Disclaimer: I do not own DanMachi or any of Omori's original characters, nor do I make any profit off of my writing.
It was a weird place to meet somebody regularly, but that didn't really bother them. (No more than it should than normal, at least.) Neither of them was really sure when it had become a habit, in the end, it didn't matter.
The first one to arrive was also the first one to speak.
"I thought she was going to be the one, y'know?"
The other did. They knew. How could they not?
Still, they didn't speak, simply letting out a hum borne of mutual understanding as they kneeled in the dirt.
The first repeated themselves. "I thought she was going to be the one." A pause. "I thought I'd gotten over it too." Now was when they let out a watery huff of air, a miserable excuse for a laugh. "Thought that I'd.. that I'd moved on." Another pause, longer this time. "Not from.. not moved on from this. I don't know if I'll ever move on from this.. but from my.. my feelings."
The second person still didn't speak. This was their ritual. It was the same every week. Every Thursday. (It had been her favorite day, after all.) They each would lie awake in their beds, grief keeping them from falling into blissful rest. Whoever arrived first was the one who'd been hurting more through the week, the one who couldn't last as long, who couldn't keep up the façade of strength.
It was the one who came first who reserved the right to vent, to cry, to mourn.
It was the one who came second who dutifully listened.
And comforted.
"I'd been a confused girl, y'know?" The first sniffled, one of their hands reaching up to rub the tears from their eyes with their wrist. "I didn't really know what I wanted, I was still discovering things about myself, but I cherished her. I didn't know if it was—if it was love, not at the time, but I knew it was important to me." A long exhale, less a sigh than a long, steady, whistling stream of cool air leaving her lips. "I still don't know if it was love. Isn't that awful?"
Like always, they were only greeted with silence, not that they minded.
It was exactly how they wanted it.
They didn't want false platitudes or stupid proverbs. They didn't care if time healed all wounds because it hurts now. The future they could worry about their future pain, that wasn't what bothered them, they just wanted to stop their heart from breaking every morning when only two girls sat beside them at breakfast and they just wanted a single night not haunted by nightmares.
Everybody was mourning, they knew that, of course, they knew that.
But..
.. but it was different.
They didn't know why, they didn't know how.
It just was.
The only person who they think understood was seated right beside them.
"It's not, you're right. She wouldn't want—want..she wouldn't want this. Not for me. I just— "
They stopped talking, for once not immediately picking up where they'd cut herself off.
A gentle breeze blew through the field, kicking up autumn leaves and sending auburn hair spiraling through the air, twisting with each gust of the wind.
"I loved another once."
Another long pause.
"She died too."
They didn't speak again after that.
"I feel lost."
This week the second was the first, and the first was the second. The roles were reversed: the listener had become the speaker and the speaker, the listener.
"I don't—it's just—" A sigh. "I know what I need to be doing. I didn't forget. I'd never forget. It just.."
They trailed off, but the second was quick to fill in the gaps. Their voice was soft as they offered the words that seemed to fail the first. Such was their ritual on weeks like these.
".. it doesn't feel the same?"
The first nodded in response, their face shadowed by long bangs as they turned to face the dirt.
"It doesn't feel the same."
A hum drifted through the air, ending the conversation there.
"You're here first again."
The second had stopped behind the first's back, a sad yet serene smile on their lips as they stared at the back of the first. They supposed it made sense, this was often the case. Elven culture was very particular about how to dress and hold oneself during mourning, the only days the second was ever the first were those that they simply weren't up for tradition, didn't have the wherewithal to bother.
The first bobbed their head in assent, white locks of hair dancing about as they did.
The second sad nothing else as they continued on their way, quietly nestling themselves down into the soft tresses of grass that had once again started to grow where the dirt was once overturned.
It was like that, that they waited.
One minute became two.
Two minutes became three.
On and on it went, time continuing its forward march without rest, without pause, no matter how much either of them wished it would just standstill.
"Lefiya, do you.. " The first paused for a moment, the words seeming to catch in their throats. Still, like always, they powered through. "Do you— do you think she's watching?"
The second couldn't say she'd never thought about it. In fact, she thought about it quite often. It was something that was often on her mind.
Was she watching over them now?
She wanted to say yes; selfishly, she wanted to say yes.
