One week four days had passed as the Loki expedition team had came back from the Dungeon.
Seeing the surface, the team took a deep breath of relief as they were now out of danger.
The citizens nearby could see the team embarked on their journey back to the mansion.
Their expressions were indicating that something bad had happened during their expedition.
And it did.
Nobody spoke a word with each other as they carried this eerie atmosphere, which the civilians would know the meaning of it.
Some of the civilians that had seen them before had noticed that their numbers were slightly less than before.
Added with their battered state, one would know what kind of obstacles they had faced.
The civilian dare not to cause the team any more grieving as they let them went through the streets with minimal resistance.
Adventurers... a job that had the highest rate of death compared to any other jobs.
The danger of the Dungeon... jealousy from others... fortune... there were many things that made the job dangerous, but the Loki expedition team knew and accepted this.
And the civilian knew this.
--New Scene--
The Twilight Manor stood in front of them.
Slowly, the door to the Twilight Manor opened slowly as the team entered the manor in an unmotivated manner.
Loki could see the sad expressions on every faces of her familia, confirming the feeling of dread that she had felt the past few days.
Finn approached Loki by himself as the others went to their respective rooms.
Finn noticed that Bell was with them, but he didn't mind.
Sooner or later, he would encounter this kind of dreadful situation, whether he like it or not.
Bell saw Aiz went towards one of the hallway, and saw the sadness in her eyes as she slowly moved away from his sight.
Silence filled the atmosphere as none initiated any conversation with each other.
Bell looked at Finn, and then at Loki, remembering what had happened during the last few days.
--flashback start--
It was at night, and like usual, Bell was sleeping in Loki's room, which had became a sort of habit for him.
Both were sleeping peacefully as the moon shone through the windows of the room.
Suddenly...
"NOOO!!" Loki screamed as she felt multiple blessings were being servered.
And she knew what it meant, and it was not the first time it had happened.
She sat up, while her hands tried to stiffled the crying noise that she was making.
Bell woke up and saw that Loki was crying, tears threatened her cheeks as it didn't seemed like it would stop flowing.
Loki had just noticed that Bell was beside her, and tried to hide her sadness.
No one had ever saw her crying before, and she would like it to remain that way... but somehow, she couldn't hold her sadness.
She tried to face away from Bell, trying to gain her composure.
Bell looked at Loki's back as he heard Loki tried to muffle her voice using a pillow.
This was the first time he had saw Loki cried.
It was never a pleasant thing to see someone cried as he felt a twinge in his heart.
Bell held her close to his chest as she cried, and cried some more, trying to vent out all the sadness in her.
If someone were to see Loki, they might said that this was not her.
She was a fierce god that had killed many other gods without mercy, but that didn't mean she couldn't shed a tear of sadness.
--flashback end--
Finn took a deep breath, readying himself.
"We've failed to reach the 59th floor of the Dungeon, due to encountering a new type of monster."
Finn took out something, and put it on the table for Bell and Loki to see.
It was a crystal that seemed to be contaminated with something.
Then, a piece of paper were put on the table, and Bell could see that it was a list of names.
"We had lost thirty-nine members during the attack of the new type..."
Bell excused himself as he didn't think that he was needed in the conversation.
--New Scene--
The day had turned night as Bell had just reached the surface, after a committed hunt from the morning till now, going from the 1st floor to the 7th floor and vice versa.
The stars filled up the sky as he tried to go to the Guild.
He wanted to try a different path to the Guild, and chose an alleyway, which screamed danger.
As he walked through the alleyway, a small robe figure had ran into him.
Immediately, two blades were being pointed at the figure as Bell had noticed his missing pouch filled with valis.
The figure was skillful, but Bell's senses were more sharper, allowing him to detect the swift motion it had made, when it ran into him.
It was dark, but that didn't mean that Bell was unable to take action, if the situation ever needed it.
