Of Angels and Demons Chapter 8: Treading Lightly, an oh my goddess! fanfic

Of Angles and Demons

By: Ben Craton

Aka: Tsunami.No.Ai

Of Angles and Demons

Part 8: Treading Lightly

All warfare is based on deception.

-Sun Tzu, The Art of War 1:18

Keiichi ran his fingers along the walls of the darkened tunnel he and his two companions had been wandering for well over an hour. The stench of the sulfur that Urd had mentioned in passing previously permeated his senses and nauseated him. Of course the recurring thought that he was actually inside the depths of hell looking for his beloved's sister who had been kidnapped by a horde of demons didn't help much either. The sticky dampness on the wall for the few feet he was in contact with it made him retract in disgust and wonder how such moisture could even exist in someplace as hot as this.

The tunnels hadn't been all that interesting given the location they were at. A network of passages that seemed to go on endlessly into the semi-blackness ahead. The fact there was any light at all was disturbing. The dark granite walls seems to be letting off the blood red light out of what appeared to be arteries behind it, coursing with energies that even Keiichi in his limited capacity as a demigod could sense. The path continued to descent and branch off into differing directions every few hundred feet, to where neither he nor his companions knew.

The three had said nothing since entering the chasm through the rotting temple in the Ural Mountains. Not that there was much to be said. They knew that at some point they would be ambushed but had no idea when or where. Belldandy had her sword held in front of her at the ready and Urd was constantly looking side to side, looking warily at each upcoming passage branch and appearing a little relieved once past it. Keiichi walked behind the two goddesses, partly from fear of what was ahead and partly because he had no fighting experience at all compared to the others. He had learned that during the Celestine event.

The anticipation was grating on all of their nerves. Each step took them deeper and closer to where the horde lay, almost assuredly in anticipation of the trio's arrival. They could be attacked from the sides or from the back. With the pulsating energies from the walls any hope of pinpointing another life down in these caverns was snuffed out like a candle in thick fog. It was becoming unsettling that they had yet been attacked in the time they had infiltrated Niflheim. Coupled with the heat, the silence, and the mission the three of them were becoming more and more on edge.

Suddenly, Belldandy raised her hand as a signal to stop. Urd came to a halt and glanced backward at Keiichi as if looking for a clue as to why the trek had ended there. Keiichi shrugged at her and walked up beside Belldandy. She was still staring forward in ernest. For the first time during the walk, Keiichi saw his beloved's face. The suspense of ambush and the thought of her sister must have been torturous on her. Her eyes were narrow and dark, glaring at the unseen horde ahead. There was not even a hint of a smile in her normally cheerful features. Everything in her expression indicated that she was not to be taken lightly.

Belldandy continued to watch forward and motioned for Urd and Keiichi to move closer to her. As they did, she kept her eyes n the passage ahead but used her free hand to move Urd's forehead closer to her own. Urd did the same with Keiichi. As they came in contact with each-other, their divine icons began to glow.

'Keiichi, Urd, I can feel them ahead,' Belldandy's voice entered Keiichi's mind like a loud radio.

'How can you sense them with all this interference?' Urd seemed genuinely surprised at her sister's claim.

'I can't make out individuals yet, but there is definitely a large group ahead. At least a hundred or more.'

'A hundred!?' Keiichi took a step back, inadvertently severing the communication link. Urd and Belldandy glanced up at him in annoyance and pulled him back, clacking their heads together uncomfortably.

'Yes, actually probably several hundred. But like Urd said, the interference is extremely strong here. Its more likely am only able to pick up those closest to us now. They seem to be unaware of us though.' She paused. 'And they are moving away from us.'

'That doesn't make any sense at all. Demons don't travel in groups over twenty, they are too pig headed. I would know.' Urd sniffed. 'And moving away from a fight? As if.'

'Its what I can sense from here.'

'How far from here?' Keiichi's discomfort with the situation was rising with the calm manner in which the goddesses were discussing a legion of devils waiting to kill them.

