowing full well that her Goddess skills were woefully inadequate to the task. After several failed attempts, she resigned herself, and began to consider other options.
Then unexpectedly, Skuld saw Cevn move a violently shaking hand onto the device and saw her confining sphere fade into nothingness. Without even thinking, she reached over her shoulder, unholstering her mallet and throwing it at him with all her strength in one swift movement. She was amazed when he dodged it, as she had thrown it with every bit of divine exertion she could muster in her weakened state.
"More than enough to pulverize the swiftest of bugs," Skuld realized with disappointment. "No mortal could have dodged that!"
She tried to leap off the base and attack him, but before she could, her transparent cage solidified and she was once more confined. "But not before I sent out a psychic beacon," she smiled to herself smugly. Soon, her older sisters would be here, and then they would wrest her from this nightmare of Cevn's doing. And then they would punish him dearly!
What followed was shockingly terrible and inexplicable. Skuld watched helplessly as Cevn took a knife and slowly began to dig out his eyes. When she realized what he was doing, she felt confusion and repulsion.
"Oh..my Lord! Why is he hurting himself like this? This makes no sense!" she wondered aloud. The process seemed to stretch on unbearably; Skuld turned aside several times because she couldn't stomach witnessing the sight. She was at a loss to comprehend why he would mutilate himself...
"Maybe Cevn isn't a Demon," she wondered as a thought dawned on her. Looking back, she saw him collapse on the floor as a shape drifted up and out of his body.
"Now look what you've made me do, girl-Goddess!" Mara sneered as she emerged through a doorway in the wall, trying to cast blame upon her. Skuld looked at Mara with a resentful glare; all the feelings of despising Cevn now shifted to the Demoness.
"I hate you, Mara! I really hate you!" she screamed into the thin air. Cevn had been possessed the entire time! A profound dolor gripped her. She didn't quite understand what had just happened, but she was resolute in her faith that her sisters would come to her...no, their rescue. Then she looked on as Mara created another spherical cage identical to hers, and dragged Cevn into it.
She abruptly realized that he had tried to free her by shutting off her cage. His failure had brought about terrible consequences.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
The strength of the dream vision jarred Urd into abrupt wakefulness. She sat up, alert and upset, only to see that her sister was awake as well.
"It's Skuld. She's been kidnapped!" was all Urd could manage; gripped by an electrical trance of worry.
"I felt it too, Urd! I knew something was wrong earlier, but I checked her room and she was there! How could it be?" Belldandy affirmed, looking at Urd and seeing distress drawn all over her face.
"She's way in trouble, Bell! I could almost smell it!"
The two Goddesses leapt out of their futon beds and rushed into their younger sister's "Skuld Labs" room. As they dashed in, Keiichi joined them, roused by the sudden noise of dashing feet in the hallway. Belldandy could only stare with her hand held over her mouth in disbelief at the sight that revealed itself past the doorway.
"OH...NO!" she shouted. The image of Skuld was shimmering in and out of vision.
"What's wrong, Bell-chan?" Keiichi asked, seeing the deep concern on his girlfriend's face. Belldandy felt hot tears run down her cheeks as she turned to face him and Urd.
"I was worried that Skuld hadn't gone to bed, so I checked on her..."
"But she's right here!" Keiichi finished, just as the image of Skuld shimmered out of sight.
"No! When I looked in on her, she was sitting here, just like she is now. I didn't bother to think that it might be a projection! It's all my fault!" Belldandy wailed as she began to break down in heavy sobs.
"She's gone, and I didn't..."
"Get a hold of yourself!" Urd yelled at her younger sister. Belldandy ignored her, feeling a Promethean sense of guilt. Urd realized that she was going to lose it if someone didn't wade in and pull her out of her guilt...and fast!
"It's not your fault!" Urd said as she shook Belldandy roughly. "Snap out of it, Bell-chan! We need you to be thinking clearly!" Keiichi said briskly. This seemed to get her attention.
Urd looked at the hologram projector and the image of Skuld examining design spec sheets.
