Pact Between Warriors

By: Aviantei

[Twelve Shots of Summer: Go/五 8/12]

A DanMachi One Shot

With night descended over the Eighteenth Floor, most of Loki Familia had retired, leaving only the few third-tier adventures on guard duty against potential monster attacks awake. As part of the returning battle party from the Fifty-Ninth floor, Aiz should have been asleep in her tent like the rest of her comrades. Tiona, Tione, and Lefiya had wasted no time in passing out in their beddings upon the return to the middle floors.

Aiz couldn't do it.

She felt more than satisfied with the outcome of the battle; they had stopped the enhanced species from wreaking further havoc and no one had sustained permeant injuries. Considering the harsh conditions of the battle, it was miraculous that their party had survived, even if they were mostly first-tier adventurers. But while they'd stopped the monster, Aiz didn't feel any closer to finding the answers Levis had mentioned.

Why had that woman called her Aria?

What did they know about her mother?

What did they do to warp a Spirit so badly, to make it become so awful that Aiz could still feel the tainted magic in her skin—?

"Good, you're awake."

Bete's harsh voice was much gentler than usual, but it still startled Aiz from her thoughts. She hadn't wandered too far from the camp to think, and the lingering glow of the campfires added an orange tint to the trees surrounding their site. Hands shoved in his pockets and sleek wolf's tail swaying with each step, Bete strode towards Aiz's perch on a rock.

"You're not resting?" Aiz asked, her eyes following Bete as he drew closer. Unable to find another rock comfortable enough to sit on, Bete propped himself against the nearest tree trunk. Even in the shadows of the night, his silver hair stuck out, and Aiz's keen eyesight caught his ears as they twitched.

"I could say the same about you." Having fought in the same battle party, they'd gone through the exact same hardship against the enhanced species. "Whatever, this works out better anyway. Those idiot Amazons aren't hanging around, are they?" As if suspecting the twins to ambush him, Bete cast a glance around the area.

Aiz shook her head. "They're resting." She waited a few moments for Bete to make a further remark, but when he didn't, she asked, "Did you need something?"

"Yeah, something like that." Bete didn't meet Aiz's gaze. It was strange to see him look so—embarrassed? No, unsure of himself. "Look, this is a private conversation so don't go telling anyone else about what I'm gonna say, got it?" He tried to put force in the words, but even Aiz could tell his heart wasn't fully into it.

"Alright." Bete might've been brash, but he was still one of her trusted family members. If he was asking for confidentiality, she didn't see any reason not to agree.

"Good. Well…" Aiz tried her best to make sense of Bete's expression, but she couldn't figure out the conflicting emotions on his face. "I've been thinking about that kid. Y'know, the one with the minotaur." There couldn't be anyone else Bete meant. Having trained Bell Cranel for a week days, Aiz was fascinated with him herself. Even though she hadn't figured out the secret to his growth, there was one thing she could say for certain: that boy had begun his adventure. "That kid's a piece of work. Fighting off a minotaur on his own when he was nothin' but a scared weakling a few weeks ago."

"Yes." Aiz could see the boy's back in her mind as clear as the moment it had happened. Though the battle on Floor Fifty-Nine had chased the incident away, it had still left an impression on her soul, the way the boy had resembled her father. "He's going to become stronger."

Bete scoffed, but he didn't say otherwise. He had to have recognized it, too. "It'll be a while before he's anything worthwhile, but…" Voice void of any of his usual arrogance, he muttered, "That kid is better than I gave him credit for."

A small smile formed on Aiz's lips. It takes a lot for Bete-san to acknowledge someone else.

"But I didn't want to talk about that fight," Bete said, plowing forward before Aiz could even formulate a response. "I wanna talk about that other one, the first minotaur." Aiz remembered that incident just as clearly as the other. Though she and Bell were now on speaking terms, him running away after she had saved him still hurt. "Or, I guess, this is about what I did after. When we went to the bar."

When Bete had insulted the boy they'd just saved, when Bell Cranel was there, when the boy had run away, and Aiz couldn't catch up to him in time—

Still not looking at Aiz, Bete scratched his head. "I don't remember everything clearly because I was drunk. But those Amazons didn't stop pestering me about what I said." Conflicting feelings still stirring in her heart, Aiz didn't know how to respond. "So, I know I made a total ass of myself and upset you.

"I kept going on and on about how a kid like that wasn't worth your time because he was beneath you. I thought I had some right because we were on the same tier. But you went ahead and became level six and…" Bete let out a long exhale. "You're stronger than I am, so I don't get to act like I'm tough shit. So sorry about that whole mess."

