31_days | [14-Feb-2006] [Oh My Goddess!] Insomnia (Reply)

Title: Insomnia
Challenge: 14-Feb-2006 / "four (death)"
Based on: Oh My Goddess!
Characters: (several)
Type: Drama/angst; 2837 words
Rating: PG, for mild language and mature themes.

Oh My Goddess! © Kodansha / TBS / KSS Films / AnimEigo / Pioneer / Geneon.

Belldandy sat down to dinner, after setting the table for Keiichi and her sisters. She stifled a long yawn. "Oh... excuse me..."

"You alright, hon?" asked Urd, as she reached for a bowl of food, snatching it away just before Skuld could grab it.

"Yes, of course," Belldandy said. "I didn't get much sleep last night, but it's nothing-- oh dear!!"

Belldandy had clumsily brushed against her glass, and knocked it over, spilling tea across the table. "I'm so sorry!!" she said. "I'll clean that up right away, before it ruins dinner!!"

Keiichi looked up at her as she wiped the table dry with a cloth. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked. "This isn't like you."

"I'm fine," Belldandy said. "I'm just, er, a bit unlucky today."

Meanwhile, after serving herself, Urd handed her bowl of food to Skuld. But she also shot a glance at Skuld. It was a look that spoke volumes.

Skuld accepted the bowl of food with a shudder.

Skuld sprawled on the floor of her room, late in the evening, and toyed with a few bits of electronics and machinery. She had had an uneasy feeling since dinner, and her inventions failed to hold her interest. At the same time, she didn't feel like going to bed early. She was sure that sleep would not come easily...

Someone knocked at her door, and then opened it without waiting. Skuld looked up, and found Urd standing in the doorway.

Urd looked back at her with the same stern look as during dinner. "Skuld?" she said. "Belldandy's room."

Belldandy was lying in her futon. Skuld kneeled at Belldandy's side, next to a worried Keiichi.

Urd kneeled on the other side of the futon. She had begun to recite a spell, with her arms stretched out over Belldandy.

"What?..." Keiichi whispered.

Skuld shushed him. "Diagnostics."

Belldandy was awake and conscious, but she was obviously unwell. She remained perfectly still, with her eyes closed. The emblem on her forehead lit up, apparently under Urd's spell... but its light somehow seemed weaker that it should have been.

Urd eventually lowered her arms. She took a moment to collect her thoughts before speaking. "It's not a virus. None of my medicines would have any effect... Skuld, this happened once before. Before you were born. But Belldandy and I told you about it. We told you that it would be your responsibility, someday, when you were older. Remember?"

Skuld nodded solemnly. "Yes."

"Then you know what to do," Urd said. "I'll call Yggdrasil and let them know you're coming. Go now. Godspeed and good luck."

Skuld kneeled down and kissed Belldandy on the cheek. Belldandy smiled up at her. And then, Skuld was gone.

Keiichi tried again. "What?..."

Urd also cut him off. "Not yet, kiddo. Gotta make that call to Yggdrasil. Uh, see if Bell wants anything, and then, meet me in the kitchen." And then, Urd was also gone.

Keiichi watched her leave, and then, he looked down at Belldandy.

Belldandy tried to raise an arm to Keiichi's face, but she seemed to be unable to judge her reach, as if she was tired, or ill-- or both. "Keiichi?" she said. "I'm so sorry to make you worry."

Keiichi gently guided Belldandy's arm back to her side. "Don't even think about it. Uh, can I get anything for you?"

"No," Belldandy said. "Well... Urd will explain this for you. I would explain it myself, but I'm not, um, thinking clearly...

"But after Urd is done... Please come back, and stay with me?"

"Of course." Keiichi also kneeled down and kissed Belldandy on the cheek. "Even if I can't do anything else for you, I can do that."

Keiichi found Urd standing over the kitchen sink, gripping both sides of it tightly. She had just splashed some cold water on her face.

Keiichi was desperate to know what was happening, but he forced himself to remain calm. "Hey, Urd? You okay?"