But she hoped the answer was no.
It was time for her to rest, she knew that; she knew the full story now, she knew of the pain her friend bore in silence. The lower world had not been kind to her. Lefiya just wished the heavens would give her all of the happiness she deserved.
She didn't want her to be bogged down in the past, in knowing that they still grieve, both her and—
"Bell?"
The first hummed, his head cocking to the side as his eyes shifted to hers.
"What answer do you want to hear?"
".. I don't know."
For the third week in a row, Bell was the first to arrive.
He wasn't alone this time.
A child kneeled in the grass beside him. Unlike the regular visitor, the girl's eyes weren't placed firmly on the gravestone, but rather on the boy's face. Two amber eyes watching his features as he stared down at the engraved piece of stone.
Lefiya approached from behind, her typical black dress and corset contrasting her pale skin. She offered the dragon's child a small smile as she knelt at her side but said nothing.
Soon enough, all three of them were gazing at the words inscribed on the grave, reading and rereading and reading again.
'Aiz Waldstein.'
'Daughter, Sister, Friend, Hero.'
Lefiya wasn't sure who it was who made the piece, that was something Riveria had handled herself. It was simple, succinct.
It captured her perfectly.
A daughter who never lost her love for her parents even when displaced a thousand years.
A sister who loved implicitly, if in her own way.
A friend who was always happy to help, even when she didn't quite know how.
And..
.. and a hero.
What else can you call the woman who sacrificed herself to strike down the black dragon, itself?
Aiz Waldstein died a hero, that much was certain.
They just wished she hadn't.
"Did she hate me?"
Lefiya didn't turn from the grave, nor did she answer. It wasn't her place.
Beside her, Bell shook his head.
"No, Wiene. She didn't hate you."
"She.. she never spoke to me."
A sigh, heavy and defeated.
"Aiz was.. complicated. A monster took everything from her and—" Again, a sigh. "Do you remember when you were scared, Wiene? Before I found you?"
She did. Wiene did. How could she forget?
"Well.. Aiz was a lot like that."
"She was scared?"
He nodded as his fingers idly threaded between the new grass growths.
"She told me, once, about how she waited for months for a hero to arrive and save her." A long pause followed where Bell shut his eyes and shook his head, not letting the tears spring forth. "She was still waiting in the end."
'Bell.. '
He winced as long-since shoved-down memories resurfaced, his grandfather's voice ringing out in his mind.
'.. if anyone has the right to be called a hero, it's not the one who took up the blade, it's not the one who raised his shield, nor the one who healed the wounded.. '
'.. only one who truly risks his life may be called a hero.. '
Bell sucked in a shuddering breath.
'.. protect your friends, save the girl, and face danger.'
He nodded, reaffirming the truth to himself.
"She was still waiting."
He'd been foolish, thinking he was ready after only a year. He should have been smarter, he needed to be smarter, but he'd want to be her hero so bad, so desperately, that he'd forced himself into an unwinnable conflict.
And Aiz paid the price for it.
Nobody blamed him for it, hell, he doubted even Aiz blamed him.
Nobody but him.
Again, Bell let out another sigh, dragging Wiene into a side hug. "People turn to other things when they feel like the world has failed them, for Aiz that was her anger towards those that hurt her. The Black Dragon took everything from her, and without being able to direct those feelings toward it, monsters were the closest thing. I think.. I think that meeting you was her first big step into forgetting her hate.. and—and given time," time Aiz didn't have, "she would have come to see you just as I do."
Wiene nodded quickly, the gem adorning her forehead seaming to gleam under the light of the dawn sky. Standing up, she dusted off her long skirt and retreated back from the grave's regular visitors, offering them privacy.
They both were silent for a while, simply sitting down with their eyes closed as the winds passed them by.
"I don't think she was still waiting."
To Bell's credit, he didn't move a muscle as the elf's words drifted into his ears.
"A hero wasn't what she needed in the end. It was as you said, she'd had her chance at that, but none came, and she became a hero in her own right. She saved you. She saved me." A pause. "I don't— she didn't need a hero anymore, what she needed was you."
They'd arrived at the same time; not really knowing what that meant for the little thing they had going on, they simply kneeled down in the grasses with their hands in their laps.