The moon shone upon the alley, allowing whatever available light for him to see the feature of the person in front of him.
He sheathed his left blade, and extended his hand out, hoping for the figure to give him back his pouch.
The figure looked at his hand, and slowly handed him his pouch.
Bell sheathed his other blade as he tried to open the hood of the figure, curiosity got the better of him.
What he saw was a girl, eyes wide in surprised as she didn't expect him to open her hood.
Bell looked at the small girl, feeling sad about the life of the small girl.
It also made him remembered about his life, and somewhat feeling how closely similar his previous life was with this girl's situation.
Alone in the wild... sometimes animals were none to be seen, fishes would not take a bite, leaving Bell with a hungry stomach.
Being young with no particular skills living in the wild... it was how his first time living in the wild was like.
A day turned to days as his hunger reached to a point that he felt weak.
He remembered that he had stolen food from bandits, which led to something terrible to happen towards him.
He looked at the small girl, and then took out a few valis from his pouch as he took the girl's right hand, and put the valis in her hand.
"For you." Bell said as his hand made its way towards the girl's hair, stroking it slowly.
She looked at Bell, eyes wide opened, surprised by Bell's action.
She could see the gaze full of sympathy and warmth that were looking at her.
She was longing for the warmth.
Her expression turned to sadness when Bell took his hand away, and turned away as he was going further from her... leaving her alone...
She looked at Bell that was going to go, and had this feeling of loneliness.
Today was the first... the first time someone showed her kindness, and it made her teared up as all the painful memories came up.
All the pent up emotion were starting to come out.
Being abused, bullied, and abandoned... and now, this person was showing her kindness...
Would she see him again?
Or would this be the last time?
She was mature, but that didn't stop her from spilling her tears at the thought of not seeing someone as kind as Bell.
Bell could hear the sound of someone running on the hard concrete, followed by a sudden weight at his back.
Bell could feel someone was hugging him, which halted him from moving, and he could hear the faint sniffles that came from the girl.
"No... *hic* *hic* don't leave me..."
Hearing the desperation and sadness in the voice.
Bell sighed as he turned around to hugged the girl in an effort to calm her down.
"(The Guild can wait...)" Bell thought to himself.
Few minutes later...
The girl had calmed down as she sat on the cold concrete floor in the alley, while looking at the moon in the sky.
She looked at the boy next to her right that was also looking at the night sky.
A smile crept onto her face as she gaze at Bell, which he didn't notice.
"Thanks..."
"Hm?"
"For staying with me..."
The two were silent as they watched a shooting star that had passed by.
"The name's Lililluka Arde." Lili said as she turned her head towards Bell.
"Bell, Bell Cranell." He said.
Lili looked at the boy, "Why did you gave Lili valis?... aren't you mad that Lili tried to stole Mr. Bell valis?..."
She observed the boy's expression, anticipating that anger would show up in his face, but she saw none, which was quite uncommon.
"No..." He said. "I guess I can relate to your situation. Living in a rough situation..."
"So where's your home? I can send you home. Your parents must be worried of you." Bell asked.
"Lili's parents... are not around anymore..."
"Ah... sorry... how about your relative?"
"Lili don't have a relative..."
Bell looked at the girl's attire, and it seemed well prepared for a fight, dagger at her waist.
"Then, which familia are you from?" Bell asked, confident that she had one.
"Soma..." her voice was solemn.
He took note of the familia's name, since it would help to increase his knowledge of other familia.
With the silence, Bell thought about the girl beside him... armed... adventurer... familia...
At first, he thought she was just a small child, but the atmosphere that she had exhibited was a bit different.
Something was bothering him, so, he decided to asked her, "Um, can I ask what race are you?"
"Pallum, Mr Bell. Why?" Lili said, her head tilted a bit as she was wondering about the question.
Bell felt weird for being called 'Mr Bell' since he was fourteen years old, and hearing the girl being a Pallum...