'Hmmm.. I would say probably a half mile at most. They also are not in this tunnel, or at least not in a direct path with us.'

'Any ambushes between us and them?'

'I cant tell. If the group is moving in that direction though, it would figure any stragglers would be going that way too. I cant be for certain. We should probably-'

Without warning, Belldandy grabbed Keiichi by the hair and threw him to the ground. As his body passed her shoulders, she thrust her sword over him and through the open mouth of the lunging demon serpent. It made a short, strangled scream and fell limp as the hilt struck its front teeth. Blood ran down Belldandy's arm in a thin stream. Urd jumped back in surprise realizing what had just taken place.

"What the hell!? Belldandy!" Urd shouted and then quickly realizing her mistake covered her mouth with her hand.

Keiichi, pushed himself up off the sticky floor and looked above him: Belldandy, arm outstretched covered in blood, with a sword, through the dead body of same kind of creature she had killed before. He nearly threw up. Urd knelt down and helped Keiichi to his feet all the while watching the look on her sister's face. It never once changed or faltered from the intensity before.

"Another specter. They have to know we are here," Belldandy said out-loud. She lowered the lizard, stepped on its tail and pulled the sword from it, removing the blood from the blade in a downward strike through the air.

"We have to start moving faster. There will probably be a guard party after it."

Keiichi knocked the muddy substance from his knees. "This is crazy you know. There's just three of us and-"

"That's more than enough," Belldandy said flatly. She looked back over her shoulder at him. Her eyes had become cold. "Come on, lets move before more arrive." She began to run down the black tunnel.

"Urd," Keiichi turned to the tall goddess. "There's something wrong with her."

Urd looked after her sister and sighed. "Skuld, Kami, demons.. They are all messing with her right now. But more than that.." She started after Belldandy, Keiichi in toe. "Her power is growing. Its affecting her mind. Im starting to wonder if she can even control it anymore."

She wouldn't admit it, but she was becoming more and more frightened of her own sister.

Peorth typed furiously on her console next to Megumi. Ever since Belldandy and the others had gone off on their missions they had been trying to contain the D virus as best they could. Not that there was much to contain. As Megumi had discovered shortly before the panic set in, the D virus was speeding up its decay. Soon, the core of the doublet system would be non-existent and there would be no protection among the Asgard from any demonic attack.

So far, they had only found that it was increasing its rate of decay and the approximate size of the virus that remained functional. Unfortunately, the rate was not constant as it as fluctuating between doubling, tripling, even slowing down, and the intervals at which it changed speed were being 5 seconds and one being as long as 45 minutes. All attempts at fixing the virus had been put on hold and all technicians who had clearance, even Peorth, were diverting their energy to finding out how much time they had left before the system failed.

"Megumi, do you have anything yet?" Peorth leaned back, taking a small breather.

"No," She said dejectedly. "Nothing… the times just don't make any normal pattern from what we have."

Peorth frowned. "Thats mostly our fault I guess. We should have caught this before. Now we only have like an hour's worth of data to go on. Could be days, could be…" She trailed off.

"Keiichi and the others will be ok though right? Its not like this will break while they are out looking for Skuld."

The elder goddess scrunched her face. "That I couldn't say. They probably have plenty of time, but I honestly haven't the slightest clue."

Megumi looked down at her console. Why was she even here, she thought. Its not like she could be much use to any of these computer types. She wanted to be with her brother looking for her friend. She at least knew how to kick butt and whatever gods or whatever were up here should have known that about her. So why had she been put somewhere where all she could do is watch monitors for things that had to be explained to her by the most senior level debugger. Something that was definitely wasting Peorth's time she was sure. She grabbed her white clothes and bunched them in her fist. No, something here wasn't right, wasn't fair.

"Hey kid. Don't get so worked up, we'll figure it out. And even if it happens to break earlier than we hope for, your brother is with two of the most powerful goddesses around. They'll all be fine." Peorth reached over and put a hand on Megumi's console and smiled.