The silence was just as nice as the conversation. It brought an odd amount of comfort.
"Bell?"
"Yes?"
"I'd like for you to meet somebody."
Lefiya directed him through the endless lines of memorials in the Adventurer's graveyard, eventually coming to a stop before another stone.
She didn't kneel this time, choosing to remain standing. When Bell paused just a pace behind her, she sighed, rolled her eyes, grabbed his wrist, and dragged him forward. Honestly. She wasn't going to bite him. She did say she wanted him to meet her, after all.
"Hello, Filvis. It's been a while."
He was the only one to arrive today, not that he thought it would happen any differently. It wasn't Thursday, if Lefiya was here it'd be by mere coincidence.
For the first time, he wished (really, really wished) that she wouldn't show up.
It'd make this conversation much more difficult to have.
"Hello, Aiz. There's something I wanted to talk to you about.. "
Lefiya tugged on her ponytail nervously as she stood before the grave marker. For once, she was out of her mourning dress and the reason wasn't her own grief.
"I had a date today.. "
Her gaze flitted around the cemetery, never once staying on one spot too long before it moved on to another.
".. it was nice." A pause. "He was nice."
She fidgeted in place, unable to expel the nervous energy from her body as she confessed her sins.
"I.. I know you loved him. I know that. But.. " Her eyes clenched tight as she tried to stop the waterworks that were attempted to spring up as her jaw trembled. Yeesh. She'd thought she'd gotten over this pain, but she supposed it may never leave in its entirety. "I'm sorry, I hope you will forgive me, but this isn't something I can stop."
She didn't even know if Aiz was still up there in the heavens, if she was even listening, but she felt like these were things that needed to be said regardless. Even if Aiz had chosen to move on to another life, even if she hadn't, Lefiya wouldn't feel right not telling her the truth, laying everything bare.
"I will do my best to love him in your place, to make him happy. So.. forgive me. I want to be selfish, just this once."
"Where are you taking me, Bell?"
The boy, infuriatingly, said nothing, merely offering her a tight, wobbly, nervous smile before tugging her hand a little harder as he led her deeper into the graveyard.
They emerged through a thicket to a set of worn, lichen-covered stone markers. They weren't labeled, so she had no idea whose they were or why they were so important for Bell to drag her here on a weekend, but she assumed she'd learn soon enough.
Fixing the boy with a pointed look, Lefiya waited.
She didn't have to wait long.
"Well," he chuckled and scratched the back of his head, "I've already introduced you to my mother, but I'd like for you to meet the rest of my family."
Oh.
A frown formed on her lips as she nodded and took a step forward, lining her shoulders up with Bell's as they stood before the grave. She knew he didn't like to talk much about his family. He'd told her about his grandfather, the one who raised him. Bell had seemed rather unconvinced about the man's death, but nobody had seen neither hide nor hair of him since that fateful day. She'd met his mother some time ago, not all that long after she'd introduced him to Filvis, actually.
She'd hoped, in secret, that he would have some distant family out there somewhere in the world, waiting to be found. She knew how much Bell treasured these connections, how the real reason (the one he rarely stated) for why he fought so hard was so he never had to lose anybody else.
"Auntie, this is my girlfriend, Lefiya. Lefiya this is my aunt."
A pause.
"Alfia."
Huh. Neat.
She could understand why he was more than a little hesitant to tell people about this.
Lefiya backed up a step, ignoring Bell's gaze for a moment as she turned and plucked a flower from the ground. It was only a dandelion, but she hoped it would be enough for now. Gingerly, she placed it down upon the grave and uttered a quiet greeting of her own.
"I'm mad at him."
Aiz's grave, expectedly, said nothing. Lefiya was positively shocked.
(Not.)
What she was, was mad at him.
"Did you know he had like.. a city's worth of girls vying for his heart? No lie! Like there are so many." The elf huffed, crossing her arms petulantly in front of her standard pink dress. She'd forgone the respectful kneeling for the time being, favoring the more comfortable and relaxed crisscrossing of the legs. "I suppose it makes sense. This is Bell. But the idiot doesn't even realize it half the time!"