"Yes and no," Urd said, with complete honesty. "I'm not sick like Belldandy. But I'm not okay. Still, thanks for asking."

She turned to face him. "You're a good guy, Keiichi. If I was you, I'd be screaming to know what was happening. I'm about to scream, as it is... Anyway, you deserve some answers now."

"This is serious, isn't it," Keiichi said, more as a statement than a question.

"It could be," Urd said. "I won't lie to you, Keiichi. It's most likely that we'll take care of the problem-- well, Skuld will take care of it-- and it'll be as if it never happened.

"But there is a small chance, a real possibility, that we won't be able to..."

Urd cut herself off. "Well, anyway. You remember that sleep is Belldandy's alternate method of 'recharging' herself? Like how she tends to fall asleep after she uses her powers heavily. But it's more complicated than that-- and it's unique to her.

"It's a different case, with Skuld and myself. Humans don't need to eat ice cream, or drink sake, to survive. But everybody needs sleep. Belldandy is a Yggdrasil goddess, but she needs her sleep twice over, both as Belldandy and as a woman.

"It's difficult to explain, in human terms... but if Belldandy can't sleep, it doesn't matter if she's linked to Yggdrasil. She won't be able to recharge herself at all."

"Like a machine with a bad rechargeable battery?" Keiichi said. "One where, even if you plug it in, it doesn't get any power."

"Something like that, yeah," Urd said. "Everyone has trouble sleeping, now and then. Bell has had a few sleepless nights-- for example, worrying about you. But if she literally can't sleep at all, then..."

Urd trailed off. She turned away, and leaned over the sink.

"How long does she have?" Keiichi asked. "I think I read that the longest any human has gone without sleep was eleven days."

"I wish we had that long," Urd said. "In Earth time?... We've got about one hundred hours."

"Four days," Keiichi said. "If Belldandy can't get some sleep, within four days, then..." He also trailed off.

But this time, Urd finished the thought. "Belldandy will die."

Skuld stormed into a Yggdrasil control room. Helper goddesses sat at banks of ten-dimensional controls, awaiting her orders. Unimaginably complex screens filled with data scrolled through the air... but the room was silent.

Skuld took her seat with authority that belied her apparent age. "Alright. Does everybody know what's happening?"

"Yes, Ma'am," one helper goddess said.

"Then you know we've only got one chance to do this right," Skuld said. "Work as fast as you can-- but double-check everything, and triple-check each other. We've got enough time to check each other... but we do not have the time to correct mistakes. And we've only got enough time to do this... once..."

Skuld suddenly lowered her head and whimpered. The other goddesses glanced at each other, but they remained silent.

No, Skuld thought to herself. There's no time for this. You can cry all you want, after this is over. But you have to be strong, for now. You have to be a grown-up goddess... for Belldandy...

Opening her eyes, Skuld looked up at the other goddesses. "Well, what are we waiting for? I don't want to see a single processor cycle go to waste!!"

"So what, exactly, is Skuld doing now?" Keiichi asked.

Urd shrugged. "Dunno, exactly. I'm a sysop. Things like this are out of my league.

"Basically... Yggdrasil is a living system, and it's constantly updated. And just like any complex system, changes often have unwanted side-effects. Skuld has to find the recent change to the Yggdrasil system that's accidentally keeping Belldandy from sleeping. And then, she has to write a patch to fix the change, without causing any other problems.

"Actually, it's a simple process, albeit tedious and error-prone. It's just, it can take several hours to isolate a problem, and several more hours to patch it. And in a case like this... well, Skuld's only got one chance to get it right, before Belldandy runs out of time."

"You said that this had happened before," Keiichi said. "Why couldn't they done something after the first time, so that it would never happen again--"

"You think we didn't ask that very same question!?" Urd suddenly snarled. "Damn it, they need to test the changes they make to Yggdrasil!! They don't seem to realize that some of us depend on that system for our very lives!!..."