"Yeah, you're right… I guess. Still–"

"Madam Peorth!" A tech called from the other side of the massive chamber, cutting off Megumi in mid-thought. "Madam Peorth! You must see this!" The tech flew across the chamber carrying a small disk. Murmurs and chatter arose from around all the work stations, replacing the admirable quiet that had been there before.

Peorth stood up to receive the excited young god. "Everyone back to work!" She demanded to the throng of other techs. "What is it?"

The young god landed in front of her with the disk held in front of his face. His expression was not one of joyous discover, but one of frantic alarm. "I ran the numbers through some of Yggdrasil's antiquated randomizing algorithms and found this Ma'am." He placed the disk in a vacant terminal behind Peorth's station and hit a few keys. The screen displayed various numbers and graphics before popping up a graph with the equations in question.

"You can see here, its following a modified version of the Ratatosk algorithm. Based on that, this is the projected termination time." He hit another few keys. Peorth's eyes went wide and her face grew grave.

"Recall all the remote teams to Yggdrasil, NOW!" She rushed back t her console and began running various emergency programs. Megumi watched with increasing worry.

"But Ma'am, we don't have permission to recall anyone, we're just techni–"

"DO IT NOW!" Peorth spun around and glared into the god's eyes.

"Ye.. Yes Ma'am!" The god flew back to his station.

"Peorth… What is going on? What did he show you?"

"Megumi, I'm sorry." She looked down at the demi-goddess with sad eyes for a moment. Then, gathering herself she turned and addressed the chamber.

"Everyone, We have a serious situation. We have discovered how long until the D virus will terminate. We have just under seventy-eight minutes before the system will fail. As such, I am now asserting my authority as emergency operations commander. Beginning now, we have to secure Yggdrasil and Asgard. Repeal all contracts and recall all our teams back to Asgard and tell them to await further instructions. Everyone will make this their only priority until told otherwise. Get to work!"

"Seventy eight…" Megumi had a look of horror on her face. She knew where her brother was and what most likely happen after that time ran out. She stared blankly at the floor.

Peorth walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, I still mean what I said before. Those three will be fine. Now come on, I need your help with something."

Megumi wiped the tears that were coming to her eyes on their own. "but what about–?"

"They can handle it. We drill them hard enough for these kinds of things." She lied. "But Keiichi will need some help getting the message to evacuate because of where he is. We'll need to get him that message. Ok?"

Megumi paused, confused for moment, the stood. "Alright, lets do it."

"Mr. President, Ms. Hildebrand is here to see you again."

"Tell her I'll see her in a moment."

"Yes sir."

President Johnston sighed and put his head in his hands on the desk in front of him. This would make the third time in as many weeks that that infernal woman had shown up at the White House. She had shown up originally uninvited claiming to be from the Romanian embassy. She had the credentials and the papers needed to very this of course and the staff at the embassy did know her name, but beyond that no one had been able to find any record of her beyond a month ago.

The president began to clear his desk of the classified materials he had been presented with earlier from the chiefs of staff. Not that she didn't already know what was in them of course. She had been the one to bring the documents to them in the first place. On her first visit she had come "on behalf of the fair Romanian people with news of grave importance." Shaky identity or not, when she presented the satellite photos that were verified by the CIA a day later, it didn't matter anymore.

"Ah! Mister President!" The thick accent came from the door. Johnston looked up at the tall, thin woman who was followed into the office by two secret service. She sauntered up to his desk and tapped on it with a large manilla envelope. "I come bearing more intelligence from my government."

"Sorry sir, she refused to wait outside again." The larger service man apologized for the both of them. The president looked at Ms. Hildebrand and back at the service man, motioning for him to stand down and wait outside. The men left, closing the door behind them.

"So, you bring me more bad news I take it." He rapped the papers on the desk, stacking them, before placing them in the drawer out of sight.