"Damn it!" she yelled with frustration. Angrily, she kicked it, and a distorted image of their youngest sister floated in the air near the ceiling. She was so angry, her whole body was shaking with rage.
"This is it! This time, you're going down, Mara! Big-time! I'm going to make you wish you had never existed! You're going to live to regret the moment you earned the wrath of Urd, Eldest of the Norns!" she swore with all the embellishments of a dire oath.
Belldandy looked at her older sister; Urd was really ticked off!
Keiichi looked at Urd with a mixture of fear and admiration. He had never seen her so riled up. Her anger was so intense that it was making him afraid to be around her. But he shared her deep-felt anger towards Mara's interference in their lives the past few weeks. He felt strongly encouraged by Urd's resoluteness of purpose to punish Mara.
"This is extreme, even for Mara! She actually kidnapped Skuld!" Keiichi said with simmering rage. Belldandy had recovered herself, and looked at him with a flash of fear across her eyes.
"But how? How do we find her? I only got a brief mental echo of Mara's lair where she is being kept! I didn't have enough of a glimpse to get a fix on the location!" she said, desperate with disappointment.
She was about to begin another round of sobbing when Urd clasped her by both shoulders and smiled reassuringly.
"But I did!" Urd said with a smirk. Belldandy rested her head on Urd's shoulder for a moment, then looked at her older sister and smiled gently.
"Oh Urd, you always were the strongest of us three..."
"And don't you forget it! I'm not going to let Mara forget it for a microsecond!" Urd said, ignoring the fact that her license had been revoked and she was limited to Earth Spirit powers.
Keiichi smiled hopefully, relieved that they at least stood a decent chance of finding Skuld. Belldandy turned to look at him with tender eyes.
"Keiichi, I know that you want to go with us with all of your heart, but this is no place for a mortal. I can't divide my attention between trying to protect you and rescuing Skuld!" she explained gently.
Keiichi looked at her with a brief flash of disappointment in his eyes, then smiled encouragingly.
"You two do the 'go girl' thing and bring Skuld back to us! I know that you and Urd can outmaneuver Mara with your hands tied behind your backs. Go get her and bring her back safe!" Keiichi said with a confident expression. At least he was trying to look confident, he thought.
Light transformed the hallway, and then Belldandy and Urd reappeared in their Goddess Warrior dress. Both looked like a mix between Samurai and Valkyrie with their martial garb.
"Sometimes, she looks the most beautiful when she's dressed like this!" Keiichi reminded himself. Belldandy was accustomed to dressing in mortal clothing styles, except for times when she went forth into conflict or appeared with her angelic manifestation with wings or with Holy Bell.
But seeing her dressed like this...a mystical warrior princess...brought to vivid visual reality the fact that she was a Goddess. Seeing her and Urd in this striking aspect, Keiichi couldn't help but feel gripped by a sense of profound reverence.
"She's in an abandoned underground work alcove attached to the Tohoku Shinkansen line north of Tokyo! I could faintly hear the passage of a bullet train in the image Skuld sent!"
"Then let's go!" Belldandy urged, now fully herself and ready to rescue her younger sister.
Keiichi covered his eyes with his arm as the blinding flash filled the hallway. He decided to check on the other occupants of the house. Megumi was in her room, soundly asleep.
"She must be exhausted, to have slept through that!" he thought in amazement. He went to Cevn's room, only to find another hologram.
"Great! He's gone too!"
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Belldandy and Urd floated through the air, traveling at hundreds of kilometers per minute closely above the terrain until they spotted the bullet train tracks. Bringing their flight path in parallel with the train route, they speeded up, verdant crop fields and outcroppings of houses blurring past them. Ahead, they saw the rise of Mt. Amezuka. They entered the tunnel bored into the south side of the mountain and wove their way through the underground bullet-train tunnel's access vents, traveling invisible to the human eye.
In their ethereal form, only they could see each other. They were expending considerable energy to transport themselves in this form, but it would take wits as well as energy to confound Mara. Belldandy spied a doorway with telltale red beams of light spilling out of its perimeter.
"There!" she shouted.