"How old are you?" Bell said, which confused Lili.
Lili was confused as she thought why did Bell asked about her age, which was pretty rude.
Then again, she did try to steal his valis.
She wondered at the question that he had asked before... "Pallum" and "Age".
It took her for awhile, before she could connect all the dots.
"Are you..." Her eyes squinted at Bell. "-presuming Lili is a child?"
Bell nodded his head.
"Mr. Bell will be surprise at how old Lili is... and for Mr. Bell to think that Lili is a child."
She looked at the ground, "Then again... for Lili to be crying at Mr. Bell. Lili is so immature..."
"No. It's not immature. Crying is not bad. It helps to release the burden on ourselves." Bell tried to comfort her.
Bell got up, and took out Herana, which Lili looked with wary.
"Touch the flat side."
Lili followed his instruction, and she saw that nothing was happening, but Bell could see a green aura enveloping her.
Just like what he had done to Hestia.
"How about we form a party for tomorrow?" Bell said to Lili.
Immediately, Lili agreed to Bell's suggestion, and decided to meet up at the entrance of the Dungeon at 9.00 a.m.
--New Scene--
"27300 valis."
Bell took the valis, and put it safely in his pouch, but a few people were watching him, and he didn't like the look they were giving him.
Greed...
He searched for a free Guild executive, and saw a familiar figure in his sight, so he made his way towards the figure.
"Um, hello."
"Hello. Is there something that I can help you with?" Eina answered.
"I want to know about Soma familia."
"Well-" Eina's word were cut short as a distant voice caught everyone's attention.
"Cut me some slack! This must be worth more than some 5000 valis!"
"Sir, we've evaluated the magic stone-"
The man grabbed the valis, and angrily walked away, while cursing the receptionist of the Guild.
"Well, that man is a member of Soma familia." Eina said to Bell, while pointing slightly at the figure that was walking away with a foul mood.
"Really?" Bell said, feeling slightly disturbed. "He looked so..."
"Desperate for valis. And we're getting this sight more and more often with Soma familia." Eina continued.
With that information in hand, he decided to go back to the Manor.
--New Scene--
At the street in the night, Bell was walking, while thinking about his followers behind him.
They were ten of them, and they were definitely not a friendly bunch.
He sighed as he turned into an alley, and the armed group saw this as a chance to get Bell.
They all went into the alley, and saw the boy just stood there, waiting for them.
"Heh! You notice a tad bit too-guack!"
*crack*
"AAGGH!!!!"
One crack, two crack, three crack, followed by the screaming of one of the man.
The other nine looked at Bell that was breaking the man's arms and legs.
Then, Bell's eyes were looking at the nine people, and evidently, he had enough of their stalking.
If he couldn't kill, then he could disabled them.
Few minutes later...
Bell walked out of the alley as onlookers were looking at him warily, since there were screams of people at Bell's direction.
They looked at Bell, but no blood were on his clothing.
The onlookers just looked at Bell's receding figure in the distance, and made their way into the alley.
And they saw many people crying in pained, arms and legs bend at an awkward angle, which made the onlookers unable to look further.
--New Scene--
Bell entered the Twilight Manor, and it was noticeable how the atmosphere was different.
*thud*
"Sorry..." A girl said, obviously not in the mood of working.
Seeing that, he decided to go to the training field, since he felt like training his swordplay.
Bell moved onward towards the training field, and saw Aiz training alone, which was diligent of her.
Since it was night, the many shiny mushrooms gave off light, illuminating the area with light, allowing sight for the people training in the area.
"(It's been a long time since I kiss-no! Bad thoughts go away!)"
Bell shook his head as he tried to clear the memory... the memory of his first kiss accident.
And immediately, his heart rate spike to its max as Aiz magically appeared in front of him.
He grabbed his chest as he breathe erratically.
"Are you alright.."
"I-I'm alright!" Bell stuttered.