Urd cut herself off. Keiichi hadn't even flinched during her outburst. He looked at Urd with as much sympathy as he could muster.

Urd shook her head sadly. "Ngh. You are a good guy, Keiichi. I'm sorry. This has nothing to do with you."

"Yes and no," Keiichi said quietly. "Now, it has everything to do with me."

Urd looked at him dully. And then, she hesitantly moved forward and weakly clung to him.

"Uh, Belldandy needs you," Urd sniffed. "But, uh, first... just for a, uh, minute... I, uh, need you too..."

Sayoko walked up to Tamiya and Ootaki, who had already taken their seats in an unusually quiet lecture hall, before class.

"Where's your little friend Keiichi?" Sayoko asked haughtily. "And his perfect girlfriend Belldandy?"

Tamiya answered without looking at her. "Belldandy's sick."

"Oh, dear," Sayoko said. "What a shame--"

She sweat-dropped as Tamiya and Ootaki both turned towards her. "Give it a rest, Sayoko," Ootaki said. "Belldandy is really sick. Nobody knows much about it, but it could be serious."

Sayoko opened and closed her mouth once or twice. She meekly turned away, and took her usual seat, off by herself.

It's no wonder everyone is so quiet today, she thought. Even most of the professors seem unusually somber, since the Campus Queen is ill...

No, Sayoko thought. If it's that serious, then she's not my rival... At least, not for now.

And then, Sayoko bowed her head, and said a small prayer. It wasn't something she did very often, but as Sayoko thought to herself, it's the thought that counts.

Megumi knocked at the temple front door. Keiichi answered the knock, but only after two or three minutes.

"Hey, bro," Megumi said. "How's... uh, are you alright?"

Keiichi blinked in the evening sun. "Sorry. I didn't get any sleep, last night. I was sitting up with Belldandy all night."

"Oh," Megumi said. "How is she?"

"Honestly? Right now? Not too good. But don't worry, Megumi. It should 'break' soon."

"Can I see her?" Megumi asked.

Keiichi grimaced. "Uh... I really appreciate it, and Belldandy would appreciate it too. But she really isn't up for visitors."

"Oh," Megumi said again. "Well, if it doesn't break soon, get her to a hospital, alright? And for goodness' sake, take care of yourself. You won't be of any use to anyone if you make yourself sick at the same time."

Keiichi grinned, despite himself. "Yes, Mother."

Megumi reached up and ruffled Keiichi's hair. And then, she suddenly gave him a hug. "Give me a call when you can, okay?" she whispered, in an uneven voice.

Keiichi gave her a brotherly squeeze. "You bet. Thanks, Meg."

Megumi quickly spun round and walked away. Keiichi carefully watched her walk away. He noticed that she seemed to be making an effort not to rub her eyes until she was out of his sight.

I'm sorry, Megumi, he thought. I didn't actually lie to you... but I hope that I can tell you the whole truth, someday...

Skuld stifled a yawn. She had been working non-stop for longer than a full day, Earth-time. Although sleep was not as crucial to her as it was to her older sister, she was starting to feel her concentration weaken.

Not good, she thought. I'm getting tired. Oh, I'd give my best hammer for one scoop of vanilla fudge ice cream--

"GOT IT!!" one helper goddess suddenly shouted.

"Double-check it!!" Skuld shouted unnecessarily.

The control room fell silent, as two more helper goddesses stood over the first goddess, and read over her shoulders.

"Confirmed!!" they shouted in perfect unison.

Skuld switched her nearest display, and reviewed the data dump. Yes, she thought. That's it. My check is the quadruple-check. And it's an obvious logical error, anyway. That has to be it.

She cleared her throat, and spoke loudly and clearly. "Goddess Second Class Skuld hereby reports a critical Yggdrasil error, and requests all available resources for immediate remediation."

The displays in the room went wild, flashing with terabytes of data more quickly than any eye, human or goddess, could follow. Skuld's request had been accepted, but it would take a moment to bring online the resources needed to patch the error.