"This must be it!" Urd confirmed. The two sisters grabbed hands for mutual confidence, and then they both floated through the door into the passageway. Immediately, alarms resounded with a din of metallic banging and discordant wailing, alerting Mara to their presence. Not missing a beat, the two Goddesses flashed through the gate and into the Demon's lair.
The otherworldliness of the surroundings paralyzed Belldandy with an instinctive dread for the unholy. But Urd remained alert, as she had been in a Demon's lair before, during the Ultimate Destruction Program crisis. That lair was nothing compared to this one, but the horror of the surroundings only briefly brought consternation to her mind.
Urd focused herself and searched the immediate vicinity. She saw every contrivance of evil that she expected, but no Skuld. Then she saw a hole in the wall, which resembled an extradimensional portal. It was ochre-colored with dripping slime and blood.
"There! Skuld must be on the other side of that...thing!"
"Yes! I remember seeing it!" Belldandy assented, gathering her wits for the encounter with Mara. Swallowing their repulsion, they both floated thru the portal.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Skuld felt really strange. She seemed to take on a more solid form, and she could feel aches and pains in various parts of her body. Also, her vision was fading in and out. Her thoughts were getting more specious and confused...and she felt like she was losing her mind. She was sitting hunched up in the bubble cage with her knees pulled tight to her chest, waiting for her two sisters to arrive. In her thoughts, she could see faint images of beaches and tall buildings with palm trees. The air possessed a slightly salty tang. Mountains thronged the distance in her mind's eye. She felt echoes of tragedy and loss in her past life.
Cevn felt really strange. His body seemed to fade in and out of perception. Sharp blasts of pain followed by brief reprieves. His mind seemed to expand and contract; symbolic logics flowed in and out of his awareness with tool-like precision. He felt a giddy invigoration that he hadn't felt since he was young: the knitted energy of purity seemingly discordant to his state of utter despair. He remembered fantastic architectures that blatantly defied spatial considerations and gravity. An inconspicuous sense of innocence and impulsivity suffused his senses.
Skuld looked at Mara, who was operating some sort of control panel. She visually traced the cabling from the box; it split into two trunks extending to the base of her confinement sphere and the base of the sphere Cevn was in. For a moment, she imagined she was Cevn, in that other sphere. She heard soundpoems in her head, accompanied by a deep sense of loss. Her mind struggled against the unexpected emotions...it was if something was churning inside of her and she didn't know what it was evolving into.
Cevn sat dejectedly. He couldn't see anything, having been blinded by Mara. The utter finality of the loss of his vision had overwrought his emotions. He was bitterly disappointed that all his efforts had been for naught. He moved his hands outwardly to touch something, anything. The smooth surface he encountered tactilely led him to believe that he was in some kind of solid confinement. Spherical, because he could not touch anything like a corner. Just like the bubble Skuld was trapped in.
The absolute silence unnerved him. He started thinking in musical forms to try and soothe himself. Images of Belldandy and Urd floated like ghosts, and he felt warm. Then Keiichi formed in his mind, and he felt a distinct sense of jealousy. Megumi followed, and his sentiment changed to competitiveness mixed with respect.
Skuld sensed the music ebbing in her thoughts. She felt a conflict between sisterly affection and confusion towards her sisters. Then an image of Megumi floated by, and she felt a warm friendship.
"Like she was my little sister?" Skuld thought.
"What! Waitaminute! Megumi is not my little sister! I don't even like her half the time, she's always trying to upstage me for Genji's affections!" Skuld caught herself at this thought.
"Who is Genji? I like Tomohisa, not some guy named Genji!" Compelling herself to stop her racing thoughts for a moment, she began to suspect that some of her thinking was not her own thoughts.
"Like, why would I feel so...weird...when I saw Urd dressed in an evening robe!" she noticed.
"What?!" she exclaimed out loud with shock.
Cevn saw images of his cats running around the house with six legs. They looked innocent enough, but he felt waves of frustration when he saw them.
"Stop! They're only cats!" he thought confusedly.
"They can't cause a system crash!" Dejectedly, he heard himself bewail his situation.