Aiz observed him, and when she saw he was okay, she relaxed her posture, although her face remain expressionless like always.
He looked at how sweaty Aiz was, but it didn't made her any less beautiful.
Then, she proceeded to grab her weapon, and continued to practice, leaving Bell on the sideline.
Seeing that, Bell offered to be her sparring partner, which she accepted.
Clashes after clashes, and the two didn't seem to back down against each other.
After receiving the blessing, Bell could finally parried Aiz's strike, but he noticed that Aiz seemed to be... desperate.
The flow of her swordplay was not gentle, and he could see how he could easily blocked her strike.
Evidently, he knew the reason for this.
*clank*
Aiz weapon was flung out of her hand by Bell, and it surprised herself.
She looked at her weapon that got stuck on the ground, and made her way towards it, but a hand had grabbed her.
"Miss Aiz..." Bell said as he looked at her, worried.
"You didn't rest, didn't you? Miss Aiz... you need to rest."
--New Scene--
Aiz took a soap, and washed her body with it as she let the shower head to cleanse the foam off her body.
Meanwhile, Bell stood outside the bathhouse as he wanted to make sure that Aiz wouldn't go back training.
And soon, with a towel on her body, which Bell caught a glimpsed as he looked the other way.
"... thanks... you can go now.."
"Okay..." Bell said as he walked away.
And coincidentally, Aiz walked at the same direction as Bell.
Aiz looked at Bell that was moving at a place... a place that was next to Aiz's bedroom. "...Where are you going?"
Bell looked at Aiz, confused, and then at the room... Loki's room.
Bell looked back at Aiz, and somehow, sweat started to form on his forehead, and he didn't know the reason.
Actually, he knew...
They just stood there, Aiz next to him as she looked at him, her eyes blinking once... and then twice.
And Aiz just entered her bedroom, leaving Bell outside to think about what he had done.
He assumed that he had made a bad impression at Aiz, and decided to retire towards his room.
Few minutes later...
Aiz had already wore her nightgown as she looked out the window, while she recalled the incident in the Dungeon.
She looked at the stars in the sky, and recalled the fight with the new boss monster.
The others made a perimeter around Aiz as the center, which allowed her to solely focused on fighting the boss.
She had managed to defeat the boss monster, but she still felt that it was not enough.
She knew that she couldn't save everyone, but it pained her to see a friend fading away, looking at her with their lifeless eyes.
*click*
She heard the sound of Loki's door being opened, and she had decided to look outside.
There, she saw Loki going out of her room, probably she had just came back from meeting with the deceased family, and gathering info about the new monster.
And Loki saw Aiz looking at her as she stared at Aiz, "Aiz... what is it? Do ya need something?"
The incident was one thing, and seeing Bell casually moved towards Loki's room... she wanted to know... did something happened?
"...Why Bell went to your room?"
"He did? Huh... I guess sleeping with me became a habit then." Loki answered nonchalantly.
"(Sleep... with Loki...)"
She felt pained... not knowing why she felt it.
She didn't injure herself, but there was this prickling sensation in her chest.
Immediately, Loki grabbed Aiz hand, and brought Aiz with her as she moved towards a place.
And arriving at the place, it was Bell's bedroom.
Aiz could see Loki using her master key to open Bell's room, and with the door opened, she could see Bell sleeping on the bed.
Immediately, she pulled Aiz towards the bed, and let go of her hand.
Slowly, Loki moved into the bed, and laid next to Bell comfortably.
She didn't know for what reason Loki had brought her here, but seeing her being comfortable around Bell, Aiz felt the prickling sensation came back.
A few seconds later, Loki noticed that Aiz was still standing, "Well, ain't cha gonna sleep?"
"Sleep?" Aiz said, confused.
It made Aiz questioned Loki's intention.
"Yeah? At the other side." Loki said.
Aiz looked at Loki, and at Bell as she slowly understood what Loki meant by sleeping.
