Author's Note: I'm honestly on a roll with posting all these new stories so here's another one that's been sitting around.

Partially inspired by Champions of the Past by Paulzies on FF.

Bell Cranel is left broken by an incident that leaves him bereft of a home. And Hestia picks up the pieces. Seven years pass while Hestia and Bell explore the continent and it leaves the pair stronger and wiser. Yet Bell is just as confused by what his place is in this world. Hestia takes Bell back to Orario, partially because she misses Hephaestus and partially because she trusts Bell to take care of himself in one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Mostly anyways.
Enter Bakugou Katsuki. Katsuki lost, badly. He thinks he might've died.
But then he wakes up in a city that makes absolutely no sense. When he finds Hestia (Or when Hestia finds him), he's in the middle of a fight, working off his frustrations in the only way he knows how. Katsuki's left lost by the answers she gives him and when his thoughts spiral into darkness, she gives him hope. Hope that takes the shape of a whimsical story about what might lie at the bottom of the Dungeon.
Katsuki isn't sure what 'levels' are but he does know that the Dungeon isn't ready for him.
Because no one stands in between Bakugou Katsuki and Victory.

BELL

drip... drip... drip...

Blood weeps from damp snow white locks, flowing and pooling into a puddle at the feet of a boy.

The boy perches on the back of a beast with massive limbs and a pair of bloodstained horns. The minotaur is unnaturally still with its head uncomfortably twisted into the dirt.

Empty onyx orbs gaze out at nothing.

Bell Cranel is as still as the corpse underneath him as his hand grips a rusted, mangled pitchfork that hangs past his shoulder.

Trauma has lain waste to the boy's mind until there is nothing left.

Yet... There is the remnant of a feeling, a memory.

In this moment, bleeding out, empty of emotion and bereft of a home.

He can only decide that he is waiting.

What am I waiting for?

Someone is coming. And he isn't sure why he knows that.

HESTIA

Hestia clutches her cloak tight to her body as the carriage rumbles over the ground. Cold air wafts through the vehicle and she shivers.

She laments her lack of foresight once again. How is she supposed to know that mortal vessels can get this cold? Unpleasant didn't begin to cover it as her teeth chatter and she rubs her hands together.

She huffs in frustration. It's better than staying in that stupid city though! Descending to the lower world is supposed to be so much more fun and better than staying up in heaven. She can finally know what it is like to be mortal. To begin to understand these people from their own perspective.

Hestia is so full of excitement at first. Sure, she has to stay with Hephaestus but the little goddess is sure that won't last long! All she has to do is find a few mortals to join her familia and convince them that their wonderful goddess of the hearth actually needs a home to be useful.

It turns out that isn't so easy when absolutely no one wants to join her Familia.

Sure, she doesn't exactly have any special skills or useful connections or funds or anything to contribute besides a falna... And she can be a bit too prideful when she speaks to mortals and maybe too selective in who she wants... and perhaps she comes off as annoying when she repeatedly invites them to join.

Hestia sighs. Her pride really is useless down here isn't it? All she has managed to do is annoy Hephaestus, lose the respect of countless adventurers and blunder herself into leaving the relative safety of Orario via an ill-thought out boast to a certain flat-chested witch.

"W-What?! O-Of course they didn't reject me! In fact, I rejected them! Of course there's no one in Orario worthy of being in my familia! Hmmph. I'll just have to go out and bring them here myself! D-Dangerous?! Ha! Maybe for you little boy but not for me! My future familia will be even better than yours!

She really should just swallow her pride and go back. If she hurries, Hephaestus won't even realize she left! Hestia might just have to take the teasing of that witch for a couple of weeks. Or months. Or years.

Oh, who is she kidding, Loki will hold this over her head for the rest of existence.

Suddenly the cart rocks to a stop, muffled curses coming from the driver.

Hestia furrows her brows and pokes her head out. "Hey what's-" Her curiosity is immediately silenced by the horror she feels as her gaze pierces the fog in the air and lays itself on the destroyed husk of a village.

The silence is eerie as her heart pounds. Wooden dwellings barely standing, broken and shattered corpses left strewn throughout the afterthought of a disaster. The macabre sight of agony and wanton ruin brings bile to her throat. Her hand comes up to cover her nose as the stench of rot and death reaches her, curling her insides.

"Heaven rest their souls. They were good and decent folk. They didn't deserve this." The driver scowls, looking down before noticing her. "My apologies Lady Hestia. You don't need to see this, we'll head to the next village. If we're lucky the horde went deeper into the mountains."

A sorrow fills her and she shakes her head impotently. More in a desire to block out the sight she's seeing than anything else, she delves into her divinity, viewing the world as only a god can.

The driver's soul is a nut brown, steady and hardened. Most deities would call that color ugly and its nature stagnant. But Hestia can understand why someone might close themselves off if scenes like this aren't uncommon.

Then she sees it.

A spark of blinding ivory in the distance. In the village.

Her body moves before her mind catches up.

"Lady Hestia!"

"There's someone still alive!"

BELL

Bell wakes in the same position he slept in. Dried blood crusting his features, still set in an expressionless face. Exhaustion, aching pains and biting frost tease at his body and hunger growls its discontent once more.

He isn't even sure if he can move anymore even if he wants to. His eyelids blink slowly as his thoughts meandered.

What was I waiting for again?

Everyone's dead, what am I doing?

What's even the point?

Why did I live?

Yet his thoughts are continually debated by a ceaseless faith that locks his body in place.

She's coming.

His thoughts echo the sound of feet, their pace hurried. A blurry figure seems to part the fog as if banishing it. He hums idly. There is something he is supposed to say. If only he can remember the lines.