The woman grinned and walked to the side of his desk, sitting on the edge.. "Bad news for you, yes. But bad news for all parties involved? Hmm.. I am not so sure about that." She flipped her silvery hair back over her shoulder. Johnston studied her cautiously.

"Let me be frank with you Ms. Hildebrand."

"Helena." She kept grinning.

"Helena...Im not quite sure what you're up to but I know that you and your government seem to be up to something. Its obvious that the information you've given us is accurate, but the fact you will only talk to me and your government knows very little about you is very troublesome."

"Hmm, I could see where that perhaps May be of some concern to you mister president, but can you afford not to trust me?" She held the envelope up in the air and tossed it in front of him on is desk.

Johnston sighed. "I suppose under the circumstances, no. However, if worst come s to worst, Helena, be mindful you will probably be the first against the wall."

"Hmph, that is not entirely humanitarian of you." She stood and walked back towards the door, taking the handle. "Just remember, the photos do not lie."

"What is you want from us?" He said, standing.

"Want? From you? Nothing. We are offering this as a sign of good will." She nodded at him, opened the door and left.

Johnston looked down at the envelope, picked it up and opened it, spilling the contents onto his desk. Just as before, there were more satellite photos of the eastern and western border regions of russia. More photos of mobilizing forces and silo construction. More documents showing the communications between russia and more of America's potential enemies. The woman was bring him war, little by little, in envelopes.

Outside the door, the woman smiled and vanished.

Megumi was trying to keep up with the elder goddess who seemed to be speeding down the corridors of the Yggdrasil complex with abandon. Megumi wished she could fly as well. Not a word had been spoken while weaving in and out of the passageways further and further down into the structure. The walls were getting continuously more dusty and eroded the farther they went. The air smelled of age.

"Where are we going?" Megumi huffed.

"Somewhere private," Peorth said without turning around.

They came to the end of a hall and to a small archway. Peorth slowed finally and landed in front of the door. Megumi caught up and leaned against the wall gasping for breath.

"Here we go," the older goddess reached into the top of her outfit and fished out of it a small key. She unlocked the door and started inside. She glanced down at Megumi who was giving her a look of exasperation.

"What, you've never kept something in there? Come on then," she nodded toward the interior. Megumi sighed and followed her in.

"What is this place anyway?"

"Used to be one of the archive rooms till they moved most of the equipment to a consolidated area. Been abandoned since then. I use it for privacy." She reached down in the dim light which shown in only a beam from the window at the top of the archway above the door. With a few flicks of switches some holo-screens in the corner of the room flared into life.

"What do we need privacy for?" Megumi glanced around the room, looking for a place to sit down that wasn't covered in dust.

Peorth sat in the only visible chair in the room and cracked her knuckles. "For some investigating." She turned back to her companion. "Don't you find it rather odd that you all show up here, then we find the doublet system, then Skuld goes missing, and now Belldandy and your brother are off in Nifelhem?"

Megumi scratched her head. "To be honest, I haven't had much time to think since getting here. But now that you put it that way, yeah, it seems kinda fishy."

Peorth nodded and turned back to the screens which were done coming online. "I was planning on doing this later, when Urd got back, but given the fact we only have an hour now, I don't have much time to get to the bottom of it."

"So what are you going to do?" Megumi walked up and watched over Peorth's shoulder. "I thought the doublet thing was your priority."

"It… it is, but I have this feeling that there's more to it than that." She tapped some of the harp like strings at the console. "Something about the timing of Skuld vanishing has been bothering me."

"Like what?"

"I know she was working on finding out why the D virus was deteriorating at the time she up and went poof. I can only imagine she found out what it was and was conveniently silenced." She plucked some more strings and moved a shuttle looking device.

Megumi mulled over this. It would make sense thats why she was abducted. Why else would demons target her instead of someone with more clout. "That does sound like a good explanation. But how does that help us?"

"It doesn't, well, not really. It only lets us know she may have known something. And if I know my Skuld tactics, she would have saved it somewhere just in case. Ah ha!"

"What?" Megumi peered closer at the terminal.