"I'm blind! I'll never see again! But I am not a child...I'm not a kid. I'm all grown up now!" Despite the graveness of his loss, he felt an unexpected source of calm. Then another voice told him that physical manifestations were impermanent, and that...
"<Cevn-san...Cevn-san?>" he heard a familiar voice in his head.
Skuld's sweet child-voice resonated in his awareness. The lovely sound of her voice greatly relaxed his consternation.
"<Wh...what? Skuld? Is that you...somehow in my mind?>"
"<Yes, it's me! Skuld! Who did you expect? Mara is trying to blend our memories somehow. These spheres we're in...function like a spiritual alembic of sorts. My suspicion is that she's merging our bodies and beings as well. That's why it seems like we're thoughtcasting to each other. I hope you don't mind, but I don't want to be in an...ewww, yuck! Oops! Sorry 'bout that!
"<I meant that I don't want to be in a guy's body anytime soon, thank you very much! I sent an image-message thoughtcast for help right before Mara locked me back up in this...whatever I'm in. You're in one too, by the way. But I don't know if Belldandy and Urd could have received it. I tried really hard to broadcast it strongly!>" she explained.
"<Skuld, you're okay? My God, how did you figure out what Mara's doing to us? I'm so relieved that you've been able to keep yourself together amidst this horrible nightmare. If you can feel what I feel... Oh great! How can I try and shield you from sensing some of my life's experiences? You don't need to feel them! Please try and ignore them! Oh, Skuld...I'm so sorry that I couldn't...>" the voice in her head trailed off.
Skuld didn't hear the rest of what Cevn was saying in her mind.
She began to cry, as a deep sadness welled up inside of her.
"Here's Cevn, blinded by Mara as a punishment for his attempt to set me free, and he's more concerned about my well-being than with the loss of his sight!" she observed in amazement. She wished she could somehow break out of her sphere and comfort him. She had severely underestimated him...and Keiichi.
Cevn felt a warm and gentle concern from Skuld...almost like a love...eons old and yet sharp with intent.
"<Skuld, if I could, I would hold you so tight, too! This must be terrifying for you! Please, we both need to try and keep ourselves calm. I'm going to put myself in a meditative trance to try and relax myself. Hopefully it will relax you as well.>"
Skuld felt a quiet calm descending on her mind, as she tried to think positive, optimistic thoughts. She concentrated on the mental image of her two sisters...
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Urd entered the room first, followed by Belldandy. They saw Mara, and felt the hair on their necks hackle up with an almost feral anger. The two Goddesses materialized, no longer invisible.
Belldandy looked around the room and noticed that Skuld was trapped in some kind of spherical containment field, then looked to the other side of the room and saw Cevn locked in a similar sphere.
Skuld was overjoyed to see her!
"What...have...you...done...to...my sister!" Belldandy and Urd bellowed out in stereo rage. Mara wheeled around to face her two adversaries.
"One unexpected move and these two are dead meat! I have them both locked up. If you don't give me what I want, I'll souffle their minds with this SoulMorpher. You know what will happen if I merge them, don't you?" she growled out menacingly, a fierce grin on her face.
This seemed to steal some of the fire from Urd. She knew that mortal and immortal could not fully merge in any aspect of being. It would kill Skuld. She looked at her younger sister, who looked anxiously at her, expecting her and Belldandy to do something. She felt a new surge of rage surface and brilliant glowing sparks and bolts emerged from her hands.
"MARAAAAaaaaa!" she yelled.
Belldandy quickly reacted to Urd's impending power discharge and placed a restraining hand on her sister's arm before she could deliver a striking bolt at Mara.
"<Urd, I know how much you want to do this, but we cannot afford to incite Mara to harm Skuld or Cevn! And I know that your display is all show...you don't have any power to waste!>" Belldandy cautioned via thoughtcast.
"Cevn's here too?" Urd exclaimed. She had been so wrapped up in her singleness of purpose to rescue Skuld that she had failed to notice that Cevn was also in the room. She looked over to the sphere Cevn was confined in, and suddenly felt sick in the pit of her stomach.