The heavy feeling that she felt had simply vanished as she looked at the unoccupied side of Bell.
Slowly, she made her way there, and laid down at Bell's left.
"Ruffle his hair... it'll help ya to rest.."
"..rest?" Aiz said as she was hesitant that rubbing the boy's hair would help her to rest.
Nevertheless, she tried to ruffle his hair slowly, as to not wake him up.
"(It feels soft...)"
She stroke Bell's hair gently once, and was shy to continue, but seeing Loki constantly rubbing his hair, Aiz followed her action.
*ruffle* *ruffle* *ruffle* *ruffle*
Then, Loki stopped her ruffling as she looked at Bell's sleeping face, enjoying how peaceful he looked.
"This time expedition is the largest lost we had since I started my familia..." Loki said, remembering the tragedy that had happened.
Aiz still continued to ruffle Bell's hair, but her expression had a bit of sadness in it.
"...I'm sorry... it's because I'm not strong enough..."
"Aiz... you can't save everyone... but you had helped to reduce the casualties." Loki said, trying to cast away Aiz's thought of blaming herself for the death of her friends.
Both went silent as they ruffled the boy's hair.
Loki noticed at how the boy's cheek had this slight tint on it.
"Ya know? I heard that the boy kiss ya during training. Is that right?" Loki said.
Aiz hesitated, but nodded anyway as her cheeks tinted pink.
Seeing Aiz act embarrassed, Loki decided to increase her teasing, since there was someone that was eavesdropping their conversation.
"Do ya want to kiss him again? He's sleeping right now..."
Loki noticed how Bell's cheeks were getting redder.
And when Aiz hesitated for a long time, Bell cheeks were red all the way, that it would take someone clueless, or preoccupied like Aiz, to not notice it.
"Looks like Aiz is considering it... Bell." Loki whispered into his right ear, and it made him shivered.
Immediately, Bell got out of the bed as he flapped his shirt, feeling his body was hot, which was true.
Aiz looked at Bell that was standing, and felt a little bit bad, since she thought that they might had disturbed his sleep.
"...sorry... for disturbing your sleep.." Aiz said as she got out of the bed.
Meanwhile, Loki was laughing at Bell's reaction.
Then, Loki stopped, "Well, this time we're going to sleep properly so... get back in."
Bell didn't move, since Aiz was there, and it would be weird for him to just go into the bed with Loki.
"In." Loki said.
Obedient... just like a pet, Bell got on the bed, and laid his body to rest.
He just got this feeling to not disobey Loki, and his feeling was proved to be true when...
"And you too, Aiz."
Aiz obediently got into the bed, at Bell's left side, which surprised Bell at how Aiz, a strong adventurer obediently obeyed Loki.
It didn't took that long for Loki and Aiz to fall asleep as their hands were on his hair.
He didn't know what was so special about his hair, but it did help them to relax.
If he thought about it, he was sleeping with two girls, but he was not bothered by it... okay, he lied.
Then again, it was always the warmth feeling that made him drowsy.
Just like the only comfort he had before... the heat of fire, keeping him warmth from the cold and harm.
--New Scene--
It was a large room, as there was a figure standing at the side of a large bed.
"Loki expedition team had failed to conquer the 59th floor... " Ottar gave his report.
"Hm... do you think you can reach the 59th floor?" Freya asked.
"Without casualties... no."
"Well, anything interesting?"
"Ten adventurers had been injured today by someone..." Ottar stated.
Freya looked bored as there were nothing interesting happening in the city.
She sighed, and looked at Ottar that was standing at the side.
Soon, her hands made its way towards Ottar's face, "Entertain me..."
0000000
I give my thanks to 'JASk21' for spurring my mind into doing this and I did say 'partially accepted' since I don't know where this story would go actually.
30/8/2018
--Bell.Cranell--
Valis: 51090
Equipment: Herana, Reazeus, small pouch
--Bell.Cranell--