"I found the access to the security system for last night's records." She leered at them, browsing the files and directories. "Hmm.. All of the data seems to be here… except for the main control hall at the time she would have been and then subsequently the eastern and lower sections are missing." She sat back and pondered this.

"Missing? You don't think…" Megumi looked down at Peorth who met her eyes with the same realization. "There's someone… someone here that is in on it!"

Peorth looked down again. "Damn… I was hoping that wasn't a possibility. It makes this much more difficult. We might have a spy up here, or worse. Either way, it means that we cant trust anything we find on these systems." She flicked the switch on the terminal and stood to leave.

"Where are you going now?" Megumi whined, following the goddess to the door.

"Let assume, just for a minute, that Skuld did find something, and that someone up here is working for the demons. They would have pursued her from here. Thats why the security files for the main hall and the lower east entrances were gone. It would figure she ran out that way, towards the east."

"What's that way?" Megumi was now back out in the hall, waiting for Peorth to close and lock the door, placing the key back in its intended spot.

"'Not much, not if you're being chased anyway. Except… Lake Werner. Which could mean..."

"She used it to escape!" Megumi finished her thought for her.

"Indeed. If that were the case, she would go to the first place she could think of thats safe."

"The temple!"

"Exactly. We will search there."

The heat and humidity bore down on the trio of gods as they continued down the ever winding passages. The red light was darker now and the walls seemed to close in around them. It was nearly pitch black but the walls' light still highlighted their features with a blood red tinge. The pressure also seemed to be increasing. Since the last attack they had seen nor heard any of the demon horde Belldandy had sensed earlier. They had been left alone to wander, anticipating with every step that the next corner would lead into a pack of awaiting demons ready to strike.

Keiichi leaned over to Urd as they walked. "How far do you think we are into hell?" He asked in a hushed voice.

Urd thought for a second. "Maybe two miles in, but we haven't actually gotten to hell yet. We're still on earth, just under ground. Very deep underground"

"When do we get into hell then?"

"Hmm.. Good question. Now that I think about it we should have passed through the barrier portal already, but we're definitely not in hell yet." Urd quickened her pace a bit to catch up to Belldandy a few yards in front of them. She tapped her sister on the shoulder. Belldandy glanced back at her with an inquisitive look without slowing down.

"Just noticed, we're not in hell yet. Shouldn't we have passed the barrier by now?"

Belldandy blinked and then suddenly stopped, causing Urd to trip over her own feet and fall on her face. Urd sat up on the ground holding her nose.

"You could warn me before you do that!" She hissed.

Belldandy had a finger up to her cheek in though and was looking back down the passage they had come down. Keiichi walked up beside her.

"What is it?"

Belldandy hmmed and lowers her finger and her sword to the ground. "This is a bigger trap than we thought." She spoke in a normal voice, causing the now standing Urd and Keiichi to clamp their hands on her mouth. She reached up and pulled them off dejectedly.

"There's no point in lowering our voices. No one is here anymore." She said, putting the sword point in the ground and turning it absently.

"Huh?" The other said in unison.

"You're right, we should have come into hell long ago. Probably a mile or so back, but we haven't. In face, now that you brought it up, I cant sense any demons any more. Well…. Not the horde I felt earlier, just a few stragglers. I think they left."

"Wait wait wait," Keiichi raised and eyebrow. "How did they all just vanish without you noticing? And if we've been on earth this whole time, what's a demon army doing here anyway?"

"For starters, I didn't notice because I wasn't really paying attention to them. I was busy watching for attacks. Second… I don't know. But it would seem that we have been not only expected, but lead here for a reason. Otherwise we would have at least met with a little resistance, other than that serpent of course."

"Well thats just great! Have you at least been able to locate Skuld yet?" Urd crossed her arms.

"I've been trying Urd, but no, I haven't. Though since there are stragglers, there's no reason to believe she wouldn't still be here according to the intel we have. I doubt any army of demons would be trusted with a goddess of her status."

