It was the day after their 5th marriage anniversary when it happened. He has had nightmares ever since. The dream was always the same their beautiful young daughter comes running in and jumps onto their bed waking them up far too early in the morning.
"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Nicole would cheerfully scream. Bell would open his eyes to be greeted by his beautiful golden haired, golden eyed bride.
"Good morning darling." She would say as soon as, he opened his eyes before pulling their little girl into her arms "Why are you up so early today?"
"I heard a scary roar outside. I think there's a monster outside."
"You know there are no monsters here. You just had another one of your nightmares."
"No Mama, I swear it was real. It was big and black. It had wings and one ugly eye. It was scary!"
Before Bell could even move Ais would already be gone, nothing left but her words carried in the wind.
"Protect Nicole." So against his better judgment he did and he has regretted it every day since because, that would be the last time he would ever see Ais alive. The last scene of the dream was always Ais laying in a puddle of her own blood lying next to a cut up eyeball of the beast. Ais had successfully accomplished her life goal as, her mom was freed from the dragon and her family was saved. The beast from that day on would be known as "The Blind Black Dragon".
This is when Bell would always wake up but, that was hardly a refuge as, that is when the memories came. The memories of carrying her limp body to Airmid and begging her to heal Ais. The memories of Airmid telling him, Ais was already too far gone and there was nothing she could do. The memories of carrying her to Fels and begging for him to revive her like he did Wiene and the memories of being told that it only worked on Monsters . The memories of running out of ideas to save her. The memories of the first time, he had to accept she was really gone. The memories of the helplessness and shame from being unable to do anything to help her. The memories of being a failed hero.
They say time heals all wounds but, Bell wasn't so sure. It had been 5 years since it happened and the pain was just as raw and present as, the day it happened. Luckily for Bell though he did have one person who would refuse to let him wallow.
"Look Papa! Look Papa!" The girl screamed as, she ran in the door back from another day in the education district waving a paper around wildly. "I aced my test! You owe me some Jagamarukun!"
Bell was sitting in his rocking chair in the entrance of their apartment home.
"Let me see that." Bell says.
Nicole quickly runs over and jumps on his lap and shows him the paper.
'See right there!" She points to the top right corner of the paper "It says 100%"
"Wow! You are such a smart girl." Bell says patting her head.
She jumps off his lap and grabs his hand pulling on it. "Praise later. Jagamarukun now!"
"Okay. Okay. Okay. Just let me get my wallet. "
"Yes!" The small girl squeals jumping with double fist pumps in her excitement to get to the potatoey goodness.
Bell grabs his jacket and wallet and the pair heads out. Bell makes sure to grab her hand so, that she doesn't run off ahead in her excitement, even still she is practically dragging Bell there. He didn't mind though and just let her lead the way. She knew the path by heart so, there was no reason to curb her enthusiasm. It wasn't long before they were in line. The small girl hopped back and forth on her feet in anticipation. They made it to the front and of course Nicole had selected Hestia's stand.
"Hello Goddess, can we get 2 Jagamarukun with red beans and extra cream." Nicole orders barely tall enough to be seen over the counter at the stand.
Hestia quickly gets to work completing the order.
"How have you been doing Bell?" The little Goddess inquires
"Pretty good."
Hestia can tell that he is lying but, doesn't bring it up. She wasn't convinced he would ever be "pretty good" again. It had been so long and never once has she felt that answer was honest.
"You should drop by the Mansion some time. The new recruits are dying to meet the former captain and your friends have been missing you too."
Hestia says while handing out the Jagamarukuns one to Bell and one to Nicole.
Bell continues his conversation with Hestia but, as the golden haired girl delighted in munching on her Jagamarukun, she noticed a Bunny hopping around. She moved her free hand to cover her mouth in shock. "It looks just like Papa!" She thought to herself. She then decided that she would have to catch the rabbit to show him. She imagined how fun it would be to tease him. She decides it probably would be best to sneak up on the rabbit so, she circles around it and tip toes as quietly as, she can. Unfortunately, she is a 8 year old and as, quiet as she can be isn't that quiet so, the bunny quickly runs off and she goes chasing it. She did eventually catch it with the determination of her Mama and Papa mixed together in her, she would never give up. Unfortunately by the time she caught it, she was completely lost. She ran down one alley then another and then another trying to get back but, she just kept getting more and more lost.
"Well, we better eat these before they go cold." Bell says finishing the conversation he had been having with Hestia over the last few minutes and that is when he notices Nicole isn't there.
He looks around thinking she probably just found a table to sit at but he doesn't see her anywhere. That is when he starts yelling for her. Well, the best yells he can make when nearly hyperventilating in panic.
Hestia notices and runs to Bell's side. "I have one of Fels' orbs, I will tell Lily to organize a search party for her. They should be here any time. Don't worry we will find her."
Hestia's kind words did nothing to calm the boy as, he sprinted off to look for her. He looked for hours with no luck. The entirety of Hestia familia would look for hours with no luck. The sun was starting to set and this only panicked Bell more. He was hyperventilating, he felt pain in his chest, he was shaking uncontrollably, he was sweating and was honestly losing all control. Haruhime, Welf, Mikoto and Lily all did their best to try to help calm him but, nothing seemed to help. He just kept whispering to himself "not again" on the ground curled into a ball crying his eyes out.
Luckily, a set of Amazon Twins happened to be heading home from the dungeon and heard what sounded like a small girl crying and followed the sound. They eventually found there way to the small golden eyed girl.
"Nicole are you okay?!?"
The golden haired girl wipes her eyes and looks at the girls in front of her.