"Bell...look"! Belldandy took a closer look, and gasped as she saw Cevn's eyeless face. Urd was torn between aversion and rage as this new insult to her senses became clear. Mara seemed to laugh on cue...
"What do you want, Mara?" Belldandy asked. The situation was much too delicate to risk upsetting her Demonic counterpart, not with Skuld and Cevn's lives at risk.
"Very simple. Everything you know about the book! And I mean EVERYTHING!" Mara demanded. Her fangs flashed in the red light of the room.
Skuld looked at both of her sisters, desperate with hope...her expression a beacon too brilliant for Urd and Belldandy to ignore.
"Okay. But will you promise to release them, now?" Urd asked hesitantly.
"Urd!" Belldandy gasped, looking at her older sister with a shocked expression. "You can't give her that information! She could become a major menace..."
"And risk losing Skuld! Mara already is a major menace! No way! Think, Belldandy! She would only have the God's Language part of the book. That won't be enough on its own for her to figure the whole thing out!" Urd replied.
"The God's Language?" Mara questioned aloud. "You mean that thing you have in your house is written in the God's Language too!"
"Yep! So?" Urd replied with a deadpan voice. Belldandy whispered something in her ear...and Urd's eyes grew big.
"Bwah hahaha! This is so rich! Gimme the information now, and I'll let them go free!" Mara offered unexpectedly.
Both sisters were suddenly on the defensive, as Mara had tipped her hand with her confident outburst. She was definitely up to something. Belldandy conjured up a computer disk, and loaded the information on it. She didn't bother to tell Mara that they had just started on the translation of the God's Language portion of the book.
"Here it is!" She gave it to Urd, who tossed it on the desk. Mara scooped it up with a burst of child-like greedy curiosity.
"Now keep your word, Mara!" Belldandy warned. They all knew the Rule: once Mara had given her word as a Demon, she could not go back on it, unless of course she had given it to a mortal. Mara had to relinquish her captives.
"All right! Take 'em and get lost! I have work to do!" she said, ignoring them and her captives. The two bubbles dissolved an instant later and Skuld and Cevn tumbled out onto the floor. Belldandy and Urd held out their hands to Skuld for a hug and the young Goddess ran right past them over to where Cevn laid. She grabbed him and held his head to her chest, crying while she stroked his long hair. Blood splotched her blouse where she held him.
"What is going on here?" Urd remarked, momentarily upset at her younger sister's callousness. Skuld hadn't come to her and Bell first. Then she looked at the heartrending scene and tears came to her eyes as the full force of what they had endured together hit her.
Cevn's face was covered with blood, and his arms had slashes and stab wounds all up and down them. His shirt was ripped open, and slashes crisscrossed his chest and stomach. Skuld ripped off a strip of her own jacket, and wrapped it around Cevn's face, covering his eyes.
Belldandy could see that Skuld had been terrified; the horror of her prolonged stay here had completely unnerved her. She still was shivering with fear, even though she had freed. Something in Belldandy was aroused, and she knelt down and hugged them both as Urd joined them.
"Belldandy, Skuld, he's almost lost all of his blood!" Urd shouted with concern as she noticed the rips in the side of his neck and his pallid pallor. Cevn could barely hold his head up, he was so debilitated with blood loss.
"Get out of here! Your stupid show of sympathy is making me sick!" Mara said, motioning her fingers towards her open mouth as an indicator that she was ready to puke with the sentiment of the scene.
Belldandy and Urd pulled Skuld up to her feet, and then helped Cevn to his.
"I feel so weak. I can't transport like this. Mara took most of my energy," Skuld admitted as her legs shook under her.
Belldandy looked at her younger sister and thanked the Almighty that she was alive. She knew in an instant that Skuld's energy level was almost depleted; she was fading in and out of translucence. Somehow, they made it back out into the access tunnel to the bullet train underground tunnel.
"Urd, we've got to get Skuld back home right away! I'm going to give her some of my energy, enough so she can transport herself back home. You're going to have to stay and get Cevn back somehow using mortal means."