"You're too late to save anyone. Everyone's dead."

A soft, pearly white hand caresses his skin, warmth blooming across his body.

Sparkling azure eyes hold his gaze gently.

"Not everyone."

7 years later

"Next." The guard sighs as the latest tourist/future corpse enters Orario with an innocent gaze of wonder. The level one guards of the Ganesha Familia aren't cynical by nature but it becomes easy to recognize patterns when you hold gate duty. Orario is one of if not the most highly traffic heavy tourist destinations for anyone on the continent. While a large number of those people are there simply to visit the sights and eccentricities, an equally large amount are there to try their hand at the Dungeon.

Regular, everyday citizens that have their heads filled with dreams and stories about heroes and monsters deciding to up and quit their practical, dependable and most importantly, safe jobs to test their luck.

It says a lot that only a quarter or so of those same people leave soon after.

It's quite easy to spot and roughly track these numbers when those same hopeful expressions and innocent eyes are transformed into depressed demeanors and lifeless gazes a few days later.

"Next."

Gravel crunches loudly as the next person steps up.

"Good morning." The guard recites in a dead tone. "What is your business in Orario?"

"Good morning!" A light tinkling voice sounds and the guard suddenly feels the presence of divinity. The level one sweats nervously as he recalls the disrespect in his tone. His gaze rises slowly from the manifest in his hand to the person in front of him. "My apologies-"

Sturdy hiking boots give way to a massive, muscular body. His eyes freeze as they rest on the sizable and clearly masculine warrior. A bored expression faces him with bright red eyes and snow white hair. Paradoxically, the tall adventurer's face look almost boyish as if still growing into his features.

"It's okay, I've been away for a while. My name is Hestia!"

Then he looks further up and laughs nervously as he finally notices the diminutive goddess sitting atop the teen's shoulders.

"A-Ah. I see." The guard clears his throat. "Welcome back to Orario Lady Hestia."

The deity stretches her arms out towards the sky with a grin. "It's good to be home." She then clenches one hand in the giant's hair and points the other forward. "Onward!"

The adventurer rolls his eyes at her antics and walks past the guard without a glance. "Yes Mother."

A bell rings as the storefront's door swings inward, announcing a new patron.

Lisbeth perks up. "Welcome to the Hephaestus Familia's 8th floor store, only for the best weapons and armor we have to offer! Can I help you with anything?"

"Is Hephaestus in?"

Lisbeth narrows her eyes at the girl. At first glance the customer seems around her own age, albeit with an innocently determined expression accentuated by an almost juvenile twin-tail hairstyle that hangs behind her. She feels a twinge of sympathy for the short girl, with an appearance like that it can been hard to be taken seriously by anyone.

On second glance, any goodwill she feels turns to ash and is then stomped on. This brat...

Her hands involuntarily clasp her own breasts. Life is unfair.

"Miss?"

Lisbeth scowls and crosses her arms. "Lady Hephaestus is a very busy goddess. What do you want with her? If it's important, I can pass a message on."

No she won't. But what this kid doesn't know can't hurt her.

The girl frowns in confusion. "We're friends. I'm Hestia."

Lisbeth furrows her brows. The name Hestia sounds familiar but she has never seen this girl before in her life. And she has been a part of the Hephaestus Familia for the past four years.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I keep forgetting." She apologizes and at once Lisbeth's doubt disappears as Hestia's divinity is revealed.

Lisbeth straightens in shock and fear as her mind races. What? She didn't even know that gods can hide their presence!

"I-I-" Lisbeth sweats nervously. She just insulted a goddess! No, worse than that she looked down on a goddess that is friends with Hephaestus!

"It's fine."

Oh shit, she lied to a goddess that is personal friends with Hephaestus!

The pink haired girl's impromptu hyperventilation stops as a hand is placed on her head. Hestia smiles brightly up at her as she pats her head in soothing motions while on the tips of her feet.

Lisbeth's panic recedes as a warmth spreads through her body.

"Hey, there's no need to worry, you made a mistake, I made a mistake so it's all okay. Besides, I can tell you really care for Hephaestus don't you?"

Lisbeth nods hesitantly.

"Like I said, it's fine. Hephaestus can be really protective too sometimes."

Lisbeth smiles shyly. "She is?"

Hestia nods with amusement. "Of course, she's always been like that with her familia. She cares about each every one of them."

The shop attendant clears her throat and relaxes. "Thank you, I'm sorry again. Hephaestus is in her workshop in the back."

Hestia grins. "It was nice to meet you Lisbeth."

The goddess follows the sound of an anvil and the presence of her friend's divinity to the forge. Hephaestus always does tend to 'let her hair down' when she is focused on a project.

She looks good.

Hestia has never doubted that Hephaestus would be fine when she left but it is soothing to see her doing so well for herself.

"Hephaestus!"

Hestia shoots across the room slamming into the smith's midsection.

Hephaestus' hammer falls out of her hand absently as she recognizes the divine presence and the petite girl squeezing her.

"H-Hestia?"

"Oh, I missed you so much!" Hestia rubs her face affectionately into the goddess' chest.

There is a moment where they both stand still as Hephaestus' mind catches up.

Then the goddess returns the embrace, even going as far as to pick up the shorter girl. "Hestia. You've returned. And you're safe."

Hestia giggles happily. "I had a lot of fun but it's good to be back."

Hephaestus' arms hold her tighter and tighter until Hestia winces.

"H-Hephaestus?" She wheezes nervously.

"You left. Without saying anything to me or letting anyone know. Without knowing anything about the outside world. Without any familia to protect you. And you didn't even bother to let me know you were alive... For seven years."

Hestia smiles fearfully. "I-I'm sorry?"

"You're damn right you are."