"Diane! Diana!" Nicole excitedly greets the two Amazons that are just a few years older than herself. The pair of Amazons look exactly the same with bronze colored skin, black hair and green eyes. Luckily, the older sister(Diane) had hair that went all the way down her back while, the younger(Diana) had much shorter hair that only came down to her shoulders. This was the main way people kept up with which was which.
Diane kneels down to get on the younger girls eye level.
"Why were you crying is something wrong?"
"I went chasing after this Bunny that looks like Papa" She holds out the rabbit to the girls who start giggling in agreement. "He does look like a Bunny!" Diana exclaims.
"But now I can't find him" Nicole says the last part a little sadly.
Diane reaches down and grabs the younger girls hand. "Don't worry! Our house is just down the road at the Twilight Manor. The adults there will know what to do. We will have you back with your Papa in no time."
"Is Miss. Riveria home? She has the best stories about Mama!" Nicole ask her entire mood having perked up knowing she is getting to go visit some of her favorite adults.
Diana answers "She should be! You think she will tell us some stories about their adventures?!?" The younger more carefree twin ask Nicole like she should know the answer.
"Probably! She always tells me stories about Mama!"
The two girls are basically hopping in excitement by the time they reach the gate of the Manor. Tione had been waiting by a window making sure, her girls got home safe and when she saw the golden haired girl she immediately rushed down and met them at the front door.
The second the door opened the three girls were dragged to a couch and questioned by the eldest Amazon and they explained the entire situation of what happened.
"Let the bunny go. Your Dad is SO not going to be in the mood for jokes after this"
Nicole hesitantly obeys a little upset to lose the bunny she chased so long.
"Tiona! Riveria! Lefiya! Come quickly!" Tione yelled loud enough to be heard throughout the entire Manor with enough worry and panic in her voice to make them come quickly.
The trio make it down to the living area with the couches in just a matter of seconds weapons in hand fearing the worst.
"No need for those. It is nothing like that. It is just" She points over to the three girls on the couch.
"So, Nicole came over? What's the big deal?" Tiona asks confused.
"Bell doesn't know where she is at. "
"Oh!" The three say simultaneously realizing the severity of the situation.
"Riveria I was hoping you would keep an eye on her. If she comes back hurt we will never hear the end of it. Plus, she was hoping to hear some stories about Ais. You two help me find Bell. Nicole said she last seen him at the Jagamarukun stand. Lefiya you check at his apartment and Tiona and I will check around the Jagamarukun stands." And with that everyone left to their duties.
Riveria makes her way over to the young trio of girls and before she can even sit down she hears the question she always hears from Nicole.
"Miss. Riveria Can you tell me stories about Mama?"
And Riveria said what she always did. "Of course I will." Telling the stories definitely made her hurt sometimes. They defintely made her miss Ais a little more then usual but, she decided long ago that a girl deserves to know about her mother and she would do everything she could to help in that goal.
"Have I ever told you the story of how your Mom and Dad first met?"
Nicole shakes her head
Meanwhile with the older twins it did not take them long to find Bell at all. There was a search party frantically searching full of Hestia familia members who were happy to point the twins in the right direction. They of course explained to each of them that the girl had been found and that they could stop searching. They did this till the pair eventually got to Bell and found him in his still panicked state.
Tione crouches down to his level. "She is okay Bell. She is at the Manor with Riveria."
"Sh-sh-sh-shes okay?" Bell ask finally starting to calm down a bit.
"Yes, she is fine. My girls found her and brought her home."
Bell took several deep breaths with a hand in his heart. The pain finally starting to fade.
"Th-th-thank you so much!"
"Of course. "
Tione stands up and Tiona offers Bell a hand and pulls him to his feet.
"You okay Bell?" Tiona ask. Bell hadn't allowed anyone to call him a hero since Ais had passed so, the Agronaut nickname had been scrapped. Bell didn't feel like a hero. He was supposed to be Ais's hero and he had failed. He let her die. He was unworthy of the title.
"I will be. I just need to see my little girl."
She nods and the trio head out.
Back at the Manor
Riveria had just finished her story about how Bell was attacked and how Ais had saved him. How Bell had ran away then about the endless pouting Ais did until she was finally able to apologize.
"Wow! I can't believe he ran away from Mama like that! She sounds so cool!"
Riveria chuckles to herself at the girl's reaction.
"I want to be cool like Mama. You said before Mama had a falna at my age. When can I get my falna?"
"That is between you and your Papa but, I doubt he will want you to get one anytime soon."
"I will convince him! He never says "no" when I give him this face." She makes a face that perfectly emulates what Ais's pouty face looked like.
Before Riveria could even respond, the door flew open and Bell pulled Nicole in the biggest hug.
"Don't you ever run away like that again." He scolds the girl through tears. "I already lost your mom, I can't lose you too."
She knew she had really messed up. She had rarely heard Bell talk about Ais in the last 5 years and when he did. He absolutely meant what he said and it was something serious because, she could always see the pain on his face when he did.
"I'm sorry Papa!" She says through the tears "I just wanted to show you the bunny."
Bell grabs her shoulders and holds her at arms length to get a good look into her eyes for this explanation.
"What are you talking about?"
"I saw a bunny... that looked like you... so I tried to catch it to show you but, it ran away.. so I chased it!."
The entire room burst out in laughter at Bell's incredulous look he gave the young girl.
"I am really sorry Papa" She repeats again feeling like she should but, not fully grasping why.
"Okay, just don't ever worry me like that again." He says pulling her into a hug again.
She nods.
This story was kind of just came to me when I was trying to write another chapter for my Yandere Ais story. I have a few ideas about how I want to develop it further. Updates will be inconsistent but, should happen. Sorry for my grammar errors, I do my best but, I miss alot.