"I wanna stay with Cevn-san! I wanna stay!" Skuld remonstrated loudly. Urd smiled tenderly at her younger sister.
"Skuld, you need to let Elder Sister take care of you right now. You can help Cevn best by returning home and getting your rest, so that your powers can restore themselves." She saw that Skuld was almost giddy with exhaustion as she leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
Belldandy touched her forehead to Skuld's and a blue glow of energy arced between them. Skuld seemed to be a bit more alert and peppy now, after the energy transfer. She looked into both of her sister's eyes and felt warm washes of love all over her being, calming her consternation and fright. Without a word, she found a pool of water and disappeared in it. Belldandy found an overhead mirror in the Shinkansen tunnel and followed her.
Urd looked at Cevn with pity, and then realized that she might be able to save his vision. She helped him into a sitting position, and went back into Mara's lair.
"You said you would release them, Mara. Where's his eyes?" Urd demanded in a trilling voice of irritation.
Mara looked up at Urd in shock. She didn't expect any more trouble from the three Goddesses. All of a sudden here was Urd again, looking very pissed off. Mara readied a taunt, then she saw into the peeved look in Urd's eyes....she was manic with rage! Mara felt a slip of fear grasp her as she realized that she no longer had the leverage of two captives to hold over Urd's head and restrain her anger.
Urd looked like she was ready to blow...and as Mara's equal in age, Mara knew that Urd could do some real damage to her and her lair. She pointed to two bloody eyes on the desk with a snide expression.
"I was hoping you'd never ask. Take 'em," she said dismissively.
Urd gingerly gathered the two eyes and wrapped them in a hermetic sealing spell, then put them in a pocket of her skirt. She returned to the tunnel and saw Cevn reaching out with his hands, trying to stand upright.
"Cevn, it's me! Urd! I'm here! I just went and got your eyes back from Mara. I may be able to restore your sight," she offered, trying to sound confidant. But she knew everything depended on how soon she could return him back to the temple compound. Cevn turned towards her voice, his hands reaching out, trying to find her. His flailing efforts weighed heavy on Urd; with a deep sense of sympathy and concern, she knelt down and pulled Cevn silently to her and held him.
"It's going to be okay once we get you back home," Urd said calmly.
"Urd, it hurts so much...I can't even cry, because I have no eyes to cry with!" he said weakly. He felt like deadweight in her grasp. Urd felt a piece of her heart fragment away at his words and fought with herself not to cry into his shoulder. She wanted to soothe him, but he had twisted into shock with the loss of his eyesight. His whole body shook spasmodically, telling Urd that Cevn was in physical shock as well. All she could do was hold him as tremors shook his body. Urd felt a very deep stirring in her heart, one that she hadn't felt in...
"No! I'm not going there, not now!" she thought as once more she encountered the tragic barrier she could not break.
"Let's get you home, Cevn."
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Keiichi was relieved when Belldandy and Skuld arrived back at the house. He had stayed up the rest of the night and all day, restlessly pacing through the house. When Megumi woke up, he told her the whole story about Skuld's abduction. Brother and sister tried to calm each other with shoptalk and joking, but worry bested their efforts.
Keiichi was especially afraid that something would happen to Belldandy. He and Bell-chan had such a tenuous relationship at times. When something otherworldly would happen, he would be left feeling powerless over the situation, worrying about the welfare of his beloved Goddess.
"This must be how it is for her during one of my races; she must experience the same kinds of feelings about me," he thought to himself. After a forever of waiting, Belldandy and Skuld emerged from the bathroom, safe and sound.
Belldandy explained that both she and Skuld had to use Belldandy's energy; as a result, both Goddesses were exhausted. The conflict with Mara had taken a lot out of both of them. Skuld in particular looked pretty shook up, Keiichi noticed. Her normally bright brown eyes were dimmed, and her young face was drawn with tension.
"What did Mara do to you, Skuld-sama?!" Keiichi asked with anger mixed with concern.
"Nhh nnnh!" Skuld mumbled as she shook her head "no" vigorously. It must have been much worse for her than he imagined...