Honestly! If she didn't any better, she would have thought he was oblivious to it all! No. It was far, far worse than that. He knew it was happening. He knew it. He was just so awfully, horribly, abysmally terrible at giving rejections that sounded like rejections. She swore that the whole 'peer pressure' spiel they gave in the education district was entirely directed toward idiots like him.
She was mad at him.
"Like, okay, I get it. Of course, I get it. I should have expected it, honestly! There was even that whole thing with Freya," she spat the name out like it was acid on her tongue, "all those years ago. But really? Really?"
She sighed, waving her hand idly through the air as she shoved a sandwich between her lips and pouted as she chewed.
It was all so..
.. vexing.
She needed to have a talk with their lovable idiot.
She returned later that night, a noticeable blush adorning the cheeks pulled apart by a beaming smile.
So much for being mad.
Lefiya plopped down in the grass, a stark contrast from the girl who'd originally arrived every Thursday.
She and Bell had still paid their respects when they could, but over the months, as the grief lessened, they stopped showing up so often. If they had pain they needed to be eased, they didn't go to the grave, they went to the other.
Such was their ritual.
So, Lefiya sat with a cheeky grin, humming a delighted tune as she leaned back on her hands.
For a while, that was all she did, simply singing an unspoken song to her lost friend, and doing her best to not spill the beans.
After maybe the ninth song, Lefiya tucked her hair back behind her ears, smiling widely as the fingers of her left graced the cool metal of her new addition.
Her cheeks flushed at the memories of Bell sweeping her hair to the side and over her right shoulder, exposing the bare skin of her neck to the warm breath that ghosted down it. It was an intimate position, her leaning back into his chest, but she wouldn't have it any other way. He worked, deftly yet gently, as he placed the earring around the cartilage in her ear.
In elven culture, their ears were something special. Touching another's was an intimacy reserved only for lovers. The point of the ear was the most common way to determine one's race and the first sign of elven heritage. A sign of their so-called 'superiority.' Regardless, ears were important in her people's culture, and thus.. a ring on the ear meant something important.
Something special.
"He proposed!"
She just couldn't hold it in anymore! She squealed out to her hearts' content, dancing in her place on the ground.
The moon above reflected against the gemstone ring surrounding her ear, displaying it for the world to see. It was a beautiful piece, amazing in so many ways that Lefiya just couldn't describe. There were gems and precious metals and all the colors just worked so well together and it was just so pretty and—and it was perfect. Perfect.
Time passed.
Things happened.
A lot of things, actually.
Lefiya got to stop fending off lustful women once her claim was properly staked. Better yet, all those girls who'd had feelings for Bell had found new love to fill their hearts with! That made Lefiya happy, not just because nobody else was going to try to steal Bell away from her (not that they could), but because they were all happy in the end.
It was a good thing.
There were, of course, a few other things that happened too. It was only natural; it had been a few years since Bell's proposal. Things tended to happen over the years. Surprising, she knows.
Then again, none of those other things measured up to one of the more recent developments.
She and Bell had gotten married two years after the proposal; when he was 19 and she was 20.
They'd spent a few years just wandering the world with their friends, exploring some of the most beautiful places and laughing all the while.
Eventually, they'd settle back down. Orario had expanded over the years, the city expanding beyond its walls into the plains that surrounded it. With the dungeon no longer a threat, people were free to enter and exit the dungeon city as they pleased and—and none of this mattered. Not really.
Not when she was walking hand in hand with her two favorite people in the world.
"Mama? Papa?"
Lefiya hummed, turning her attention down to the little half elfling peering around the area through grey and green heterochromatic eyes. One last gift from Bell's family. "Yes, sweetie?" She already knew what question their little one wished to ask, but it wouldn't do to just give her the answer before she formed the words, now would it?
"Where?"
"Well.. this is a place where we lay loved ones to rest."
The child blinked and frowned, once again scanning their surroundings. She didn't see a bed anywhere nearby, where were they resting?
Giggling quietly to herself, Lefiya squeezed the girl's hand and smiled. "We wanted you to meet somebody important to your father and I."
"Who?"
The mother smiled, her blue eyes briefly flicking up to her husband's face before she met her daughter's gaze and booped her on the nose.
"Your namesake!"
Little Aiz had no idea what that meant.
People kept asking for more Bellfiya, so I tried my best. Maybe one of these days I'll manage to bring them together without grief. Maybe.