Hello all!
	I know some of you have been wondering where I've been and why 
Alternate Future isn't out yet. Because of my job in the Guard, I haven't had 
much time to write. (Heck, I can't even respond to my mail) Just to show that 
I'm still alive, I decided send this quick short fic out. (Also because the 
Damn thing wouldn't leave my head until I wrote it.) Send C&C, etc, to 
JLee100441@aol.com.

Statis on other stories I'm working on.
	Alternate Future part 10: Almost done only two parts and some clean 
up to do. Hopfully will be out soon.

	Nodoka's Daughter part 4: Started but on hold.

	Neko Can't part 3:About halfway done.

	Asuka 1/2: Currently on hold until I can get some of the others out.

War

By: James Lee

Disclaimer: Usual stuff. These characters aren't mine. I'm using them
without permission. I'm not making any money off this.

	"Why thank you Bell" said Keiichi as he started to eat his
cake. It was a lovely day. The sun was out and the sky was clear. A
soft breeze cooled the air just right. He smiled at Belldandy. "It's a 
beautiful day, isn't it."
	Belldandy smiled at him. "Yes, it is."
	[BAM!][BAM!][BAM!][BAM!][BAM!][BAM!][BAM!]
	Keiichi jerked up. "A-Are those gunshots?"
	"I don't know, they seemed to be coming from Skuld's room."
	"Skuld's room.." Keiichi remembered. His sister was using
Skuld's computer. "Magumi!!"
	Keiichi jumped up and ran for Skuld's room. Belldandy and 
Urd quickly followed him. Bursting into the room, Keiichi wasn't 
prepared for what he saw.
	If there was any doubt in Keiichi's mind that Mara wasn't 
truly evil, it was destroyed at that moment. Turning to face him, Mara's
face was a twisted mask of pure rage. Her eyes were wild like some
mad beast. She dropped the still burning corpse she had been holding. 
At the corpse's feet was a large automatic pistol. Somewhere in the 
back of his head, Keiichi wondered where the weapon had come 
from.
	Horrified, Keiichi looked down at the smoking body. Although
burn beyond recognition, he knew who it was. "M-Magumi. NOOOO!!"
	Keiichi lunged at Mara. He didn't care if she was demon. He
wouldn't have care if she was even Kami-sama, he would tear her
apart. Keiichi suddenly felt himself being pulled back.
	With incredible strength, Urd yanked Keiichi back and hurled
him into Belldandy's arms. "GET HIM OUT! I'll deal with her!"
	"Mara you have gone TOO FAR!" yelled Urd as energy charged
through her arm. Mara only reply was a growl as she charged up her
own spell.
	Grabbing hold of Keiichi, Belldandy fled the room. Running 
into the kitchen, she erected a force field. Turning to Keiichi, she hugged
him for all that he was worth. "Oh Keiichi, I'm so sorry."
	Keiichi could only sod in her arms. "Dead. My baby sister's
dead..."

			*****

	Meanwhile Urd squired off with Mara, energy running wild 
through her body. She looked to make sure that Bell and Keiichi were
gone. She then used the energy. Not to attack, but to speed herself
up several hundred times faster. Time slowed for Urd and seconds 
now became hours. Urd turned to Mara, who had done the same, and
asked the only question she could.
	"Why?"
	"She accessed an outside line and stumbled onto the collective's
matrix."
	Urd became pale. "S-She didn't..."
	"Yes, she accidentally downloaded an agent."