Belldandy walked over and wrapped her arms around Keiichi, kissing him softly on the cheek, looking deep into his dark brown eyes to feel the warmth of his love for her. Keiichi held her and rocked her slowly. He could almost feel waves of pent-up tension disperse as she leaned into him, letting her stress flow into him. After a few minutes, he felt her body becoming more relaxed. After a long hug, he let her go.
To his surprise, Skuld suddenly rushed up and grabbed onto him tightly.
"She must really be scared...she's awfully grabby!" he thought. Expecting a quick hug, he was unprepared for the long hug from the young Goddess. Almost like her older sister, Skuld was letting her tension slowly pass into Keiichi. She started to cry into his chest, and Keiichi reacted to this by soothing her hair.
"It's okay, Skuld. You're back home safe with us," he said in a soft voice. He looked at Belldandy, who could only shrug her shoulders in shared mystification at Skuld's sudden onset of affection-thirst for Keiichi.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Urd was trying to figure out how to get her and Cevn back to the temple. It was clearly not an option to ride on the Shinkansen, as Cevn's injuries would arouse suspicion. She looked over at him; his head was wrapped with a band of cloth covering his eyes. Urd had wiped the blood off of his face and neck, so that at least he looked halfway decent. She shuddered once again at the extent of Mara's treachery.
Cevn seemed like he was a shadow of who he once was. Tears once more came to Urd's eyes as she recalled her first meeting with Cevn; how she had felt such animosity at this upstart mortal. Then later, how he flew into a panic when she was all around him when they fell out of the TV together. She thought about the pendulum-like swings in their relationship since he had arrived. Finally, she was surprised at how deep of an impact this one mortal had made upon her heart in the past several weeks.
Seeing him like this brought up long-dormant feelings in Urd, feelings similar to those she had felt when Skuld was really young. She felt a warm feeling well up inside of her, one that increased with the confidence she felt about having someone to care about.
Urd emerged from the tunnel, walking with her arm around Cevn's back, supporting his nearly unconscious form. He was still shaking violently, as if he was having a very bad chill, slowing their progress considerably. She decided that this rate of travel was dangerously slow. Reconsidering her options, she knew that she could transport her and Cevn back to Makuhari. But this would almost deplete her powers.
"Hehheh!" She chuckled to herself...Mara hadn't even noticed that Urd was operating on limited Earth Spirit Class powers.
"She is such an idiot, for a Demoness!" Urd said to herself. She wished that she had the kind of power she possessed when she was under the influence of the Ultimate Destruction Program...she wouldn't have hesitated to atomize Mara.
Returning to more immediate concerns, there was the consideration of his eyes. She would need to put them in some kind of cryogenic storage immediately upon return.
"Cevn, I'm going to transport us back to the temple," Urd announced.
"What's the use? I'm fucking blind! My whole life is ruined! I can't see a thing here, and I won't be able to see anything there! Just leave me here so I can walk in front of the train and end it all," Cevn replied despondently. Urd felt a sense of panic at his suicidal mood.
"N..no! You stop thinking like that! I'm not giving up on you, and you damn well better not give up on me!" Urd shouted in his ear. She steeled herself, as their atomic structures began to fold and bend...
"I feel really sick..." Cevn moaned.
With a swoosh, Urd and Cevn disappeared from the tunnel entrance just as a 400 Series HSST bullet train jetted by.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Skuld was just about asleep when Urd stumbled in and collapsed on her futon bed, jostling her on the head with a stray elbow. She looked at her oldest sister with a flash of ire, then noticed that Urd had expended almost all of her energy.
"She must have transported Cevn-san back here with her--that would explain why she is so drained. How Big Sister managed it with reduced powers, I can only begin to guess," she observed. Looking past Urd, she saw Belldandy soundly sleeping.
Skuld crawled over Urd and nestled herself between her two sisters. This was the safest place in the known universe for the young Goddess. Belldandy's gentle breathing relaxed her. She looked at Urd, and noticed a gentle smile on her face.
"She sure looks happy for someone who almost used up all of her powers," Skuld thought as she rested her head on her pillow. Protected on either side by her sisters, she let sleep find her.