Aiz wracked her brain for something to say, but no words would come to mind. She had a hard enough time in ordinary situations, but the situation before her was different from anything else she'd experienced. What could she say when someone she considered strong was saying otherwise?

What do I do when I feel like he's admitting he's weak?

"I don't think that being strong is all about levels." The words slowly formed in her mouth, one syllable at a time. Even Aiz didn't understand where they were coming from. "These numbers, the falna on our backs—all they do is give us a measure, but you can be strong even without being one of the top levels." Did Bell Cranel's desperate fight against a monster far above his level prove that? Wasn't that why Aiz hadn't felt any better when she reached Level Six? "I think being strong is…about when you know you don't stand a chance, but you'll scramble to achieve it anyway." Feeling self-conscious, Aiz stared down at the pebbles between her boots. "Bete-san, you and Tione and Tiona and Lefiya—you're all far stronger than I am."

I'm just hiding the fact that I'm scared inside.

"The three of you," she continued, sucking in a quiet breath, "No, everyone in the Familia, Finn-san, Riveria-san, Gareth-san, even the lower tier adventures—you'll all amazing." Too self conscious to make out Bete's expression, Aiz dipped her head and just stopped short of hugging her knees. The blond fringe of her bangs fell in her eyes. "Even when I push myself, I can't reach where I'm trying to get."

Because Bell Cranel had said it better than she ever could, that there was somewhere he needed to get no matter what, and no matter how much Aiz scrambled, she still hadn't—

From underneath the tree, Bete snorted.

Aiz's head shot up, embarrassment warming her cheeks. "Don't be stupid," he said. "If you're weak, what the hell does that make the rest of us? You're one of the top adventures in damn City." He strode forward, back out under the dark glow of the crystals spreading across the Eighteenth Floor's ceiling. He stopped a few paces away from Aiz, leaning over so they were at eye level. "Give yourself a little credit. You're not one of those weaklings that piss around and never get anywhere. You're ahead of me—for now. But you watch, dammit. I'm gonna catch up to you and become someone worthy of fighting at your side. So enough of this self-pitying shit. It doesn't suit you, Aiz."

Before Aiz could even open her mouth, Bete grumbled to himself and walked past her, heading back towards the camp. Aiz watched him go, words stuck in her throat, but—

"Bete-san," she said, and the Werewolf paused but didn't look back, "I'm looking forward to it. Fighting alongside you."

Bete scoffed and said something noncommittal underneath his breath, marching back amongst the Loki Familia's tents. But before he rounded the corner, Aiz just caught the way his silver-furred ears perked up at her words.

That was…his way of trying to make me feel better, wasn't it?

Without even noticing it, Aiz smiled as she stood up, dusting dirt away from her skirt. Feeling a sense of peace for the first time since she'd fought Levis, Aiz returned to her tent and fell into a sleep.

[Author's Notes]

Another DanMachi one shot? Goodness gracious. This one is also about Loki Familia (did I mention I'm a sucker for Sword Oratoria?), but instead about my top two peeps, Bete and Aiz. I had this idea floating around for a while, so I was glad to be able to write it for [Twelve Shots of Summer: Go/五]'s week eight prompts, "Self-Centered" and "A New Challenger"!

"Self-Centered" is very easy to see in Bete, since that's basically his character description. *cough* "A New Challenger" is a little bit farther off, but I think it serves as both a reference to the challenge Aiz and Bete give to each other, the further challenges of the Enhanced Species brewing in the background, plus Bell's sort of background role as a new challenger to becoming an adventurer. Haha, just like "Contemplation Between Elves," Bell fulfills one of the prompts without even being present in the fic...

With that in mind, Bete's maybe a tiny bit OOC? I originally had this idea before Sword Oratoria 6 came out in English, which meant I had to shuffle up the timeline for this event further than I originally intended. Even so, I like to think that Bete's capable of being rational enough to at least apologize for being a giant bag of dicks at the beginning of the series - if only to Aiz. Apologizing to Bell is another matter entirely...

If you liked this one shot, do consider checking out that aforementioned one shot "Contemplation Between Elves," where I play around with Lefiya and Riveria. Both that and this story are products of the lovely [Twelve Shots of Summer] challenge, which is in the middle of it's fifth year running at the moment! Do consider checking out the forums for a great mix of quality one shots and delightful community. See you there?

Thanks for reading!

-Avi

[07.16.2018]