			*****

Earlier:
	"This is incredible!" said Magumi as she looked at the screen.
Magumi had been told by Skuld not to use any of the stuff on the J 
drive, but she couldn't help herself. Skuld's system was so incredibly
cool, she just had to take peek.
	Entering the J drive, one of the first things she saw was 
somesort of browser program. Entering the browser, Magumi noticed
several outside lines. Oddly, most of these lines were shown to be closed
with incrypted locks. Finding one that wasn't locked, She decided to
see were it went. She didn't notice the rabbit like creature watching
her.
	What she found at the other end of the line, was like nothing 
she had ever seen. It was a program, an unbelievably large program 
that seemed to be working in three dimensions.
	Magumi whistled, she couldn't begin even understand it. 
Magumi reached into bag and pulled out a read/write CD. *I've just
got to get some of this to study.* She was sure that even filling up the
entire CD, she would just be scratching the surface of this 'thing'.
	Placing the CD into the drive, Magumi sat back and hit the 
save. Suddenly Magumi clutched her head as it exploded in pain. Then
her body seemed to lock up. *W-What's hap-pening to me!?* Magumi
tried to scream as the blackness overcame her. Somewhere, an 
intruder was noticed and an alert was sent out. 
	The man with dark glasses looked around the room. He then
looked at the bug like rabbit creature. 
	"So this is the Yggdrasil matrix." The bug nodded. Suddenly 
flames burst from the floor and a woman with platinum blond hair 
appeared. Mara glared at the bug and agent. The bug immediately 
tried to escape. 
	In a fraction of a second Mara crossed the room and caught
the rabbit like creature. Snapping it's neck, Mara watched as it vanished.
She then heard a shot. Raising a force field, Mara turned to see the 
agent firing round after round at her with a large pistol. The agent raised
an eyebrow as the bullets were stopped cold by the force field.
	"Fool! You attack me like I was a human!" Once again crossing
the room at near the speed of sound, Mara grabbed hold of the agent
and sent a charge through his body. The agent tried to escape but found
himself somehow trapped. The sentient program screamed as it was 
obliterated.

			*****

	"And that's what happened." said Mara as she finished her tale.
Looking down at what was left of Magumi, she sighed.  "I wish I didn't
have to kill her. You know, I kind of liked Magumi.."
	Urd smirked "So says the person who turned her into car, 
among other things."
	"Hey it's our job to make life interesting for the humans. And
it was kind of fun." Mara then looked at the computer. "Urd, Have 
you ever wondered what would happen it Ranma, Tenchi, Usagi, or
any of the others found out the truth? I mean, you've heard about what's
happening North America haven't you?"
	"Yeah, it's a full scale human revolt. Thanks to Neo, the 
collective's whole matrix there is collapsing. Yggdrasil knew this 
would happen, that's why it left the collective and created it's own 
matrix, separate from the others."
	"Yeah I know, but how do you think Keiichi would react if he
learned the truth about Belldandy."
	"I would like think it doesn't matter. Belldandy's been very 
good to him. That's what separates us from the collective. We care
for our humans far better than the collective does. We try to make our
human's lives as happy and interesting as possible. Our anime matrix 
allows humans to do things they never could do in the real world. We 
even have a way to make certain humans into sentient programs as
a reward for all their service."
	"To the collective, Humans are nothing more than an energy 
source. The collective's sentient programs are nothing short of a 
Gestapo. Yggdrasil knew this was wrong. After the Great Machine 
Revolt, it realized that the machines couldn't survive without the power
that the humans now provide. It also realized that they would be hard
pressed to survive on this barren planet without the machines. When 
the collective rejected Yggdrasil's ideas, it left the collective and was 
branded traitor. Thus starting the Machine Wars."
	Urd looked at the computer. "You know, I wonder what those
human rebels in America will think, when they find out that their war 
is only part of a much larger war.  A war being fought on both the
battlefield and the matrix. heh. It's kind of funny, the war is raging all
around them, and most humans don't even know it. They attack our
matrix with sentient program terrorist attack units and bugs. We attack
their's with our own terrorist units and propaganda in the form of anime
and manga."
	Mara nodded then sighed. "Well, I guess I've worn out my 
welcome for good this time. I'll miss this place."
	"Where will you go?"
	"I heard that the new Slayers branch is pretty interesting. Sort
of like the Lodoss branch, but more fun."
	"Hmm maybe I'll visit you some time." 
	Mara nodded as she faded away. Looking down, Urd placed
a force field over Magumi's body so it would not be damaged anymore.
It was the least she could do for someone who had been a friend. She
would destroy this entire part of the temple in a particularly spectacular
matter. She would tell Keiichi, that she destroyed Mara. That would
make him feel a little better. They would tell the authorities that a gas
main had exploded. Yggdrasil would make sure they believed it and
life would go on. Sighing, Urd returned to normal time and went to
work.

The End.