"You mean a lowly debugger?"

Belldandy glared at Urd.

"Sorry… Just trying to break the tension."

Belldandy sighed. "Keep those kind of comments to yourself. Im at my wits end as it is. Id think you'd show more concern over your own sister being missing too."

Urd looked at the ground uncomfortably. She had to admit, she was becoming more and more troubled the longer it took for them to find Skuld. Now the demons apparently were gone and there was no sign of her sister to be had. She still hoped it would be like normal times when something like Mara did went wrong and one of them was in trouble and there was a little confrontation and then everyone went home happy. But deep down, in her heart, she had the feeling that this time would be different. That this time, they weren't going to be able to just pack up and go home like nothing happened. And it scared her.

Keiichi had walked a bit in front of the others to peer around the corner they had been moving towards. "hey guys, I think you should see this." He stood at the corner of the tiny passage looking to the left. The goddesses sauntered over and looked around themselves. Belldandy nearly dropped her sword. In front of them was an enormous cavern probably a quarter mile across and a little less than that high. It was filled with the glow of red hot magma flowing, unseen,through a crevasse at the end of the room opposite them. The ground was flat and the walls like curtains of rock rising to meet the solid rock ceiling. The trio walked in looking around in awe.

"Well this is new and unexpected." Urd walked in about twenty paces and stopped, putting her hands on her hips. She turned back to Belldandy who was now hovering near Keiichi. "you think this is where the army was?"

Belldandy shook her head. "No, they were to the north, this room is south of where I sensed them."

Urd sniffed. It was odd, a room this big with nothing in it. And what was more, it didn't wreak of sulfur, not like the passage. Must be the lava, she thought. "I don't see any exits out of here other than where we came in."

Keiichi walked further to the right of where they came in, examining the length of the wall. "How can you tell? There's enough folds in the rock to hide an entrance every few feet."

Urd frowned. "Inspired guess. I certainly don't see any."

Suddenly, Belldandy lurched forward and grabbed Keiichi's arm and pulled him to a stop. "Wha-!" "SHH!" She hissed for him to be silent. She turned back to Urd and motioned for her to stay silent and move back against the wall adjacent to the back wall. As they moved back, Urd and Keiichi began to hear the cause of Belldandy's alarm. A scraping sound, like metal being dragged along haphazardly on the ground was quietly filling the cavern. It echoed and reverberated along the walls, growing louder and making the noise impossible to pinpoint. Small skips in the noise seemed to be whatever it was skipping as it hit small rocks on the floor.

Urd motioned to Belldandy for a count of how many enemies. She put up one finger and held her sword at the ready with her other hand. After a minute or so, a figure emerged not more than 30 yards down the adjacent wall. It walked perpendicular to them, paying them no heed. It was hunched over and walked without purpose. Behind it, it drug a pole, not much shorter than itself. The light of the magma glistened off its hair which hung down past its face, concealing any features. The clothes it wore glistened as well, in a sheen, as though they were made of leather. As the pole hit a small stone on the ground it bounced, breaking the noise with an ominous second of silence. In that silence, the head of a hammer glinted in the red light before smacking back into the ground. The figure walked until it was in front of them and then it stopped. It turned to them and stood up straight, flicking its hair back behind its shoulders.

The face was wrinkled and the eyes sunk, matted in blood and scratched to hell, but in the few moments it was lit by the molten river, the three gods felt their hearts stop. With eyes wide and psychotic smile on her face, Skuld picked up the hammer from the ground and swinging it with murderous abandon flew at them.

End Chapter 8, To Be Continued

Sorry for the long delay in getting this chapter out. It took a dedicated fan several weeks of pestering to get me to write this part. If you felt like this was all filler, it really kinda is. But it's necessary filler to set up the next chapter, the final chapter in the first half of OAAD. All the pieces and questions you have will come together and will probably surprise you. If the pestering continues you can expect that chapter out in the coming weeks.

05/10/2008 - Tsunami.No.Ai