Meanwhile, Skuld addressed the helper goddesses. "Good work, everybody. We've barely missed the all-time speed record for diagnosing an error.

"Everyone relax, and take a few deep breaths, until we're cleared for the patch. And then, we're going to break the speed record for a patch."

Urd stumbled into Belldandy's room, after answering the phone in the hallway.

Keiichi looked up groggily. He was holding Belldandy's hand, in one of his own hands, and patting her forehead with a damp cloth in his other hand. "Was that?..."

Urd shook her head. "The Motor Club wanted to know how she was. It's wonderful, how everybody has been asking after her... And Skuld shouldn't call for at least another ten hours. But we've got to keep that phone line open."

She kneeled at Belldandy's side, across from Keiichi. "How is she?"

"She hasn't spoken for a few hours," Keiichi said. "I think she may be hallucinating? I've heard that people hallucinate during sleep deprivation. But she's still holding on to my hand."

"No offense, hon," said Urd, "but that cloth isn't doing her any good."

Keiichi sighed, and took the cloth away from her forehead. "Yeah. I know. But I felt like I needed to do something."

"Don't let go of her hand," Urd said. "That's probably doing as much good as anything could."

They fell silent. And then, they both yawned in unison.

"Oh, man," Keiichi said. "I don't think I've ever been awake for this long, myself. I mean, not that it matters, when it's Belldandy's third night without sleep, but..."

"Take a nap," Urd said. "I think that, for once, Skuld would forgive your sleeping at Belldandy's side, in her room."

Keiichi shook his head. "I don't think I could sleep, either."

"That makes three of us," Urd said wearily.

A helper goddess gently shook Skuld's shoulder. "Miss Skuld?... Please wake up, Miss Skuld..."

Skuld jumped in place. "Huh?... Aw, darn it!! How long--"

"It's alright, Miss Skuld. It was only a few minutes. You've been working non-stop for so long. And we've been working for you in shifts...

"But that's not important. The patch is almost ready for your approval."

Skuld bolted out of her chair. "Already!? That really is a new speed record!!"

Another goddess stood back, to make room for her. "We couldn't have done it without you, Miss Skuld. It's done. Offered to Goddess Second Class Skuld for approval."

Skuld stared dully at the display, shaking her head a few times when her eyes failed to focus. She made two small corrections. And then, she took a deep breath. "Okay. This looks good. Thanks, everybody. And now..."

"Goddess Second Class Skuld hereby submits a critical Yggdrasil correction for immediate release. Nuh... no roll-backs. GO!!"

The displays went wild again, like the prizes in a slot machine. Every goddess in the room froze, waiting for the results to come back from the change.

One display resumed normal read-outs. And another. And another.

A loud cheer went out in the control room.

Skuld sobbed with exhaustion and relief.

Urd stumbled into Belldandy's room again. She was barely still on her feet, and she clung to the doorjamb for support. "Hey!! Keiichi!! That was Skuld!! It's over!! She..."

Urd cut herself off. Keiichi was asleep.

And Belldandy was sleeping too.

Urd giggled with sleep-deprived delight. It's over, she thought. And now, I'm going to sleep...

She half-kneeled, half-fell forwards, to land on her face, on the other side of Belldandy's futon.

I'm going to sleep right here, Urd thought as she passed out.

A few minutes later, after returning from Yggdrasil, an utterly exhausted Skuld dragged herself from the bathtub to Belldandy's room, and added herself to the sleep-in.

Keiichi opened his eyes. He had been sleeping so soundly that he had no idea where he was, and no idea of how much time had passed while he slept.

But he felt no panic at possibly having slept too long-- because a fully-rested Belldandy was sitting up, gently holding his head in her lap. Urd and Skuld were both resting against her hips as well.

"Good morning, Keiichi," said Belldandy, looking down at him.

"Yes, it is," Keiichi said, looking back up at her. "It's a very, very good morning."

[14-Feb-2006] [Oh My Goddess!] Insomnia

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